I always enjoy reading real life expense reports of people’s trips. I think it can provide an insight into how people travel and give a bit of an idea into the cost of various trips. Of course, people’s travel patterns are wildly different, so you shouldn’t take my Hawaii trip expense report as an accurate prediction of what your travel might cost, but you can use it as information I suppose. After all, I’m sure you’re not as much of a cheapskate as I am – I mean have you ever cooked dinner in a hotel room? 🙂

Plus, it’s always amazing to me to see the value of miles and points in making trips like this feasible

Cost of 7 Flights to Hawaii

We used 105,000 Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles miles to book 7 roundtrip tickets to Hawaii. Each of our legs had one stop – in Denver on the outbound and in Chicago on the return flight.

(SEE ALSO: Booking the Turkish Airlines sweet spot in 2022 (7500 miles to Hawaii))

We had originally booked this trip in March 2020 but… ya know. Thankfully we were able to get our miles refunded and then use them again before Turkish’s 3 year expiration hit us. We paid $5.60 per person per leg for government taxes and fees, so a total of $78.40.

Because we flew into Maui and out of Honolulu, we also flew Southwest Airlines on the intra-island hop. That was 25,942 Southwest Rapid Rewards points (3,706 each) and a total of $39.20 for those flights.

Total:

• 105,000 Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles miles
• 25,942 Southwest Rapid Rewards
• $117.60 in taxes and fees

10 Hawaii Hotel Nights

We stayed in two different places in Hawaii – first was 5 nights in Maui, in a “2 bedroom” condo that we booked with Wyndham Rewards points

(SEE ALSO: How to Book a Vacasa Vacation Rental Using Wyndham Points (Step by Step Guide))

(SEE ALSO: Is This REALLY a 2 Bedroom Suite?)

Because it was a “2 bedroom” it cost 30,000 Wyndham points per night, but because I’m a Wyndham Business credit cardholder, I get a 10% discount, making it 27,000 points per night or 135,000 Wyndham Rewards points.

Then we stayed 4 nights at the Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach. It was 12,000 points per night, but we got 2 rooms. We used 2 Hyatt Category 1-4 Certificates in addition to 36,000 World of Hyatt points

Total:

• 135,000 Wyndham Rewards points
• 72,000 World of Hyatt points
• 2 Hyatt Category 1-4 Certificates

Hawaii Minivan Parking and Rental Car Cost

We used Autoslash to book our minivans in both Maui and Oahu which saved us $483.98 over the original cost of booking our rental cars. Because one of my kids wasn’t with us, we could book just one minivan instead of having to rent 2 cars. Though I did wonder if I might have been able to book a standard car and use my Hertz President’s Club membership to just pick a minivan when we got there?

(SEE ALSO: Why you’re foolish to rent a “standard” car)

We filled up the gas tank once on each island, for $44.02 and $45.31. Parking was free (included) at our condo on Maui, but we did pay $4.70 for one morning in Lahaina for our whale watching tour. In Oahu, we declined the $53 + tax / night charged by the Hyatt Place and parked across the street for $30 / night (*3).

We also paid $96 for 12 nights of parking our van at CVG while we were gone.

• Rental Minivan for 10 days – $710.36
• Gas – $89.33
• Parking – $190.70
• Total – $990.39

The Cost of Food and Activities in Hawaii

During our week in Maui, we mostly just relaxed and hung out at the beach outside our condo. We did a whale watching tour one morning which was epic and a definite highlight of our trip.

My son and I also spent one day visiting all 5 counties (islands) in Hawaii, inclulding Kalawao County, the hardest county to visit in the United States. When we got to Oahu, we did a few other things including visiting the USS Arizona and a free hula show on the beach. We were also sponsored for a few things including the Toa Luau, which was another highpoint of the trip.

(SEE ALSO: 7 Things To Do in Honolulu and Oahu For Families)

(SEE ALSO: Toa Luau Review)

For food, we tried to strike a mix between eating in our condo / hotel room and eating out as well. We mostly had fast food when we were out, since that was what everyone wanted to eat. Once we got to Oahu, we had breakfast included in our rate at the hotel. Food (like everything else in Hawaii) is crazy expensive, so we tried to be judicious about how much we ate out and

My favorite food story is when we decided to go to Wendy’s. I figured there was no way that they would have the 4 for $4 meals in Hawaii due to the prices. But I pull up the app and they DID! So i added it to the cart in my mobile app and…. it costs $6. I mean I get that it was more expensive but I found it amusing that $4 is literally in the name of the meal but it costs $6. In the app it says “4 for $4 meal – price $6” 🙂

• Activities – $1,216.90
• Food – $734.05
• Total – $1,950.95

The Bottom Line – Cost for 10 Days in Hawaii

In addition to about 340,000 miles and points, we spent $3,051.94 for our 10 day trip to Hawaii. While that’s more than I like to spend on anything (which is nothing :-D), it’s quite a bit less than the average cost of a Hawaii trip I am quite sure.

I hope you enjoyed this cost breakdown. Try not to call me too much of a cheapskate in the comments 🙂

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