Hawaii Aloha Travel — Local services in Honolulu

After thoroughly reading reviews and checking into booking the elusive all-inclusive Hawaiian vacation, I was blessed enough to find Hawaii Aloha Travel. I had seen reviews about how good Bruce was, and that is who we got to plan our vacation. Bruce listened to all of my visions of how I wanted the trip to go down and put together a fantastic package for us that was surprisingly affordable, which made my husband very skeptical of the quality we would receive once we got there (I will address that more below). Once our booking arrangement were made, the rest of the trip was handed of to Lisa Zablan, who handled all of the fine details. Let me tell you, she did not disappoint! I had told her that the major reason for the trip was to celebrate our daughter’s Sweet 16 birthday. Lisa sent us our vacation packet documents in a package that was dressed up as a present 🎁, including a birthday card signed by the staff, a box of chocolates, balloons, a birthday banner, and a not too annoying confetti bomb! It was very thoughtful and our daughter was so surprised! Lisa also walked us through the Safe Travel Hawaii requirements process and made sure we had completed the necessary stuff ahead of time to minimize any unnecessary delays. Now for the actual trip, we were met at baggage claim but a shuttle driver that greeted us with a beautiful fresh flower lei for each of us, and took us to the hotel. We stayed at The Aston Waikiki Beach and had junior suite room with a beautiful ocean view from the 23rd floor. Lisa followed up to ensure that we had a smooth arrival. We had a full itinerary for the 5 full days we were there, and she made sure we had brought all of our tickets and understood the excursions. She also let us know that she had made our dinner reservations for each night but the night of the luau. This was huge once we saw how many people were at the hotel, and heard of dinner wait times of over an hour. Our first excursion was the Pearl Harbor tour, which was fine, but nothing compared to the next couple of days. Day 2 was Secret Circle Island tour and Day 3 was the Hawaii Culture tour. The reason I have them together is that they were both led by our tour guide, Travis, who was phenomenal! He quickly got to know our family dynamic, which was awesome, and basically tailored our tours to accommodate our interests! They were both private tours, so we were free to be ourselves, which made for tours that were genuine. Travis was extremely knowledgeable and personable, I could not recommend him enough! My daughter and her best friend are still talking about him. Day 4 was a waterfall hike, which wasn’t private but it was a small group, which was nice. It was also a shorter hike so we were able to get back to our room together ready for the Paradise Cove Luau. I really wanted the girls to experience an authentic Luau, and this did not disappoint. Our Luau guide was funny and engaging, which made the bus ride fun. The food was okay, but the entertainment, WOW! The dancers and the ambiance were top notch. There were also activities that allowed for kayaking in the bay, spear throwing, and pictures hold exotic birds. A totally memorable experience! Day 5 was a snorkeling cruise, which was fun and I’m glad we did it, but my daughter was not a fan. Now, back to my skeptical husband, he was thoroughly impressed by the quality of the the entire trip, and he is pretty hard to please! It made my heart happy that everyone had such a memorable trip. That’s all I wanted, to make memories! Thank you so much, Bruce and especially Lisa, for making that a reality! I know this is a long review, but I wanted to relay all that was included! I’m sure I missed some things, but I hit the major points I wanted to make! If anyone is looking for a reasonably priced all-inclusive vacation, Hawaii Aloha Travel will not disappoint! Thank you guys for an experience that will not be forgotten! ...

Beware of Deceptive Practices

I wish a lower rate was possible…

I had an incredibly disappointing and frustrating experience with Aloha Hawaii Tours that I feel obligated to share as a warning to others. A couple of years ago, they solicited me with promises of 95% discounts on travel rates compared to major platforms like American Express. They offered an “annual access membership” for over $900, claiming wholesale pricing and unbeatable deals.

However, within hours of receiving access, I discovered their prices were nowhere near competitive. In fact, they were consistently higher than other reputable platforms. For example, I have access to the Armed Forces Network, which provides far better deals at minimal cost, making this membership completely unnecessary for me.

When I attempted to cancel under the legally protected cooling-off period, I was met with resistance. Despite repeated requests for a refund and even legal intervention from my attorney, they refused to cancel my contract. Instead, they escalated matters by placing a derogatory mark on my credit report, which has caused ongoing financial headaches.

What’s particularly disheartening is the pattern I observed in their clientele. It seems their marketing disproportionately targets people of color, including African Americans, who they may assume are less likely to challenge such predatory tactics. This practice is shameful and exploitative.

To anyone considering Aloha Hawaii Tours, I urge you to steer clear. Their promises are misleading, their customer service is unresponsive, and their business practices border on predatory. It is, in my opinion, a scam. I also hope their financial institution takes a closer look at their conduct, as they should not be enabling such exploitative behavior.

Stay vigilant, and don’t let this company take advantage of you.

Addendum: In response to your REPLY:

Thank you for reaching out regarding my review. While I understand your perspective, this matter remains unresolved under your company’s name. I have already contacted the Attorney General offices in Hawaii, California, and South Carolina without success. The collection remains on my credit report, and as far as I’m concerned, only a legitimate business can place an account in collections.

If you would like me to remove the review, I respectfully request that you contact the credit bureau to remove this very real collection from my report. I am willing to pay any balance owed to settle this, but I need this resolved before I can consider amending my review.

Please understand that this has severely impacted my perfect credit history, and I cannot ignore the financial and emotional toll this situation has caused. I look forward to your cooperation in rectifying this...

Unfortunately, my husband and I did not have the best experience with Hawaii Aloha Travel. We worked with Bruce to set up our three island visit for our wedding/honeymoon. At first, I was beyond happy with the deals that Bruce was able to get us, and he always communicated with me in a timely manner. Once we paid off our trip, it was like a switch turned off and everything changed. He wouldn't respond for days and days, and we had timely requests where we wanted to confirm cars were booked since booking cars has been insane on the islands. I finally called him and he was incredibly short and rude with me on the phone. It was extremely upsetting, especially since we had paid SO much for the trip of our dreams. It only got worse... I had asked to book a luau in Kauai on a certain date in august, and because luaus werent open, they decided to book a luau in Maui which happened to be our wedding day! They supposedly canceled it, but then I woke up to voicemails and missed calls asking where we were from the luau. Bruce and Yaling said they could book us tickets to view Pearl Harbor, but I had to double check everything since I realized they only booked one ticket, and not 2. To top that off, when we visited Pearl Harbor, the ranger came up to us and said HAT does not have a permit to be booking reservations on our behalf. He was nice and let us in, but I would have been SO pissed since we only went to Oahu so that we could visit Pearl Harbor. To say the communication was lacking is an understatement... I had to follow up several times with them when I would look at itineraries because either the days were wrong, car bookings were missing, etc. We were incredibly disappointed with the overall customer service, which is unfortunate because we really wanted to love them since we visit Hawaii every year. Will be using a different service moving forward.

Update from 4/2025 -- Bruce responded to my rating from 3 years ago and took zero accountability. I would recommend using any other travel service.. the worst...