39 The Essentials: Maui, Hawaii

Speaker A: Foreign.

Speaker B: Welcome to the Hive Mind podcast, where the collective wisdom of the travel industry helps UMAT's travelers with the right destinations in the right hotels. I'm ah, your host, Whitney Schindler, founder and CEO of the Hive, a platform designed to give travel advisors organized, actionable insights they can put to work right away. Each week I sit down for focused, real world conversations with travel advisors, hoteliers and supplier partners who know these places inside and out. We break down how each hotel is best suited to a specific client profile. We take quick deep dive into destinations, and we share pro tips to help you make the most of the hive. And here's the best part. You don't need to take notes while you listen. Go about your day, tune in and know that every insight from these conversations is already captured and organized inside the hive, so it's there when you actually need it. And if you aren't in the hive yet, you can get resources from this and other episodes when you join our newsletter at TheHive Travelpodcast. Today we have a new episode of the Essentials. A, uh, deep dive all about helping you not just understand a destination, but feel it. The energy, the vibe and the nuance that make it unique. Trusted destination partners share key details that matter most and help paint an overall picture that will inspire you as you present the destination to clients. When you bring a destination to life with confidence and clarity, you build trust, you spark excitement, and you make it that much easier for your clients to say yes. Joining us today to talk about the island of Maui in Hawaii is Erika and Jordan Fraunholz, the creators of, uh, the Hawaii vacation guide. Let's dive in. Erica and Jordan, hello. Welcome m to the podcast. I'm so thrilled to have you.

Speaker A: Thank you so much for having us, Whitney. It's so nice to get this time to talk to you.

Speaker B: So Hawaii is overwhelming. I have to full disclosure right up at the top. I've never been to Hawaii ever. Not any of them.

Speaker C: Um, a big disclosure. Wow. Disappointing.

Speaker B: So. But I have researched it many times, of course, and it's not something that I like, promote and say, hey, let me plan your Hawaii trip. But there's always somebody who wants to go to Hawaii. And Maui, of course, feels like the entry point, let's say, or I would say like Oahu and Maui are like the two places that I've been asked most frequently to research without ever having been there. And I'm always very upfront with clients, like, I haven't been there, but I can guide you on what I think I know, and also, no matter how much I research it, it feels really difficult to grasp without having ever been there.

Speaker C: Good point.

Speaker B: Especially when it just comes to you. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker C: They're big islands and there's a lot to do and lots of different areas

Speaker A: to stay and they're unique and the names are quite different from what you are using. Used to pronouncing and hearing and saying.

Speaker C: That's a good point.

Speaker A: So yeah, it gets very overwhelming quickly. I understand.

Speaker B: Yes. So today we're going to focus on Maui just because it is, I believe, one of the most popular. Like it's the best. Cool. Glad that we've got that. Um, now we know where you stand. So before we dive in to all the details, can you give us a little backstory just related to your guys connection to Maui?

Speaker A: Sure. So I grew up going there as a kid, spending summers there on Maui and so very familiar with it. And then we lived together on Oahu for two years for his job.

Speaker C: Yeah. But she got us out there actually because her job was taken to Oahu and I would tag along and that was my first time ever going right after college.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: And I really loved it. So that helped me get a job on Oahu when the opportunity came up. So we lived on Oahu for two years, traveled a ton around all the islands, so we didn't miss any opportunities. And then we had kids and got moved around with my company. And then an opportunity came where it's like, hey, let's move back to Hawaii. We loved it there. And.

Speaker A: And then we could, we could have chosen any island. But we love Maui so much. And so we chose to go back to Maui and we lived in Lahaina. So we lived on Oahu for two years and then in 2019 we moved to Lahaina and stayed for three years. Yeah.

Speaker C: And then that's when we started the Hawaii vacation Guide. We started right away. Pretty much right when we got there is like early 2019 we started the website and then early 2019, late 2019, early 2020 we started the YouTube channel and then Covid happened. So that kind of changed the travel dynamics on the island, but worked out great for us because we could really get familiar with the island, get a lot of like nice easy content and then kind of like lead people through that whole Covid period and coming back to Hawaii and visiting. So we're well positioned there. So. So yeah, YouTube channel's done really well and the website is done really well too. So it's nice. We just try to be as informational as possible to people.

Speaker B: Really help them guide with absolutely no bias, I'm sure.

Speaker A: Uh, yeah, no bias.

Speaker B: Okay, so let's talk. Let's start, like, very foundationally for those listening who are like me and who have never been. But there's also going to be some advisors listening who have like. I've also never planned. Who are you? So let's start with the basics. Talk to me about seasonality in terms of the best seasons to visit, which probably don't exactly align with the busiest seasons because I think that a lot of times the busiest times are connected to school, like Vaca, like summer vacations and Christmas vacations and whatnot. But what I really love to know from you as someone who lived there, is like, when do you guys think is the best time to be on the island from a weather perspective, an activity perspective? Maybe it's related to whales and wildlife.

Speaker A: I don't know.

Speaker B: What are your favorite seasons to be and not.

Speaker A: So there's only two seasons in Hawaii. There's summer and winter. And we. Personally, I love September, October and May. So those are like my go to. You have the best chance for good weather, calmer oceans, fewer crowds. Fewer crowds.

Speaker C: We call it the three Cs. Clouds, crowds and cost. And those are the lowest period for those.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker C: Yeah. Fun with that in the newsletter. Yeah. So. So that's the shoulder. Seasons are great, but the weather's still excellent and it's cooler out.

Speaker A: So. Yes. And our only caveat is if you want to go see whales on Maui, you have to go like Jan. Feb. A little bit more.

Speaker C: December to March is the season. Yeah, yeah. And then. Then. But you're right with the school schedule. Holidays are really popular. So the busy season really starts kind of in December. That's one of the busy seasons. Very expensive to visit then. But it's like magical on the islands during Christmas, you know, it's just Maliki Maca everywhere. It's really nice. And then it gets busy again in July and August. So it gets kind of most. Or June, July and August. Prices go up at hotels. You get more crowds. The thing with Y, it's kind of like busy throughout the year. There's really no off season.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: Especially if you look at the graphs on, um, visitor counts and daily census. There's not a big difference. So. So really it's just kind of, you know, pushing hairs there. Whatever they.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: But if I could choose always without a school schedule, it would be September, October and May.

Speaker C: Gotcha.

Speaker B: So if you are beholden to the school Schedule, as many people are, then I guess we're considering Christmas break, spring break, which can be March or April. It really depends where in the US you live or summertime. So out of those three options, would you lean toward the summer period? I would, uh, lean towards prioritizing whale.

Speaker A: I would probably.

Speaker B: Spring break.

Speaker C: Yeah. Because spring breaks are so spread out, it doesn't feel too crazy. In the islands we like to go during spring break in the resort areas. Feel a little busy, but also lively and fun, so it's not a drawback.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Okay. One of the most valuable conversations we can have is around hotels in a single destination, really digging into what makes each one unique and who they're best suited for. For this day guide, I'm looking for advisors who have personally visited three or more hotels in one city, region, or island and are ready to share their takeaways. If that sounds like you, I'd love to have you join me for a future episode. Head to TheHive Travel Podcast to fill out the interest form and tell me more. Okay, this is gonna be a tough question. In terms of average length of stay. It was like, how long? It's not really. It's less about how long people typically stay and how, but more about how long you would guide someone to come to Maui in order to feel like they had a fully, like, immersive, varied experience on the island, doing as much. Doing and seeing as much as possible. So if somebody said to you, like, how many days do we need on Maui? Obviously you lived there for two years and I'm sure there's something on your list, Jordan, that you're like, I still haven't done that thing quite like I want to do it. But for someone coming and it's like an island hopping conversation. Right. So many people think, well, we just need two or three nights on each island, whereas other people are coming and they're going to give one island 10 full days. So where do you feel is the sweet spot of, like, okay, if you come for about this period of time, you're going to get to see and do most things that you want to do.

Speaker A: I would say a week. What were you going to say?

Speaker C: I was going to say 10 days.

Speaker A: Oh, of course you are. Yes.

Speaker C: Because you're coming all the way from either the east coast or the west coast, so you want to, like, turn into a nice day.

Speaker A: It depends where you're coming from and if you are attacking on another island.

Speaker C: We know all the data on island. They track it too. So, like, over 60% of visitors, Hawaii are coming from the West Coast, Vancouver, you know, all the way down to San Diego. So it's so easier for them to hop over. But Yeah, I think 10 days really see it. And then like you were saying, Whitney, if like you want to do seven days on Maui and three days on Oahu, because a lot of people like have, they have their bucket list on Oahu. Like they gotta see Pearl harbor. Right? So like. So yeah, spend a little time on Oahu and then head over to Maui. Yes, but, but you're right.

Speaker B: And I, I always factor in like, yeah, like the, the number of days that you want. I think it, another big factor is like how relaxed or busy do you want to be? Like, technically, can you do everything in five days? Like, sure, but that sounds horrible. Like you're also on an island. So maybe like give yourself an afternoon to relax on the beach a little bit.

Speaker A: Oh, yes, yes, A hundred percent. Yeah.

Speaker C: Uh, the Average day is 8.2, in case you're curious. But track that.

Speaker B: I really love this data. I would say that you prepared, but I know that you didn't prepare. This is all just in your head.

Speaker C: We try to put in the website, we try to be unbiased. Like, what does the data say? How much does stuff cost? And all this though. Yeah.

Speaker B: So you said the data shows that 60% of people coming to Hawaii. Are, are they including Maui or are they arriving to Maui? What Exactly.

Speaker A: All the islands, uh, 60% come from the west coast.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: Oh no, you said 60% from the west coast. Oh, yeah, sorry, sorry.

Speaker C: If you want to know, it's interesting. So like, for, if you have like, you know, clients, 50% of all visitors go to Oahu by far. It is like most people go to Oahu, especially international, but even domestic. And then Maui is the second most visited island. And then Kauai and the big island are the least visited. Kauai is the least visited. But Kauai's become really popular. So we're kind of seeing a spike in domestic tourism there. But still Maui's the number two island to visit. And it's nice because it's a big island. So you spread, spread out a lot.

Speaker A: Yeah, doesn't feel right.

Speaker B: Okay, so let's talk about the activities and the experiences and the things to do in Maui. Because this is my favorite thing to dive into for any destination. First, I want you to share with me like the most common, like, if. And let's assume that we're, we're considering first time visitors to Maui. If you've never been to Maui and you're coming for the first time. Like what do you feel are the two or three things that like if you don't do this then like did you even come to Maui? And then we can move and then we can move to the more kind of unique activities that are maybe only for people who are have very specific interests. Maybe they're better suited to second time visitors with more time. You know, they're a little bit, they're important, they're exciting, but they're a little bit more unique and not necessarily everyone does them.

Speaker A: I feel like snorkel tour, getting out on a boat, first time visitor for sure.

Speaker C: Yeah, it's the most common especially in Molokini Crater. That's really popular one to go to Little crater offshore.

Speaker B: Ah yeah.

Speaker C: Great visibility. Number two is Rohana Rodahan is famous on Maui. That famous road with all the stops on it. That's where all the waterfalls are. And then Haleakala national park going up top of the volcano. Yeah but it's not active on Maui. But that's where you get those big crater views. People either do sunrise or sunsets or anytime go up and hike.

Speaker A: Sunrise is like the popular you must get reservations for it type thing.

Speaker C: Those are the three big bucket list. Can't miss attractions.

Speaker B: Perfect. So I've heard you say popular two or three times in the last 20 seconds. I would not like to know what's popular. I would like to know what you feel is the best way to do each of these. Because I do know that for all three of these experiences there's. It's not just go to Faliacala. It's like I've had people hike, I've had people like mountain bike downhill from the place. I've had people drive, I've had people self drive road to Honda, I've had tours. So like there's a million ways to do these three things. So I want to dig into and I want your like genuine opinion on not what's popular, not what's most books, but like what you guys feel really provides like the best overall experience for each of these.

Speaker A: For each of those three.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker C: Okay.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: The very first one, which is what?

Speaker C: The snorkeling.

Speaker A: The snorkeling Molokini Crater. If you are doing Molokini Crater, there are two, by far the only two ways we really do it. Now number one is a sunrise snorkel tour from Malawaka Beach. It's a beach loading tour. So you're not driving to the harbor Malaya Harbor. So you're beach loading and it's sunrise. So it gets you out there before any of the other boats are out there. So you have a very uncrowded experience. And it's just amazing. I mean, it's a. It's an experience of calm too.

Speaker C: It's.

Speaker B: Yeah, okay.

Speaker C: It's always kind of calm there. It's protected from the trade ones. But in, uh, that. Yeah, the tour is kind of stop in the afternoon anyway. Yeah, but you're right though. So many go in the morning to avoid the trade. Wednesday, it's busy. So that's why this tour is so nice. Yes, it's with Kai Kanani family. Hawaiian family of Hunza.

Speaker A: Uh, yeah. And that is like luxury.

Speaker C: Really good food. Wonderful.

Speaker A: It's like our favorite. We've been out so many times with them, and it's our favorite. The second, if you have somebody who is more of an adventure seeking client who wants to go out to Molokini, it would be on redline rafting. It is a raft, like a Zodiac. Not a Zodiac, but it's a raft. And they take you around the backside of Molokini. So first you get to snorkel in the crater, which is very beautiful. But then very few tours do this. They take you around the backside of the crater and you get to snorkel down there.

Speaker B: And seeing that drop off into the

Speaker A: water is just stunning.

Speaker C: Molokine crater is like 20ft deep. The backside gets immediately down over 400ft deep. Yeah, it's pretty nuts.

Speaker A: So those are absolutely by far the best two ways to experience Walikini Crater.

Speaker B: So the second one that you described, it's not the sunrise experience, but they just like take you to a different place where the other tourists are going.

Speaker C: Yeah, it's. Yeah, they take you in multiple places because that's not power raft. So it's really fast.

Speaker A: Yeah, I, uh, equate it to like you're going on a taxi to Molokini Crater. The other one is like an expensive experience. Redline rafting, like the best. Yeah. Kaikanani catamaran, sunrise luxury. The redline rafting is like you are in it. You are going like there's. I don't even remember if there was food, but it was just like very focused.

Speaker C: The longer tour, they go to other places too, which is really nice, really cool. Snorkel locations along the island, along the coast.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So you've mentioned snorkeling a lot. Is there diving in Maui or is it not necessary because it's more shallow or do you know?

Speaker C: Yeah, there's scuba diving. Yeah, there's really cool places about like Lanai. There's a lot of scuba diving options. You go in lava caves, lava tubes, really unique places to go. I don't know if there's shipwrecks but yeah, scuba is a bit, a big one. We don't, we don't do a lot of that ourselves personally with the kids. But yeah, it's a big scuba destination. All the islands are okay.

Speaker B: Okay, so sign me up for the first sunrise boat tour that you mentioned.

Speaker C: Yeah, right.

Speaker A: We love it so much.

Speaker B: It sounds wonderful. Then road to Honda. This stresses me out as someone who has never been and trying to figure out like the best way for people to go. I've had clients self drive so that they. Because I'm going to tell you all the ways I did it and then you can tell me how I did it. Wrong.

Speaker A: No, there's really no wrong way.

Speaker C: Yeah, there's no wrong way. Yeah.

Speaker B: So my thought, my thought for one client was like if you're staying in Wailea, uh, trying to drive over to road to Hana, like you're just adding so much distance to even get to the road of Hana by staying over there. So there was a, a hotel kind of not like next to the airport but like there's this little. I should find it on the map because I keep forgetting Marriott by the airport.

Speaker C: There's a few over in Kahului and Wailuku.

Speaker A: Or was it in Paia maybe?

Speaker B: Oh, Paella is where it was. There was like a little beach hotel there and I knew that it wasn't going to be the best hotel situation but the goal was to like position her best to just drive the road to Hana. Some clients have self driven and then just for freedom and flexibility to stop and take pictures. I'm always really nervous with like group tours that you're like ah and then. But you don't have any control. So she self drove there and back all in one day and then continued her stay in Wailea. I've had other clients stay. Is it Hana Maui? Is that the name of the hotel that's down there? And they were happy to have to not have to feel rushed to like have to drive the road to Hana and then like make their way back. But the hotel is underwhelming so it was kind of like. And I knew that I also prepared them for that. I was like the purpose of staying here is not for the hotel. The purpose of staying here is so that you can just enjoy the road to Hana and not have to be like, oh, I gotta get back before sunset. Right. And then I've had people join tours. I don't know if there's any other way to do it but I'm really eager to hear what you feel is the best way to do it because none of these options feel like the golden ticket of like this is perfect.

Speaker A: I don't know if there is a perfect way. It just depends on what you want to do. We've done it always.

Speaker C: Yeah, we love, we do love driving. Like I enjoy driving it. It's a windy road and you know there's traffic and they say what is that? Like all the one lane bridges and 600 hairpin turns. So if people like to drive, go for it. You can stay in Kaanapali or Wailea. It's not a big difference to drive over there. We, we actually never tell people to stay in Pa', Ia, uh, or those other locations just because there's not that many hotels there. I don't mind that drive in the morning. Right. It's kind of an easy drive to start, start it off and, but, but, but you, you can like if you really wanted to start there.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker C: Because it is an all day thing. You can go halfway which is like a five hour trip or all day and that's going to be 10 to 12 hours out of that day.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker C: And then I, I love the two day option that you threw out because it's more relaxing because you make more stops. And that's the goal with the road to Hana is all these amazing stops and if you can fit more in without feeling rushed. And then also too if you sleep in Hana and you're right, there's only the, the Hana Maui Hotel. That's the only like real hotel. There's other like boutique ones but they're uh, not, they're not the nicest but they're, they're fun, they're local. But then if you sleep there then you can get to some of these locations like the black sand beach like super early in the morning and avoid the crowds or be the first one trail which is the bamboo forest.

Speaker A: You can go past Hana, you can

Speaker C: go past Hana and do stuff. So if you really want peaceful chill Rodahana, stay the night. And you're right, the Hana Maui is dated, that's for sure. But it's a charming place. It's got a lot of vintage vibes to it.

Speaker A: I will say group tours are great but they are more exhausting.

Speaker C: They are. I did One with my dad. It's like wow, it's. I mean it's fun. We like smaller group tours, like 12 people. But yeah, you're making the stops and you're going and then it's more relaxing because you don't have to drive and you're hearing all the history as you go. And they know the best stops based on the weather and all that and the season.

Speaker A: And then we've done private tours too which if it's in your client's budget, that was definitely by far like the most enjoyable, unique.

Speaker B: Then you can just. I guess you also just have a little bit more freedom and flexibility to kind of decide what type of stops you want to make. I mean what, what did you feel was the greatest differentiator between the group tour and the private tour?

Speaker C: Well, the private. Well, sorry, go ahead. So, so we, because they really start off because, because we're so experienced with it, uh, we're like hey, show us some place we've never been before. And he did. He shows some really cool little trails and parking spots. He knows the legal place to park because that's a big deal now legal places, there's a lot of, you know, no parking signs and in trouble out there. So it's great. That was best. It's like show us some unique spots. We went to a uh, chocolate farm we didn't know existed. Maui Gold. And then I don't know, just a lot of cool stuff that we've never seen before. Waterfall swims and stuff. So that was really cool. Plus is in a Bronco with the top down. So that was a lot of fun.

Speaker B: Yeah, this, I feel, I feel like this is a must. I feel like if you're, you have to drive in some sort of convertible open air vehicle to really do the road to Hana.

Speaker C: And it's nice when it's right raised up too because you can get a better view. That's really nice. That's nice with the buses too and other buses but like the shuttles that you, you ride your higher 12 person tours. Yeah. You don't want to do a convertible on the road to Honda. I mean it looks great for pictures but it's not a good view.

Speaker B: Okay. That is a good, that's a good tip to not do the convertible. I feel like a Jeep. Like an open top.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker C: You don't need a Jeep. I'm uh, not weight. But they're fun.

Speaker A: They are.

Speaker B: Yeah. I love the idea of stick. So if you do. I like the idea of a private tour to like have somebody who just can like customize the stops for you and you can have that conversation at the top of the day and kind of really make the best plan. But I also love the idea of staying to just like also not feel rushed. So can you do the private tour and stay like, does that logistically work or are you then just kind of paying for the private case?

Speaker A: No, yeah, it's. I've never seen an overnight, private tour.

Speaker C: Yeah, that's a good point.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So it's either a private tour making the most of a day or it's self driving in an open top Jeep.

Speaker C: Overnight though you can drive a lot slower and not worry about it. You can. I mean there's we, we have like on our website the five routes for the road to Hana. You know the classic is out and back. You can do a reverse where you just gun it to Hana and then you hit the stops on the way back. There's all these different variations to you know, avoid the crowd and stuff like that. Yeah, that's what the tourists kind of do too.

Speaker A: I was going to say our friend helped took a helicopter out to Hana and then drove and then the tour was a helicopter and then driving back. So that sounds amazing.

Speaker B: The car's just there waiting for you.

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Speaker B: That also sounds like a, uh, fun.

Speaker A: She enjoyed it.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: It has not come up for us.

Speaker C: No. It's offered to give us a tour like that.

Speaker B: I know helicopters. Yeah, helicopters are tricky and pretty much everyone I meet has a very strong opinion and it's either a strong yes or no. And so I actually don't even bring it up. Clients usually bring it up first.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: And then I just know where they stand and so we just take it. We just go with that. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker C: Uh, Luau's in helicopters. It took a long time before we put those on our website.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: Just because we were kind of about how to present them safely. Yes.

Speaker B: We're going to get to Luos because I feel like that's going to be a really big one. But before we do that, Paliacala. So there's sunrise, there's sunset, there's go whenever you want. Of course there's do it by yourself and a tour. I think I found a tour that I'm pretty sure the tour like took them up at. Around sunrise and then they like mountain bike down.

Speaker C: Yeah, that's, that's a popular way to do it.

Speaker B: Have you done some of like, have you done all of the above? What are your thoughts on the best approach? To Maliakala.

Speaker C: All right. We got a strong opinion on the biking down. We. Same thing as helicopters. Some people love it, some don't. But for us, we just know living on Maui, like, the people who live on that road really don't like the mountain bikers.

Speaker A: It's just. It's not safe because there's no bike lanes.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: So every so often there is horrible accident.

Speaker C: A horrible accident, and you just hear

Speaker A: about that, you know, and there's a lot of local community outreach trying to stop these tourists because it's dangerous for everybody.

Speaker C: Yeah. People driving and people crashing through the yards and. Yeah. If you're going to do one, make sure the guide is with you at all times.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: They may now require that back in the day, they would just send you down the mountain and just some didn't make it.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: Dramatic.

Speaker A: I don't know if the best way to do Haleakala, I'll be honest. We have done sunrise and it was beautiful and gorgeous and magical. I like sunset better because logistically, it's not as exhaust. We were exhausted.

Speaker B: Sunrise is like a 2:33am, um, wakeup call. Like, it's.

Speaker A: Yes. It's crazy. Especially if you're doing a guided tour

Speaker B: because they pick you up, they're picking up multiple people.

Speaker A: Yeah. It's so cold. It's unbelievable. We were wearing, like, swim Perkas.

Speaker C: Yeah. And then you don't know if the weather's going to be like you.

Speaker A: I like sunset, but you have to know what to expect and be committed to.

Speaker C: Like, if it happens, is it gorgeous? So what we usually say is beautiful jet lag. If you're going to get up early anyways, hop on a shuttle and have you go up there. Or drive yourself. You can drive yourself, too. You just have to get a reservation. It's not too bad.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker C: But you can sleep on the shuttle, too. But, I mean, we had great weather. Right.

Speaker A: It was.

Speaker C: If it's not.

Speaker A: It was unbelievable.

Speaker C: It was gorgeous. And the, the, the. The tour guides start doing Hawaiian chants. So it's really magical. As the sun's coming up, they're doing stunning chance.

Speaker A: Uh, it's stunning.

Speaker C: And then, yeah, you go down for breakfast and you make nice stops on the way down. So it's a little bit of a tour.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: But, yeah, sun. The sun sets is also great because if the weather's bad, you can change your elevation, you can go to different locations, or you can choose to not

Speaker A: go because there's live webcams, so you can check the weather up there. And say like, oh, actually the weather looks terrible up there. I'm not going to waste my, you know, four hours doing sunset.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: And then you can also after for stargazing.

Speaker C: And if you hike during the day. Yeah, hiking during the day is great. You don't even really have to hike. There's a lot of small hikes. You just drive to the chem. Like you just go up to the summit, you get a 10,000ft, you get a great view. You can do a shore hike to another viewing location or you can do, if you're a big adventure, you can hike right into the caldera and do some crazy hikes. You know, like all eight hour hikes.

Speaker A: I would say if your clients are planning, planning if they are like wanting to go up to Haleakala, uh, not necessarily for sunrise, but they just want to go up there. I would suggest planning it, giving them like farms to stop at along the way. Because part of getting up there is like it's just such a cool area of Maui that not everybody goes to and they skip it. And there are just so many cool farms.

Speaker C: Farms and great restaurants and towns and historical towns. Yeah. They call hub country. It's really pretty.

Speaker B: So in terms of you're saying that you can see like the live webcam and if you could just decide not to go that day. How does that work though with needing the ticket like the reserved time to enter?

Speaker A: So that was just for if you are going outside of sunrise. So sunrise.

Speaker B: Gotcha.

Speaker A: You have to book. It's a dollar for your ticket but you have to book it in the

Speaker C: airport just to control the crowds between like 7am and 9 9am that's all they're trying to do.

Speaker B: Got it. But then the ticket or the reservation isn't required for other parts of the day.

Speaker C: No, no, you just show up and buy the $30 park pass.

Speaker B: And is it amazing and worthwhile if you're not seeing the sunrise or sunset?

Speaker A: Yeah, oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker B: Stop at some farms on the way up, do a nice hike, see the panoramic viewpoints, you know, do some things and then stop on some farms on the way down.

Speaker A: Like can we also just go for a great meal?

Speaker C: It's a great day out.

Speaker A: Great.

Speaker C: Yeah. See the silver sword up there and the neighbors.

Speaker A: Uh, how many times do you get to go drive up and look into a volcano crater and you know, not often.

Speaker B: Yeah. So it's very cool. Yeah. So talk to me about these farms. What kind of farms are we talking about exactly?

Speaker A: Oh, everything you can imagine.

Speaker C: We have like a list of like 18 farms on our website. And that's same like all of them very Upcountry's got a lot of farms. You're talking like, you know, you can do goat yoga, you can, you can do a goat farm, you can do a bee farm, you can pick strawberries, you can do farm to table brunch or lunch.

Speaker A: A great dining experience is a farm to table. Yeah.

Speaker C: Alpacas are up there. So what your favorite animal is or experience and go for it.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So it could be like an actual farm experience. It can also be like a, uh, nice setting for a farm to table type of meal.

Speaker C: Very romantic. Yeah. Byob. It's really nice. There's even a winery.

Speaker B: Is there a favorite, Is there a favorite stop for lunch or brunch or a meal in upcountry? Is there a favorite that you have?

Speaker C: Yeah, Hula bistro.

Speaker A: Yeah. Coola Bistro, definitely.

Speaker C: Yeah. Cute little place, good menu. And then O Farms is their favorite, like brunch or lunch. Like farm to table experience. You get like. So farm tour. The chef is, um, you know, professional executive chef comes out, tells you everything, where they got it from on the farm or they just caught it and they make a great meal.

Speaker A: Not quite in upcountry, but this little on your way. The Paniolo Town Makoao there has great little restaurants and then right next to it you have the. It's now Lahaina. Lahaina Beer Company.

Speaker C: Oh, Lahaina Brew Company.

Speaker A: Lahaina Brew Company.

Speaker C: Yeah. Good breweries on the island.

Speaker A: Oh, uh, gosh, forgot about this one. My favorite place to stop for sunset if you're coming down is Ocean Vodka Distillery and farm tour or something Ocean organic. They changed the name, but it's. You can do a distillery tour, but they also have a great, like huge outdoor lawn with an excellent view down over like the valley. And they have music and like great food.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: So this would be if you were kind of visiting Haleakala, hiking and everything in the day and then enjoy sunset from this point.

Speaker C: Yes. Yeah, yeah. There's a lot to do up there. You can really structure a big day up there because if you're going to drive up there, you can do a lot.

Speaker A: So much.

Speaker C: And there's farm tours on other parts of the island too. They're. They're all over the place on Maui.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Amazing. Okay, well those are like the three big ones and that's already a full podcast in itself. But you're not done. You guys can't leave yet what are some of the. I mean there's. There's a lot of food. I mean you mentioned there's a lot of other farm tours. There's a lot of food going on around the island. I'm going to let you tell me about that. I know there's other boat tours, like what are some of the other. And then, um, of Luau's. Of course we haven't even mentioned Luau's. So like what are some of the other experiences that it's like, well, if you're interested, you can do this. If you have more time, you can do this. I know it's vast, but give me at least the rundown of the options.

Speaker A: I would say we did touch on this briefly. If you are interested in food, you can do the OO farm tour, which is either a coffee tour or a brunch lunch tour situation where you tour the farm and then they have you. Almost everything that they grow on site you are having during the meal and it's like, you know, 12 people. It's a very small, intimate experience. You can also, if you're into chocolate, there's a cacao farm tour.

Speaker C: Being on for high level, for dining though is I like, like fine dining on Maui is great. You got like Merriman's and Monkey Pod and I'll find dining restaurants and at those restaurants you can find, I call them like Maui surf and turf is always on the menu. Is like you nice ahi, local fish, but then also you have some wild game. Like they have access deer on Maui. That's kind of like the new thing to eat. It's invasive species, so it's kind of fun. They're putting into the restaurant and it's just like fine dining opportunity. It's really good. And then you have food trucks. Maui has a lot of food truck parks, like five or six. Plus we call them lone wolves that are out there. And you can get executive chefs running those food, those trucks. And then you have just great mom and pop restaurants is what I like. Just like counter service been around forever. You know, you get a lot of Hawaiian local food plate lunches, you know that kind of stuff. They can even give you a heart attack in Hawaii if you're there too long. You know the chicken katsu and the musubi and. And all these dishes. Loco moco, the stuff you can really only find in Hawaii. Yeah, we really love the food scene in Hawaii.

Speaker A: It's excellent. And building off the local, the axis deer. If you have any clients that are very into Hunting. A day trip over to LAI to go hunting is a very niche but popular thing to do.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: And then boat tours. They do boat tours over at Tulanai. So you can either take a ferry and go yourself and go to Hulapoi Bay, which is a protected marine life preserve and spinner dolphin resting spot spot. And so you can go do that yourself or you can go out with a tour company and go out to Lanai. Lanai is the, uh, it's, it's part of the county of Maui, but it's the island that's what is six miles coast of Maui. So there's a lot of great tours that go out there. And I will say every time we've done a tour going out there, we are surrounded by Dolphins.

Speaker C: Always, always 90 chance of seeing dolphins. Yeah.

Speaker A: Which is so cool because year round, hundreds of them. Yeah. Hundreds of them in the water.

Speaker C: Yeah. You only see a third.

Speaker A: Yeah. You're just everywhere you look and you. It's amazing. So.

Speaker C: Or you can take a 75 minute ferry out there too.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: To Lai and just DIY it.

Speaker A: I've never seen a dolphin on a ferry.

Speaker C: No.

Speaker B: Interesting. So the fair. So what is, where is the tour taking you that's different than the ferry where you see all the dolphins on the tour but not the ferry.

Speaker A: It's funny. It's not. I think it's just the route. The ferries just go straight to the harbor and the, uh, the, the raft

Speaker C: stop, um, boats stop or go slow and the dolphins like the little boats. So they come over.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Okay. Okay. That makes sense. As your travel agency grows, one of the biggest challenges is making sure your whole team delivers at the same level of expertise you do. That's where the hive comes in. Serving as a knowledge hub your entire team can lean on, you can capture and organize every site inspection, hotel notes and destination insight. Creating a shared library that ensures consistency across your agency. That means your advisors feel more prepared. Your clients receive a seamless experience, and you don't carry the burden of being the only source of knowledge. Every hotel note, every site inspection, every destination insight, every piece of client feedback captured once accessible to your whole team. That's the hive. Explore more at ah thehive Traffic travel. In terms of food around the island, is it kind of a, uh, self exploration diy? Just find the food trucks, find the restaurants, make reservations or is there any specific like food tour or food exper or like cooking class or any like food experience that you guys have discovered that you like?

Speaker C: They're there but no, not cooking classes or food tours aren't that big a experience. It's mostly through the farm tours.

Speaker A: It's mostly through farm tours that you're going to get a food experience.

Speaker C: Very unique food experience.

Speaker A: Yeah. I will say, if you are, there's a lot of obviously, like, fresh, locally caught fish. So researching and knowing that, like, oh, if I'm going to South Maui Fish Company, I'm going to get fish that was probably bought that morning and they'll

Speaker C: sell out by the. By noon.

Speaker A: Yeah. So, like, that's in a food truck, which is. Yeah, it's a food truck restaurant. And then you can also go to, like, the, you know, famous Mama's Fish House on Maui, which is also getting the locally caught fish from that morning. And it's a very different experience, but you're getting. You're getting that local. That local food.

Speaker B: What's your take on Mama's Fish House? Because it's real tough to get a reservation there.

Speaker A: Love it.

Speaker B: If you're not on top of it, love it.

Speaker C: Yeah. Great service is a cool experience. If you can get in, great, go for it. If not, don't, don't stress about it. Yeah, it's always fun.

Speaker A: And I will say I think I prefer lunch a little bit better because it's light and so you can see everything. You can enjoy your day over here.

Speaker C: It's in a. Pretty cool. So it's a nice experience.

Speaker B: Oh, cool, Cool. Okay, we need to talk about luaus. So, but first, uh, there are 60 million options. So can you kind of break down a little bit of, like, what even differentiates one luau from the next? I mean, immediately the assumptions that I can make is like, food quality and the number of people who are there, I suppose, and maybe the quality of the performance or like, you know, the, the vibe and the entertainment. But, like, I want you to tell me, like, if you're. If you're really just trying to compare a whole bunch of wu's apples to apples, what are kind of the key differentiating factors?

Speaker A: So I will say I personally think the performers are top notch at every luau. Cheap, expensive. They are all top notch. They are professionals. They've gone through extensive training to get to that point. So they're all excellent.

Speaker C: So the biggest difference is, yeah, like you said, the food and the crowds and how luxurious it is. The location, usually the price matches that experience. Maui has the best luaus on all the. Of all the islands. You don't get these big theater luaus like you do on Oahu. Nothing against those, but you do get nice, smaller, intimate ones. I mean, you can still get over 100 people, but, yeah, it's hard to find a bad one. I mean, we have our favorites. Old Lahaina Luau is in Lahaina. Amazing experience. We like the ticketing, how all the seats are great. It's a great show. It's only Hawaiian, so there's no fire knife dancing. But the food's amazing.

Speaker A: It's the best luau in Hawaii.

Speaker C: Yeah. And usually we don't love resort luaus, but Maui has really good resort luaus. So either in Kaanapali or in Wailea. Wailea is a little more fancier. You know, I used to love when it's dinner, like food at the table, table service, but man, I've had some great buffet ones too, you know, so it's. It's a tough one.

Speaker A: I think food is hard. You just really have to set your. The expectations for your clients that this isn't going to be as good as what you will get out at a restaurant.

Speaker C: And it's unique food, it's Hawaiian food. So, like, you'll have, like, American options. Let's just call that, uh. But it's mostly gonna be, you know, that Hawaiian flair.

Speaker A: A very cultural experience because you're getting the Lomi Lomi salmon, you know, you're getting the poi, you're getting foods that you might not prefer. You're getting to experience them.

Speaker B: Uh, okay.

Speaker C: Activities, which are a lot of fun, especially for the kids.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So does it seem like most resorts do their own lua, or is it some key resorts that are offering this and it's there for both guests and outside guests to come in.

Speaker A: So you'll either have, yeah. The independent luaus outside of a resort, or you will have the bigger resorts, which will have a few nights a week. They'll do luaus like the Ritz Carlton, the Grand Wailea, Wailea Beach Resort, the Andaz. Those big resorts have their own luau too. And it's for sure guests.

Speaker B: Yeah. So I guess. Do you feel that an outside luau is enough different that, uh, it's like if your resort is offering a luau, does it feel like just go to the resort luau? Because it's simple, you're there and it's probably going to be great. As you mentioned, like, all the dancers are awesome, or do you feel like even if your resort is offering it, some of these outside ones are like, worth the drive, worth leaving the hotel, like, worth going.

Speaker A: Oh, I mean, I think the only one I would drive if I'm staying on the west side. Let's. For example, I'm staying at the Westin. The Westin has a great luau. The Sheraton has a great luau. I think they're both. I think you will enjoy your experience. But I would walk to Sheraton, maybe. I would drive. I would drive to the old Lahaina Luau.

Speaker C: Okay.

Speaker B: All right.

Speaker A: I would just. Because I think it's.

Speaker C: It's splitting hairs.

Speaker A: It's splitting hairs. You're gonna love any of them.

Speaker C: Sometimes, though, it's fun to leave the resort to go somewhere else. I gotta admit, when. When I'm at a resort and I see people lining up for the luau, it doesn't feel very unique and special. It's kind of nice to go somewhere else.

Speaker A: But then also it's nice not have to worry about the drive and parking. I don't know, it's. It's a toss up. That's a hard one.

Speaker C: But our big thing is, like, you don't have to do a luau on your first time to Hawaii. It's. It's just not. We don't. A lot of people are go, I have to do it. And I'm just like, uh, you don't. You don't have to. A lot of people, we used to say, like, if you like going to Vegas for the shows and you want like a big dinner production show, then. Then do a luau. But some people don't like that. So. So don't, you know, don't recommend it if they don't want to do something.

Speaker A: And they're very expensive. So. So it's like family of four. Would you rather spend your money?

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: Where do you want to put your vacation?

Speaker C: Spend $1,000 for a family of four going to Ulua.

Speaker B: Right. I really appreciate giving permission for people to do. To not do the thing that everyone feels. I see the same thing. Like when you go to Paris, I give everyone permission. Like, you do not have to go up and do the Eiffel Tower. I give you full permission. If this is important to you, then we will do it. But if it feels like, if you're even remotely on the fence, like, I give you permission to not do it. So. Yeah. So I appreciate that. Okay, talk to me about how to decide where to stay in terms of removing budget off the table. Because I know that there are different hotels in Lahaina than there are in Wailea. But if we're not factoring in, which is more Cost effective to say we're just factoring in what is the experience to stay in Lahaina versus what is the experience to stay in Wailea and trying to hone in on which is a better fit based on what travelers are looking for. And then once you decide, then we can find the best hotel in that area. But how would you guys describe or distinguish these two areas of the island?

Speaker A: Wailea is going to be a little quieter. Things are a little bit more spread out and it's definitely a more elevated, luxurious feel. That's why. Yeah, Kanapali is also wonderful, but things are a little bit more dense and they're lively. Like there's always like out like it's very. It's very busy shopping.

Speaker C: Yeah. The restaurants are a little more crowded, but also makes it fun, but it's more dense. That's a great way to put it.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: Hotels are closer together and then I

Speaker A: to like little pockets off of both of those. So not little, but you have Kihei, which is right next to Wailea. So Wailea is very luxurious, quiet shopping. Kihei is where you're going to find your best budget accommodations. And it's more.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker A: It's very walkable. It can and some parts have a bit of a spring break vibe going on. Okay. So it's a different feel. A lot of vacation rentals, very few hotels. And then next to Kaanapali. So just north of Kaanapali you have Napili area, which is smaller, more vintage.

Speaker C: Vintage.

Speaker A: If somebody's looking for like that vintage Hawaii feel, nothing's taller than a coconut tree. It feels like a throwback in like a wonderful way. That's Napili. And then actually I forgot there is the last Kapalua has the Montage and the Ritz. So it's also a very luxury area. And that's just next to Napili, my only. And it's beautiful. It's probably the corner quietest area so

Speaker C: farthest from the airport.

Speaker A: So if you're really looking for like a quieter experience, quieter luxury experience, that's where you're going to go. I would hesitate sending people there in the winter because it's gets more storms. It's north, it's, it's west, but it's northwest. So you get a lot of weather and waves coming down that part of the island.

Speaker B: Interesting.

Speaker C: And you're right calling it Lahaina. Kaanapali is part of Lahaina or they kind of call it the Kaanapali resort area. But yes, Lahaina works also to call it.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: So.

Speaker B: Right. It kind of sounds like. Of course, the. The level of hotel that you're looking for is going to probably steer you in one direction or another. But it's also important to consider that if you. What I'm hearing is if you like to go out and like, walk down a nice street, see, have like a lively setting with people at restaurants and just walking around and enjoying the evening, that's going to be more likely to happen. That those vibes are in Tonopali much more than widely. Whereas Wailea is quieter. Yes, people are dining, but they might be dining in the hotels. And, uh, anytime I research restaurants in Wailea, if it's not in your hotel, it's in another hotel.

Speaker C: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And there's good local restaurants up in the shopping centers recently. But you're m. Right, though. Most of the good hotels, especially the big chefs, are in the hotels.

Speaker B: Yeah. Which just doesn't. It's not conducive to having like a street where everybody's kind of sitting outside enjoying dinner. If they're all in the hotels and during dinner. Yes, that makes sense. That makes sense. What do you feel people must eat or drink or try that is very special to Maui While they're there.

Speaker A: Uh, you're gonna say poke.

Speaker C: Oh, yeah, I love my poke.

Speaker A: Poke. Yeah. I mean, that's where it's from. You gotta get it there. It's the best.

Speaker C: And it's always funny. Like you have a poke bowl on the mainland or even overseas, and they always put all this stuff in it. Corn and beans and edamame and sprouts. But in the islands, it's just rice with raw fish on top. And the poke is seasoned with like sesame oil and. And soy sauce and, uh, seaweed and stuff.

Speaker A: Spicy or what?

Speaker C: Yeah, you can get different types, but yeah. Yeah. So poke is the best. Local beers. I, uh, love our local beers. And now they're getting into like, a lot of like, local whiskeys and other things like that. So it's always fun to try those.

Speaker B: Interesting.

Speaker C: Yeah. Loco Moco is kind of like the cheapest. Like classic Hawaiian.

Speaker A: You don't have to try that.

Speaker C: You don't have to. Yeah, that's rice with hamburger patties, eggs, and then covered in gravy. It's just like a really cheap, easy thing to do.

Speaker A: It is delicious and it's very classic. Along with their plate lunch, like in Hawaii, they love their plate lunches, which

Speaker C: is plantation era stuff.

Speaker A: Yeah. Your meat, your rice, Mac salad.

Speaker B: Sorry.

Speaker A: There's also, if you are so inclined. Musubi. So that's Spam with rice around it wrapped in seaweed. My son, who is the very picky eater, can eat moose bees all day, every day.

Speaker C: He's a Spam. He likes to salt and the seaweed.

Speaker A: Oh. I was going to say, if those feel slightly adventurous, don't worry, they're a little. They're not. They're not my cup of tea. But I will say, if you are into seafood, just the, uh, variety of fish that you can get out there, that is, you don't get on the mainland, it's so wonderful. So it doesn't even. You can go to fancy restaurants and, you know, have your seafood, but also at the food trucks, you will get also locally caught fresh fish.

Speaker C: In all these different names that we're throwing out, uh, you can tell they're very, like, Japanese, there's Korean. It's all based on the plantation era when they brought in so much immigrant workers, migrant workers. Most came and left, but they lived on the plantation. They all brought in their food and all mixed it together. So that's why Hawaii is really unique with so much of these different cultures coming together.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese. Chinese were the first. So, um, plus the Hawaiian in there, too.

Speaker B: My last question for you and Erica, I hope you have some, some good insights for us. Where are we shopping in Maui? Are there, like, local Hawaiian designers or brands? Is there. Is it. Is there an area. Is there a specific, like, shop to know about? Like, where are we. Where are we buying fun things to take? Really, not so much.

Speaker A: It's really. I feel like shopping on, um, Maui especially feels very hard. I will say, if you are passing through Makawao, when you were going up country, there's a lot of cute local shops there. And I feel like that's where you're gonna find your best shopping. Because when you get to. There's a big shopping center in Kaanapali, there's a big shopping center in Wailea, but that's like you're going to Lululemon or, you know, Rolex or, you know, and I'm like, sure, I just wanted some cute. I want a cute bag. I want a cute. But so Makawa is where you're going to find those cute boutiques.

Speaker B: Is there better shopping?

Speaker A: Oh, he was going. You're right. That's true.

Speaker C: In the resorts, they always have local artists come in selling their wares. Okay. So jewelry and art and other things.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: And they all do a circuit of all the resorts, but it's all authentic people.

Speaker A: And I will say those, the shops that are in most of the resorts. The Holo. Holo, yeah. They have a lot of local. They do stuff too. So don't, don't skip over the resort little markets because they will have some

Speaker C: local good souvenirs and things like that. We always say the best souvenirs are at the farm, the farm tours, because they're very local. It's great consumables. You get honey that was made from the bees on upcountry Maui. You know, you get really unique things at the farm tours.

Speaker B: Amazing. I always am very excited when a hotel has a gift shop that is like genuinely interesting and unique and has things that are local that I wouldn't be able to find anywhere else. So that is.

Speaker A: And I'm seeing more and more and more of those that uh, are um, popping up.

Speaker B: So.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Okay. Okay. Wonderful. Jordan and Erica, I feel like there are 62 more questions I could ask just about Maui. But I am going to let you go for today. Maybe I'll convince you to come back and talk about another island with me. But before that. But tell me. So tell me how advisors currently engage with the Hawaii Vacation Guide and how we can just kind of learn more about Hawaii through your lens. Because you guys are uh, really experts. But you also have a really interesting approach because you're not travel professionals but you are very adjacent to what we do. I think like we all do the same thing, right? Like we all want to find the best places, we all want to find the best spots and the best tours. It just happens to be that your business model is a little bit different. But we're all, we're all kind of mixing in and doing the same thing. So tell us how we can find you, follow you, what products you have that advisors might be interested in. Tell us all the things.

Speaker A: So you can find us on YouTube and at our website and on Instagram at the Hawaii Vacation Guide. So our website's the hawaii vacation guide.com I will say Jordan writes a bi weekly newsletter and it goes out to over 80,000 people. And but we always get you know, replies back from travel advisors saying like, oh, thank you. This will be great for my clients. So I think we have a lot of travel advisors on there. So if you are interested in just keeping up to date with Hawaii and the free content, you can find that there.

Speaker C: And I share local news, but mostly it's just travel information. So if you stay on the newsletter, you'll become very familiar with everything you need to know about Hawaii just because, you know, talk about island guides and specific tours and all that kind of stuff. That's great.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: And then we also have our island itineraries, which are PDF downloads. So we made them for customers, so people who are doing their own trips around the island. But I do know we have some travel advisors buying them to familiarize themselves, but they. Digital downloads to help plan your trip and take you out on excursion days.

Speaker C: Yeah. Because I feel like a lot of people, which we don't. We help out people figuring out where to stay and, uh, how to do air, airplane tickets and rental car. But that's great stuff for travel advisors to be able to help people with kind of take that off their plate. And then this, the what to do once you get to the islands. That's where the itineraries come in. Like, so many great things to do, where to eat, all of our favorite hits on. On, you know, all the restaurants in all the areas. So the stuff that's like, what do I do when I get there? And we. We answer that in our itineraries.

Speaker B: Yeah, that's what I'm actually most eager to kind of learn from the guides. I will be purchasing all of them. So you'll be seeing my name come through soon. Because the tour options and the activities, like the number of options are overwhelming. And all I'm really ever looking for is like, okay, I know they want to snorkel, or I know they want to do road to Honda, but like, which is the best one? And like, how, you know, I don't want to look through 65 different tour companies. I just want to know which one to Erica and Jordan, like, so that's kind of like the very specific detail that like, you guys have tried them all. You've talked about them.

Speaker A: And so I know we've gone so many tours. Yeah, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it. We made our.

Speaker B: Somebody has to do this.

Speaker A: We made our best luaus on each island, like article and video. And I was like, we are going to have to go to school. So many luaus. And I was a little worried, but our kids now are like, what do you mean we're not going to five luaus this trip? And I'm like, sorry, guys. Like, that served its purpose.

Speaker C: We got them into luaus.

Speaker A: They love to dance now.

Speaker C: Yeah. They make it through the whole luau, which is impressive.

Speaker A: Yeah. And they think that every vacation has like 3 to 5 LU.

Speaker C: We spent so much money on luaus. Uh, it's really something.

Speaker B: Honestly. Like, you guys are so, like, you're so adjacent to travel professionals because this is what we subject our families to as well.

Speaker A: Yes, totally.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker B: No, no. Do not walk into that hotel room before I take a video. Yes. This is the third move off. Sit down and enjoy it. And learn the dance while you're at it.

Speaker A: Yes, exactly. Yeah. You'll have to come with us out to Hawaii.

Speaker C: Yeah, no kidding.

Speaker B: Perfect. I think that our families would fit right together. Like, okay, let the, let the travel people do what they gotta do. They know the drill at this point.

Speaker A: Yes, exactly. Perfect.

Speaker B: Amazing. Erica and Jordan, thank you so much for sharing all of your insights on Maui. I really enjoyed our conversation and I really appreciate your time.

Speaker A: Thanks for having us. That was so fun.

Speaker B: Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of the Hive Mind Podcast. If you enjoyed today's conversation, be sure to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. And if you know a friend or colleague who would enjoy this, please share it with them. If you would like insights from this episode landing in your inbox each week, join our newsletter at TheHive Travelpodcast. And remember, if you'd like to contribute to a future episode, whether it should sharing your destination expertise or your experience touring hotels, just head to TheHive Travel podcast to learn more and express your interest. We'd love to have you join the conversation. Until next time.