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When should I book?

When spots fill up depends on the activity and the time of year. While you can attempt booking last minute, we recommend booking as early as possible, at least 1-2 weeks beforehand for many activities, in order to ensure you get your top choice for time and date. We've worked hard to handpick the best activities, and we'd hate for you to miss out on them!

Our best price guarantee protects you in the unlikely case you find a better price, and our flexible cancellation policy (free cancellations or changes up to usually 24-48 hours prior to activity) means you can change your mind in the future. We also have a Pay Later option, so no payment is taken at the time of booking as long as it's more than a week in advance.

Are there any fees?

No! We do not add any fees for taking advantage of our in-depth activity information, our meticulous curation, our convenient online booking, and our rewards program. Beware that other websites, even some activity operators with online booking on their own website, include hidden fees at checkout, which they sometimes lump with taxes. These can be up to 10%. Not only do we not do this, but we give you up to 10-15% back in the form of rewards. Note: we are required to charge sales tax (4-5%), and some activities have a harbor tax (3%), but these are clearly labeled as such, and we do not add on our own booking fee.

How does the Best Price Guarantee work?

If you find a better published rate for the same activity and date anywhere else, let us know and we can often match it if you haven't yet booked or refund the difference if you have. You must contact us before you have completed the activity. Temporary coupons and promotions that apply to everything sold by another seller or that have restrictions do not count. The final price (inclusive of any taxes and fees) will be the point of comparison. In order to afford to give you a lower price through price matching, any reward points for that booking will be forfeited.

Once I complete checkout, is my activity booked?

We work closely with our activity partners to only sell spots that are available. The majority of our activities are synced with the operator's real-time inventory system that allows us to instantly confirm your booking. Our individual activity pages state whether "Real-time Availability" and "Instant Confirmation" applies; if so, you will see these listed above the Highlights box at the top of the page, usually near the location and time / duration.

For other activities, in rare cases the exact time or date may no longer be available for your party size, in which case we will contact you soon after you submit your booking to provide you with another available time/date for your consideration or cancel your booking if you'd prefer. For bookings within 48 hours of the activity date, your booking will be expedited for confirmation, or we will block out the date if we cannot confirm quickly.

How does payment work?

In order to secure your spots, you will need to provide a credit or debit card during online checkout. If the activity date is within a week, an "authorization" (i.e. pending charge) for the full amount will be made on it and captured/finalized within a week. As long as you follow the individual activity's cancellation policy (typically can be cancelled until 24 or 48 hours prior), there will be no fee or penalty in the case of a refund/cancellation.

If the activity date is more than a week away, you will instead have an option at checkout between:

  1. Pay Now (capture the full charge)
    If you choose this option, a pending charge for the full amount will be placed on your card at the time of booking. It will be finalized/captured within a week of making the booking, and it therefore may show as pending on your card during this time (or even temporarily disappear until it's officially "captured"). In the event all or part of the captured charge is refunded for any reason, whether you initiate a cancellation/change or whether an unexpected issue related to that activity (e.g., weather, pandemic, logistical issue, etc.), the 2.9% in card fees that are not returned to us by the banks will be deducted from the refunded amount. Many travelers still prefer this option so the payment is finalized asap and they don't have to worry about any issue with their card being charged closer to their activity date, when they may be traveling and it is time sensitive.
  2. Pay Later (charge closer to activity date)
    If you choose this option, the card you enter at checkout will be saved on file and then charged about 5 days prior to the activity date. It is the traveler's responsibility to make sure their card on file is active and has enough available credit at that time, although we will also make an effort to reach you in the event of any charging issues. This option is better for those who want to avoid any possibility of losing the 2.9% card refund fee. This option is 100% risk-free as long as you follow the cancellation policy of the specific booked activity, in which case there will be no fee deducted for any refund.


Can I then just show up?

Once you receive our email confirmation (the second email, listing the location, time, and other details), you can then just show up and check in under your booking name. You may be asked to show an ID. There is no need to print anything.

How do I change or cancel a booking?

The cancellation policy varies by activity, but changes or cancellations are typically allowed up to 24-48 hours prior to activity time. Please see the Terms & Conditions at the bottom of an activity page for the specific cancellation policy, or please refer to your confirmation email if you have already booked. Cancellations or change requests (pending availability) must be made prior to the cancellation cut-off and can be made by contacting us, ideally by just replying to one of our confirmation emails. If it is after the cancellation cut-off, please try to keep your scheduled time; otherwise, you would need to contact the activity provider directly for cancellations or changes, and it is at their discretion whether to make an exception and accommodate your request.

Can I split a booking across multiple credit cards?

The best way to do this at this time is to make separate bookings, unless the activity page instructs otherwise. Please answer the checkout question about Associated Bookings so you can remain together (e.g., at the same table, or in the same van).

For last-minute bookings when availability may be very limited, you may want to book for the entire party at once to ensure everyone gets a spot.

By request, if you are a larger group and it's important to you to make a single booking under a single email address but have the charge split, after booking contact us with the breakout and we can send you separate invoices that you can easily pay online with separate cards (or forward on to others to pay).

Do you have Kama'aina or other discounts?

Although we do have some upfront discounts for specific activities and a rewards program where you get up to 15% back with each booking, we do not have Kama'aina (local resident), military, senior, or other such discounts at this time.

Do you work with travel agents and affiliates?

Yes we do! If your revenue model is based on commissions paid by the supplier, please email us to inquire about special rates for booking your clients. In general, if you plan on making the booking, we can offer a coupon code for 5-10% off, which you can then pocket as your commission. The discount amount varies by activity, and blackout periods may apply.

If you regularly cater to Hawaii travelers and would like to discuss a partnership, especially if you wouldn't directly make bookings but your travelers would, we'd love to hear from you! For example, we can provide custom links that you can pass along to your users or integrate into your website, blog, social media, or emails, which we can then use to track bookings and compute commission payments.

What currency are the prices in?

U.S. dollars.

What are Rewards?

Every online booking earns you enough points that you can redeem for credit towards another booking or cashback! Credit earned on a booking generally comes out to 10-15% of the (pre-tax) price, whereas cashback comes out to about 5-10%; activities with upfront discounts may be less.

What are the different type of rewards?

TravelShack Credit
These give you a specific dollar amount that you can apply to a future booking. May not apply more than $100 in credit towards a single order and not in combination with any other promotions or special discounts. The minimum order amount (pre-tax) that credit can be applied to is $200. Reward points are not earned on credit.

Cashback
These are for a specific dollar amount returned to you on your credit card used for booking. It may be applied prior to finalizing the charge (so shown as essentially a discount) or after finalizing the charge (so shown as essentially a partial refund).

How many points will I get?

The amount of points earned is directly tied to the purchase price (more specifically, the subtotal before taxes/etc.), and it also varies based on the activity. The exact number of points is shown in the booking form after you start the checkout process (so after clicking the Book Now button on the activity page).

When and how can I redeem my reward points?

Points are available for redemption after you've received the official booking confirmation email (usually within 1-2 business days, but often immediately). Although an online rewards redemption system is in the works, at this time if you'd like to use Credit on a new booking, please make a note with your new booking to apply your reward points, and we will deduct from the new booking price before finalizing the charge (after you submit your booking); alternatively, you can contact us and we can provide a coupon code to use for your new booking. For Cashback, please contact us. You can calculate the exact value of your points by taking your reward points and dividing by 150 points for the $ amount for Credit or by 225 points for the $ amount in Cashback.

When do points and rewards expire?

Unredeemed points expire 14 days after the latest activity date you booked. For example, if you book a snorkel cruise for December 28 and a luau for January 1, any unredeemed points would expire on January 15.

TravelShack credit expires 1 year after points are redeemed for such credit.


For a question not answered here, or in the detailed FAQs on the individual activity pages, please contact us.