How To Get A Free Hotel Stay In Hawaii
The Mālama Hawai‘i voluntourism program is offering a free one-night stay at a luxurious hotel for travelers who partake in volunteer work during their trip to Hawaii.
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It sounds too good to be true, but the Hawaii Tourism Authority really is offering visitors a deeply discounted or even free hotel stay on several of its islands. The caveat: you must engage in some type of volunteer work during your vacation through the Mālama Hawai‘i voluntourism program. Tourists can choose from dozens of opportunities to give back and will receive one free night at a select hotel in return.
Mālama literally means “to give back” and the tourism authority is hopeful that the incentive will encourage visitors to leave the islands in better condition than when they arrived. Mindful travelers can get involved in reef restoration or reforestation efforts or engage in beach cleanup activities. Other categories on the list of Hawaii volunteer opportunities include agriculture, cultural stewardship, wildlife preservation, and fishpond services.
While one free night at a hotel may not sound like a lot, the 51 participating hotels in Hawaii are quite impressive. You could score a night at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, where an ocean-view room is nearly $800 per night. Or enjoy a luxurious stay in Maui at the Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort and use that $1,600 per night rate on something else.
Not only is voluntourism a great way to make a trip to Hawaii more meaningful, but some of the volunteer experiences also allow visitors to engage with Hawaiian culture in a way that otherwise might not be possible. On its Culture page, the Mālama Hawai’i website says, “The oldest of Hawaiian chants describe the Hawaiian Islands, the spirits that inhabit them, the forces of nature that shaped them and all the living things upon them as inextricably connected. This sense of connection is the foundation of Hawaiian culture: understanding that we all have a mandate to mālama, to care for our environment and for one another.”
Volunteer opportunities with an emphasis on Hawaiian culture include working with the Friends of the Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden on the Big Island of Hawaii. This 13-acre space includes over 200 native plant species, many rare and endangered, and “supports Hawaiian cultural traditions of land use and plants, and conserves the plant resources of traditional Hawaiian cultural activities.” On Maui, volunteer with Maui Cultural Lands, a grassroots land trust organization described as a “living classroom” dedicated to sustainability and cultural preservation.
On the island of Lanai, animal lovers can donate time to work at the Lanai Cat Sanctuary. Because of the low population on this island, the feline refuge relies on Hawaii voluntourism to feed, clean and care for the 600 cats in residence there. Crafty mindful tourists can earn their free hotel stay by volunteering at the Maui Sewing Hui, a group dedicated to sewing projects that benefit the Maui community.
Military veterans can participate in the Mālama Hawaii program by volunteering at the Battleship Missouri Memorial dedicated to the “Mighty Mo,” one of the world’s most famous WWII battleships. Located in Pearl Harbor—about 11 miles from Waikiki—volunteers can perform various maintenance duties including cleaning, sanding, sweeping, and touch-up painting. Volunteers can be as young as 13 if accompanied by an adult but must be 16 or over to volunteer alone.
Note that when checking out the program’s official website, some information is outdated. Not only has inflation doubled or even tripled some of the stated hotel room rates, but the volunteer opportunities may also have changed since the site was originally published. After you choose a specific opportunity and hotel, contact them directly to verify that the program is still being offered.
Another thing that has changed is the state’s COVID-19 requirements. Hawaii no longer requires arriving domestic passengers to test, quarantine or provide any documentation of virus recovery. Tourists do not need to provide proof of vaccination or register with Hawaii’s Safe Travels program.
