Presumably they canceled because prices are now much higher and they’ll just reoffer? Either way, that’s a real bummer.

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

That’s terrible, wish I had an option to help out.

So far, I’ve been lucky with using VRBO to rent race destination lodgings. Never had a cancellation or post-reservation price increase.

But given the demand for housing race week, does anybody know what would keep VRBO from cancelling a reservation and then listing and renting the place for more outside that platform?

That said, can you report the cancellation to VRBO and have them watch the listing to see if it comes back on the site at a higher price?

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Sharon McN
@IronCharo
#TeamZoot
Clif Bar Pace Team 2003-2018

The management realtor company told me that if the owner re lists the property on VRBO or AirBB they will be blocked what ever that means. I will likely bag the race and can’t imagine anyone prioritizing this kind of money although there appears to be a market. Still 100s of slots still to be allocated and good luck on the “Kona Experience” ….. I am starting to believe we are all suckers. Probably the first thing IM says when negotiating a new race venue…. These athletes will pay anything…. Huge local GDP influx LOL 😂 Eyes on a MT Bike.

That's very sad to miss your dream over there in Kona, wish I had something more to offer, but prices over there right now are just crazy, I have stopped looking myself to go anytime. To think back in the early 80's when we used to go for Ironman condo was less than most of those prices today for a week. Best of luck to you. LA Rob

You will likely need book up at Waikoloa area, I got something there. I’ve hired car which costs heaps too.

I am hoping Ironman run race day buses to get us to the venue start though as there are going to be a lot of people trying to get into town for the race.

Shit. Feel really bad about that for you. My booking is with Tripadvisor: hope do not get a bad surprise either.

Price gouging for sure. I used to stay at the cockroach inn called Kona Islander for $75/night back in the late 90’s early 2000’s. Time to move the WC around. A place that isn’t so limited on housing.

Any updates on 2023 WC? Consensus at StG in May was that they would wait for 2 day Kona to be a success (in the minds of locals) and become the norm. That will mean qualifying races will start in September without a clear word on number of slots or venue.

I hate the two day Kona. It has devalued the accomplishment and made this all about who is ready to spend the money.

I’ve been a staunch defender of Kona being the sole WC venue, but with the two day version, it might be best just to rotate the damn thing.

This happened to me too about 6 weeks ago. The lister said "whoops, we double booked for the time you're here". Ended up rebooking in Puako/Waikoloa area. Not as cheap as the orignal booking but not the $3k a night to stay in Kailua-Kona.

It has always been about who has the money in my opinion

I just cancelled my condo and flight last night if anyone is looking. It's VRBO property #373810ha, a studio.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Just to provide a bit of counterpoint (of course, everyone entitled to their own opinion):

This is my first year racing Kona. I don't have any problem with it being a two day event (I'm racing Thursday in 50-54... which I actually prefer, as I'll get to spectate MPRO race).

I'm looking forward to the experience immensely. What could be rotten for some people will be awesome to me. To be honest, I don't care what people's experiences were in the past. I'm interested in my experience now.

Hawaii is expensive. It was when we went there on vacation last year. Prices we locked in are the same for Kona.

I'm a competitive AGer - top 3/5/10/15 in my AG for just about every full and 70.3 IM race I've ever done for the last 15+ years. I have little interest in a WC other than Kona.

I got sick to my stomach when I started booking our trip to Kona. First time racing and probably last until my kids are moved out. I would not have chose to go if my wife hadn't talked me into it. I'm looking forward to getting the Kona experience over and racing other locations. It's too damn expensive for us.

---

http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

I know it is more expensive for people coming from outside the US, but for a middle class American, you can afford to do Kona in a normal year. I know a teacher that does it every year.

Do you have to fly the whole family over? Do you need to drop major coin at the expo? Do you have to stay at the Four Seasons? No. Just make it a priority and save elsewhere in life.

Have you ever been to Disney World? I don’t know where those customers come from. Thousands of people are burning more cash being there on a given day than a triathlete doing Kona.

Xheck to see if the Konabillfisher has any units.
It is in an excellent location and a mile from the start
Its a timeshare condo unit and the parking lot is 15% full at most Kona races.

We bought a unit in 2014 and stayed there every year they held the race.

Certainly seem to be - the konabillfisher website has some availability - as below. I'd tend to think that's not terrible for a week.


B2 September 15th-29th & October 6th-13th 2022
GORGEOUS unit with partial OCEAN VIEWS! 1BR 1 BA with Kitchen. Sleeps 4 and a shorter walk to downtown! The weekly price during Iron Man is $1000.
Asking $125 a day, $600 a week
Please contact <x> at <number> <x@email.com?
Exp: 09/01/2022

Happened to me in April. Booked Dec 2019 for 2020 at a super low price. said it was sold??? but pretty sure they just wanted the extra $800 a night. WHY hotels > VRBO

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

Have a blast. Earning a KQ in '17, then finishing Kona was totally worth it. No kidding, I only bought a coffee cup, and a bunch of priceless memories.
Enjoy the journey

---

I saw this on a white board in a window box at my daughters middle school...
List of what life owes you:
1. __________
2. __________
3. __________

My wife and I travel to Hawaii every year.
When looking at prices this summer and next spring, we're almost at the point where we won't return.
I can always find decent flight prices, but everything else has gone absurd.

 
Going to brutal for the Europeans as the dollar continues to strengthen.

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it's different this year. my first kona was the first kona, in 1981. i've been there three-fourths of the years since, and this'll be my 15th or 16th consecutive i think, or thereabouts. this is not like any other year, because there are twice as many athletes racing, which means twice as many families and so on. the prices are outrageous. ridiculous. like, double or triple. because i knew this was going to happen i got my condo and paid for it more than a year before the race was going to take place. of course i'm waiting for this host to figure it out and try to wiggle out of it, even though i paid in advance last september.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Don't you get to write it off as a business expense? 😂

yup. i'm laughing all the way to Park Place.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Huge rolldowns because of that here in Europe.

I had this happen to some friend and I for a race (not Kona) last Summer. Given the choice of price hike or cancel.
After a couple of rounds of arguing, we told them to go fook themselves, on principle. It was via Booking.com.
Booking.com were a total bunch of shameless unhelpful c###s.
The way to deal with them is to stop giving them money. Otherwise they bear no impact (in fact they'd gey a bigger % so is in their interest to shaft you). And go slag them off on every social meeejia site you can. Both the middle men and the actual vendor.

And yes. IM needs to move from Kona.

IM was and is fine in Kona until they decided to double it up without considering the consequences.

It sucks for people who want to go but can't afford it. But I get your point. It was never a true WC to begin with*. The small pool is just shrinking further.

*It's only a WC for the professionals. For others it's just a qualifying event like Boston.

Been to many countries of the world, booked dozens of AirBnb/Vrbo homestays, and never had problems with owners/listings until I tried to book places in Kona:

"You mentioned that you're gonna race Ironman? We had problems with the participants in the past, you're not welcome, sorry"
"Hi, I have not adjusted to pricing for Ironman. The rate will be different, would you agree to 350 per night?"
"Sorry, I'm selling my condo, so the booking will be canceled"
and a couple more excuses I don't remember.

I'm the same...

I've gone to hawaii at least once a year for the past 20 years. The prices are just absolutely absurd now to the point that it's not about being able to afford it. It's about going and it actually being worth it. Things were always expensive there but it's gone beyond what I'm willing to pay.

Just by coincidence. We skipped Hawaii the last 1.5 years and went to Saint George 3 different times. Cheap flights, nice reasonable housing, great weather.

Is it lounging on a beach? No. Is it so much more affordable that we can go 3 times instead of once? Yes.

Hello,
Just KQ in IM Austria.

And i found the nightmare of finding an accomodation.

Would it be posible to find alternatives even further tha Waikoloa, but still possible to go to kona (not every day), and to find an accomodation for just the night of the race in Kona (or sleep in the auto).

BR

I don’t know how many people you had planned to travel with, and you’ve probably already done this, but maybe put a note on Slowtwitch, and on the Kona facebook groups asking of anybody has lodgings to share? It’s a shame to miss out on the Kona race if you’ve never done it before. And with two races rather than one this year, it’s going to be a fantastic spectator event for the competitors as well as the friends/family.

---

Sharon McN
@IronCharo
#TeamZoot
Clif Bar Pace Team 2003-2018

I am up there too in a Hilton property I booked way back. Booked Mon-Sun, good rate; same with a car reservation. Something came up and I may to adjust my travel to something like Wed.-Mon. Perhaps that does not leave much time before I race Saturday, but it is what it is. More to the point, if I modify my reservation--even if I were to just try to drop Mon and Tue night--it triggers the current rates, which is over double at what I booked at. I would end up paying more just for shortening my stay by two nights. Maybe I keep the reservation and offer a free Mon and Tue hotel room to someone who wants it under my reservation. Need to finalize plans first.

What a mess the week is going to be for many.

I'll be curious how you like Puako. I was looking there (with family) but logistics getting in and out on the day looked like a bear. Curious if I am overthinking it.

For anybody wanting to stay in town, at the finish line, the Kona Seaside Hotel just had 10 rooms cancel. $350/night. You need to call them instead of reserving online.

Honestly, part of this is serious. Part of this is sarcastic...but the white remote tech worker has destroyed a lot of housing markets across the US and elsewhere. (Maybe they're not all white people but I digress) Hawai'i has been heavily impacted by this, with remote Tech workers purchasing housing inventory en masse. And now, even though they've been recalled that housing inventory hasn't returned to the market.

https://twitter.com/...XHOUy3uK_hw&s=19

Another place that this occurred was in Mexico City, LA Times did a huge expose on this. Where these people changed the character of entire neighborhoods and forced the cost of living for locals in those neighborhoods to skyrocket.

https://www.latimes.com/...want-them-to-go-home

So, I'd say the pandemic and the pandemic response by regressive government restrictions is destroying places that we didn't really think about.

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Devalue? Bitter?

starting to look for 2024 lodging - how is the drive down from Puako/Waikoola race morning? able to find a place to park?

In 2022 I was staying in waikoloa beach.
The drive to Kailua pier was around 40 minutes and didn't seem to change much depending on the day, never got much faster, never got much slower.
Lots of people parked in the parking area between Palani road and Safeway. Some shops had signs saying not to park there and that they might remove cars if you're not a customer, I don't think they really enforced it on race day.

I am so sorry to hear that. This happened to me last year.... those prices would have been double that. I had used AirBnB and anything under $1,600 per night was not a real listing. They would write back and say they had a place out in Kawaihae available for that price. Ultimately we found a Facebook listing for an illegal rental that saved our bacon. No AC, no stove/oven, no supplies, no pool, no TV. I did still have a fun race. But no question it took a lot out of the whole trip to have spent a 6 day trip in 3 different places and 16 hours looking and moving in and out of places.

It was no big deal. They had parking available at the old KMart. Took maybe 30-40 minutes and a 5-10 minute walk to the pier. Getting “home” was easy too, but plan on having someone drive you.

I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.