Report: 70% of Hawaii hotels that are open agree to issue single-use keys

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Most of the 91 hotels that are open statewide have agreed to a new initiative aimed at keeping tourists in their rooms during the 14-day mandatory quarantine.

A Hawaii Tourism Authority report sent to the Senate Special Committee on COVID-19 shows that of those 91 contacted, 63 agreed to the practice of issuing tourists a one-time use key upon check-in.

The idea: If the visitors leave the room, they could be locked out and need to contact the front desk to get another key. The front desk would notify law enforcement.

The list shows 24 hotels as “pending” Some didn’t answer the calls from HTA employees, while other hotels notified the agency that they had meetings planned about the practice.

Three hotels declined to take part:

• Kauai Inn told the HTA representative that they have hard keys, not the key cards.
• The Royal Grove Waikiki reported that it is an “apartment-style hotel” and are therefore providing keys. The manager told HTA they currently had four guests subject to quarantine, and that they were trying to keep track of them but were short staffed.
• The Grand Naniloa Hotel also declined. The manager said the airport wasn’t providing the information in a timely manner. By the time the hotel was notified that tourists were subject to quarantine, the guests had already checked in.

Hundreds of visitors have been caught breaking the rules. Some have been cited and arrested, while others have been sent back to the mainland.

Despite that, hundreds of tourists continue to arrive daily.

On Monday, 286, visitors landed in Hawaii, the vast majority coming to Oahu.

The mandatory, 14-day quarantine went into effect in late March.

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