LeVar Thomas
Hawaii’s so-called Green Fee is not a separate line on your hotel bill, and that is exactly why it confuses people. It is an increase inside the state Transient Accommodations Tax, the TAT, which rose from 10.25 percent to 11 percent on January 1, 2026 under Act 96, signed by Governor Josh Green on May 27, 2025. The extra 0.75 percentage points apply to the gross rental charged for hotels, vacation rentals and resort time share units across the state, and the Hawaii Department of Taxation has confirmed that the 11 percent rate is the one in force for proceeds received on or after January 1, 2026. On top of the state tax, Hawaii counties levy their own transient accommodations taxes of up to 3 percent, so the combined accommodations tax alone can reach 14 percent before the state general excise tax, which operators may also pass on. For a 2026 trip, the honest way to budget is simple: take your nightly rate, add roughly one seventh of it again for accommodations taxes, and then check the final total on your confirmation rather than trusting the headline rate.
Quick Facts
- What changed: Hawaii’s state Transient Accommodations Tax rose by 0.75 percentage points, from 10.25 percent to 11 percent, under Act 96 of 2025.
- Effective date: January 1, 2026, per Hawaii Department of Taxation Announcement No. 2025-03, dated June 9, 2025.
- Signed: May 27, 2025, by Governor Josh Green, as Act 96 (Senate Bill 1396).
- What it taxes: The gross rental or gross rental proceeds from furnishing transient accommodations and resort time share vacation units, meaning stays of fewer than 180 consecutive days.
- County layer: Hawaii counties levy their own transient accommodations tax of up to 3 percent on the same rental, taking combined TAT to as much as 14 percent.
- Rate duration: The 11 percent rate is set in statute through December 31, 2030.
- Projected revenue: About $100 million annually, according to the Governor’s office, for environmental stewardship, climate and hazard resiliency and sustainable tourism.
- Cruise fares: Act 96 also extended the TAT to cruise fares, prorated by days docked in Hawaii ports, but that cruise provision is under litigation and the Department of Taxation has said it will refrain from enforcing it until further notice.
- Cost of the increase alone: An extra $3.00 per night on a $400 room, taking the state TAT on that room from $41.00 to $44.00.
What Act 96 Actually Did
Act 96 began as Senate Bill 1396 and was signed into law on May 27, 2025. The Governor’s office describes it as the first climate impact fee of its kind in the nation, and the mechanism is deliberately unglamorous: rather than creating a new fee with a new name on your folio, the law raises an existing tax that every Hawaii hotel guest already pays. The Department of Taxation announcement that implements the change, Announcement No. 2025-03, is precise about the mechanics. Effective January 1, 2026, Act 96 increases the TAT by 0.75 percent, from 10.25 percent to 11.00 percent, on the gross rental or gross rental proceeds derived from furnishing transient accommodations and resort time share vacation units.
The same announcement answers the question every traveler who booked early asked: which rate applies to a stay booked in 2025 for 2026? The answer turns on when the money is received, not when you sleep in the room. Under the cash basis method the announcement describes, rental proceeds received before January 1, 2026 are taxed at 10.25 percent, and proceeds received on or after that date are taxed at 11 percent. Travelers who prepaid a 2026 stay in full during 2025 may therefore see the old rate on part of a bill, while pay-at-the-property bookings for the same nights carry the new one. It is a small difference per night, but it explains why two guests in identical rooms can show slightly different tax lines.
Why It Is Called the Green Fee
The name comes from where the money is meant to go. Signing the bill, the Governor’s office said the fee addresses the need to build resiliency against the impacts of climate change by providing a stable source of funding for environmental stewardship, hazard mitigation and sustainable tourism, and projected that it would generate $100 million annually, with projects to be confirmed with the legislature as revenue becomes available. A Green Fee Advisory Council was announced in August 2025 to develop criteria for evaluating projects and to recommend priorities. Travelers will not see a beach restored or a firebreak cut because of a single night’s $3, and the state does not claim otherwise. The honest framing is that Hawaii has decided visitors who use its beaches, trails and reefs should contribute, through the lodging tax, to protecting them, and it has made that contribution a permanent feature of the tax code rather than a voluntary add-on at checkout.
Context matters for judging the size of the charge. Hawaii already had one of the highest lodging tax loads in the United States before Act 96, because the TAT sits alongside county taxes and the general excise tax. The Green Fee did not create that load; it added 0.75 points to it. Travelers comparing Hawaii with other beach destinations should compare total tax-inclusive prices, since a lower nightly rate in Hawaii can still produce a higher final bill than a nominally pricier room in a low-tax destination. Our archive includes earlier coverage of individual Hawaii properties, such as the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel on the Big Island, and the tax math in this guide applies to stays like that one exactly as it does to a Waikiki high-rise.
The Full Stack: State Tax, County Tax and Excise Tax
The 11 percent figure in the headlines is only the state layer. Hawaii law allows each county to levy its own transient accommodations tax of up to 3 percent on the same gross rental, and the counties use that authority: Hawaii County, for example, calculates its county TAT at 3 percent of taxable gross rental proceeds, and the Governor noted at signing that the counties adding their 3 percent brings the total TAT to 14 percent. So on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii Island alike, a traveler should expect combined state and county accommodations tax of up to 14 percent of the room charge, applied to resort fees and other taxable rental proceeds as well where they form part of the gross rental.
Beyond the TAT sits Hawaii’s general excise tax, the GET. Hawaii has no conventional sales tax; instead the GET is levied on businesses, including on rental income, and operators are permitted to pass it on visibly to guests, which hotels routinely do. The practical result is that the total tax burden on a Hawaii hotel night lands noticeably above even the 14 percent combined TAT figure. Because the exact pass-on amount depends on the operator and the county, the reliable number for any given trip is the tax total printed on your own booking confirmation. Budget with the stack in mind, not the headline: on a $400 nightly rate, state TAT at 11 percent is $44.00, a 3 percent county tax adds a further $12.00, and the passed-on excise tax adds more again, before any resort fee is taxed in turn.
A worked example for a week in Waikiki
Take a seven-night stay at $300 per night, a room subtotal of $2,100. At the 2026 rates, state TAT at 11 percent adds $231. County tax at 3 percent adds $63. The Green Fee portion inside the state tax, the 0.75 points that are new for 2026, accounts for $15.75 of that total. Under the pre-2026 state rate of 10.25 percent, the state line would have been $215.25 instead of $231. So the policy change itself costs this traveler about $16 over a week, while the pre-existing tax structure costs roughly $294 before excise tax. That perspective is worth keeping: the Green Fee is real money across millions of room nights, which is how it reaches a projected $100 million a year, but for an individual trip it is one of the smaller lines on the bill, and cutting a night or choosing a slightly cheaper room saves far more than the increase costs. Travelers pairing Hawaii with mainland national park stops on the same trip should also plan those logistics early, using our guide to national park reservations for 2026 for the booking windows involved.
Vacation Rentals and Time Shares Are Covered Too
Act 96 is not a hotel-only measure, and choosing a vacation rental does not avoid it. The Department of Taxation frames the tax around the activity, furnishing transient accommodations, rather than the type of building, and its announcement names resort time share vacation units alongside conventional lodging. Transient accommodations in Hawaii means accommodation furnished to a transient for fewer than 180 consecutive days, a definition that captures hotel rooms, condo-hotels, bed and breakfasts and short-term vacation rentals alike. Rental platforms and hosts are required to collect and remit the tax, so on a rental booking the TAT typically appears inside the taxes line rather than as a separate Green Fee label.
Two practical consequences follow. First, comparing a hotel quote with a rental quote only works on tax-inclusive totals, because both carry the same 11 percent state rate and the same county layer. Second, genuinely long stays sit outside the tax: accommodation occupied for 180 consecutive days or more is not a transient accommodation, which is relevant to snowbirds and remote workers planning a full season, though those travelers should confirm their position with the Department of Taxation rather than assuming a booking structure achieves it.
The Cruise Ship Provision, Stated Carefully
Act 96 did one more thing: for the first time, it extended the TAT to cruise ships. The Department of Taxation announcement explains that, beginning January 1, 2026, the law assesses the tax on cruise ship operators’ gross rental proceeds derived from cruise fares, prorated according to the ratio of the ship’s days docked in state ports to the duration of the total voyage. That cruise extension, however, is under litigation. The cruise industry challenged the provision in federal court, and following court action the Department of Taxation announced it would refrain from enforcing Act 96 as it relates to cruise ships until further notice, instructing operators not to report or remit the tax on cruise fares in the meantime.
For cruise passengers, the careful summary is this: the lodging increase is live and undisputed, while the cruise fare tax exists in the statute but is not currently being enforced. Do not treat an 11 percent cruise charge as a confirmed cost of a 2026 sailing unless the Department issues new guidance and your cruise line shows the charge on your invoice. Equally, do not assume the provision has been struck down permanently; litigation continues, and the position could change. Land-based travelers are unaffected by the dispute either way: the 11 percent rate on hotels and rentals took effect on schedule and remains in effect.
How to Budget a 2026 Hawaii Trip Around the Tax
Start every comparison at the final price. Booking engines are required to show taxes before you pay, so screenshot or note the all-in total for each option rather than the nightly teaser rate. Second, remember what the tax is charged on: gross rental proceeds, which means resort fees and other mandatory charges folded into the rental can be taxed too, widening the gap between the advertised rate and the folio total. Third, if you prepaid any part of a 2026 stay before January 1, 2026, do not be surprised by a blended tax line, since the Department’s timing rules key the rate to when proceeds are received. Fourth, keep the increase in proportion: at $3 per night on a $400 room, the Green Fee is unlikely to decide whether a Hawaii trip happens, but the full tax stack, which can add a fifth or more to a long stay once every layer is counted, deserves a real line in the trip budget rather than a surprise at checkout.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Green Fee a separate charge on my hotel bill?
No. There is no separate Green Fee line. Act 96 raised the state Transient Accommodations Tax from 10.25 percent to 11 percent effective January 1, 2026, and the increase appears inside the TAT line on your bill. Green Fee is the policy name for that increase and for the climate programs the revenue is projected to fund.
How much extra will I actually pay?
The increase itself is 0.75 percent of your gross rental. On a $400 room night that is $3.00 extra, taking the state TAT from $41.00 to $44.00. The full accommodations tax you pay is larger: 11 percent state TAT plus up to 3 percent county tax, with general excise tax potentially passed on as well.
Does the 11 percent rate apply to vacation rentals?
Yes. The tax covers transient accommodations generally, meaning lodging furnished for fewer than 180 consecutive days, which includes hotels, vacation rentals and resort time share units. The Department of Taxation announcement names time share units expressly, and rental stays are taxed on the same basis as hotel stays.
I booked and paid in 2025 for a 2026 stay. Which rate applies?
Under the timing rules in the Department of Taxation announcement, for cash basis taxpayers the rate follows when the rental proceeds are received: amounts received before January 1, 2026 are taxed at 10.25 percent, and amounts received on or after that date at 11 percent. A fully prepaid 2025 booking can therefore carry the old rate.
Will cruise passengers pay the tax in 2026?
Not at present. Act 96 extended the TAT to cruise fares on a prorated basis, but that provision is under litigation, and the Department of Taxation has said it will refrain from enforcing the cruise provisions until further notice. The lodging rate increase is separate and is fully in effect.
How long will the 11 percent rate last?
The statute sets the 11 percent rate through December 31, 2030. What happens after that date is a decision for a future legislature, so travelers budgeting for 2031 and beyond should check the Department of Taxation for the rate then in force rather than assuming either an extension or a cut.
Tax rates and enforcement positions change. Before a major booking, confirm the current TAT rate with the Hawaii Department of Taxation, which publishes the governing announcements, and read the tax total on your own confirmation. Rates in this guide were checked against Department of Taxation and Governor’s office sources on November 9, 2026.
