I just came back from three weeks on Kauai, Hawaii - one of the nicest places on Earth. This was my third trip there. It's known for a very casual, "no worries" attitude, which is why I vacation there. It's certainly not the prices! I had a fish sandwich with a side of fries for lunch one day for $19.95. The economy is hitting businesses hard in Kauai, as the island is dependent on tourism, which is down, especially in fly-to locations. That's why you would expect that businesses there are working their butts off to satisfy customers, offer discounts and advertise to get people in, right? Oops. "No worries" seems to be translating to, "let's stick our heads in the sand." Unlike previous years, where customer service in Kauai was the best in the world, throughout this trip I was often shocked at poor customer service and cranky attitudes, and how many businesses are reacting exactly the opposite of how they should. I'll give some leway for it having been a rainy winter, but there is no leway when a business goes under in hard times for doing things wrong. 1. There are no discounts anywhere (except hotels), and, in fact, I've noticed some pretty dramatic price increases over last year in some places. Their rationale, as far as I can tell, is "with less customers we need more money per customer to keep the same profits, therefore we raise our prices." It's so stupid as to make me wonder if any of them made it past fourth grade. Not all businesses are doing this, of course, but I have only seen ONE business offering a price reduction or discount to attract the fewer visitor dollars to their business. In the land of high-competition, for things like helicopter tours and whale-watching boat tours, you'd simply expect that one of them would be trying to compete on price. The only business I saw recognizing the value of pricing was Polynesia Cafe,  as they've introduced a new $5 lunch menu. 2. Advertising is down. This is happening everywhere in America, offline and online, and it's also stupid. They should cut their own salary, cut their trash pickup expense, eat roadkill, but they should not cut advertising in a down economy. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when they do - "Glad I didn't spend money advertising because look how down business is lately!" Even semi-intelligent business owners should see their competitors reducing ad dollars and should take advantage of the higher impact available to advertise now. Imagine depending on dollars from the one million visitors to Kauai, and not paying to reach them with ads. 3. Customer service has gotten worse. Our first meal was breakfast at the Wake Up Cafe in Hanalei. Check out my Yelp Review for the full story. For now, I'll just say the waitress was the rudest person I've met in years. I won't be back, and neither will my money. Fortunately, that was my worst experience in three weeks, but I'd guess that about a third of my experiences at stores and restaurants left me shocked at the poor customer service. So each day I wondered what bad experience I was going to have, and if the high priced dinner I was going to have would include a side of poor service. In New York City or Los Angeles, that might be acceptable, but in Kauai, that is very bad, indeed. I am glad I went, I loved my trip, I'll go again, but I'm really hoping businesses wake up and start reacting properly to the new economic realities of today. How are you acting in your business? Are you doing the opposite of what you should be doing, too? Have you thought about it?