The Days Off - Travel Guide » Travel Deals

Hawaii roundtrip airfare from SFO and 3 nights hotel $299 /pp

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 23:56:50 +0000

Pleasant Holidays is having a sale on their vacations to Hawaii in August 16-August 31, 2010 starting at $299 per person.This includes both round trip airfare and hotel.

We tried some sample dates and got SFO to HNL for $621 after fees/taxes (8/25-8/28) with the Castle Ocean Resort Waikiki hotel. Upgrade to a nicer hotel for a little bit more.

This is an excellent deal if you want to plan a quick trip in late August to Hawaii! Airfare alone is over $300 per person.

Pleasant Holidays Honolulu

Pleasant Holidays Maui

Starwood American Express 30,000 SPG points ends July 6

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 19:34:41 +0000

Starwood is offering 30,000 points for new cardmembers until July 6, 2010. This is one of the best offers for the Starwood American Express card for signup. Upon approval, $1,000 in eligible purchases need to be made in order to get the 30,000 points credited. If you have been considering this card, now is the time. They usually have the 10,000 point promo, so this is a much better deal.

Earn free nights and upgrades at over 940 hotels and resorts – no blackout dates

Redeem Starpoints to fly on hundreds of airlines with no blackout dates

Earn Double Starpoints on stays at participating Starwood hotels and resorts

Pay no annual fee for the first year (then $45/yr)

https://www143.americanexpress.com/apisites/LandingAction.do?partnerId=95&channel=1000&landingCode=93&IM=SPG_11549424SS_AMEX_US_RSS

What are the benefits to this card? Personally, I like the fact that there a lot of resorts in Hawaii that will accept the SPG points for discounted rooms. Also, rather than only being able to use points to get a room, one can use $$$ and points to get good deals. In most cases, the cash and points offers the best value if you don’t have several thousand points to use. SPG has a wide variety of hotels including the really nice St. Regis Princeville Resort in Kauai, Westin hotels, and Sheraton hotels. Good value properties are the Moana Surfrider and Princess Kaiulani. The Hilton HHonors is also a good card if you don’t want to pay an annual fee, but the points aren’t worth as much.

For more information, visit the FlyerTalk thread at:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starwood-preferred-guest/1100740-spg-amex-30000-starpoints-1000-spending.html

Good analysis on the value of 30,000 SPG points:
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2010/07/01/enroll-by-july-6-for-starwood-american-express-30000-points/

Hawaiian Airlines Airfare Starting at $288 RT

admin — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 23:48:21 +0000

Good prices on airfare from Portland to Maui $288. LAX to Honolulu is a good price at $368.

Book: 1/14 – 1/19/2010
Travel: 1/14 – 3/11/2010
Las Vegas – Honolulu    $438*
Los Angeles – Honolulu    $368*
Oakland – Honolulu    $378*
Phoenix – Honolulu    $338*
Portland – Honolulu    $388*
Sacramento – Honolulu    $468*
San Diego – Honolulu    $418*
San Francisco – Honolulu    $358*
San Jose – Honolulu    $358*
Seattle – Honolulu    $422*
Portland – Maui    $288*
Seattle – Maui    $452

http://www.hawaiianair.com/specialoffers/pages/hawaii-secret-season.aspx?hacmp=TS_Razorfish_1×1_2010_National_TravelSearch

Hawaii Entertainment Book 2010

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:47:01 +0000

One of the best ways to get deals on Hawaii attractions and restaurants is to purchase the Entertainment Book for Hawaii. For Oahu travel, the main coupon in the book is the Buy 1 get 1 free at Polynesian Cultural Center. (up to a $45 value!) There are many free coupon flyers at the airports, but the discounts aren’t as good as the ones in the Entertainment book.

My favorite coupons in the 2010 Hawaii Entertainment book are the following:

Polynesian Cultural Center (buy 1 get 1 free)
Safeway $5 off $50 grocery purchase (restrictions apply)
Buca Di Beppo $10 off $20 purchase or more
Kailua Sailboards & Kayaks Inc. Rent 1 kayak, get another free.
20% off Borders books coupon (usable anywhere in USA)
$10 off $40 Radio Shack coupon (usable anywhere in USA)
4 Discounted Regal Cinema tickets ($7 supersaver or $8.50 unrestricted)
Maui: 50% off Boss Frogs weekly snorkel rental
Many coupons for food/attraction discounts

If you plan to go to the Polynesian Cultural center, this will basically pay off the cost of the book. The Entertainment website sells the book for $35, but there are ways to get it for less. I got my book through eBay for $28 shipped through this vendor. There are some other ones that remove the good coupons and the card from the book and charge less. Make sure you read the description since I’ve seen auctions that say “Polynesian Cultural Center not in book” etc. Also, make sure you get the 2010 edition since the 2009 one expires November 1, 2009.

Priceline bidding for Hawaii

admin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:19:54 +0000

I recently booked most of my hotel rooms for a Hawaii trip using Priceline. You can get some great deals on the Marriott Kauai resort, Outrigger hotels, and many others. Overall, Priceline offered savings between 30-50% over the hotel’s website. The secret to bidding on hotels is to

Stick to resorts or 4 star hotels. This will offer the greatest amount of savings. You cannot choose the hotel you want to stay in with Priceline, so its best to stick to a hotel class that will offer consistent rooms that aren’t going to be a big disappointment. The caveat is that resorts will require a “resort fee”, which isn’t covered by Priceline. This resort fee covers the usage of the pool, amenities in the room, etc. In some cases, Priceline bidders get rooms that as designated as “Priceline rooms” which don’t have ocean views, older towers, etc. So, best to aim for the highest room class you can afford.
Best time to bid is either a month in advance or within a week of the reservation. Always book a cancelable reservation at the hotel’s website in case no more rooms are available at the desired price. During slow seasons, you can get some real great deals within the week of the reservation since hotels would prefer to get money vs. an empty room.
Don’t bid too high. Two resources that I find useful are biddingfortravel and betterbidding. Better bidding actually is my preferred resource since they seem to have a bigger community for Hawaii hotels. Bidding for Travel is a solid resource, great for many cities. You can also get an idea of what to bid by looking at Hotwire and matching the amenities with the lists on betterbidding.
Flexibility. If you need cancelable reservations, then Priceline or Hotwire isn’t the best idea. If you can’t get a winning bid, try breaking a longer period of dates into multiple reservations.