BEAT OF HAWAII AND BEYOND

Yet another unbelievable deal to Hawaii on American Airlines this week, though at least at this point, there appears to be very limited availability (see below).  At this price, the fare covers perhaps 50% of their fuel cost.

• $277 round-trip (all-inclusive)
• Airline: American
• Dates: Through end of schedule
• Travel: Every day
• Minimum/maximum days: 3/60
• Advance purchase: 7 days
• Availability:  Very limited (use aa.com flexible date search).  I found dates in November and in January, as of this morning.  I’d keep checking for more availability and for others to join in the deal.

Orbitz is joining in the Hawaii deals this week, big-time!

This $589 deal, is based on an excellent Hawaii promotion code offer, which has many possible uses.  The offer is valid for travel through next March, but must be booked by December 31.  It offers a $250 discount on a 5+ night air/hotel package, and is theoretically available from anywhere (see the terms below).

In this instance, what I priced for $589, was from Los Angeles to Honolulu, using Delta or American Airlines.  The hotel available at that price was Hawaiian Monarch.  For literally a few dollars more, there were many other hotels offered including the inexpensive yet popular Aqua hotels.  Availability at that price appears to be through December 16.  I even found (very limited) availability over the normally super-costly Thanksgiving vacation period.  As I was online checking availability tonight, however, those dates were disappearing.

With this promotion, you can either take advantage of it immediately, or wait for new Hawaii airfare sales, which should also be accessible in conjunction with this offer.

Use promotion code 5HAWAII250.

Here are the terms of the Orbitz offer:

Book a qualifying Hawaii hotel or flight + hotel package between October 23, 2008, and December 31, 2008, for 5 or more nights for travel between October 23, 2008, and March 31, 2009, via Orbitz and instantly receive $250 off your booking through the use of the promotion code.

As I said, there are many ways to use this promotion code.  Please let me know how it works for you.

I honestly didn’t believe that Superferry would be bringing a second ship planned for Hawaii.  Frankly, neither the political nor the economic climates are right.  The very nature of the Superferry vessels themselves is also not ideal, and they appear to be better suited to military applications.

Hawaii Superferry faces problems which include:

• Political difficulties associated with serving Kauai.
• Ongoing unresolved issues related to the lack of an environmental impact study.
• Inter-island competition now including Mokulele Airlines, scheduled to launch in just three weeks.
• Estimated per passenger fuel costs far in excess of airline costs.
• Seasonal operational difficulties associated with rough winter ocean conditions.

In a press release earlier today, Superferry indicated that they will be postponing for about one year, the Hawaii launch of their second ship.  It was previously due to start service to the Big Island. The company is looking for alternative short-term opportunities for placement of the vessel.

UPDATED 11/1/08:  Delta has joined this deal too. Hawaiian Air also available for $20 more.

Yet another good deal, this time from United and Delta.  What makes it even better is that I found availability around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Those in-demand dates will go fast, so get them today.

This represents a savings of $150 over Hawaiian Air’s non-holiday (though non-stop) fare, and a savings of $340 over Hawaiian’s lowest holiday fare.

• $350 round-trip (all inclusive)
• Airlines: Delta, United
• Dates: Travel through March 11, 2009
• Travel: Every day except Saturday
• Minimum/maximum days: 3/none
• Blackout dates:  To Hawaii, Nov 22, Dec 20-23, 26-27; From Hawaii:  Nov 29-30, Dec 26-27, Jan 2-5
• Advance purchase: 7 days
• Availability:  Excellent

In addition to the amazing $104 (each way) Los Angeles deal, American Airlines has an outstanding sale from many other U.S. destinations to Honolulu (and Kahului, Maui).  They have deals to Lihue, Kauai and Kona, Hawaii, though they are not as good.

1. I suggest going to Travelocity to check your closest airports.
2. If you want these deals, book them today.
3. The sale includes (but isn’t limited to) the following round-trip (all inclusive) deals to Honolulu.

Boston $426 ($530/Maui)

Chicago $408 ($412/Maui)

Detroit $413 ($417/Maui)

Miami (PBI) $421 ($426/Maui)

Minneapolis $401 ($504/Maui)

Washington, DC $421 ($525/Maui)

• Airline: American
• Dates: Travel through December 16
• Travel: Every day
• Minimum/maximum days: 3/60
• Advance purchase: 7 days
• Availability:  Limited

UPDATED 11/01/08:  Delta and Northwest have matched this deal. Hawaiian is $12.50 more.

This came right on the heals of last week’s predictions.  It is the best deal we’ve seen or will likely see in the market this season.  If you want it, definitely book it today.

• $242.90 round-trip (all-inclusive)
• Airline: American
• Dates: Travel through December 16
• Travel: Every day
• Minimum/maximum days: 0/60
• Advance purchase: 7 days
• Availability:  Limited (use Travelocity flexible date search to find, then book on aa.com)

New inter-island competitor Mokulele Airlines has reset their basic everyday airfare down to $59.  That’s about $5 less than Hawaiian Airlines.

Until Mokulele’s entry, however, Hawaiian Airlines rarely made their lowest fare available (unless you were willing to fly at its most undesirable times).  In reality the $59 fare is already about $16 less than you might have expected to pay on Hawaiian just a couple of weeks ago.

More importantly, as you can see in the photo, Mokulele clearly plans to offer a cheaper 7-day advance purchase “web special.”  While it currently says “sold out,” it merely hasn’t been made available yet.  This is likely where we will find our upcoming price war.

We still have about three weeks before Mokulele’s scheduled launch on November 19.  Stay tuned, the Hawaii inter-island fare war should be starting any day now.  And be sure to subscribe to our feed for Beat of Hawaii updates.

Several readers have asked me how to get a great deal at the highly rated (AAA 4-diamond) Grand Wailea Resort.  Wait no further.  I just found two exceptional deals, one for the hotel and one for the spa.

Put these together with some of the great Maui airfares we’ve recently featured, and you have a luxury vacation at an unusually affordable price.

Here’s how the spa and hotel discounts work:

1.  Hotel deal: The longer you stay, the more you save.

• Receive a credit usable for room or other expenses at the rate of $400 (3 night stay), $700 (4 night stay) or $1,000 (5+ night stay).

• Book on-line, or call reservations at (800) 232-4604 and mention code NP. Rates (before credit) start at $375/night.  Stay 5 nights and you’ll pay $175 with this special discount.

• Book by October 31, for stays from November 30 to December 18.

2.  Spa Grande deal.

This promotion gives you a free hydrotherapy Terme Pass, which normally costs $55.  To receive it, buy any 50-or 80-minute spa treatment.  You’ll receive a complimentary 2-hour Terme Pass valid the next day.

Note:  The Wailea Canyon pool will be closed for renovation from 11/30/08 – 12/18/08.  The Hibiscus pool remains open.

A really nice fare good until March comes right on the heals of this morning’s prediction.  Fly Continental on their typically more expensive non-stop:

• Airline: Continental
• Dates: Travel through March 13, 2009
• Travel: Every day
• Minimum/maximum days: 3/60
• Advance purchase: 7 days
• Availability:  Fair but the dates are spotty (use Travelocity flexible date search to find)

We’ve been disappointed thus far in the Fall airfare sales.  If you haven’t checked them out, many of those we listed are still available.  They are for travel through mid-December, with some exceptions.

I firmly believe, however, that we are on the cusp of some of the best deals we’ve yet to see.  In that I concur with Rick Seaney.

Why we are going to see more Hawaii airfare sales:

• Cost of oil continues to plummet and is about $60 and dropping.
• Airlines have more and more vacant seats that need to be filled.
• Hawaii remains an important destination and airlines don’t want to give up on our market.
• Mokulele will start flying inter-island in just three weeks, which will prompt a local fare war.

My prediction of what to expect:

• More offers for the pre-Christmas Fall season.
• Excellent pricing for travel valid until early June 2009 (except holidays).
• $300 from major West Coast cities.
• $39 inter-island fares.
• Deals from all U.S. and many international destinations.

In the meanwhile, with Hawaii tourism down and hotel occupancy suffering (only 65% on Maui), this time might be called “name your own price.”  So I suggest that as deals come out, you jump on them and lock in some of the best accommodation pricing in years.

We will post deals as quickly as we find them.  To get these alerts timely, be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed (the fastest way) or by email.  If you’re unclear on setting up RSS, check this out.

When you arrive in Hawaii, or any destination for that matter, you don’t want to get stuck trying to find your luggage when many bags look alike.  Plus, similar looking bags have a higher chance of being taken by mistake.

To make my luggage stand out, I’ve been custom labeling it for years.  Above is an example of what I do.  I use colorful cloth tape, available at the hardware store, together with a marking pen.

For a buck or two, you can also make an unlimited number of labels. This can be handy since it works best if you have labels on all sides of your bags.

Almost all of my labels have stayed on, in near-perfect condition, for tens of thousands of miles.

As an alternative, I recently saw an ad for Zippy Tags, permanent iron-on luggage tags.  For $7.95 (small) or 9.95 (large), plus $2.00 shipping, you can get two permanent, colorful tags.  If you want a quality off-the-shelf product ready to use, then these may be just right for you.

For a small amount of money, either option will make it easier to find your bags and get started on your Hawaii vacation.

What I Learned From hotelchatter.com’s $254 Waikiki Parc Deal.

Even after traveling extensively for decades, I keep learning.

Hotel Chatter’s post:

In this situation, Hotel Chatter had a Waikiki Parc offer that at first glance looked like something worth pursuing.  In my opinion, however, it was not.

Here’s the purported deal:

$254/night average price for 4 nights including breakfast and parking.  Deluxe ocean view category.

Just after my first glance, my travel shopping intuition said “NO DEAL.”

Here’s what I found:

I Googled Waikiki Parc deals.  In less than 5 minutes I saw deals that seemed better to me, by forgoing their breakfast.

This might not be a bad idea, since as one Tripadvisor reviewer stated, “Get breakfast elsewhere. There’s a Denny’s right next door and numerous coffee places very close. The breakfast was expensive and didn’t offer many choices.” (We’ve been to that Denny’s and liked it.  Or just stop at the nearest ABC store and buy yourself some cereal).

Without breakfast, the same deluxe ocean view category including parking will cost you $218/night, with no minimum stay.  That will leave you $144 for breakfast over four days.  Also available at $198 is the ocean view prime category, or ocean view at $179. I easily found these rates on Travelocity.

Here’s what I learned:

• Never believe that the deal offered is the best deal.  Always spend a few minutes checking around to see if you can do better, in one way or another.  In today’s economy, often nothing works better than a call to the property to ask about a better deal.  Beyond that remember that there are times when you might do best by bidding on Priceline.
• Don’t forget to have a look for yourself and see what other people are saying, before you jump.  As for Waikiki Parc, while Hotel Chatter talked it up nicely, some reviewers at Tripadvisor seemed to be saying something else.
• Lastly, you might want to consider mapping a hotel’s location.  In this instance, the Waikiki Parc is not as oceanfront as the photos might lead you to believe.  The hotel is in fact located in quite a noisy and congested area, and has a street and other hotels between it and the beach.  Here’s the satellite map: