Beat of Hawaii and Beyond: Travel Deals, Tips, Events, Culture

When I’m researching and planning a trip, I need a place to keep all of my notes and information. I’ve tried Word, paper, and several trip planning applications. For now, however, the one that works best for me is Helipad.

Let me start by saying that there are more sophisticated and powerful applications for group trip planning. Two I’m familiar with, and have used are, I’m in! and TripHub. These applications include many features. With them you can create a trip home page, send invitations, share and discuss plans, see each other’s itineraries, and much more.

When I’m planning a vacation alone or with one or two others, Helipad is easier to use than other applications. It’s simple, works great and there’s nothing to learn. It is similar to how I previously used Word documents for trip planning, but it works infinitely better.

Helipad is a web notepad or streamlined wiki. It is a collaborative tool that has many other uses. Here’s why I like using Helipad as the repository for my trip plans:

• Includes a “To-Do” list plugin.
• Puts an end to frustrating email-based planning.
• Serves as a one-stop repository for all trip documents and planning.
• Provides access to trip information wherever there is Internet.
• Easily moves items between other applications and Helipad.
• Offers a variety of fonts and styles for printing.
• Formats notes for your cell phone.
• Automatically saves and backs up notes and is secure.
• Option for notes to be private, shared via password, or public.
• Offers custom note themes.

Here’s how I use Helipad.

1. Create separate notes for:

• Airline, hotel and car rental planning and reservations.
• Restaurant possibilities.
• Various categories of things to do while on the trip.

2. As I make reservations or find useful articles and ideas on the Internet, I paste them (or their URL) into my Helipad note. I collaborate with my travel partners by sharing the same notes.

Helipad started in 2006, is based in the UK and free to use. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

There’s a new Price Assurance policy at Orbitz. Here’s how it works. If the flight you book on Orbitz becomes available later at a lower price, they’ll refund the difference up to $250 per ticket.

While it sounds good, the fine print tells a different story.

“If…after you have booked…another Orbitz customer has booked the same flight(s), meaning the same dates/times of travel, on the same airline, with the same flight numbers, for the same passenger type, itinerary, cabin, and subject to the same fare refundability, or other restrictions, that is at least $5 lower than the airfare you booked on Orbitz.com, Orbitz will refund you the difference up to a maximum of $250.00 per ticket.” (Whew!)

The problem we see with the Orbitz offer is how airlines price tickets. For example, the huge fare sale we saw on Memorial Day was in a T fare code. Let’s say I had already purchased a more expensive ticket that was issued in an O fare code. Since the fare sale was in a different fare code, I would not be eligible for Price Assurance under the Orbitz policy.

Suggestion: If you can, try to wait, watch and buy immediately when deals appear. If you can’t wait and must buy at a high price, the Orbitz Price Assurance will help only if the specific requirements are met.

We’d like to hear if you get any refund using Orbitz new policy.

Hawaiian Airlines asked last week for airport slots at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport (SNA). SNA lost popular service to the Islands when Aloha went out of business in April.

The significance of this announcement goes beyond Orange County.  Hawaiian Airlines will be adding a new aircraft type to their Trans-Pacific fleet in order to serve additional regional airports, possibly including Kauai. These new planes will be, by necessity, either 757 or 737.

Stay tuned for more updates on this Hawaiian Airlines development.

One of my favorite hotel reservation sites, Wotif, will no longer be offering those often great last minute deals we’ve come to expect. Gone will be their up to 28 days in advance reservations, to be replaced by a more traditional system booking stays up to one year in advance.

This places Wotif directly in competition with hotels’ traditional Internet distribution channels.

When the last minute hotel reservation sites started, they served a specific niche. Their market was helping hotels dispose of likely to remain unsold, short-term room inventory.

Since that time, however, the traditional booking sites, including Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz now offer dynamic hotel inventory pricing that can change minute by minute.

A recent analysis performed by Hotelscombined indicates that last minute sites no longer offer the best deals available.

My Recommendation: Call or email the hotel first before booking on the Internet. If you qualify for any discounts, be sure to include that information too. Compare the hotel’s direct offer to Internet pricing and booking terms and conditions.

Before you jump on any deal to Hawaii, no matter how reputable the name is behind the offer, make sure it’s going to actually save you money. Your best buy may be skipping the deal and carefully shopping for air and hotel separately.

Here’s our report on three current promotions.

1. Maui: Summer from $447 each way: Travelzoo Newsletter (June 11)

No Deal: Just a reminder that travel newsletters don’t usually have the best offer. By the time it’s in print the deal may have changed. I priced airfares on four of the cities listed in the Travelzoo Newsletter and found significantly better deals for the same dates of travel.

Boston: (Travelzoo deal: $996) Northwest offered $725.

Charlotte: (Travelzoo deal: $908) American priced this at $556.

Chicago: (Travelzoo deal: $1,020) Check out Alaska at $860.

Indianapolis: (Travelzoo deal: $952) Northwest comes in low at $665.

2. GoHawaii: Save $200 (plus hotel discounts) off your trip to Hawaii.

Mixed Deal: I spent about an hour trying to find the 20% off, or free night, plus $200 instant rebate discounts offered. Unfortunately, I was never able to get both deals. That isn’t to say that they don’t exist, they’re just difficult to find.

Given the excellent Hawaii hotel deals available this summer, and the possibilities to negotiate them directly, I’m not sure any tangible discount is even available on GoHawaii’s offer.

3. United Adds 10 Flights to Hawaii Starting June 15 (Pacific Business News Announcement)

No Deal: We reported on this last week and then waited eagerly for the news of fare offers. United (UAL), it appeared, suddenly had 7,000 seats to fill so where are the deals? At the same time something just didn’t seem right about this. With no further annoucement from UAL on added flights and deals, we did our own research and arrived at this conclusion:

For the most part the flights UAL mentioned had been loaded into their database some time ago, and were not new flights, but actually their traditional summer additions. Beyond what we normally see from United each summer, they only appear to have added three more flights between the west coast to Maui.

What we saw here was just an interesting twist of facts that drew much needed attention to United.

Photo credit:  Beat of Hawaii.  Molokai’s Papohaku beach park has 3 miles of beautiful sand, gorgeous views and wild surf.  You may even have it all to yourself.

Earlier this year we offered our 10 Hawaii safe driving tips. You can save money, and your life, by slowing done and buckling up. Here are two things you should know:

1. Hawaii speeding fines are expensive.

Up to 29 miles over the speed limit, the fine is $5 per mile and a $57 court administration fee. If you’re 30 miles and over, the court decides your fine and a mandatory appearance is required.

When we belonged to the Grand Hyatt Spa at Poipu, we heard many visitors complain. The by-pass road in Poipu offers a direct shot to the Hyatt, and its 25 mph speed limit is well patrolled.

USA Today reported that the worst Hawaii speed traps are in Honolulu, Kailua, Kaimuki, and on Maui. I’m here to report regular and rigorous laser-gun enforced speed control on the Big Island and Kauai as well.

Use Speed Trap Exchange to have an idea of exactly where your trouble may be located.

2. Click-it or Ticket campaign.

Hawai’i’s seat-belt usage is the highest in the nation. We have a reputation for stringent seat belt compliance enforcement at all times, so remember to buckle up. There’s a $92 fine for opting out.

If anyone has additional driving tips in Hawaii, be sure to comment.