Hawaii Travel Planning Mistakes: Top Ten

1. Island hopping on a short vacation.

Consider that you can lose 4 to 8 hours from your itinerary to change islands. If you have to see all the islands a one-week cruise may be a better fit. Another compromise is to stay on Maui and take the day ferry to Lanai and Molokai.

2. Packing a guidebook.

Download from your local library instead or take an e-reader. You can also check-out books, CD’s, and DVD’s from any of the public libraries in Hawaii. A visitor card costs $10 for 3 months. Read our library post for application instructions.

3. One stop shopping and inflexible dates.

A late summer getaway can save money. Starting in mid-August hotels get hungry again. You can still be back in time for school obligations.

Don’t be impulsive and buy on the first bite. Look around. This is a shell game, deals are rarely found in the same place twice, and there could be a better deal waiting for you to discover.

4. Over packing and forgetting important items.

Make sure your camera disk has enough memory for photos. Bring the electronics you need for your laptop, cell phone and video camera. Pack light. It’s Hawaii and we’re casual here. Many hotels have on-site laundry facilities. Shop stores in Hawaii for reef walkers, sunscreen, snorkel gear and more.

5.  Placing undue trust in travel reviews.

What a difficult subject.  We can’t live without them and yet we simply can’t have confidence in them the way we once did.  I continue to believe that with so much to gain or lose based on these reviews, perhaps 1/3 of all travel reviews are financially motivated.  I’ve taken to using every source I can find in order to triangulate reviews (Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Places and more), and always keep in mind that a significant percentage of the reviews are fake.  Having said that I try to sift through the rubbish to find the gems.  There is simply too much at state for hotels, restaurants and other amenities to think that they are leaving the reviews to chance.

6.  Staying at budget hotels.

Before traveling “budget style” check out the four-star hotel deals on Priceline and Hotwire. This often pegs some of the finest hotels only a few dollars a night higher than 2-star clunkers.  Another value option are condos.

7.  Forgetting about your cookies.

No, I’m not talking chocolate chips here.  Websites know via tracking cookies when you keep checking for the same airfares or the same hotels.  This is a supply and demand situation, where the more you look, the higher the price may be.  Some people suggest clearing your cookies or using a different browser to see if you’ll find better pricing results.

8.  Reserving hotels more than 90 days in advance

The best deals on hotels are within the three months prior to departure.  They get even better in the final 30 days.  At 90 days hotels review their pricing model in relation to the number of firm bookings.  At that point they’re likely to make modifications, or use tools like Priceline, Hotwire, Travelzoo, etc., to dispose of  inventory.

9.  Not reading terms and conditions, ancillary fees and checking car for damage

When you enter into a contract for a car rental, a hotel or any travel component, you need to read and understand the terms before paying.  That includes cancellation policies.

To avoid sticker shock on your trip, make sure you’ve factored in checked baggage charges, resort fees and parking.

Before driving your rental car off the lot, check it thoroughly and note any damage you see. Even if you’re tired from your flight, don’t forget to do this. Have everyone help.

10.  Forgetting the best tools to monitor deals.

Sign up for alerts from all your favorite hotels, hotel chains, airlines, airline meta searches (kayak, farecompare), etc.  Get them via Facebook, Twitter or RSS in order to get first notification.