Whether you decide to book a package which includes airfare, hotel and car rental or do it piece-meal, you still must decide on hotel, time-share, or Bed & Breakfast. Its a time-consuming process, unless you want to turn it over to a travel agent to deal with. The rewards for doing it yourself, can add up, but you've got to be willing to put in the time and effort.
It can be as simple a process as logging onto Travelocity, Orbitz, Priceline, or one of the many travel sites and after entering your preferred travel dates, ask for a package, and sit back and see what comes up. A new favorite site I discovered recently, although they have been around since 2005, is HotelsCombined. They search 30 different travel sites, including those I listed earlier and give you the best prices from all of them. Talk about a time saver!
Of course, that step would be the same even if you were going to find the components of your trip individually, since you would still be starting off looking for a good deal on airfare. You also have the option of logging on directly to your favorite airlines Website and searching for both a good fare and package deals.
If you're traveling alone or as a couple, B & B's offer an alternative to the large hotels. It isn't always a matter of cost savings, although you can sometimes find a good deal with a B & B. For those of you are used to large B & Bs, you will find many in Hawaii much more intimate with typical offerings just a bedroom or two in a standard sized house. The good thing about that is that its much more intimate, but the drawback can be, if you don't click with the host/hostess, it could be uncomfortable. To check into B & B's on the various islands, you can start here:
Hawaii's Best Bed and Breakfasts: www.bestbnb.com or call them at (800)262-9912.
You can also rent someone's timeshare, which sometimes works out cheaper than renting a hotel room. I came across a site that handles not only renting timeshares, but also helps people to sell and buy timeshares. Rates offered started at $70/night with a 3-night minimum. The average was closer to $150/night and most prefer a week's booking, but there were certain timeframes that offered a better rate.
And, yet another option to the standard hotel room is to rent a house. If you're going with a large group, this is sometimes a cheaper option to renting multiple rooms at a hotel. While hotel rooms in Hawaii will run between $90 and $250 a night for a standard room, renting a house starts at around $750/week. These two Websites include information on condos, villas, and house rentals.
www.hawaiianbeachrentals.com
www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/Hawaii.html
We have tried all the above options. There was even a trip where we booked an airfare/hotel package, even though we were going to stay at my mother-in-law's. Why? Because it was about $100 cheaper than if we had purchased just the airfare. So, we even checked into the hotel, which I would have rated as a 1.5 star, and only used it once to take our kids to the pool. (Yeah, I know, I'm not big on going to a pool when the beaches are so close, but we were registered there for the week and figured we ought to use it for something!)
On another trip, my ex-wife and my oldest daughter stayed at a B&B because it was about $15/night cheaper than getting a hotel room in Waikiki. The only drawback to the place was that it was in Hawaii Kai, which is about 15 minutes outside of Honolulu. That wasn't a big enough obstacle to staying there and they enjoyed the setting versus a hotel room.
On our last trip, we spent a couple nights in Waikiki and my oldest daughter handled the room rental. She opted to use Priceline and we were pleasantly surprised at the room we got. For the price of what would normally get a typical hotel room, we had a 1-bedroom efficiency with a sofa-sleeper (my bed, of course), and small kitchen area. (The biggest drawback with Priceline is that you don't know what hotel you will be staying at until after you've paid the nonrefundable charge.)
When we got to the Big Island, I stayed at my mom and dad's and my other daughter and her husband wanted to rent a house with their one-year old! So, they were able to find one that was only 6-7 minutes from my parents' house and they had room for them, her sister and mother. Considering what they got for the number of people, they had room to roam in this 4-bedroom house and said that they would definitely do it again! If a timeshare were available in the area, that would have offered another option.
Of course, getting a good deal on a flight, but not finding a good deal on the hotel can wipe out any savings, so you'll want to make sure you comb both airfare and rooms at the same time. Sometimes you get a better deal with a package and sometimes you're better off making separate reservations.
Your timing may happen to coincide with a high traffic event, such as the Iron-Man Tri-athalon held in Kailua-Kona, the Merrie Monarch Hula Competition held in Hilo, the Maui Invitational Basketball Tournament on Maui, etc., and you may want to adjust your dates to avoid them...unless you're planning on attending them, then again...book early!
It all sounds more complicated and convoluted than it actually is. You'll be surprised at how quickly the parts start to fall in place. The more familiar you become with pricing, the better able you will be to recognize a really good deal and pull the trigger and book the tickets!
So, search early...search often...learn to recognize a good deal when it comes!
