Kauai hotel - - - - IS THIS A GOOD DEAL???? - - - - PLEASE ADVISE ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Poipu: rental car, oceanfront)

[hellohelloworld]

hi,
we just need to know your opinion on how this deal is in your opinion. We've checked but want to know YOUR opinion before we book.


- Partial ocean view at Sheraton hotel in Poipu, Kauai
- Nov. 27 to Dec. 4th (7 nights)
- 2 for 1 surfing lessons
- $50 a night in hotel credits (total $350 for food or whatever)
- Intermediate car for the duration of stay
- hotel/car taxes
- Does not include the $17 a day sheraton charges
- Trip insurance ($55)


Total for 2 people: $1814




PLEASE TELL US IF THIS IS A GOOD DEAL. THANKS.

[Sweetbeet]

Originally Posted by hellohelloworld

hi,
we just need to know your opinion on how this deal is in your opinion. We've checked tripadvisor but want to know YOUR opinion before we book.


- Partial ocean view at Sheraton hotel in Poipu, Kauai
- Nov. 27 to Dec. 4th (7 nights)
- 2 for 1 surfing lessons
- $50 a night in hotel credits (total $350 for food or whatever)
- Intermediate car for the duration of stay
- hotel/car taxes
- Does not include the $17 a day sheraton charges
- Trip insurance ($55)

Total for 2 people: $1814

PLEASE TELL US IF THIS IS A GOOD DEAL. THANKS.

$1814 for 7 nights is $259/night. If you will use the $350 (i.e., want to eat at the hotel, with its exorbitant prices, that much), you can consider your lodging cost to be about $209/night. The rental car would probably run you about $20/day on priceline, so that brings you down to $189/night. A little less considering the trip insurance and discount on surfing lessons.

That's not a terrible rate, but I'd think you could do better in this economy. Depends what kind of a trip you're looking for - are you planning on spending a lot of time at a resort, or will you mainly be sleeping and recharging there in between adventures? The Sheraton is OK, it's at Poipu which is a nice (if a bit crowded) beach. In winter the high surf will be up north, so there will probably be good swimming and snorkeling down at Poipu.

You could spend a lot less (say, half as much) and get a very nice vacation rental, with a full kitchen, laundry, living room, one or two bedrooms, etc. Look on VRBO for something in or around Poipu or the south shore. If you want to stay at a resort, AND will make use of the hotel coupons, surfing lessons, etc., then it's not a bad deal, but also probably not the best you can get. (Mar0 would know better than I do.) Try calling the Marriott and some of the other resorts and see what they can offer you for that period.

[stan4]

I think it's pretty good.

[hellohelloworld]

Originally Posted by Sweetbeet

$1814 for 7 nights is $259/night. If you will use the $350 (i.e., want to eat at the hotel, with its exorbitant prices, that much), you can consider your lodging cost to be about $209/night. The rental car would probably run you about $20/day on priceline, so that brings you down to $189/night. A little less considering the trip insurance and discount on surfing lessons.

That's not a terrible rate, but I'd think you could do better in this economy. Depends what kind of a trip you're looking for - are you planning on spending a lot of time at a resort, or will you mainly be sleeping and recharging there in between adventures? The Sheraton is OK, it's at Poipu which is a nice (if a bit crowded) beach. In winter the high surf will be up north, so there will probably be good swimming and snorkeling down at Poipu.

You could spend a lot less (say, half as much) and get a very nice vacation rental, with a full kitchen, laundry, living room, one or two bedrooms, etc. Look on VRBO for something in or around Poipu or the south shore. If you want to stay at a resort, AND will make use of the hotel coupons, surfing lessons, etc., then it's not a bad deal, but also probably not the best you can get. (Mar0 would know better than I do.) Try calling the Marriott and some of the other resorts and see what they can offer you for that period.

thanks for the reply. i appreciate it.
I wanted to point out that i don't necessarily agree with the way you're calculating these numbers.....
let me show you how.
price is 1760 (insurance shouldn't be counted in the hotel price....we could have opted out of it if we wanted...)....
this includes taxes of 12%
the cheapest car we could find elsewhere was 350 including taxes (and we did shop around alot! 20 bucks a day is very very unrealistic...even on priceline)....

so that's 1760-350 (rental elsewhere) -350(food credits) = $1060
$1060 minus the 12% tax = $946 or about $135 a night before taxes.

i looked on VBRO and NOTHING even comes close to 135 a night before taxes. maybe i'm missing something!

[Summering]

I love Kauai, it is my favorite Hawaii island.......That beach is the best area of the island.
I can't go by the figures we did as" back when" we had Four islands, plane, car at three islands, and condo hotel....for ten days.....For the figures you mention now. ( using Pleasand Hawaiian Vacations)
For that reason though( costs ) the second time we just took one island, and that was Oahu as I wanted to visit Pearl Harbor and the Polynesian Village that time around.

[R_Cowgirl]

Have you looked at Hotels.com and Carrentals.com? Also - if you don't have your trip paid for yet, Hawaiian airlines has some smokin' deals right now that are about half that - car, hotel, air. I just got the emailer yesterday. If you haven't bought air yet, go to Hawaiianair.com and sign up for their Hawaiian Miles program and ask to be sent the specials. You may still be able to get a car/hotel deal with them if you already have air. If you bought tickets from them - then call and ask if you can switch to the whole program. They might do it without a change charge. You don't say where you are traveling from - but sometimes it's cheaper to get a cheap flight on another airline to Phoenix or Seattle and fly Hawaiian from there. I just booked a $451 air/hotel package to Hawaii from Phoenix. 3 nights. They've got all the islands covered in their packages.

[hellohelloworld]

I'm only interested in finding out if the deal i got above is an ok one.
we are coming from the east coast and our flights were free (united miles).

[mdand3boys]

Originally Posted by hellohelloworld

....i looked on VBRO and NOTHING even comes close to 135 a night before taxes. maybe i'm missing something!

That's the problem! Call the owner. The prices on vrbo (and other sites) are inflated asking prices. It's like going to the car dealer and paying the sticker price. We got a super nice place for $1200 month - asking price was about $2000. I looked at several dozen rentals - phoned the ones I was most interested in and negotiated from there. In the end, I had six places that were all willing to be had for about $1200 a month. I even got the rental tax and cleaning taken care of.

The economy is your advantage. Those prices were realistic when the economy was booming. The owners don't want empty houses. They are paying for the electric, telephone, SAT TV, internet, etc. whether its rented or not.

Don't email the owners and don't believe the calendars on vrbo either. Owners get emails every day from people just "looking" who are not ready to commit. Hearing your voice makes the deals happen.

[Sweetbeet]

Are you looking at the weekly rates on VRBO? We rented a nice place for about $900/week in 2007, and I think he's got the same rates now. It's not oceanfront, though, nor air conditioned. It did come with boogie boards, a great kitchen, two large bedrooms, two baths, full laundry facilities, etc.

I guess it depends on what you want. And I see your calculations, I wasn't backing out the taxes, didn't realize you could dump the insurance if you'd wanted, etc. For a hotel, $135 isn't bad, I agree.

I get a car for about $20/day every time I go to Oahu (using 'name your own price'). Got one for $18/day on the Big Island (Kona airport) at the beginning of June. Maybe they're more here, I don't know. Did you try 'naming your own price' (and ignore the 'warnings' about your price being too low)? (Oh, and I always specify compact or economy, when you get there they will try to give you a bigger car for free - I got a convertible on the Big Island).

[hellohelloworld]

Originally Posted by Sweetbeet

Are you looking at the weekly rates on VRBO? We rented a nice place for about $900/week in 2007, and I think he's got the same rates now. It's not oceanfront, though, nor air conditioned. It did come with boogie boards, a great kitchen, two large bedrooms, two baths, full laundry facilities, etc.

I guess it depends on what you want. And I see your calculations, I wasn't backing out the taxes, didn't realize you could dump the insurance if you'd wanted, etc. For a hotel, $135 isn't bad, I agree.

I get a car for about $20/day every time I go to Oahu (using 'name your own price'). Got one for $18/day on the Big Island (Kona airport) at the beginning of June. Maybe they're more here, I don't know. Did you try 'naming your own price' (and ignore the 'warnings' about your price being too low)? (Oh, and I always specify compact or economy, when you get there they will try to give you a bigger car for free - I got a convertible on the Big Island).

i use the name your price on priceline all the time. once i got a rental for 14 bucks a day! lol

check Kauai! the regular price showing on priceline for Kauai for the 7 nights is 589 with taxes....CHEAPEST!!
i called alamo and with a 25% coupon from the entertainment book, was able to get a jeep for 350. it's still reserved. that's the ABSOLUTE cheapest that i could find! (a compact with the same coupon was 100 bucks more than the jeep! go figure!)

i don't wnat to do the name your price because if accepted, you're stuck. i'd like to keep my options open....but 589 comes out to about 85 bucks a day....i doubt you can get that for 20 bucks with name your price....check kauai! you'll see what i'm talking about. the price may be different on different islands. Kauai is definitely not 20 bucks a day.