We’ve got a humdinger of a Hawaii vacation news roundup for you today! With so much news, I’ve organized the items in to categories for your convenience.
Hawaii Sweepstakes and Giveaways
– Travaasa Hana is celebrating its one year anniversary. We are big fans of Travaasa Hana. To celebrate their anniversary, Travaasa Destinations will be giving away prizes for five weeks on Facebook! The prizes are seriously awesome – for example, yesterday’s prize was a Go-Pro camera. (The contest just started yesterday.) The grand prize is a 3-night stay. See this link to enter to win.
– You could win a trip for two to Hawaii to explore the islands where the new movie Battleship was filmed. The prize includes roundtrip airfare for two, accommodations at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort and $1000 Hilton gift card. Check out the details and enter here.
Flights
– Now’s the time to start thinking about late summer and fall travel to Hawaii. From my inbox, Hawaiian Airlines has put flights from the mainland to Maui on sale starting at $380 roundtrip. For this promotion, you must book by May 7 and travel between August 21 and November 14, 2012.
– go! Airlines salutes our military through the month of May with a special fare of $71.30 per non-stop, interisland flight including taxes. Baggage fees will also be waived for up to 2 bags. See this link for more details.
– Island Air has a sale on inter-island fares for $69 one-way for travel dates through June 30, 2012. You must purchase your tickets by May 3 for this deal. See this link for the details. (Mahalo to Gary from California for bringing this sale to my attention.)
– Smarter Travel has a great article on 10 New Tricks for Saving on Summer Airfare.
Hotels
– Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows on Hawaii’s Big Island offers a Stay Four & Save More promotion where you can save 25% off published rates and receive a daily credit of $50 for dining, spa or golf. (See our Mauna Lani review.) The offer applies to Garden View to Ocean View Suites. Bookings must be made by June 30, 2012, for travel through to December 23, 2012.
– Four Seasons Resort Hual?lai on Hawaii’s Big Island has created the King’s Pond Eco-Crescent section of rooms that have been enhanced, allowing guests to reduce their carbon footprint. Enhancements include the elimination of disposable plastic water bottles and bathroom amenity bottles (Yay!); reusable rubber spa sandals instead of disposable slippers, minimization of paper collateral, replacement of incandescent light bulbs and enrollment in the Green Linen program. The Resort also announces the Eco-Crescent Package, which includes nightly accommodations, daily breakfast buffet and the planting of a legacy koa tree.
– If you don’t mind being a couple of blocks from the beach, the newly renovated Hyatt Place Waikiki is offering a rate of $135 per night including free breakfast and wi-fi. You must book this deal by May 4. See this link for more details.
– Modern Hotel has a special deal of $199 per night for an oceanview room. The name of this hotel describes the vibe very well – modern. It’s very hip and sleek. This hotel is waterfront, but not beachfront. See this link for more details.
Miscellaneous
– If you’re going to the Big Island and you just want to stay put at your resort, you might be interested in this new shuttle service. Roberts Hawaii has added a new shuttle service from Kona (KOA) airport. with round-trip service to and from select hotels in the Kona-Kohala area. In addition to ground transportation to and from the airport and designated hotels, guests will be greeted by a Roberts Hawaii representative at the Kona International Airport’s main arrival entrance, presented with a shell lei and escorted to baggage claim where they’ll receive luggage assistance onto the shuttle. Reservations can be booked at www.robertshawaiiexpress.com. Roberts Hawaii Express Shuttle is a reservation-based service available 24 hours a day.
– Active lava on Hawaii Island is slowly trying to make its way to the ocean. Will it reach the coast? We shall see.
Sheila Beal
7 comments
Thanks for the tips Sheila, always love a good interisland sale! The link for the Smarter Travel article wasn’t working for me.
Thanks for letting me know that the Smarter Travel link was broken. I think I’ve fixed it.
Yup, works for me now too! Good tips there too!
Glad it’s working now.
Agree — those are good tips. One tip is sort of not new, but a great reminder. It’s the one about knowing what a good fare is and snagging it when you see one. I see people agonizing over whether they could save $20 by waiting to book. More often than not, that waiting comes back to bite them, unfortunately.
Hey there! Not sure what the Hawaiian Airlines thing is. The cheapest RT from Mainland to Maui is about $422 p/p. Did I miss something?
Hi Andrew —
I do mention that the sale fares are “starting at” $380. Not every route/city is going to be at the lowest rate.
Other factors that may affect the rate you may be seeing:
– the number of seats reserved for sale fares are limited per each flight
– make sure you are looking for the lowest fares on over the travel window that’s specified, for example between August 21 and November 14.
To be honest, $422 from the mainland to Maui is a darn good fare — and only $42 higher than the starting sale fare.
If we could get $422 roundtrip to Maui, I’d be on the next flight out! 😉