At Aulani now - comparison of DVC hotel room and studio

[ozliz]

I just today swapped from a hotel room booked with DVC points to a studio booked with DVC points. I did a points rental with David's but there wasn't availability for all my nights so I went with the split stay option (which they were happy to arrange) to get a booking for a full 4 nights. In case anyone asks, yes I would do it again but being without a room for about 5 hours was mostly a pain in terms of where to store passport, valuables etc. To get around this I chose that day to leave the resort for shopping at Waikele outlets.

Having just returned to the resort and checked out the studio I can provide the following thoughts...

Hotel room:
Standard view was fine, there were trees blocking the view of the road and parking etc from my room on the 5th floor so I was happy.
I got lucky and got a mircrowave in the room. I thought this wasn't included and I don't know if t was just luck but I was very happy.
The bathtub was wonderfully designed for a soak. Spacious and well designed for laying back and relaxing (I like to do detox baths from time to time while travelling).
It was also nice to have a makeup mirror because although the main mirror was well lit by hotel standards I had to lean a long way over the sink to see clearly (short and short sighted, sigh).

Studio:
After the pleasant surprises with the hotel room I was worried that I wouldn't like the view of the studio etc. My room is on level 3 which is actually ground level on the convention centre side and although I like looking out into the open there is a nice little water feature on the wall between my room and the convention centre so that helps a lot.
The fridge is much better sized and it is nice to have the other kitchenette features but the microwave was the main thing I wanted and if I could get that all the time in the hotel room then I wouldn't bother with the extra $/points for the studio.
The bathroom has a smaller tub and no makeup mirror but is otherwise nice and since they were the pleasant surprises of the hotel room I wouldn't have noticed had I not gone directly from one to the other.
Finally I'm yet to try out sitting on the sofa but I was happy enough with the second bed as a place to spread out my stuff so I've decided that I'm indifferent to the extra space from one bed vs two.

Happy to answer any questions if anyone has any before I leave. No kids but I can tell you that adults do the animation class and lots did the ukulele class without kids so don't hold back on those just because they're listed as family activities.

 

[nkereina]

Thanks for sharing! A studio room is actually about 25 square feet smaller than a hotel room at Aulani. We stayed in a studio back in September, after staying at two Marriott resorts and a Westin resort while island hopping earlier in our trip. An Aulani studio was by far the smallest room we had stayed in, but we are only 2 adults, so it was fine. Add in a third person, and we would have found it too small. We were on the 5th floor on the convention center side, and the view was fine but thought the room was very dark. It did not get much natural light. I later found out that the higher floors are better for brighter rooms. But I believe standard view is all the lower floors.

 

[eeyorefanuk]

I did hotel room last year in cash and had two double beds

Due to no hotel rooms I had a studio this year which was one bed and sofa

T b h I prefer the hotel room

 

[Soccerluvinmama]

We are DVC and Aulani is my home resort. We normally do a one bedroom, but it was just me and the kiddo last year so I just went with the hotel room. I liked it very much, and it cost me far fewer points than a one bedroom, so I was actually able to add 4 more days at the resort with the point savings. I'll take that trade-off every day! I had asked for a microwave to be placed in the room, and it was there when I arrived. I did miss the full kitchen, but for a longer stay, I can do without it. I think we may have been in the same room 5th floor towards the end of the hall? It looked out over the walkway for folks coming in from the garage or walking up the drive. I don't spend a lot of time in my room, so I don't care about the view. But I did like the overlook on the gardens....and it was fun people watching if I'm being honest (they normally didn't even know I was sitting there, so some interesting things seen!). We are back again in February, and it's again just me and the youn'un, so we are in the hotel room once more!

 

[CalifLynn]

It's funny that the DVC rooms cost more points, I'm doing a cash stay and ended up getting a studio for less $ than a hotel room, go figure.

 

[nkereina]

It's funny that the DVC rooms cost more points, I'm doing a cash stay and ended up getting a studio for less $ than a hotel room, go figure.

My only guess is that because people who own DVC want the "home away from home" experience which includes the kitchen, no housekeeping, etc. so they charge them more points for rooms with those amenities. For cash reservations, a studio room is smaller than a hotel room which is why I'm guessing it costs less.