Hawaii, Mauna Lani Bay or Kapalua Bay

[SimbaSue]

Any tips on Hawaii on points, just adults? Do you have to book a full week on the Concierge Collection, or can you split it? Thanks!Sus

 

[roelongo]

You can do as many or few nights that you want

 

[SimbaSue]

Thanks, roelongo, that's good news. Has anyone actually been to either of these resorts? Sus

 

[alexcturner]

We have friends that recently returned from the Mauna Lani and said it was wonderful. I wish we could have gone too!

 

[dianeschlicht]

We did a week exchange this spring and were at Kona Coast II. It was great, but then we LOVE the Big Island. The Concierge Collection just seems to be too many points for fewer days. It only cost us 160 points total to do the week in a 1 bedroom.

 

[hoosiergirl]

dianeschlicht,
Could you tell us more about your exchange? What was the resort, how early did you book it, how did the whole transaction work, were you given a choice of resorts, etc. etc. etc.! I've always wondered about the II exchanges but have never looked into it. Thanks!

 

[erikthewise]

I've never been to either one, but I'd take Mauna Lani in a heartbeat. The Kona Coast is hard to beat, and Mauna Lani looks terrific. The problem is that spending a week or more there is very expensive, whether it's points or cash. I'd consider spending 5-6 days somewhere else, then 2-3 days at Mauna Lani if you have the points to burn.

 

[travelbug]

We stayed for 8 nights at the Mauna Lani in late March and early April this year. We fell in love with the place and would love to go back again. The resort is absolutely beautiful, the service was incredible, and our room was quite large (we think it was a wheelchair-accessible room which necessitated lots of floor space).

We booked a garden/mountain room to save on points, and were very happy with that choice. We were not in our room much at all until after dark, so we didn't care much about having a waterfront view this time. They had a deal going where you got one free night (no points or no cash, either way) for every four nights you stayed. I think somebody else mentioned a more recent deal where you also get free breakfast. We would have LOVED that, because the restaurants at the Mauna Lani are very pricey. Anyway, the trip took 301 points. It was totally worth it to us, and gave us a trip we will never forget.

If you'd like more detail, just let me know. Or you can do a search under my name and the key words Mauna Lani to find a more detailed trip report I did after our return.

Would love to try Kapalua Bay some day, but first I have lots of plans to use my points at WDW for a while!

 

[SimbaSue]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I am also curious about the II exchanges. I have seen it mentioned here a few times, but I am pretty clueless as to where to start looking into that. We have never been to Hawaii, so this would be a big trip. Our friends had to cancel the Food and Wine with us this year, so we have a few "extra" (like there is such a thing!) points. For this Hawaii trip, I am thinking of using miles for the flight and points for the stay so that our cash outlay will be reduced. I know they ran the special this year for reduced points at one resort, I wonder if that has happened with any regularity? I never really paid attention, since we have not considered using points outside the DVC resorts before. What type of room do you get when using points? We might consider checking them both out, so that we can see the Big Island and Maui, probably more days on Maui.Thanks,Sus