Hawaii options

[mistyron]

My wife and I will be celebrating our anniversary in a few months. We have been interested in going to Hawaii (or somewhere in southern pacific)- neither have ever been. I realize that most feel that using pts for concierge collection is not cost effective. I would appreciate any suggestions as I am trying to surprise her with a once in a lifetime trip. No kids allowed.
Thanks in advance.

 

[rocketriter]

You might be a bit late to pull off a member exchange to a first-class resort in Hawaii "in a few months." But you can call MS and discuss it with them anyway.

On the other hand, MS always has some last-minute deals available, sometimes to wonderful locations outside of Hawaii. Since you're surprising your spouse anyway, you might find yourself attracted to one of these other opportunities instead.

It's a free phone call. Give it a try. But on this short notice, be prepared to either travel on cash or through Concierge. (I'll let others duke it out about which of those choices you "should" make.)

 

[Dean]

For such short notice, here's the options I see:

• call DVC and see if there's an exchange right now.
• Schedule your trip with a cancellable cash rental either with a hotel or condo.
• Schedule your trip with a cash rental either with a hotel or condo and not worry about an exchange.
• Try the CC options.

There's no doubt that the CC options are top notch and you must decide if it's worth it to you. One piece of info that may help you is that a lot of inventory in HI comes available short notice, many times just a couple of weeks out. If you can get something for BU that you could cancel, you'd have the luxury of looking for the exchange as well.

Otherwise it depends on which island(s) you want to visit. If you're planning on just a week, I'd do Maui as first option and Kauia as second. However, you may want to consider more than one island within a week which would work well for hotels but not for timeshares. If you are a Marriott rewards member, they have a package where you can do a week and split it between up to 3 hotels there.

I'd also talk to some of the smaller exchange companies like San Francisco Exchange, Donita's, Trading Places and Platinum Interchange. They frequently have access in HI that will be in addition to what II and RCI have. SFX frequently has the Embassy's. TP I think has Maui Hill and the Whaler as well as One Napili Way. I think it's PI that has the Schooner frequently.

 

[rocketriter]

Dean has quite a bit of experience with this sort of travel. If he says that Hawaii inventory sometimes comes available on very short notice, that could be great news for you. Just be sure to take his advice and cover your bases with an alternate, cancellable reservation in case a last-minute trade does not come through.