Sorry another Aulani question from me?!

[amystevekai&bump]

Hi all

Sorry to be a pain with asking so many questions this weekend - I'm just trying to sort my 7 mth reservation and keep panicking about whether I'm making the right choices!

Has anyone by any chance got any photos of the standard DVC hotel rooms and their view please? I've checked the views thread and can't see that there are any photos of the hotel rooms.

I understand they have a garage view, but wondered just how bad that is? Are they all on the ground floor with patios? Do they provide easy access to the pools/facilities?

Just trying to see whether we are going to be happy or whether I need to try to upgrade.

Many thanks for any info

 

[CailinFig]

Our hotel room was on the 5th floor. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't an ocean view. Aulani is pretty accessible, so regardless of which building/room you are in, it's fairly quick to get to the pool/lagoon/facilities.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Our hotel room was on the 5th floor. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't an ocean view. Aulani is pretty accessible, so regardless of which building/room you are in, it's fairly quick to get to the pool/lagoon/facilities.

Thank you for replying I've misunderstood then - I though there were only 8 DVC hotel rooms all on the ground floor in a wing facing the garage.

Think I'd prefer to be higher up, so 5th floor sounds good - were you looking at the garage?

 

[Girimama33]

I booked one for March, and have been told also that the DVC hotel rooms are on the ground floor. Maybe PP booked a cash room?
Hopefully wdrl will chime in because I think they mentioned they would get more info on the DVC hotel rooms during their October trip.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

I booked one for March, and have been told also that the DVC hotel rooms are on the ground floor. Maybe PP booked a cash room?
Hopefully wdrl will chime in because I think they mentioned they would get more info on the DVC hotel rooms during their October trip.

Fab! Thank you for replying would be great to hear from wdrl

 

[wdrl]

Fab! Thank you for replying would be great to hear from wdrl

I'm of no help to you on this, amy. All I know is that Aulani's DVC component includes eight hotel rooms that face the parking structure. I haven't been able to confirm which floor these rooms are located, but I was told that the parking structure takes up most of the view. Thus, I think they are no higher than the 5th floor, if that.

Personally, I prefer having the ocean view. When sitting on our balcony in our ocean view studio (#1154) I could see the ocean, the sunset, and Aulani's Waikolohe Valley. That made me feel we were in a tropical paradise. I'm afraid that the view from Standard View hotel rooms wouldn't give me the same feeling.

Good luck on getting what you want!!

 

[MSUmom]

I was told by CM that the better views are higher up. That the hotel rooms are lower in the building. Don't know if that helps or just duplicates what you know.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Thank you both

I've decided I'm going to try to book a split stay - 3/4 nights in the hotel room and the remaining 4/5 nights in an ocean view. I was really expecting to be able to get an ocean view at 7 months, after reading so often that the high point costs and the high proportion of rooms made it the easiest to get - imagine my surprise when the only availability was one of the only 8 'cheap' hotel rooms!

Just hoping for some pixie dust in securing the ocean view through MS or waitlisting now

 

[wdrl]

I've decided I'm going to try to book a split stay - 3/4 nights in the hotel room and the remaining 4/5 nights in an ocean view.

Just hoping for some pixie dust in securing the ocean view through MS or waitlisting now

Please post your photos of the hotel room, if thats what you end up with.

Good luck on getting the ocean view villa. I think Aulani is getting harder to book at seven months, at least during certain parts of the year. In 2016, half August and all of July is shifting from the Magic Season to the more expensive Premier Season. Perhaps the higher rates will mean there will be a few more villas available at the 7-month mark.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Please post your photos of the hotel room, if thats what you end up with.

Good luck on getting the ocean view villa. I think Aulani is getting harder to book at seven months, at least during certain parts of the year. In 2016, half August and all of July is shifting from the Magic Season to the more expensive Premier Season. Perhaps the higher rates will mean there will be a few more villas available at the 7-month mark.

We will definitely be in the hotel room for at least part of our stay, so will certainly post some photos

I agree about the change to the point charts, and having seen how little availability there now is for August 2015, I'm wondering whether the new charts have made more people decide to travel this year rather than waiting for more 'expensive' trips next year?

 

[wdrl]

We will definitely be in the hotel room for at least part of our stay, so will certainly post some photos

I agree about the change to the point charts, and having seen how little availability there now is for August 2015, I'm wondering whether the new charts have made more people decide to travel this year rather than waiting for more 'expensive' trips next year?

I suspect the vast majority of DVC members don't know about the change in Aulani's point chart for 2016. Those guests who frequently visit Aulani might notice the changes, but I doubt those who are planning their first trip will notice.

 

[alohamom]

We stayed 3 nights in a NON DVC hotel room and then 2 nights in a DVC studio (I know it seems weird but it was just the way we needed to do it this time around)
We had the good fortune of being upgraded to OV for the hotel room and it was stunning.
I think the DVC studio ground floor setup might be similar to the DVC hotel rooms (which is what you are all talking about) We had a wall blocking the parking garage with a water feature-zero view BUT total privacy and very peaceful. I honestly didnt mind it and my hubby would take his coffee out there in the morning and just sit and enjoy the tranquility.
There are pros and cons to everything. If it meant I could stay one more night I would go with the ground floor garage view any day!

I am in the process of figuring out photobucket-when I do I will post a pic of the studio patio. I know that isnt a hotel room patio but I am sure they are similar, just so you can get a feel for it.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

We stayed 3 nights in a NON DVC hotel room and then 2 nights in a DVC studio (I know it seems weird but it was just the way we needed to do it this time around)
We had the good fortune of being upgraded to OV for the hotel room and it was stunning.
I think the DVC studio ground floor setup might be similar to the DVC hotel rooms (which is what you are all talking about) We had a wall blocking the parking garage with a water feature-zero view BUT total privacy and very peaceful. I honestly didnt mind it and my hubby would take his coffee out there in the morning and just sit and enjoy the tranquility.
There are pros and cons to everything. If it meant I could stay one more night I would go with the ground floor garage view any day!

I am in the process of figuring out photobucket-when I do I will post a pic of the studio patio. I know that isnt a hotel room patio but I am sure they are similar, just so you can get a feel for it.

Thank you very much for taking the time to post - that is very helpful and if you do get chance to post a picture at some point, that would be great too

 

[Girimama33]

We are only going to be there a few days this time around, so I wasn't too concerned about the view...especially since we were booking the DVC hotel room.
During our last trip, we had island view rooms in the long wing of the Ewa Tower, overlooking the Halawai Lawn. We had a peak of the ocean too. We were only on the 7th floor, and it was perfect and we didn't have to pay as much. We were down by the pool all day anyway, and hardly in our rooms.

 

[Mduff]

Thank you both

I've decided I'm going to try to book a split stay - 3/4 nights in the hotel room and the remaining 4/5 nights in an ocean view. I was really expecting to be able to get an ocean view at 7 months, after reading so often that the high point costs and the high proportion of rooms made it the easiest to get - imagine my surprise when the only availability was one of the only 8 'cheap' hotel rooms!

Just hoping for some pixie dust in securing the ocean view through MS or waitlisting now

We're going in August too and I had all sorts of issues booking 7 straight nights...luckily I was advised to book the ocean view so I had something, so I did. I really wanted Island view because of the points. Hubby decided to borrow points, stick with the ocean view and don't bother with a waitlist. I never figured it would be this hard to book, but I'm hearing it's hard to book any DVC resort at 7 months now for the busy times of year.

 

[CailinFig]

Our hotel room was on the 5th floor. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't an ocean view. Aulani is pretty accessible, so regardless of which building/room you are in, it's fairly quick to get to the pool/lagoon/facilities.

Sorry, to be specific: Our hotel room was a DVC hotel room category. We were on the 5th floor. But also had a king bed which is not what is advertised for that category as well. I need to look through our pictures to see if I have the view from that room.

I prefer the pool category (mainly bc we had an OV on the 14th floor once and it was too high for me!) i much preferred our 5th floor PV room. With that being said, we are booking a standard view on our next trip bc we don't have enough points! If you have the points, go for the view!

 

[CailinFig]

And yes, we faced the garage. It wasn't horrible, but not the best as I could see people going to and from the garage.

 

[alohamom]

Thank you very much for taking the time to post - that is very helpful and if you do get chance to post a picture at some point, that would be great too

This is the patio that we had with the water feature in the DVC studio, the picture does not do it justice-it kinda felt like our own little tropical hideaway

 

[amystevekai&bump]

This is the patio that we had with the water feature in the DVC studio, the picture does not do it justice-it kinda felt like our own little tropical hideaway

Thank you ever so much for posting

If our DVC hotel room ends up with a view like that, then I'll be very pleased - not unpleasant at all!

 

[alohamom]

Thank you ever so much for posting

If our DVC hotel room ends up with a view like that, then I'll be very pleased - not unpleasant at all!

In some ways this was better than the ocean view because of the total privacy it gave us. The water feature blocked out any noise, the foliage and flowers were lush and tropical and (unlike our ocean view) no one could see into the room. It wasnt until the last day in our ocean view on the Wai'anae side near the JWMarriott that I realized that a few rooms that had POV could look right into ours!
Honestly, you really cannot go wrong, the resort is so wonderful we hardly spend anytime in our room or lanai.