HOT!!! Grand Hyatt Kauai For As Low As $180+ Per Night!!!

Hmmm, we planned on staying here for 5 nights in Jan 2012 at 22K/night from Chase Sapphire. Any benefit to booking it here instead? If I dont use the Chase Sapphire points to transfer to Hyatt (for this specific hotel since I dont plan on going anywhere else anytime soon.), I’ll probably just take the cash. We’ll also be in Maui for 5 nights, but can get the Westin Villas for $798 including tax, a rental car, and $75 resort credit. We can actually get the same deal in Kauai as well at the Westin, but I’ve hard great things about the Hyatt so we wanted to try it out.

is there a specific time of year that you would recommend to visit Hawaii. we would want warm weather but sparse crowds…

Hi Dan

Me and my girlfriend want to goto Hawaii, and we want to stay at the Grand Hyatt Kauai on your recommendation. I have 75k AA miles from the Citi deal, so that would cover both our tickets during off-peak correct?

Would you recommend both of us sign up for the Chase Hyatt card to cover most of our nights at the Grand Hyatt?

@Abrahem:

75K AA miles is enough for most times of the year, but check availability. I looked 8 months out for next Jan, and ended up booking on United for 40K p/p since AA did not have good availability, and we needed exact dates since my wife is a teacher. If you’re flexible, you should be fine. You may want to sign up for a 2nd AA card for 75K, and then look for business class seats, which will make the trip much nicer, though business class seats are hard to find for 75k.

Sign up for Chase Sapphire and you’ll get 50K points, which is equal to 2 nights at any Hyatt plus $60 cash leftover. And there’s no fee for the first year. The Hyatt card gives you 2 free nights as well, but $75 annual fee (not waived). Or you could each sign up for both cards, and then you’d have 8 nights at any Hyatt, plus $120 cash. Or it might be worth just spending the money here, since the rate is half of what it costs on the Hyatt website.

I would like to know, if one can have a tzinius vacation there. Is it possible to be there, without seeing pritzus?
Thanks

i went to the website and i couldnt find this rate can someone post me a linky?

dan any minyan or kosher food there? can u post a good itin?= from your trips? thanks buddy

Dan,
Will I still be able to use my Diamond suite upgrade and benefits with this offer?

@Joe: For $180 a night you are much better selling your points than using points. Even if you get .015 you are much better off. Do the math.

Additionally, if you are Diamond (which you would have been if you follow Dans posts) you only get upgraded to a suite for paid stays.

i was recently in hawaii and had great glatt kosher food from oahukosher.com – they are in honululu but they can prep you food for the other islands, or even ship food directly to your hotel in kuai.

speek to a guy named yudi. great guy great food.

@Jeff:

Are you sure about the Hyatt Diamond upgrade only working on PAID stays?

Because I know from experience that both SPG and Fairmont will give platinum members upgrades on ANY (including awards) stay as long as it is booked through their websites.

@Jeff:

Are you sure, I’m pretty sure Dan stayed on points and got upgraded. I am Hilton Gold until April next year, so I’m going to match it to Hyatt in December, and it’s good for 60 days, so since I’m staying in January, I should be fine. Also, I don’t like selling points, since it’s “prohibited” according to most airline programs and loyalty programs.

Dan, where r u? Hook us up with info and what to do on island, how long do u recomend to stay etc. U have been there so its a walk in the park .please

@Chaim:

Jeff is right. From my Hyatt Diamond membership: “Your Suite Upgrade Awards are available to use on paid room nights at any participating Hyatt hotel or resort worldwide between now and February 29, 2012.”

@carl:

+1

@Joe:

Conclusion: It would make sense for you to book it here.
Reasoning:
Possibility #1 – 50,000 points are worth $625 if used to purchase airfare through chase. Thus each point = $.0125. 22,000 (the price you’re paying) times $.0125 = $275.00. You could save almost a $100 a night by booking through here.
Possibility #2 – 50,000 points are worth $500 cash (statement credit). Thus each point = $.01. 22,000 times $.01 – $220.00, a savings of $40.00/night.
Possible possibility #3 – (only is applicable if Jeff: is right about the points being worth “even” $.015 – not sure how he assumes this – maybe selling them? Jeff?). Anyway, assuming $.015/pt, you’d be able to save $150.00/night.

HTH

@AJK:

Price went up anyways, $235 now for my days plus resort fees and tax.

Would it take 70K British Airways points to fly on AA first class to Kaui, or 105K?

The BA award chart says biz class is 2x rate, and first class is 3x rate. I hope AA first class to Hawaii, on a 2-class aircraft, doesn’t count as 3x rate.

@aarony:
Hawaii is great and warm all year round! Around the holidays it can get crowded though.

@Joe:
The real trick to finding availability is to search from gateway cities instead of your city and then you can piece together avaialbility.

See this forum thread for how I booked my brother to Kona, Hawaii this summer: http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=7249.0

@Shmuel:
Sure, just close your eyes.
There is plenty to do in Hawaii besides the beach. Just see my trip notes.

@slimz:
Just search for Kauai on the Jetsetter site, or scroll over “flash sales” and select Grand Hyatt Kauai.

@carl:
There is only a part-time chabad house I believe and it’s geared towards the locals.
There is Costco, Walmart, and grocery stores with the same food you can find on the mainland.
For prepared food we usually make our own, freeze it, and heat it up on a portable burner, but Oahu Kosher is another (not cheap, but convenient) option.

As for an itin, look at my trip notes. On occasion I do help people with a vacation concierge package, but it’s quite time-consuming so I don’t take on too many clients.

@Michael:
You do get elite benefits and I think you can use the upgrade certs.
You don’t get points or stay credit though.

@Chaim:
Generally confirmed upgrade certs are only good on paid stays. Managers at the property can override that and accept them on award stays.
Also at checkin you can get upgraded for free as a Diamond on an award or paid stay based on avaialbility and the mood of the agent.

@c:
I recommend stays of 5-7 days on 1 island to my concierge clients, but people have done 2 night and 10 night stays as well.

@Matityahu:
On a 2 class aircraft it would be 70K.
The real way to go to Hawaii is on a CO flight in BusinessFirst for 80K miles from Newark or Houston to Honolulu. Availability is tough though.

@Dan:

Thanks for the suggestion! I think AA also has a business class product to HNL from DFW. Hopefully I’ll find availability between CO and AA.

Any upgrades are at the whim of hotel management for diamonds not booked thru hyatt.com. Diamonds booking thru Hyatt get at least upgraded to ocean view, suite upgrades are definitely worth using here. diamond benefits are available regardless of booking portal (club and spa access, etc.).