nice tr! always good to see AS on here.
Living in Seattle, AS is the main way out of town. It helps that I really like them too. It's always a surprise how bad US airlines are when we need to use them - although CO was Ok the last time we used them before the merger (the staff were unhappy with that one!)
They say the Helekulani is the nicest.
I had a good rate there too, but it's a bigger hotel, and we liked the history of the Royal Hawaiian. Mrs CRAZ8 got some movies on Netflix that featured the hotel in the 60s to help us get in the mood!
We also wanted to be on the full beach. If you're going to a beach resort, then the beach is an important feature!