First, thanks to the wonderful people helping others on this forum. In some other forums, the responses would be "use the search function".

Here's my situation. My family and I will be flying to Hawaii for 7 days starting February 24. Family consists of husband, wife, 6 yo boy and 5 yo girl. For part of the stay we'll be at the Hilton HV. This is due to me having enough points for either a 4 night stay using the Amex award for 125K or a 6 night Hilton elite stay for 175K. I could go with the 6 night and then tack on a night as well.

However, I like to experience different hotels and am considering doing 4 days at the HHV and 3 days someplace else.

I have some SPG points or I could always go to Coupon Connection looking for a trade. Or, I could actually spend money for a room, if there is a compelling reason to do so.

One thing that bugs me about the Hilton is the $20 a day to park. My wife loves resorts. I tend to travel more frugally when travelling alone and have a hard time enjoying resorts when I spend a majority of my time away from the resort sightseeing.

My kids really won't care where we stay. When we rented a house on the Atlantic ocean, they played with the sand on the boardwalk leading to the ocean from the house the first day, never even seeing the ocean! There was a sand dune between the house and the ocean. They are easily entertained.

So, I guess I'm either asking for recommendations for a hotel for the first 3 days of the trip, or someone to pcychoanalyse me and determine which hotel is best for me based on that outcome.

The only thing I definitely want to do is go to Hanamona (?) Bay and snorkle and see all the fish. Other than that, no specific plans.