360guy

I just re booked my November 6 night stay., saving 124,000 points (from 78,800 to 58,100).

jeanrtco

So I am the original poster, and I am here at the Grand Wailea! NO you don't get to use the exec lounge, and no there is no free breakfast Fortunately, I called the them 1 month before I left and turned in 990,000 points to get a room in the Napua tower.
Was in Napua tower 2 years ago, and I have to saw that the cocktail hour has a lot less to offer!
DIamond priv get u $40 coupon to Humu and 20% spa discount and 2 free drinks, that is all.

buddy1671

I have a stay planned for late May at GW using the 2 nights cert that I got with the Hilton reserve and was wondering if having gold status will get me benefits worth at least $95. That's how much the annual renewal of my Hilton Reserve card is that's due this month before my stay. I was going to cancel it as I've just about written Hilton off considering their devaluation last year but I am considering keeping it for another year if it will pay for me to do so with my upcoming stay. Any suggestions?

loomis

I am glad that you found a points deal, because I do not see one day in the entire months of March or April of next year for less than 153,600 points per night!!

BrlDsguise

You won't lose gold status until April 1 2015 if you cancel the card.

buddy1671

Thanks Brldsguise, that makes the decision very easy.

360guy

The original reservation was booked in December 2013. I re-booked after seeing post #1213.

rideride2

Does anyone know what GW considers its standard room?

I'm looking to use Reserve Coupons in Jan. and see that when I'm planning on going it's already starting to sell. I don't have the coupons yet but was wondering if I could book with points or CC then have them switched over to the coupons when I receive them?

Thanks!

deant

Book with points and convert at a later date. Should not be a problem.

Barbella7

We are looking at a stay at the GW in August and are considering purchasing a Napua room. I am an HHonors Diamond if it is of any use in this situation. Online, it looks like a standard room is 640 sq ft and the Napua rooms are 710 sq ft. Does this have any impact? Also, are the Napua rooms any less worn down/more modern? Would the lounge access then be worth it if the rooms are equal?

Thanks

747FC

It is has been a few years since stayed there, but the lounge access was a very nice part of being there.

BOSOGG

Just confirm that the room you book with points is eligible to be booked with the free night certificate. I booked using free night certificates in February, and at that time they were only good for rooms available at a rate of 70k points or less.
I don't think you can reserve a room above the "basic entry" category and hope to convert to use with a certificate. Might be worth a try, but I would not want to count on it.

J0HN

Standard room would be a Terrace category room. Although others are saying the transition is easy from points to Reserve certificates, my recent experiences with redemption flexibility have been much more limited than in the past. If combining with additional nights using points, You may want to break the booking into certificate night dates and a separate reservation for other nights to allow for an "even" exchange.

vtgambler

Just thought I’d do a little report on my recent award stay as a Diamond. Booked six nights for 58100 points per night (includes 5th night free). This is actually slightly better than my last stay, pre-devaluation, on a GLON which was 60K per night. I booked this stay roughly 11 months in advance. Usually early May is low season which would explain the low redemption rate.

I always like to check on paid rates periodically to see what kind of value I’m getting on my award stays. At booking rates were $459. A few months prior to our stay rooms were only available on a Diamond Force at $900+ per night. I correctly assumed there were some corporate functions going on. As such I wasn’t expecting much of an upgrade …

At check-in the clerk mentioned at least 6 times that I was upgraded from Terrace View to Garden View. Room turned out to be a handicapped room on the ground floor looking directly at the chapel. I was tempted to make a request to see a Terrace room just out of curiosity but I was too lazy. As it turns out we actually enjoyed being on the ground floor as it made for easy access to the beach and the pool. The handicap setup was a drag though. There was no shower curtain or door so water tended to run everywhere. In hindsight I wish we had asked for a room change.

Received the same Diamond benefits as generally reported: $40 off dining, 2 drinks at Humu & 20% Off at the spa. Did not have to pay the resort fee on the award stay but only parking option is $35 valet.

A few general thoughts on the resort itself:
-Room was clean but wear & tear is getting out of hand. Cracked and missing tiles in the bathroom, worn carpet, tired furniture, etc… Room itself was large with a huge bathroom and good size lanai. So much potential with some updating.

-Beach here is great and we never had a problem getting chairs and an umbrella.

-Since we were past school vacation time there was no lining up to get pool chairs first thing in the morning, however the pool area still felt like a zoo by midday. We come to Hawaii for the beach so no big deal for us.

-Valet service was excellent. Never called ahead and never waited more than a couples of minutes for the car even at peak times.

-Dinner at Humu was disappointing. Three of us had the featured Mac Nut Mahi and it was very dry. We ate here on our last stay and had a great meal so hopefully it was just an off night. Had $28 burgers at Bistro Molokini one night when we were too tired to leave the resort. They were excellent but I guess they should be for that price.

Overall we enjoyed our stay but I can’t see paying $500-$1000 a night to stay here. Subsequent to the GW we spent 4 nights at the Andaz and 4 nights at the Fairmont. GW simply is not in the same league.

rltycheck

Loomis:

Looking in the same timeframe and seeing the same point range.

Stayed there last year and the year before for 60ish... no idea the jump. I love the Wailea, but not at 150,000 a night for standard rooms. One island away the Waikoloa has Palace suites for 51k. It's no Wailea, but at the rates, I'll take it.