JudyJFLA

Hey Gang!
I called this past week to book everything for a trip to the HWV for Mom and myself and was told that the 6 night award was now the TEEN award code, which I see is the golf award (Golf not included). Is there any difference in practice in the two?
I was told that as a gold we should be upgraded, and I am torn betwee the Lagoon and Ocean towers. Hey we want the free food, but also don't want to walk miles and I want to veg in the pool!!
Can't wait
Judy J

Eugene

Actually, it's either ALON or TEEN, as HWV participates in both (not the case for the HHV though). The only difference would be if you wanted to get airline tickets with it (not an option since 01/01/03) - TEHO costs 20K points more than ALOA.

Tenacious

Also see:

www.hilton.com/en/hhonors/rewards/vip.jhtml

luddgang

Thank you that answers my question.

Andy100

i think i read in another post (sometime ago) that the TEEN award means you will need to pay some taxes extra.. it comes to about $250 or so. I tried searching for that post but didnt find it..
is this true?

mystara

tax on what? no tax for award stays as far as the guest room(s) is(are) concerned.

[This message has been edited by mystara (edited 01-04-2003).]

JudyJFLA

If you want to see a perfect fit, hand me a bill for $250 tax on a free stay!! I can see $4 a day for the safe, but come on.... $250 for taxes?? I don't think so!!
Maybe you are thinking of taxes on a european air ticket award or similar?

pinniped

Sort of funny that Hilton considers this a golf destination. Don't get me wrong: we *loved* our ALON stay at this hotel, but the golf course was nothing special. It was a very basic 18-hole resort course set up to make high handicappers feel good about their game. If you shoot 100 at home, you'll drop a 90 on this course. If you shoot 85 at home, you can get into the 70s here. If you are a golfer, stay at the Hilton but drive up the highway a bit and play Hapuna Prince and Mauna Kea. You can even get cheap green fees on weekday afternoons without too much trouble...

Andy100

so to sum it up, there is no difference between the two?? (since you cant get airline tickets with it anymore..)

SECKART

I am wondering about this as well. I booked my ALON which I was told is now a TEEN for HWV and asked for an e-mail confirmation. The CS Rep warned me that it would show a very high room rate but also that it is a Certificate Redemption and to ignore the rate. However, my confirmation shows that the rate also has a 11.4% tax not included in the over 400.00 per night rate. I did the math, and that is a little scary for a supposed award stay. I am not expected to pay that, am I? I would appreciate any guidance from those who have stayed on the award stay recently-I can't find this anywhere else by using the search function, or on hilton's site.

mystara

SECKART: NO WORRY.

1. Ignore the room rate and the tax in the e-mail. It's all covered by the award certificate. You will only need to pay for the incidental spending (room service, laundry, etc) if you have any.

2. Both ALON and TEEN certificate work on HWV. They like to promote the hotel as a golf resort. So they tell you to use the TEEN award. Both cost 100K.

FFSaver

I'm going to HWV on a TEEN award at the end of Jan, too. no need to be worried. Enjoy your vacation

Eugene

SECKART -- The rate listed is a rack rate, that you will be charged in case of a no-show. But... Make sure that your reservation confirmation explicitly states that this is a certificate redemption, and that the required certs listed on that confirmation match the ones you ordered.

NeverAtHome

I concur with InHoc - spent 6 nights at HWV and then 6 nights at HHV (just got home today!).

We too (wife and 2 daughters 12,13) got a room on the ground floor of the Palace Tower facing the service road. I was not impressed. I argued that it was not suitable but was told that the new policy for ALON's was Palace Tower with a very limited breakfast lounge access.

I asked about getting breakfast coupons - told I would have to move (except they didn't have any other rooms) and would lose all other privileges (nightly bed turn down, 2for1 passes at the putting course, water bottles, etc). Since they were apparently 100+ rooms overbooked the weekend before New years, I didn't get a choice of moving! But given the crappy room location and the extremely poor quality of the breakfast lounge (donuts, cakes, a few fruits, coffee, juices, nothing healthly or even good!), I'd take the breakfast coupons and move to another floor/tower if that's available.

And finally, I found the prices at the HWV to be outrageous, especially if you're trying to feed a family! Mind you, I started in a hole having to convert from Canadian peso's to begin with! But we ended up eating elsewhere every night with the exception of New Years' Eve.

Moving over to Oahu and the HHV was like the difference between night and day! On check-in, I was immediately upgraded to a junior suite, was given breakfast coupons for all 6 days, and was actually treated like they wanted me there.

Add to that the beach access, far cheaper prices for food onsite (ate there 3 nights out of 6), and not having to wait for the darn train/boat every time I wanted to go somewhere, and my vote is for the HHV over HWV no contest.

If you want a huge resort with great pools, don't care about a beach and you have lot's of money to spend, then HWV is a great place. But frankly I found it geared far too much to the asian market who obviously have a lot more money to spend than I did.

It will come down to what you want and what you expect I guess. But after reading a year's worth of posts about the great service for Diamonds on ALON at HWV, the reality today is very different and I was quite disappointed. Thankfully the HHV stay restored my faith and good humour!

LLM

Dec 27-31 is a blackout date at HWV for us lowly golds. Only Diamonds can get a room at all then. You were at HHV after their blackout dates. Maybe that's why they had better rooms available for you.