edgewood49

I too find it surprising especially given the new ownership make up, having said that as you pointed out it's island (s) wide with most of that "Aloha" spirit fading out. My wife who's mother's family are Hawaiian from way back agrees, while she still loves to visit her family,

doggiefizzle

I blame the accessibility of the Islands on the dramatic drop in airfare costs to Hawaii from CONUS. I know labor costs in Hawaii are high and the hospitality staff are heavily unionized, but it seems like the turnover in hotels as tourism increased (via REIT buy-in) has resulted in ratcheted up room prices to compensate for the debt service costs related to their property acquisitions (Like Park Hotels ownership of HHV).

When I was a kid, it was a huge deal to go to Hawaii, and often only took place via an L-1011 or a DC-10 out of SFO for my family. And actually, we stayed at the Hale Koa the majority of my childhood trips to Oahu, and I’d rate that hotel (IMHO) higher than most others in Waikiki with the exception of the Halekulani. While I can’t wait to take my son to Oahu and take him to Hanauma Bay and Fort DeRussy, my guess is that I’ll spend a little more out of pocket for a room at the Aulani or Four Seasons in Ko Olina instead, since it seems like you get a bit more for your spend there rather than just bogus resort fees, exorbitant parking costs, and minimal Globalist/Diamond guest recognition.

edgewood49

It is a nice place to stay with food and beverage prices unbeatable in the islands if you have the ability to stay there. The REIT's have certainly played a large part in the current state of hospitality but so have Asian investors. My company has been involved in several restoration projects ( exterior structural) It's a mixed bag of ownerships however the bottom line is what they all have in common as do the unions, I think the cur back in hours as reported at the Hyatt will spread to the other hotels

VegasGambler

The only good thing about waikiki is the food. Why would you eat at the hotel?

edgewood49

At one time many of the hotels had some of the best dining establishments in the islands the Hyatt had the Colony which for those of us traveling year round on business especially in the summer months was a welcome spot to dine, The Westin across the street at one time had good dining, even the HHL had some great choices, Many new and mainland eateries have made their way to the islands along with local chefs making a name for themselves. There are times when your tired and don't wish to fight the crowds "eat in" at your hotel.
Since your from Vegas what about the restaurants in the hotels along the strip? Why fight the crowds sometimes and eat in

VegasGambler

I'm not from Vegas I used to go there a lot. I stopped a while ago but my name remains.

joykid

We are planning to celebrate our anniversary at HR Waikiki since we heard a lot of good things about it.
Right now I am on the fence to either use 20k pts/night to book or book using cash rate.
We are going on Memorial day weekend and the cash rate is around $220/night.

That’s why I am wondering if it’s wise to use points since it will be low cpp for this award stay redemption.

I am not Globalist, but if we decide to use points, my brother who is Globalist can help with guest of honor booking, so we get free breakfast and waived resort fees.

What do you all think? Any advice will be appreciated.

Also if asking for room upgrade, which tower is better for ocean view, Ewa or Diamond Head?

VegasGambler

The food in the lounge is not good. I suggest going elsewhere for breakfast, even if it's free at the hotel (there is truly great food in Waikiki).

Personally I'd look at the full price (including resort fees and taxes) to find the real rate, and then use pts if you get better than 2c per pt. Most likely you will want to pay cash.

I'm also not a huge fan of this hotel, FWIW. If you want to go to one of the other islands there are nicer Hyatts. The one great thing about Waikiki is the food, though.

edgewood49

X2 I would also check for kicks and grins other properties first. When you book try to book as close to the exact room you want.

joykid

Thanks all, I did check again and for HR Waikiki, the rate is $265 (resort fees included) per day. So at 20k points, that would only give me 1.3 cpp. I guess I will book cash rate or airbnb or hotels.com then since as per your advise, it's highly advised to get at least 2 cpp to make it worth.

flyer4512

I see Memorial Day weekend ( city view King $223 a night ) ending up over $300 a night when you add resort fees and tax. There is tax on that $265 as the room rate and resort ($42) fee are taxable. 3 nights is $ 911.45

We are going for 10 nights around that time and I'll be using 200k points rather than paying ~ $3100 in cash

As far as getting 2 cents per point don't forget Hyatt has a points deval going into effect on many properties in March............Hawaii is not effected but getting 2 cts/pt may be harder

VegasGambler

I never have a problem getting 2c/pt. I just did 2 nights at the HR Maui. The rate was about $750 before taxes so that's well over 3c/pt (25k pts/night) after you consider taxes (I'm globalist so, no resort fee even if I pay cash)

While some properties are going up in category, almost as many are going down. Depending on your travel patterns you may see a devaluation or an increased valuation.

Also it looks like changes to pts + cash will actually create a lot more really good redemption opportunities, at least from the data points that have been posted so far. I was skeptical at first but now I'm cautiously optimistic.

When the rates are below a 2c/pt valuation I'm happy to pay cash and earn more points. If I redeemed pts at 1.5c I'd quickly run out! By setting a 2c lower limit on my pts redemptions I'm able to maintain a relatively constant balance between 200k and 500k pts. My average redemption is probably in the 2.5c range but I don't track it so it's just a guess.

Matt4200

Personally I redeem anything over 1.5cpp, that’s just my valuation of what I’d actually pay. Recently -

Doing a Stay that’d be $126 a night for 8k points, but I guess if you factor in taxes and fees (which you should) it’d be close to $150 nightly which is almost 2cpp.

Then coming up I’m getting 4cpp at Andaz Papagayo where nightly rates for the base room type are $950+ (I say 4cpp because they have a “Stay 4 Nights get the 5th Free Promo for the Cash rats and we are staying 5 nights).

Imagine spending the 4k for that stay though (and on the World of Hyatt CC) that’d be 62k points earned!

Anyways just wanted to say I really like HR Waikiki, due to the buffet and club lounge, but i’d likely stay at HC just because it’s a nice property and I can redeem a FNA (which some work as they definitely don’t make it easy).

edgewood49

I agree with points & cash as becoming a better bet on redemption. It also allows one to book a room that you want. Have moved to this two years ago and happy. Booked Danieli in Venice this spring cash and points got the room we wanted at a fair rate.

flyer4512

Like most stays the dates and property make a big difference. I'm also not seeing ( at the HR Waikiki ) the ability to book any other room ( besides the standard points award night room ) using points and cash.

Unless a person has the status to get resort fees waived they are still charged on a point plus cash stay.

Using the HR Wakiki for example a 3 night stay over Memorial Day weekend is............

$911

30,000 points and $557

60,000 points and no cash

I don't have much use for Hyatt points as the places we travel often don't have any nice Hyatts ( We are comped in Vegas) so I'm going to use my points before I pay $$$.

Our upcoming Key West Hyatt Centric stay is a much better value at 25K ( going to 30K in March) per night or about $600 but we are going to Hawaii , not Key West again.

It looks like we are going to split our trip and do 6 or 7 nights at the HR Waikiki followed by 3 or 4 nights ( total 10 nights in Hawaii) at the HR Maui so we'll get more value points wise out of the Maui nights.