I charged Morimoto to my room and earned 3x HGP points on my Hyatt Visa. However, that might not be the case if you pay the bill with them directly.

Just booked the rarely available points and cash awards... called the diamond line and had them cancel my 25K point redemption, and instead switch it to 2 p+c nights ($221 each after 40 resort fee and taxes) +12,500 points each

Since I was about to book one more night with cash, this saved me about $15-$20 bucks over the $360 hyatt rate + taxes and fees

The stay credits and bonus points earned for elite status are worth more as well, as opposed to not getting any of those when using full points....

Lastly, I bought the eBay Hyatt gift cards using eBay gift cards purchased from OfficeMax for 5x ultimate reward points, which I will use when I check out.

I was downgraded to platinum after failing the status challenge, so it is going to suck to pay the $50 breakfast fee out of pocket, but oh well.

Also, I am cab'ing/walking to costco from the airport to buy some booze when i land, where then also the uber x are only $25-$30 to the andaz as opposed to the only non-uber x available directly from the airport ($65-$85 estimate)

Since we will be posting up in Wailea and not needing a rental car this trip, there will be no need for the kihei parking option, and we will just be using uber x's to get around instead... this saves hassles and dollars when compared to daily rental rates vs uber usage

Have you actually checked if enough cars run? I don't remember uber being viable in December.

They tend to be mostly available by the airport....getting one back from Wailea might be a problem, big PITA, or a REALLY long wait.

Sounds right - I can pull my receipt, but I think these were under the ineligible charges area. So they don't earn the Hyatt bonus at the desk, but if you pay with your Hyatt Visa for the room, sure, you'll get 3x that way.

Don't forget, for close local trips, you don't even need Uber X. The hotel will drive you around Wailea.

I heard people complaining about lack of Uber availability there also, last trip. Remember the motto: On Maui, everyone is either a massage therapist or a real estate agent, or both.

Thanks yes, after reading a lil more on this thread I see that garden view is the lowest. Do they have like 2 of those rooms so its virtually impossible to use the free night certs? Is using points treated the same way? Should I bother trying to contact the property direct or can they even help with these sort of redemptions.

Keep watching each day. Availability really fluctuates. But I've stayed twice and, in the end, gotten exactly what I wanted each time including DSU use, points nights, and P+C nights.

Two, no... I'll guess four (two Queen and two King rooms totalling four total rooms available for awards). Sucks, yes, big gaming the system by this property. But, as the next post notes, availability does open up as target dates approach (use a four night minimum and also try individual nights), so keep trying - I've never had any luck in booking all my exact dates all at once as opposed to piecing together what I want over time.

good to know, ill make sure i leave enough time or worst case have to eat the extra cost of a taxi

ya i was suprised that points and cash all of a sudden opened up for this weekend, last night

can anybody recommend the best place to snorkel on a paid tour when leaving or being picked up by the tour guide from the Andaz?

I did the Molokini later afternoon tour last year for pretty cheap, but the current was kinda rough and hard to get close to the rock to see the most fish.

TIA

Have you snorkeled right at the hotel reef? South end of the beach, snorkel around the point and to the next beach down. It's really pretty good, actually.

I have not - this is my first time to Wailea... last year I went to the Hyatt Maui Kanapali, so we just took the cheap late boat out to molokini...

This sounds great though, and I will check out the andaz reef first, this may be enought for us

thanks for the tip!