DaveInLA

I don't believe their explanation. I looked into booking Hyatt in Times Square for New Year's eve, and ran into the same problem. Can book before the holidays and after, but not during.

Ancien Maestro

Seems a bit hit and miss as I just booked an extended Christmas Break stay in Orlando. All Orlando hotels showed availability. So perhaps its the algorithms.

Did you guys try to book say a three week stay. Once confirmed, I would call in HGP, pare back the reservation to the dates desired. Often on extended stays, there are great rates. So I would ask HGP to call the hotel and ask permission to keep rates booked.

flyinghigh2011

Thanks so much!!! Lovely pics!!
So you reckon the odd rooms have slightly better views?

oc2005

No problem!

I'm just guessing based on what I saw from our room, but based on the angles of the rooms, I would think the odd rooms should have more ocean in their views than the even rooms (but would also likely be noisier). You can get a sense of that from this google map; look at the room angles at this resolution of the tower coming out toward the water, then zoom out a bit to see where the ocean is:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Andaz...96753&t=h&z=19

In this map, the even rooms are on the top of the wing, the odd on the bottom, and based on the angle of the room, odd rooms seem to have more ocean view. Also, I think someone posted the view from an odd room much earlier in this thread if you can find it to compare to my pictures.

The most important thing for the view though is to get as high a floor as possible (7 is highest), and high a number as possible to get closer to the ocean (739 and 740 are the highest). But then the palm trees could throw it off if you happen to get a higher floor right next to a palm tree top!

oc2005

I've tried everything I can think of for booking Andaz Maui over that time period -- longer length reservations (including weeks or months), shorter length, online booking, third party sites, calling the diamond line (probably over 10 times now), calling the hotel directly, having the diamond line call the hotel and work on my behalf, trying with paid nights, trying with award nights, etc. and nothing has worked. They all say the same thing - those nights just have not been released yet.

I've booked as many nights as they would let me book so far before the blackout period, but I guess I'll just have to wait a couple more weeks and use the higher point level if I want to use points for the rest of my stay. I did notice that a couple of the nights I was able to book several weeks back are no longer available anymore either. So not only have they not released rooms for that time period, they seem to have unreleased rooms from some nights that were previously available!

musikdude

Well- I hope GP is aware of this "issue"- seems really unfair to let this happen.
My personal answer to this is to make a reservation for early Dec. 2014 now and then use the "free change" period that has been announced, to nab those XMAS dates, a few weeks from now. I will do a runaround around their runaround!! Take that Andaz Maui!

oc2005

Great idea! Now watch...they won't release the Xmas dates until February 16th!

hqly2001

What is the most common types of upgrades folks are getting outside the busy holiday season?

Is there a lounge that serves cocktails for Diamonds at this hotel?

Maui4me1

No lounge.

hqly2001

Do you get drinks at the bar or something in lieu of the lounge?

Maui4me1

You get a great breakfast but nothing as far anything in lieu of no lounge.

lz80521

Has anyone redeemed chase two free night awards at Andaz Maui recently? I checked the availability online and found no availability from Feb. to the end of year. Do I have to call to use the free night award?

healthnut

Yes, you must call.

lz80521

Thank you healthnut.

flyinghigh2011

I heard someone state they have unlimited mimosas for $15??? Where at and is it all day??

Also how long does the complimentary outrigger canoeing activity take and for those who did it, was it worth the time?

thanks