yaromac

Globalist here, trying to hang on to status by the skin of my teeth. Trying for a last minute Christmas trip to Maui. When I search my dates (Dec 24-29) *5 nights*, there's no availability on points (of course). When I use the strategy discussed in this thread and others, of looking for either eight or ten nights (ie padding my dates by 3-5 nights in either direction to get the reservation, with the intention of then calling in to amend the reservation to 5 nights) BOTH HR come up at 20,000 points and Andaz at 25,000 points. However, when I click on either hotel's name, to make the reservation, I get the same no availability message "this hotel is not accepting points for these dates".

Anyone have any tips for this? Or am I just crazy to think I would find any award availability this late in the day and I should be happy I did manage to get 5 nights (on points, also Hilton Diamond) at the Waldorf Astoria and give up the idea of Hyatt Globalist for next year?

Thanks in advance for any insights. I would never have thought to try and book for ten nights and amend it to five nights, if I hadn't read the tips on here about how to get awards for Hyatt on Maui!

Note: I'm not trying to debate the merits of keeping Globalist for 2019 here vs. giving my business to Hilton. I like Hilton. I love Hyatt. I love Globalist. I don't love how hard it is to get there. Just want to know if anyone has any tips for getting these nights on points. Yes, I have looked into paying for the room ($823/night plus tax) but tough given what I just laid out for airfare. First world problems, I know! Happy to be going to Hawaii, following a YOLO philosophy.

Thanks in advance FT-ers, of all crowds, my favorite to source!

craigthemif

Is there some reason why you MUST go to Maui? I would have thought that Globalist status would be reason enough to holiday somewhere else with award space.

Of course you can always consider mattress runs, the credit card, etc. You still have two months left.

yaromac

Thanks. The family! Long held dream.

SeeTheLights

Maui4me1

kpott

jameswes

As mentioned in the other thread... Christmas and New Years are the very top of peak Hawaii travel. The whole year is peak, this is considered the top of peak, and rates are extremely high, availability is extremely low.

GH Kauai - you can't even book a room with cash, they are literally 100% sold out for that time range.
Andaz Maui - Only two room types are left. You're not going to get anything on points. (And, for the basic King room, nightly rates are $1,500+)
HR Maui - Only Ocean View/Ocean Front rooms left. Still $750+/night, so I wouldn't expect points availability.

Even on Oahu/Waikiki with its massive supply of hotels is charging a premium.
Hyatt Place is $323+
Centric & Regency are $400+. BUT - those two do currently still have availability (20K/night). Honestly, if you're set on Hawaii, I'd book those right now. The hotels and locations aren't as great as Kauai or Maui, but it is still Hawaii.

VegasGambler

Good luck. HR Maui is one of my favorite hotels. Great service, great pool complex. And they make a mean lava flow.

For a point night availability, I think you just need whichever room type they give away for points to be available. To see what that is, just do a search for less busy dates when they have pts availability, and see what room it is. I don't think you have to play games with length of stay... I've seen (and booked) single nights on pts before, even last minute. I'm pretty sure that if the right type of room is available you can book it with points.

If you can go earlier, there are very good cash rates available -- expecially if you got the taregeted 20% off Hawaii deal). I'm doing 3 nights over the veterans day weekend for $223/night.

The HR waikiki does not compare. It's not a "bad" hotel by any stretch, but it's disappointing if you've been to the HR Maui and are expecting something similar.

boolean64

Given you have already bought plane tickets you are probably out of luck. Agree with other posters that getting point redemptions the week between christmas and new years is likely impossible.

Do you already have the hyatt credit card that gives you five night credit? Or as others suggested, five cheapo nights on a matress run is probably worth it for saved parking, resort fees, suite upgrades, breakfast.

Last thing you could try doing is calling and seeing if suites are bookable on points for higher redemption amount, especially since Hyatt just changed the program to allow for premium suite upgrades for more points. This will not show up on the website. I highly doubt this is available, but worth a phone call.

Kacee

Note that the first two weeks of December are typically low periods in Hawaii. Then everything just goes crazy within a week of Christmas.

epost1980

I believe there is a 6-night minimum stay required during the peak Christmas time. Are you able to add one more night to your stay (i.e., 23-29 or 24-30)? If so, it seems like a king bed unit is available for points booking.

aclar08

I just got back from the HR Maui and was EXTREMELY disappointed this trip with the HR Maui. We spent a 4 days at the Andaz and 3 days at the HR and my spouse and I both felt on our next trip we would just stay at the Andaz the whole time. The property is really starting to show its wear and needs some upgrades/maintenance. The new regency club is a downgrade in my opinion. I agree that that staff and pools are great.

This was our fourth trip during the time they have been selling the Hyatt Residence Club. With every trip the HRC sales team has become increasingly aggressive in their sales approach and techniques. There is nowhere to hide to avoid the high pressure representatives as they have several booths in each tower hallway and the main courtyard. What is most surprising is that Hyatt allows HRC to be so aggressive given that HRC is owned by Internal Intl and now Marriott and only is a licencing agreement with Hyatt at this point. This is Hyatt not Wyndham!


I would not return to the HR Maui until the HRC is sold out.

VegasGambler

I'm going in a couple of weeks.

I've been there 3 times before (most recent was this past Feb) and I never got approached or talked to by these guys before. I know that they have a booth somewhere where you can go talk to them and get a free beach bag or something -- I never did that. I think my ex may have done it on one of my trips.

If I get harassed by these guys I'll just complain to hotel management, or hyatt corporate if necessary. That's totally unacceptable.

Maui4me1

yaromac

Thanks for the reply. I tried this immediately after your post and every night since, and I've called in twice, nothing...

All that's available is the first night, Dec 24, and for one night only.

Apparently you can't book anything at the higher level of points for suites with the new redemptions either (and FWIW neither agent had any clue about even how to try this!)

Many thanks to others for the helpful replies! Love FT!

Looks like the Waldorf Astoria then.