Maui Four Seasons Honeymoon - Best way to book?
 

Not too many posts coming from myself on here, but definitely an avid reader! I will be staying in Maui for my honeymoon November 5th-10th and my, soon to be, wife and I are set on staying at the MAUI FOUR SEASONS. I am going back and forth on the best route to take in booking the reservation: 1. AMEX FHR (via Amex Plat) 2. Preferred Partners (VIRTUOSO) 3. Use Ultimate reward points at 1.5% and forgo the benefits of book through Amex FHR and/or Virtuoso.

What it boils down to is the fact that we would like to stay in an ocean front room. However, the total cost to book via Amex FHR is north of $4,000 for a partial ocean view and we would hope that an ocean upgrade is available at time of check in. In a perfect world, we would rather use my Chase points to pay for 3 of the 5 nights in order to bring down to cost. Problem is, you do not receive any sort of benefits going this route and we would have to book the ocean room.

Would appreciate everyone's opinions/past experience on the matter.
- How successful are upgrades in the month of November, shoulder season?
- If I booked the 1st 2 night through Amex FHR and the last 3 nights with my chase points, what are the chances we would be allowed to staying the same (hopefully upgraded room) for the entire stay?
- I don't have any experience booking travel through Virtuoso. Any comment on how their benefits stack up against Amex FHR, worse/better?

thank you in advance!!

With the goal of placing this question in a forum frequented by members who can assist the OP, I am going to move this to the Luxury Hotels and Travel Forum, where there's an existing thread on the Four Seasons chain and also discussions on Virtuoso bookings.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxu...s-resorts.html

Aloha!

FlyinHawaiian, Co-Moderator
Hawaii (Travel) Forum

I would go with a FSPP agent. The have direct access to the resort and your odds will be better than AMEX FHR. They can often guarantee upgrades at time of booking as well. BESVISOR is wonderful and highly recommended..

As a guy who just came off a luxury honeymoon, DO NOT leave your room upgrade to chance. You only do this once in your life, and you don't want to have the added stress of hoping you get the room you want when you arrive. I promise you, you will not notice the extra $1000 you spend for the perfect room, but you will cherish the memories of that perfect room for a long time.

THIS.

I would second a FSPP agent. You want this to be perfect and get as much of the hotel's goodwill that your agent and agency can muster on your behalf.

A good FSPP can negotiate with the hotel before booking to see if upgrades can be secured in advance if that's important to you. There is definitely an advantage to using a FSPP to AMEX FHR. With AMEX you get perks because of the contract with FS, but there is no personal connection to the hotel and the people answering the phone at Amex have probably never met a FS representative. A FSPP usually has a personal connection with at least the FS, if not that specific property.

Just as an example last month I was in Maui and had a 1:2 dinner with both the Sales Managers for all the FS Hawaii properties. That's a connection that AMEX can't offer. Feel free to PM me if you want more info or you want to work together.

FS Maui shouldn't be too overcrowded in November..... but 5th night free in an Ocean view room at FS Lanai sounds way more honeymoon to me OP. Maybe investigate that a little too.
The best thing about FS Preferred Partner over Amex FHR is the full breakfast can be taken via room service. Breakfast in bed included so to speak.
Specifically for Maui, under FSPP you'll be able to get the Experience More package which will add an additional 500$ hotel credit to your 5 night stay. Not sure Amex FHR can access same. Perhaps others can check.

Which "ocean view" room category are you hoping to receive? There is no such category as "ocean front room"
https://www.fourseasons.com/maui/acc...s/#guest_rooms

I assume you are hoping to score the ocean view prime room which would be a 2 category upgrade.

new FS page removed a lot of detail, no more room comparison?

are oceanfront sections only suites? or just no guaranteed rooms?

appreciate the input. will definitely look into them.

ok, I'll bite. What makes you say I should rethink?

Thank you ABG..did see the 5th night option. we were hoping one would be added for FS Maui, but definitely not something we are waiting on.

ocean prime would obviously be ideal. I should have said ocean view in OP, but part of me is skeptic in trying to book or stay in an ocean view since it is not on the ocean so to speak. that is one of the thing I have been torn on.

Zero chance of a "Stay Longer" free night promotion..... Maui moved to resort credit "Experience More" a while back. The 500$ of resort credit is like getting 3/4 of a free night but obviously you have to spend it on property. With the FSPP credit of 100$ and the 5 complimentary breakfasts I think you're getting decent value. Now is it a great place to spend your honeymoon..... that's a whole other huge debate.

@CityFlyer said the same about "is it a great place for honeymoon...up for debate" im open to hearing reasons why it is not..