My wife and I will be staying at the Kauai Marriott, using points. Since I am more cheap than I am romantic I have reserved a "garden view" room, the cheapest room rate. A "pool view" costs $30 a day more, an ocean view $60 more. (I forget what were the "prices" using points).

My thinking is: I'd rather use the $420 to pay for the view from a helicopter tour, and that I'll not be hanging out in the room, gazing out the window all THAT much.

Is anyone familiar with the various views? What is your preference, price ($ or points) very much an object?

I'm not familiar with the Kaua'i Marriott (yet), but "garden view" here in the islands (and elsewhere, I suppose) means you don't get to see the ocean at all, but you may sometimes have a nice view of the parking lot . You might want to call the property directly and make sure that your garden view room is in a quieter area of the property...

Well, your exact mileage may vary. But based on several stays at that hotel my memory is that the garden view (which is what we always had) was fine. I am not big on paying for a better view out of the window either.

Tulane, I haven't personally stayed there but two years ago, my spouse and I vacationed on Kauai at the Hyatt Regency. We had decided on a mountain view room (second cheapest room, as garden view was sold out). Figured just staying there would be better than an ocean view room somewhere else. After getting up to our room, our mountain view was completely obscured by a huge palm tree directly in front of our balcony. Explained to mgmt that the room really had NO view. They graciously relocated us to...a partial oceanview room! You just never know. If you keep the garden view reservation and wait to see what happens when you check in, perhaps your Rewards member status will get you a complimentary upgrade, depending on the occupancy level at the time you're there. If not, you could ask how much extra a better room would be, it may be less than the $30/nt you would have paid at the time of reservation. Then too, the ocean view rooms may all be gone by then . Aloha!

$60 extra for an ocean-view room sounds about right for my experience in Hawaii. It's not so much the view I like, but the sound: there's something wonderful about falling asleep with the door open (screen closed!) and hearing the ocean...your garden view room may only be able to hear cars in that parking lot.

But even as much as I like the ocean view, I'm not sure I'd pay $60 for it. I've been able to use the 50%-off hotel coupons every time I've stayed at a Hawaiian resort, which made the difference only $30 (also brought the room rate down from exorbitant to merely expensive ). At $30 it was a no-brainer; on my last trip where a companion questioned even that expense he had to admit once we got there that it was worth it (especially at only $15 each per night). But since you'd be paying both halves of $60, I'll admit I'm not so sure...

I've never been to Kauai, but the pricing at the Maui Marriott is similar, and I've stayed there several times. I always reserve a garden-view room. When I check in, my Platinum status gets me a partial ocean view, no questions asked. Garden-view rooms aren't so bad, though; they look "back" toward the mountain. I don't believe that any room at Maui has parking-lot noise, but I could be wrong. Anyway, I'm not sure how much of this applies to Kauai, but a lot probably does.

Bruce

I most cases I reserve the lowest rate - at or just after check-in (if not being upgraded) I often can still change to the higher priced room if I don't like what I get.