Why Maui?
Why exactly did Maui have that pull that I felt that I just had to go there? After all I had been to Oahu twice....and didn't feel this big need to go back...Maui was still Hawaii right? Well...the more research I did about Maui...the more I saw that not all Hawaiian Islands are created equal....Maui was less touristy (although the tourist industry is booming). more relaxing resorts...beautiful beaches. Oahu was more like a big city with beaches....lots of people...hustle and bustle.....Maui just looked like paradise!
The biggest problem that we soon began to find is that while it expensive to fly to Hawaii period.....it is even more expensive to fly to Maui....then we noticed...oh...the resort prices are a whole lot higher in Maui also....so how do you do Maui on a budget???
When to Go? - Be Flexible With Your Dates
Off season in Hawaii is a little harder to find than some other areas of the country but there is some flexibility in pricing....for instance. We were looking at a general time frame to go....sometime after Thanksgiving and before Christmas.....already we figured we were in a better price range because schools are still in session during this time. Generally.....when schools are out...people travel more and prices are higher. Once we started getting a little more specific in dates we found that there was an even bigger discrepancy in prices from the end of November to the middle of December. The price for the Grande Wailea (more on that choice later) was over $1000.00 a night for nights in the middle of December as opposed to $650.00 a night right after Thanksgiving. So just by being flexible and adjusting the week we chose was a large savings on the hotel cost which is by far the highest cost of a stay on Maui.
7 Nights on Maui at $1000/night $7000.00
7 Nights on Maui at $650/night $4,550.00
Savings: $2450.00
Booking Airfare Around Your Dates
With a general idea of when hotel rooms were cheaper...we turned our attention to finding airfare. Airfare from Ohio to Hawaii is really never what I would consider "cheap". With this in mind....airfare to Maui was even higher than airfare to Oahu and there were less daily flights to choose from! However there are some little tips to try.
1. Check airfares with flexible dates. Many airline booking websites offer a "flexible dates" option so you can see the lowest prices for a period of time...couple weeks up to a month. This allows you to choose days that work with your schedule and offer a savings.
2. Typically booking on Tuesdays provides you with the best fares out there. Sales typically end on Fridays so Saturdays and Sundays are usually not preferred days to book.
3. Depending on the airline....flights on certain days of the week can be cheaper than others. This can vary from airline to airline. For instance Saturday flights on United tend to be higher while Saturday flights on Southwest tend to be a little less than weekdays.
So in our case we were able to find a cheaper flight to Maui by booking with United for flights from Thursday to Thursday. We were then able to work these travel days into our hotel stay nights so that we got the cheaper costs for each.
Booking Thursday to Thursday Flight: $150.00/ticket savings x 2 = $300.00
Total costs of Tickets for Coach Flight to Maui: $1800.00
This is Where Loyalty Pays Off Big!
So now we've done the best we could by booking hotels and airlines on the cheapest days but it's still a hefty cost to get to Maui. This is where being loyal to airlines and hotel chains starts to really pay off....
We started to check out how many points it would take to get some free nights at the hotel. Since my husband travels so much for work and is lucky enough to work for a company that allows him to keep the air miles and hotels points that he earns on business stays so they all add up. He has chosen Hilton as his hotel chain of preference so when we were booking a hotel.....the only Hilton choice in Maui was the Grande Wailea which is part of the Waldorf Astoria Brand. When we looked at airlines it is United that we have our miles with so United was our airline of choice. Yes it limits the selection at times but you can't beat it when you can cash in big on the rewards!
Hotel
Lets start with the Grande Wailea. As shown above we have already cut $2,450.00 of the cost of the hotel just by choosing an off-peak time to go and getting a better rate. Turns out since the rate is lower...the number of points required for a reward night stay is reduced also. Our theory is always to pay for the hotels that aren't that expensive and save the points for higher end hotels. At $650.00/night...this certainly qualified as a higher end hotel stay. Upon checking our Hilton HHonors account we had enough points for 6 of the 7 nights! Which means 6 nights were going to be absolutely FREE! Now that $4,550.00 cost for our stay was down to $650.00 total.
Cost of hotel before awards: 7 nights at 650.00/night $4,550.00
Using Hilton HHonors Awards for 6 nights paying for 1 night: $650.00
Total hotel savings from awards: $3,900.00 ($6,350.00 from Peak Season)
Air Fare
Now that we have "hit the jackpot" by using our Hilton HHonors points for lodging...it was time to look at airfare. We had enough miles between the two of us to either a. cover the entire cost of coach tickets or b. pay for an upgrade both ways to first class. Couple of things went into our decision here. First of all we both needed the miles to qualify for premier class status for the next year....with the perks you get by having premier status it was a no brainer to pay for the miles so they qualified.....secondly...the flight to Hawaii is LONG and our itinerary included a red-eye flight back to the mainland! This is the time that sitting in first class is HUGE! They feed you...you have more room to move around and there is a better chance that you actually might fall asleep on the long flight! The cost to upgrade to First Class on both our departure and return flights was $1800.00 a person. Yep...time to cash in those miles!
Airfare for coach tickets: $900 x 2 = $1,800.00
Cost to upgrade to First Class $1,800.00 per ticket = $3,600.00
Using air miles to pay for first class: $0
Total Airfare Savings: $3,600.00
Rental Car
Now what the heck...we thought we might as well check and see if we had built up any free days of rental car from the rental company....National is our loyalty company. Turns out there were 2 free days of rental available for us to use.
Rental for 7 days: $350.00
Savings on Rental Car: Approx. $100.00
Bottom Line
So here's the bottom line. Our trip to Maui which would have cost $10,600 (off-season) or $13,050 (peak season)....ended up costing $2700.00!!!! And that's just by using our perks that we earned from previous travel and booking smartly!
$2,700 isn't a drop in the bucket and there were of course food costs and hotel valet charges and incidentals that would have been there either way but the bottom line is that this was a much more cost effective way to see Maui!!!
If you have read any of my blogs before....you know that I really advocate loyalty cards...pick one....doesn't matter which chain and build up points with them so when you want to take that dream vacation it all pays off!
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