This past summer we traveled to Hawaii for free! Â In part 1 of this series, I talked about how we booked our airfare for free and today I will go into the hotel options.
Anyone who has ever been to Hawaii knows that there are several options of where to visit. Â The first place to start when determining hotel options is which island you will stay at. Â For the most part, flights are widely available to four islands from the mainland. Â Additionally, countless inter-island flights operate daily. Â The four main islands to visit are Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island.
This second part in the series is going to be a short primer on different hotel options in Hawaii and how to earn the points to stay at these properties for free. Â This is not an exhaustive list of every property in Hawaii, but instead is a breakdown of the programs and hotels that I feel are the easiest to earn free nights at. Â Between the three programs mentioned here, you can stay in a wide range of resorts on all four of the main islands in Hawaii. Â Lets get started!
Hyatt Gold Passport:
Hyatt is one of my favorite programs. Â To start, the Chase Hyatt Visa awards 2 free nights at any Hyatt upon signing up along with Platinum status which is good for occasional room upgrades and free internet! Â It also gives cardholders one free night per year at any category 1-4 Hyatt. Â Perhaps the best thing though about Gold Passport is that they a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards. Â This means that points earned from spending and bonuses on cards such as the Ink and Sapphire Preferred can be used for fancy hotel stays! Â (I will show you in part 3 how we leveraged this transfer option for our recent trip.) Â Now lets take a look at Hyatt’s options in Hawaii.
Hyatt Locations in Hawaii:
Oahu:
Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach –Â Category 3 – 12,000 points per night
Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa –Â Category 5 – 18,000 points per night.
Maui:
Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa – Category 6 – 22,000 points per night.
Andaz Maui & Wailea –Â Category 6 – 22,000 points per night.
Kauai:
Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa –Â Category 6 – 22,000 points per night.
Hilton Hhonors:
The next program worth talking about in regards to redemptions in Hawaii is Hilton Hhonors. Â Hilton devalued their award chart quite severely earlier this year, but they have a lot of properties in Hawaii and there are several ways of earning points. Â Two credit card issuers have Hilton cards available, American Express and Citi. Â The following chart breaks down the options. Â Also, the Hhonors Visa Signature is a card that is churnable, meaning you can get the bonus multiple times. Â See this Flyertalk thread for more information.
Card Name |
Bank |
Bonus |
Benefits |
Annual Fee |
Amex |
40,000 points |
7x at Hilton, 5x Restaurants Supermarkets & Gas, 3x everything. |
$0 |
|
Amex |
60,000 points |
12x at Hilton, 6x Restaurants, Supermarkets & Gas, 3x everything. Hhonors Gold status. |
$75 |
|
Citi |
40,000-50,000 points |
6x at Hilton, 3x at Supermarkets, drug stores & gas, 2x everything. Hhonors Silver Status. |
$0 |
|
Citi |
2 Weekend Nights |
10x at Hilton, 5x airline & car rentals, 3x everything. Gold status. Annual free w/end night with $10,000 in spending during the year. |
$95 |
Hilton Locations in Hawaii: (Note that Hilton has a lot of timeshare Hilton Grand Vacations properties in Hawaii.  The redemption costs for these properties are exorbitant so I am leaving them out.)
Oahu:
DoubleTree by Hilton Alana Waikiki Hotel – Category 6 – 30,000-50,000 points
Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa – Category 7 – 30,000 – 60,000 points
Embassy Suites Waikiki Beach Walk – Category 8 – 40,000-70,000 points
Hilton Waikiki Beach – Category 6 – 30,000-50,000 points
Maui:
Grand Wailea, A Waldorf Astoria Resort – Category 10 – 70,000-95,000 points
Hawaii (Big Island):
Hilton Waikoloa Village – Category 7 30,000-60,000 points
There are two caveats to booking with Hilton. Â Elites, which would be you if you carry any of the previously mentioned cards, automatically get the fifth night free on award stays. Â This is a good benefit and essentially reduces the cost by 20% on longer stays. Â Also, cardholders of either of the Hilton American Express cards are eligible for AXON awards. Â These are discounted awards for longer stays. Â I highly suggest taking a look at this Flyertalk thread which explains all of the redemption options and discounts in great detail!
Starwood Preferred Guest:
The final program I will tackle in this post is SPG. Â SPG is the awards program of many well known brands including Westin, St. Regis and Sheraton. Â The best way to earn points for stays at SPG properties is to open the SPG American Express card. Â This card comes with 25,000 bonus points and is available in both a personal and business version. Â Additionally, SPG points can be transferred to many airline partners at a rate of 20,000 SPG points = 25,000 airline miles. Â For this reason, many people consider SPG points to be the most valuable in the award space. Â Also, as you will see below, SPG has more properties than either Hilton or Hyatt in Hawaii!
SPG Locations in Hawaii:
Oahu:
Sheraton Waikiki Resort – Category 5 – 12,000-16,000
The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort Waikiki – Category 6 – 20,000-25,000 points
Sheraton Princess Kaiulani –Â Category 5 – 12,000-16,000
Moana Surfrider, A Westin Resort & Spa, Waikiki Beach –Â Category 6 – 20,000-25,000 points
Kauai:
Sheraton Kauai  Resort – Category 5 – 12,000-16,000
The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas –Â Category 6 – 20,000-25,000 points
The St. Regis Princeville Resort –Â Category 7 – 30,000-35,000 points
Maui:
The Westin Maui Resort & Spa Ka’anapali –Â Category 5 – 12,000-16,000
Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa –Â Category 5 – 12,000-16,000
The Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas –Â Category 7 – 30,000-35,000 points
Hawaii (The Big Island):
Sheraton Kona Resort & Spa Keauhou Bay – Category 4 – 10,000 points
The great thing about SPG is that you get the 5th night free on all redemptions at hotels in categories 3-7. Â This means that a stay in the Sheraton Waikiki Resort could only be 48,000 points for example. Â If you were to open both the personal and business versions of the SPG American Express card, that would be enough for a five night vacation on Wakiki!
Conclusion:
I hope you can now see that there are quite a few hotel options for Hawaii along with many ways to stay at these beautiful properties for free. Â In part 3 I will breakdown exactly where we stayed and how we leveraged many of the cards and transfer options mentioned in this post. Â As always, if you have any questions at all please feel free to leave a comment. Â This is a lot of information to digest, but it can save you thousands of dollars. Â Hopefully when this series is completed, you can begin to form a strategy for a dream trip you are looking to take, whether it is to Hawaii or some other exotic location!
Disclaimer: I DO NOT receive any credit or commission for any of the credit card links in this post.
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[…] Travel To Hawaii For Free Part 2 – Hotel Options […]
[…] next part of this trip is the hotel. Â Once again in a similar way to our Maui trip in June, I transferred Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt for my booking. Â The Hyatt Place Waikiki […]
The Hilton Waikiki Beach is a good hotel near the beach in Honolulu –
certainly would like to go back!
[…] Note: This is part 1 of a multiple part series. Â Click here for part 2! […]