Hotwire Hotel: Help needed for Maui

[sgtpepper]

My first time so bear with me. We are looking at staying at one of the Kaanapali resorts Feb 20 (or 21) thru the 24th. (Also spending a night in HNL but not worrying about that for now.) The reason I have waited this long is we fly standby and have to be sure which dates we can get on airplanes.

My question is that Hotwire no longer shows a resort available on those dates. Priceline shows a resort is available except when I go try the 'packages' feature it does not, so I am not sure what to make of that. Am I doing something wrong or misunderstanding the results?

Also, is it generally better to get the rental car and the hotel together or does it matter?

Thanks for any help.

[LoneStar]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think your odds of landing a deal on a Maui resort for that week on either priceline or hotwire are slim. Right now, there seems to be nothing except a 2 star available. This is not surprising: it's "last minute," and that's the week of President's Day, one of the busiest warm weather leisure demand weeks of the year. (Are you SURE you're going to even be able to get on the airplane standby?).

I don't have personal experience with last minute Hawaiian inventory, but in Florida this winter I have seen priceline and hotwire add some very limited deals the week before arrival. Whether Hawaiian hoteliers will load such rates I have no idea. I certainly wouldn't count on it, but it's worth checking back for.

Alternatively, I might suggest calling Aston and Outrigger and seeing if they will honor the Entertainment Card rate for your days. At this point, if they will, that's probably your best value.

If you can be flexible, you might also wish to consider another island. I thought I saw some limited availability that week on the Kona coast, for example.

[sgtpepper]

Thanks Lone Star. I knew that waiting til last minute could hurt tho I did not know that week was a busy week in Hawaii. Flying standby I don't have much choice. I actually do think we can get there and back but now I am thinking if we go we may just stay on Oahu. The kids have never been before and this may be their last realistic chance, we will see. Maui is by far the most fun island, I really wanted them to snorkel in Molokini.

I also see we can get to St. Thomas and back, maybe we should go snorkeling there. Or maybe we just need to take the kids out of school for a week :).

I appreciate your help and will come back to this board for future help.