50% off Renaissance Wailea using Entertainment Book?????
 

I have heard much discussion about people receiving 50% off at Renaissance Wailea using the Entertainment Card. As we are planning a trip to Hawaii next year, I was interested in finding out more. A check of the Entertainment card website shows 14 different hotels in Hawaii offer the 50% off deal, however the Renaissance is not among them. Am I just missing something here or is it likely that the Renaissance was dropped from the book for 2001? Anyone out there have any info on this?

The Entertainment Discounts GENERALLY apply to most Marriott , Residence Inns,and Renaissance hotels, but they don't always list every single hotel the rate applies to. The same thing goes for Radisson,Doubletree, and Omni hotels. I would advise you to call the 800 reservation # for Renaissance, and ask for the Entertainment rate. If they quote one, and you like it, I would reserve it right away; you can always cancel without penalty if something else you like comes up. The good thing is that you don't need the card when making your reservations. <BR>I just finished a 4 nt. stay there ( Oct3-7th), so if you have any questions, let me know. Oh, I got an Entertainment Rate of $160/nt.

Bebe, my husband and I going to Maui the middle of May and I too had the same question about the Entertainment card because when I got my 2001 book the Renaissance Wailea was not listed. I called the hotel directly about a month ago and sure enough, they gave me the Entertainment Rate - $160/night. I guess the hotel doesn't necessarily need to be listed to get the rate.

Boy Anthony, you are always johnny-on-the-spot with answers to all these Hawaii questions, aren't you? Why is that exactly? What do you do for a living?

Regarding Renaissance Wailea,and the Entertainmeny Book. What designation room did you receive for $160? Was it Garden View, Ocean View, or Ocean Front.If it was Garden View, then it is not that great a price. Room designations are very important.

To Smells: <BR>If you are implying I'ma travel agent, you're dead wrong. <BR>I'm actually a Systems & MIS Mgr. for a NYC money center bank, but one of my hobbies is traveling. <BR>I don't get to travel for business too often, but my partner and I travel about 5 wks/yr for leisure. (One of the benefits of working for a commercial bank is 4 wks vacation and all bank holidays off) <BR>We have traveled throughout western Europe, been to Asia, and almost every major Americn city. When on vacation, we enjoy eating out in fine restaurants, especially in cities like Chicago, New Orleans, Miami, Phoenix/Scottsdale. <BR>This yr, we have been to Miami twice, went on a Mexico cruise with Norwegian CL, Bucks County, Pa, Hi., and plan to go to Atlantic City in Nov. and Las Vegas in Dec. <BR>Any other questions? <BR>

Joy: <BR>$160/nt is usually fora garden view rm. If you feel that is not a good rate, where can you get a better one, and what would it be?

Anthony - I had to laugh - my daughter graduated last year as a MIS major & she is passionate about travel. Is there some connection? haha And we turned her into a cruiseaholic as a college grad gift, but she's on her own now - not taking her to Hawaii with us in Feb. 02 that we just booked. Poor baby.

Thanks for the info, everyone. I called the Renaissance the other night and was told that they do accept the Entertainment card but hadn't opened up any rooms at that rate yet for next May. They said to keep checking back. Everyone keeps mentioning a $160 rate which I believe is 50% off of a garden view room. Does anyone know if you can 50% off the higher room categories using the Entertainment card (ocean view, ocean front, etc)?

I booked a room for June of 2001 at the Renaissance in Wailea using the Entertainment Card discount. I was able to book an ocean view room for $215/night. Is an ocean view worth the extra money at this hotel ?

When I reserved our room at Renaissance Wailea last spring (through 1-800-9-WAILEA), when I asked about the entertainment rates available for our dates (October 7-12), we were quoted the entertainment rate for every room category. Some categories are sold out during certain times though so it is possible that not all categories will be available at the entertainment rate, you just have to ask. We ended up booking a terrace view room at an entertainment rate of $155 per night, but at checkin we were given a complimentary upgrade to a garden view room for the same rate. We loved our room. I disagree with Joy who said that $160 per night is not a good rate for a garden view room at that hotel at that time. The rack rate was about twice that when I checked, and even the discounted packages offered by the hotel are close to $300 per night (some of which include a rental car and breakfast, which to me isn't worth paying an extra $100-plus per day, considering that we paid only about $26 per day for our rental car and less than that for breakfast). The hotel also offers an AARP/senior rate which was the same as the entertainment rate for our dates, but it required prepayment in full the agent said. Otherwise the lowest discounted rate I found at the Renaissance Wailea for our dates was about $270 per night, so I felt like $155 was a great deal. More importantly, the room was definitely worth the money, and then some. <BR> <BR>The difference between a garden view room and an ocean view room is that the garden view rooms also face the ocean, but they are on the first two floors so the view of the ocean is partially blocked by all the trees and flowers between the hotel and the ocean. I personally would not pay extra for an ocean view but that's me; I know it's important to some people. We did have a tiny glimpse of the ocean from our terrace, but it was mostly obstructed by the beautiful foliage on the grounds. The Mokapu Beach Rooms at Renaissance Wailea are a different story entirely. They are right ON the ocean, unlike the rest of the hotel which is set back a bit, so they are closer which allows you to hear the surf, etc. Those cost a lot more and include extra added perks. I have no idea if they're worth it. By the way, we did see one of the "terrace view" rooms immediately across the hall from ours when the door was open for the maid to clean it. The terrace view rooms face the parking lot, but at least in the room we saw, you could not see the parking lot at all because the hotel constructed a garden outside the rooms as a buffer, which is very pretty and completely blocks any sight of the parking lot (at least on the ground floor; I don't know about the upper floors). Hope this helps.

Bebe- <BR> <BR>You may want to call back to the hotel directly. I called earlier today and was quoted $165 for mt. view, $190 for garden view and $215 for ocean view. <BR> <BR>Hope this helps!

I clicked on to this topic because I,too, stayed at the Renaissance Wailea and thoroughly enjoyed it. My question, though, is what is an Entertainment card? And where do I get one? And does it offer more discounts than package deals?

I would love to be able to use the entertainment card for our trip to Hawaii in March, however, I am finding airfares in March to be horrific!! And therefore, I think I will need to book at least part of our trip through a package deal in order to bring the airfare down. <BR> <BR>For the people using the entertainment card to book a hotel - Are you finding acceptable airfares to book separately? If so, where are you finding them and how much are you paying? Thanks so much for any help - I am really getting discouraged, right now leaving Denver on a Friday in March and returing the following Saturday (our dates are firm and tied to school schedules) airfare (Booked separately) is well over $1000 per person!!!

Regarding the previous post question about airfares, check with some consolidators to see if they have any tickets yet. Generally they get unsold seats a couple months before departure. Spring break season prices are definitely higher. <BR>We took our family to Maui in June and my daughter qualified for a TWA student ticket, check to see if there are any seats in this category if you can fly TWA. TWA sells a coupons book for $548 plus tax, flights to Hawaii require using the entire book of coupons. These seats are limited in quantity, we were lucky to find one. <BR>

Like Bean, I too am wondering what an entertainment card is? Does it really save you money? It doesn't sound like much listening to mms above me $1,000 for airfare alone. I took a package deal to Hawaii last Feb. from DC for 9 days stayed at the Hilton Hawaiin village on Oahu and then the Renaissance Wailea for a total of $1,500 with rental of a car and $200 food voucher at the hotel included with the price. But please someone tell me about the entertainment card so I could get an even better deal. THanks

Millie- <BR>I hope to find a package like you described - sounds great. How long in advance did you book and through which company? I sure would appreciate your comments. Thanks.

We buy entertainment cards ( or actually an entertainment coupon book - with the card attached to it) from our kids whose school sells them as a fund raiser. They are related to "Gold-C" books, however, you can order the "entertainment book" for just about any major metropolitan area. We ordered one for Hawaii this year specifically because a friend said it came with a coupon for a "buy-one/Get-one free" interisland flight. Unfortunately, when we received the book, this year's coupon expires mid December and won't help us. I think that I saw on this board that you can go to an "entertainment book" web site and order them directly - they cost between $20 and $40 depending on the Metro area chosen. You might try a search and see what you find. Good Luck!

OK, here's the deal. Go to entertainment.com and you can order the book over the internet; though many schools in our area sell them for fundraisers too. The book is probably 500 pages of coupons and other deals for all types of services - 2 for 1's at nice restaurants, U.S. hotel deals, car rental coupons (upgrades, $ off, free days), coupons for fast food and movies, etc. In the past we haven't usually bought the book b/c you forget about it and never use the coupons. However, we just purchased it for approx. $35, and will make up for the cost of the book in one trip to Hawaii. We also noticed that if you book one of the hotels, you get an additional rebate once you return if you submit paperwork - we will get $30 for 5-6 nights (this pays for the book!). <BR> <BR>So, my recommendation is that if you are going to Maui, and the Renaissance has these rooms available, buy the book! <BR> <BR>

mms and Kristen thanks for both of your help. mms we got our package from Pleasant vacations or Pleasant Hawaiin I think it was the 2nd one. However we went at the end of Feb. And the 200 food voucher was only at the Wailea. Good luck!