I tried to post this earlier but made a mistake. Hopefully it won't show up twice! I have used FF miles to book the Little Rock to San Diego leg of my trip next May 2006. Now I have nine months to watch for good deals on Aloha Airlines or Hawaiian Airlines from SD to Kona. What about accommodations? It looks like the Hapuna Beach Prince and the Outrigger Keauhou both have decent rates (about $250. for ocean view and ocean front respectively) for the dates in which I am interested. Would you go ahead and book now or hold out for a better deal since there's so much time? Part of my trip will be over Memorial Day weekend...

$250 seems like a pretty good deal for Ocean View at Hapuna if it's directly through the hotel...I would book that now, since I believe they only require a one-night deposit. We just came back from 5 nights there, and loved it. Check out my trip report....We got Hapuna for $191 (before taxes) on Hotwire this summer, and were upgraded to an Ocean View.

I guess there is no way of telling which hotel one is going to get with Hotwire. Does anybody know which other hotels they normally use?

I've never been enough of a gambler to use them or Priceline. For one thing, we need two beds! However, the Kauai Hyatt stuck me with a King bed when I booked directly with them rack rate 8 months in advance! I'm always pretty sure where I want to stay so am not flexible enough to get those great deals. This time we want to make a trip around the island by staying at HBP, Volcano Village, and Keauhou or Kona...

I'd book as soon as possible. Many of the good places to stay (B&Bs and cottage rentals) will book quickly.

In Volcano, the Country Goose rents several cottages in addition to the B&B. We stayed there, and it was great!

In recollection of our prior stays at KBR while it was still an Ohana property, I recall paying less$) for ocean front and we usually only book a few months in advance during low season.

Perhaps you could the hotel directly and inquire further for any special rates/discounts and hold the room at current rate and cancel and rebook if you later find a better internet rate-some have free breakfast/or 1 night free stay after x nights, consistent with avoiding charges with the Outrigger cancellation policy as you near next May.

I went ahead and booked the Forest House at My Island B&B for the Volcano part of our trip. I did contact the KBR directly for the rate they quoted above - and with no breakfast deals available. I too feel like that's more than I've been hearing people talk about paying, so maybe I need to hold out a while on that one.

JohnD - I was wrong. Deluxe ocean front is $229. at KBR. That's a little better. I'm afraid to book a lesser room and hope for an upgrade as I would LOVE to be right over the tidepools at this property. Other properties, I don't think, offer that much improvement in view to PAY for it so I just book the least expensive room (like Grand Wailea). Hapuna, however, is quoting $230. for terrace, $235 for pov, $250. for ov, and $325. for ocean front. Ocean front in building 4 would be cool BUT it looks like a LONG way from the lobby and pool, so it's a tradeoff. Not sure how much ocean front is an advantage at this property...? Maybe someone can advise me on this issue-

Our only complimentary upgrade experience at KBR was from Garden to Partial Ocean View which we greatly appreciated

Have not stayed at HBP but according to fdecarlo's interesting post: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34559991

It would appear that the room sizes are the same despite the $) differences

This aerial view of the HBP explains the difference between OF and OV:

http://www.mindspring.com/~fdecarlo/hbp.jpg

The building closest to the water is what's called "oceanfront", although as you can see it's set back quite a ways (~100 feet) from the ocean. The larger building behind contains OV, POV and terrace view units, along with the main lobby. Beach access is just left of the hotel pool.

All units are the same square footage, except the Hapuna Suite (shown far left, with its own private pool).

In case you're thinking that the beach looks small, Hapuna Beach extends far beyond the south (right) edge of this photo.