Donna

I'm trying to book my first "real" trip ever which just happens to be my Hawaii honeymoon. I'm extremely frustrated with the travel agents I've been dealing with. I feel like I'm getting the runaround. Each comes back with very different ranges in price for the same 'itinerary'. Does $5500 sound like a lot for 4 nights in Kaui, 7 nights in Maui - staying at the Hyatt in mountain-view rooms on both islands? This includes roundtrip airfare, hotel and car rental. Any suggestions on trustworthy agents? Help please!

J T KIRK

Average roundtrip airfare from mainland to Hawaii runs around $800.00 per person. Good (not great; not seedy) hotels in Hawaii run, on average, $250 - $400 per night. Price varies per "view-from-room", any mealplans, any extras such as sports included, etc. $5500 doesn't sound out of line, unless you're on a tight budget.

fellow

Donna, the internet makes it easy to find out. Just visit the Hyatt, airline, and car rental web sites directly. Punch in your itinerary and the sites will price everything for you. Then you can compare and see if you are getting a "deal" or not.

Most travel-related businesses now offer this type of direct service for customers in order to avoid paying commissions or preferred supplier fees to travel agencies, so in all likelihood, you will receive a better deal (and more peace of mind) if you book the trip yourself.

Jill

Donna-Some agents let a tour company such as Apple Vacations or Pleasant Holidays do the work for them, or they use the airlines vacations to get package pricing and their commission is added on. I agree with the above poster, due it yourself. You can check airfare at the airlines sites, then use Travelocity, Cheap Tickets, Priceline or any of the other sites to get better pricing, same with hotels. Biztravel.com, was another site mentioned here. Do a text search here on Hawaii and you will get some more infomration. Good luck!

Diane

Donna - try www.biztravel.com In spite of the name, they are great for all sorts of travel, and if you fly on American, USAirways, or Continental, they have a super-customer focused guarantee where you get reimbursed if your flight is over 1/2 hour delayed ($100 per ticket) $200 per ticket if delay is over 1 hour, and full reimbursement if there is a cancellation. They also guarantee your seat assignments, and if a lower price comes up before your trip, they'll contact you so you can take advantage of that. They don't advertise (and I don't work for them...just a very satisfied customer) other than word of mouth. You can plug in all your flights and your hotels and they'll give you a quote which you can take -- or leave and keep checking to see if fares change.

Jill

Forgot to add, most travel agents have a preferred list of suppliers they try to steer you to because they get greater commission $$$. I worked in a travel agency 7 years ago and got out of it when I had children. There is no way I would go back now. My friends who are still agents are always complaining how hard it is to make it since the advent of on-line bookings, cut commissions etc.