mg48

I need 2 rooms for 5 nights in Kauai this October. I'm considering Princeville Resort and Hyatt. How can I get the best rate at one of these? Can anyone give me an idea of what the best rate would be? Thanks for the help!

islandmom

Some people say to call the manager directly.

strings

Pleasantholidays.com and Classic custom vacations (TA needed to book) should offer a 5th night free/breakfast rate which usually beats the hotels direct by a few hundred $.

strings

Definitely 5th nt free & breakfast at Princeville not sure about Hyatt.

OliveOyl

Don't<i/> call the manager directly--they don't know rate structures for time periods/specific rooms...they have staff whose job it is to be on top of this sort of information.

In the case of Hyatt, any reservation call you make goes directly to central res system in Omaha and they have access to virtually every rate available for any time period. The reservation system for the entire chain is completely transparent and they can get you the best rate when booking by phone.

Also in the case of Hyatt, you will find the lowest rate (with the exception of Priceline) booking online through hyatt.com, guaranteed. Those rates carry some restrictions regarding cancellation, but if your plans are firm that shouldn't be a problem. I don't know if either Princeville or Hyatt sells much through Priceline. Checking the BFT website back to '00, Hyatt never came up and Princeville only twice.

mg48

Thanks for all the tips. I'll try...
Of course, I'll welcome any other ideas!

dolciani

I read that if you join the Starwood membership (aka Sheraton) you can get a 40% discount at the Princeton. I do remember a Starwood desk there when we toured the lobby.

Sally30

I am interested too because I tried to look on the hotel website, expedia, etc., get the starwood discount, call the hotel, AAA, etc. and what i found is that you end up at roughly the same price. If you get 40% off it is off a much higher rate. Some rates are cheaper but don't include breakfast. in the end we booked on an american airlines package that included all flights, cars and hotels. It was pretty much the same price as what I found trying to get the best deal on each component. We decided to book on AA vacations because they have a program where for $59/person, you can make changes to your trip as far as dates, hotels, etc. or cancel the whole trip up until the day you go and you get back all your money except the $59. I'm sure you could get a cheaper overall vacation but we wanted flights at good times with only one stop (coming from east coast), a 4wd drive car, certain hotels.

bbzz

I just went through this same thing, looked everywhere for best rate. Depending on what you are looking for, i could not find anything lower then what was offered on the Princeville website. However, i ended up signing up for the Starwood card (at starwood.com) and had my card 3 days later in the mail (yesterday) - upgraded to gold card for 1st 6 months

I ended up calling the #888-625-4990# on the card, and i got a room for 10/2 which they matched to the site's price - $445 includes breakfast buffet for 2 and 1/2 price golf (not that we will pay, but figured it was worth the extra 20 bucks for breakfast - otherwise rooms were $425).

I needed a 2nd nite for 10/5 and was called later to get that, on the site they had the jr. suites w/ jacuzzis for 545 so i was going to get that, turns out booking it through starwood phone reservations they gave it to me for $484.

Thats a pretty great deal

bigdog50

If you are a memeber of starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) you are SUPPOSED to be able to get 35% of rack rate. The $425 on the web site is the rack rate and for a non ocean view room. Talk about timing -- I just today received in the mail from SPG their 35% Off Hawaii promotion. For Princeville it says -- regular rate $425 -- 35% Off Rate = $277. It says "Call 1 800 782 9488 mention plan SPG35HI".
(also - if you stay 4 nites you get 5th free SPG355N)

This is valid thru 12-25-04. Its been in place for a while because I booked an Ocean View rm at Princeville for June 2004 few weeks ago and got the 35% off -- but it ain't clear on the website. I found NOTHING cheaper than that and checked all over (the other cheapie websites mainly had rack rates or a little off for Princeville but not 35%)