Even though I've traveled a lot, I always feel that I could have gotten a better deal on price. What is a good price on going to the Big Island, and staying for 7 nights at the Hapuna Beach Resort?

coming from?

How much are you hoping to pay?

When are you expecting to go - - which month?

Oops, sorry. Coming from Sacramento or San Francisco California. We are coming on whatever week is cheapest in November or December 2006. Can't go earlier because of new addition to the family!

We spent 5 days at the Hapuna last August and absolutely loved it. We got what I considered an incredible bargain: $216 a night including a full, delicious buffet breakfast for two. Their room & breakfast or room & car packages now start at $250, according to the Hapuna website.

I'm not sure if the Hapuna participates in the kind of packages that Expedia does, it didn't come up there.

I just plugged in December 2 to December 9 on Kayak.com and got an airfare of $581 San Jose to Kona on Hawaiian, with a short layover in Honolulu. This doesn't seem too bad, we paid $515 last August nonstop LAX to Kona on ATA. This is too early, IMHO, to book airfare for November or December. Wait until you see fall sales later on. The period after Thanksgiving but well before Christmas is pretty quiet in Hawaii.

The best rate from the Hapuna website for December comes up $270.

A rental car will run you $150-200 a week, I like the Costco prices.

Thank you so much. Now I at least have a benchmark to go by!

The beachfront 4* on the Kohala Coast on Hotwire is the Hapuna Prince.

Enjoy the savings.