Anne Marie

I am planning on taking my family to hawaii for christmas. the kids are high school and college age. christmas break is the only time that will work for everybody but the prices are higer than high! any suggestions for reasonable airfares and places to stay?

diane

I can't advise you about airfares, but for hotels I suggest you look in books at the library or in bookstores to find suggestions for lower priced accommodations. I also looked on hotels.com. I booked a couple of places through them, but I found a few better prices by going directly to the hotel chain website or by phoning directly. What worked for me in July/August (we're just back!) may not work for Christmas, however.

Susan

I'd suggest you rent a house for your group. Might be cheaper than two hotel rooms, plus you'll have a kitchen where you can make breakfast and lunches for your days on the beach. There are many vacation rental services on the web, but you can start your search at vrbo.com. Definitely book the house/condo soon! For airfare, it would probably be best to wait and see if fares go down, but don't count on it. Where are you coming from? Sometimes you can get a good deal on a flight to San Francisco or Los Angeles, and then fly on to Hawaii. Are you flexible about which island to visit? It is usually cheaper to fly to Oahu. We've stayed in some lovely places in Lanikai and Kailua on Oahu. Also have a look at pleasantholidays.com. Good luck!

Dianne

Christmas is the most expensive time to visit Hawaii - all islands! If you haven't already booked, you may have a difficult time finding somewhere you really want to stay. You didn't say which island you're planning to visit - I went last year 12/27 - 01/10 to Maui. Stayed at Puamana, which is a gated townhome community. We paid $330 per night for a 3 br of townhome - loved it! On Oahu, you might check Aston Waikiki Sunset or Aston Pacific Monarch - they are both condominium properties, so you have your full kitchen & can do some cooking, if you want. Do an internet search for "owner direct condos" or townhomes - you can sometimes get some good deals direct from the owners - but everything does get booked up early for Christmas time.

Sandy and Dan

Contact www.hawaii4less for condo/car packages.

p.

Don't know your favorite island or budget but we like Noelani on Maui a lot, they have 3br units too.

http://www.noelani-condo-resort.com/

zzzz

Don't know if you've already discovered this but most hotels during that time are rack rate and have a five night minimum stay. If you use a consolidator like classic custom vacations you will probably be able to get airfare of about 400 or so out of LAX/SFO. You should definately use a travel agent, I think that's the only way you'll be able to save. The classic customs site gives a list of agents to use for their vacations. I've used them several times and they have a special line for car rental p/u which can save you a lot of time during busy seasons.