Vacationer

Does anyone know anything about the Marriott's newest hotel on Oahu--the Ko Olina Beach Club? I received a special from American Airlines today offering 5 nights hotel, rental car, $50 gift certificate for the hotel spa, and 7,500 airline miles for only $350/person. Airfare is not included. This deal seems too good to be true considering at most hotels you would pay more than $200 a night (the price averages about $140/night). Anyone else receive this?

scigirl

THe Ko Olina is mostly a time share/condo development built out on the Waianae coast. There isn't much else in the area - no other hotels, few restaurants, etc. Waianae is somewhat economically depressed. If you stay in this area of the island chances are you'd spend a fair amount of time driving to see other things. Personally, I'd choose another area of the island to visit before staying out in Waianae. The development itself seems nice - although I've only seen it one time when attending the Paradise Cove Luau.

x0x0x

I've never stayed at the Ko Olina, but we also got the same offer in the mail. We chose to accept their trip for the Maui timeshare location instead and went this past year. It's basically a marketing technique that they use to get you out to their facility so they can show you their timeshare. We weren't required to attend a meeting, although you were given extra incentives to attend. There was very little pressure, if any at all. It was a great deal and they delivered on everything promised. Hotel, convertible, miles (although they showed up on my account about 6 months later) and gift certificate were all waiting for us when we got there. I thought the deal was excellent.

I did stay at the J.W. Marriott last year right near the Beach Club. They share the same beaches. Like a previous poster said, it is far from Honolulu - I think without traffic, it was about a 30 minute drive. But it's a nice, quiet area. I met someone last year in Maui who actually purchased a timeshare at Ko Olina, and she seemed quite happy with the facilities.

Vacationer

XOXOX: When you call to book, can you change the offer to the Maui timeshare? Or, was your post referring to an offer you rec'd last year? Also, what type of room did the hotel put you up in??

dolciani

I want to know how you received the offer...via email, or postal. And I want to know why I didn't get the same offer (I'm an aadvantage member and a Marriott timeshare owner). We currently have reservations at the Ko Olina Beach Club - the spa was rated one of the best in the world by Conde Naste and the golf course is supposed to be great. I'm paying $270/night for a 1 bedroom villa (which includes a full kitchen and a separate living room w/ a pull out sofabed), ocean view for the month of August. So my next stop is to American Airlines to find out how I can get your deal!!

x0x0x

Vacationer,

Sorry for the confusion. I don't know if you can get them to change your option. Maybe you can call and indicate that you'd be more interested in the Maui timeshare property?

I actually received both offers in the mail separately last year, one for the Oahu property, and then about a month later, got the one for the Maui property. We chose the Maui option, although I think it was about $100 more per person. We were told we would be in a garden room I believe, but when we got there, there was some kind of mix up and we ended up with an ocean front room for the 5 days.

I believe there were a few threads last year discussing the offer. I used this forum as well to find out if it was legitimate and found some good info. My only wish was that I had gotten the Kauai offer. Someone else wrote that they had gotten a package from Marriott/AA that gave them a choice between the 3 islands.

LoisL

We stayed at Ko Olina this past June. It is a beautiful location, with gorgeous beaches, great golf course, and an excellent restaurant [there are several there, but one, Azul was outstanding] All rooms are suite style, and the views from most of them are impressive. The grounds are also beautiful. The only negative about the place was a smallish pool for the size resort, and no grounds around it, as it's right next to the building. However, the beach was perfect. The atmosphere there is so relaxing. We preferred it to the Marriott on Maui, although the pool at Marriott/Maui was great. The beach in front of the hotel on Maui [Kaanapali] was barely swimable out front,due to rocks and lava chunks. There was too much congestion on Maui for our taste, but we were looking for a laid back, beautiful resort when choosing where to go. When we stayed at Ko Olina, we divided the time between days spent at the resort and a couple planned outings to see the island. This worked out very well. The half hour drive was not a big deal for the three days of our week there. The resort was so nice, we truly left there refreshed and relaxed. I just can't see how you could be disappointed with it.

Vacationer

Dolciani:

I don't know how or why I received the offer, I just opened up my mailbox and there it was. Interestingly, my husband is also an Aadvantage member and he did not receive one either. Maybe I'm on some list that I like to buy timeshares (even though I don't)?

BarbaraS

We received a similar offer, although it was from Marriott and not AA. We are going in June. I'll post a trip report when we get back. There have been previous discussions about this hotel. Do a search for Ko Olina.