Marriott Points in Hawaii
 

I have mega Marriott Reward Points, and have never been to Hawaii. Do you have a beautiful beach resort you can recommend for a family with 3 older teenage boys? We are planning a 9 - 10 day vacation for Christmas 2005.

Do you have an island preference?
We were in Hawaii in May and used Marriott points.
In Maui, we stayed at the Kapalua Bay
Renaissance. This gentle, very beautiful hotel sadly will be torn down next March to make way for Timeshares that bought out the property. It's a beautiful property that I'd highly recommend.
In Oahu, we stayed at the Ilikai on Waikiki. It was very nice, but you may want to also check out the couple of Marriotts on the North Shore.
The North Shore is very beautiful.
If I ever went back again to Oahu, that is the area where I'd stay.

If you use Marriott points, they have a package where you can use points (I think about 100,000) to get 7 nights at three different resorts. We used 2 in Waikiki, 3 on the big island, and 3 on Maui. It was a good way to get a taste of a few islands.

The JW Marriott Ihilani resort on Oahu is the hotel where the Pro Bowl players stay every year so you know it's pretty nice, and I think Oahu would have the most to offer older teen boys. However, check on availability for a few islands since they may be booked up for Christmas already.

We've stayed at several Marriotts on Hawaii. This past June we went to Kauai with our 3 kids (ages 21, 18 and 16). We stayed at the Kauai Marriott Beach Club for a couple of nights, and then we stayed at the Waiohai Beach Club on the south side of Kauai. This place was incredible. It's fairly new, 2 bedroom, 2 baths, full kitchen, granite countertops, washer/dryer. Starbuck's, restaurant, general store on property. We were very impressed and would return there again with the kids.

Stayed at the Kapalua Renaissance on points this summer. Hotel is very nice, but Kapalua may be a little quite for teenage boys. There is a Marriott Vacation Club on Kaanapalii beach that has multiple bedroom suites that may be perfect for your family. There is much more to do (read more teenage girls) on Kaanapalii and there is a shuttle into Lahaina (three miles south). It may be tough to book at Christmas 2005 at this late date.

I have stayed at both the JW in Ihilani on Oahu and the Renaissance Wailea on Maui.

The nicer hotel is the JW. Thought the better location was Wailea. Don't get me wrong, I love both hotels.

Had a great time. If you are interested in either, would encourage you to visit tripadvisor.com to read reviews.

Have Fun!