The Hawaiian Islands are among the best destinations in the Northern Hemisphere for a family beach trip. With a world class beaches, a safe and secure environment, and easy accessibility from the West Coast of North America, it’s an ideal place for a family trip. While the islands can be called expensive, there are ways to get even greater value from your travels. We used the Alaska Airlines Companion Fare to get an almost free ticket from Vancouver to Maui.

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Trip Introduction: Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii, United States via Alaska Airlines.

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Trip Background:

After our beach holiday to French Polynesia, it was time for a vacation with my son. He had spent the earlier part of the summer traveling to Tofino and Calgary, Canada with his mom. In the spring, I asked him where he wanted to go. He was keen to return back to Maui, Hawaii, United States of America, where we had spent a family holiday together with MrsWT73 when he was seven years old.

Trip Planning and Organizing:

Airfares:

Since the Alaska Airlines Bellingham – Maui flights are seasonal, we ended up flying from Vancouver via Seattle / Portland. We used an Alaska Airlines 2 for 1 companion fare that was about to expire that we had received courtesy of the Canadian Alaska Airlines Mastercard. The Alaska Airlines Companion Fare offers a second airfare for $99 plus taxes and fees on any economy airfare purchased.There are no capacity controls on any inventory fare buckets for the Alaska Airlines Companion Fare, making it very easy to use. It’s is renewed annually with the annual fee of the Alaska Airlines Mastercard. Since there were three of us travelling, I ended up just paying for a third ticket for MrsWT73 making our tickets slightly cheaper than had we purchased three airfares outright.

Hotels:

For the hotels, I just read the reviews and picked the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa as a solid Marriott Bonvoy / Starwood Preferred Guest property. As a Platinum Member with the hotel chain, we had access to a suite of additional benefits. While the Sheraton Maui was an older hotel, the Sheraton Maui served us really well and was conveniently located for a great family adventure. With it’s Platinum Benefits, the Sheraton Maui offered a complimentary lounge access with breakfast and cocktail happy hour, an included Platinum hot breakfast and a great upgrade to best available room at check in.

Since the attractions and hotels on Maui are typically spread apart, we rented a car through Hertz in order to get around. This was the easiest method and always my go to choice while on Hawaii.

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This post is one chapter on our trip to Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was redeemed through Alaska Mileage Plan on a 2 for 1 Companion Fare and enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

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If you’ve gotten your family to Hawaii, how do you go about maximizing value in getting there ?

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