World Traveller 73 
While I was in Kailua – Kona, Hawaii, I happened to be turning fifty years of age. Commiserate with that very special occassion, I needed to celebrate in style and needed a fine dining restaurant to mark that occasion. We ended up deciding on the ‘ULU Oceans Grill at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai. With some challenges actually getting a reservation, we had a very enjoyable evening at the ‘ULU Ocean Grill. This post showcases what you can expect at the Four Seasons Resort Fine Dining establishment in Kona, Hawaii, USA.
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Hawaii Five – Oh. A Fiftieth Birthday in Kona, Hawaii, USA via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Bellingham – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Kona
- My Experience Renting with Hertz President’s Circle: Kona, Hawaii, USA
- The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- Climbing in Hawaii’s Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Exploring Nāhuku Lava Tubes, Hawaii Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: Café Pesto, Hilo, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: ‘ULU Ocean Grill, Four Seasons Hualalai, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- From Sea Level to 13,845 feet: Driving Up to Hawaii’s Big Island Observatories
- Swimming with Manta’s: The Big Islands’s Manta Rays up Close
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Kona – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Bellingham
Restaurant Review: ‘ULU Ocean Grill, Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Kailua – Kona, Hawaii, United States of America
For that special fiftieth birthday, I was aiming to have a memorable dining experience in a great fine dining setting. Given that we were going to be on the Big Island of Hawaii, I was going to have to adjust those expectations towards a resort fine dining setting. While I wasn’t seeking something of a Michelin Star quality, I aimed to have a memorable and special meal to mark that special occasion.
While most fine dining restaurants don’t typically coincide with a resort environment, I would end up locating the ‘Ulu Ocean Grill at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai in Kailua – Kona, Hawaii. The restaurant represented the fine dining restaurant at the Four Seasons Resort located on the western cost of Kailua Kona, Hawaii.
Getting a Reservation:
Despite a forward facing Four Seasons website, and a presence on Open Table, we had a little difficulty getting a reservation.
In our circumstances, given a set birthday date, we knew well in advance of when we wanted to visit. After trial and error, we later learned (unofficially) that the resort holds priority reservations for its hotel guests.
After several telephone calls to the resort at around the nine, six and three week mark(s) prior to our visit, we were able to get a second seating at 8 PM for our preferred date. We would end up being among the last tables served for the evening.
I’d later discover that the resort places it’s distressed inventory on Open Table a few days or weeks before, and you might find some space there assuming you were able to accomodate a last minute availability. While I appreciate the hotel wanting to reserve premium seating for it’s hotel guests, I have to comment that it was a most unusual way to get a reservation for a fine dining establishment on a special occasion, in my humble opinion.
Locating the Four Seasons Hualalai:
The Four Seasons Haulalai is located on the west coast of Kailua – Kona. It wa a twenty minute drive from where we were staying at The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort.
On arrival, we were checked at the security gate and provided instructions to the reception area. After driving down a twisting and landscaped driveway, we arrived to the front reception areas which was completely deserted at this hour. We were promptly attended to, and our car was valet parked on a complimentary basis.
Inside the ‘ULU Ocean Grill:
We had a short walk over through the quiet Four Seasons Hualalai hotel grounds over to the water front location of the restaurant. The ‘ULU Ocean Grill occupies a shoreline space close to the water. The entrance way allows guests to pass over a wooden bridge over a small lagoon, which is a nice feature for any restaurant.
Despite having an 8 PM reservation, we had a short wait for our table to be set. We were offered a seat in the bar and provided with the opportunity to review the drink menu. We ended up working on looking at the restaurant’s extensive and impressive wine list, and narrowing down a choice of wines to pair with dinner.
The wine list was showy and impressive. With a strong orientation towards old world wines, there were a few appearances of new Californian labels with the odd cameo from other new world countries. As a visiting Canadian, it’s always a treat to get access to legacy Californian winemakers that don’t always have distribution in Canada. As a result, the Californian labels were of the most interest to me.
We were eventually seated outside at the shorefront. While we were offered a table inside earlier, we chose to wait for an outside table (which was not guaranteed at time of booking). The table had immediate shoreline views, and was as peaceful as can be expected.
On the Menu:
We were presented with our server, who was an enjoyable and professionally chatty man in his fifties. He clearly enjoyed food and wine, which is a treat when dining at any fine dinig establishment.
The ‘ULU Ocean Grill menu was presented on two pages. The menu was professionally designed and easy to navigate.
The menu was divided into a sushi page consisting of maki sushi along with nigiri sushi and sashimi. The main portion of the menu offered appetizers consisting of cold, hot options, with seafood makai dishes and mauka land based dishes.
All of the options appeared upscale and interesting, with dishes such as Spicy Crab Noodles with King Crab, Spicy Ebi Butter, Mochi Noodles, Bok Choy and land items such as Kona Coffee Crusted Maui Venison paired with Miso Corn Cake, Japanese Whiskey-Ginger Glazed Baby Carrots, Szechuan Peppercorn Reduction, each item appeared regional, authentic and appealed to your palette’s desires.
All these options were presented along with an excellent and comprehensive wine list that allowed for a multitude of options when pairing a meal together.
The Meal: Perfectly Prepared Seafood
Given that I was celebrating my fiftieth birthday this was the right place to be when it came to looking for something a little upscale.
Given my fascination with Californian wines not regularly available in Canada, we started off with a bottle of Palhmeyer Jayson Sauvingon Blanc from Napa Valley. Nice and crisp, it hit the spot for a warm summer evening.
To start off the evening, we split a sushi appetizer. Coming from Vancouver, where there are hundreds of sushi restaurants, I moderated my expectations accordingly. We opted for a simple vegetable roll, which was prepared with baby shiso, romaine, and lime.
The vegetable roll was outstanding; crisply prepared and made with fresh organic ingredients. It happened to be the highlight of the meal for MrsWT73, who actually favoured it over her entrée.
Given it was my birthday meal, I went really upscale with my order. I enjoyed a seared tuna coriander crushed Ahi Tuna, served with seared foie gras (hallelujah!), forbidden rice, seared bok choy, and kabakayi duck jus and pohala berry.
The ahi tuna was exccelent; seared just right. The seared foie gras paired exceptionally well, and made this dish super upscale for a very special occiasion.
MrsWT73 went with her favorite Mahi Mahi, which is making less of an appearance these days on most fish menus. “ULU Ocean Grill’s version of Mahi Mahi was presented with local seasonable vegetables with Yuzu Butter. The fish was cooked verfectly; just under and juicy and moist throughout.
With getting to enjoy foie gras, a series of great wines, an outdoor shoreline setting, a beautiful wife, there wasn’t anything more that I could have asked for. Well, except until the waiter started bringing out old world Premier Cru Chablis’ do to a little impromptu food and wine pairing tastings.
After a terrific and enjoyable dinner, and given that this was the birthday event, I decided to enjoy a little dessert. ‘ULU Ocean Grill offered a whole series of themed Hawaiian desserts.
The Save Ice with coconut sorbet, pineapple granite and strawberry pearls looked interesting, along with the Mango Lime Tart with mango lime custard, kalamansi jellies, brown butter sesame crumble and compressed mango, all looked interesting.
I ended up going with the Pineapple Upside Down; butter pound cake, Kohana Rum caramelized pineapple with fior di latte gelato for the birthday dessert.
It was exceptionally tasty and a super treat to enjoy home made gelato in the middle of summer in the Islands of Hawaii.
The check came to $291.10 USD, with the dessert provided graciously by Four Seasons as a result of it being my fiftieth birthday. This was a classy move on the part of Four Seasons, although there wasn’t a birthday sparkler presented that you might find in some other restaurants. Very understated, but recognized.
We were pretty much the only ones left by the time we had finished dinner. We walked the short distance from the ‘ULU Ocean Grill up to the Four Seasons lobby reception area. In exceptional service, we found our car retrieved from the valet and waiting for our arrival. As with other Four Season hotels, we were given some water for the road. The Four Seasons Resort Hualalai’s version was presented in a small recycled aluminum can properly chilled. We had a pleasant drive back to The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort.
My Thoughts on ‘ULU Ocean Grill:
The ‘ULU Ocean Grill marked the spot for an upscale dinner worthy of a special event.
Although it was a bit inconvenient to negotiate with the restaurant for a dinner reservation in advance, the service and experience at ‘ULU Ocean Grill was pretty good nearing excellent and consistent with a high end resort offering. The food offered was excellent, with menu features that were sufficiently upscale enough to impress the Four Seasons Resort crowd.
I would recommend the restaurant; especially if you happen to be staying on site and have access to a better and more convenient series of dining times than we did.
If you have visited the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, did you partake in dining at the upscale ‘ULU Ocean Grill ?
With one night in Hilo, Hawaii, USA, we looked to get the most out of our dining experience. With a top rating on Trip Advisor, we called in at the Café Pesto Hilo Bay restaurant located in downtown historic Hilo, Hawaii. Café Pesto Hilo Bay has been operating for thirty years and would turn out to be a popular space on a Friday night to enjoy a nourishing meal. We would be impressed with this casual dining experience, and would come away feeling really satisfied with our visit.
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Hawaii Five – Oh. A Fiftieth Birthday in Kona, Hawaii, USA via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Bellingham – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Kona
- My Experience Renting with Hertz President’s Circle: Kona, Hawaii, USA
- The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- Climbing in Hawaii’s Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Exploring Nāhuku Lava Tubes, Hawaii Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: Café Pesto, Hilo, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: ‘ULU Ocean Grill, Four Seasons Hualalai, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- From Sea Level to 13,845 feet: Driving Up to Hawaii’s Big Island Observatories
- Swimming with Manta’s: The Big Islands’s Manta Rays up Close
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Kona – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Bellingham
Restaurant Review: Café Pesto Hilo Bay, Hilo, Hawaii, United States of America
We stumbled upon Café Pesto Hilo Bay as a result of spending the day at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and needing a restaurant before the two hour drive back to the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort and Cafe Pesto met all the requirements. With a high Trip Advisor rating, it begged a visit.
About Café Pesto:
The Café Pesto Hilo Bay has been in operation at this location since July 10, 1992. The restaurant is situated in the S Hata historical building that was initially constructed in 1912. The building is on the US National Register of Historic Places. Surprisingly, the S Hata building has even survived several tsunamis’ crashing against it’s doors over the years; all of which add to the intrigue and charm of dining in this establishment that has seen its fair share of stories over the years.
Locating Cafe Pesto:
Café Pesto Hilo Bay is located on the main street of Kamehameha Ave in historic Hilo, Hawaii. There is plenty of free parking in the area out front of the restaurant, in addition to in lit parking lots across the street.
With Hilo’s straight forward street orientation, I had no issues locating the restaurant. It was really easy to locate a parking spot and made for a minimum of fuss when arriving.
The historic neighbourhood itself adds to a bit of the charm of visiting this older part of Hawaii. I would have enjoyed spending some time exploring this area, if I had arrived earlier in the day.
Getting a Reservation:
I turned up on a weeknight at 7 PM without a reservation. The lobby is located in the S Hata Building Lobby just to the right of the restaurant. After a short five minute wait, we were seated in the dining area.
Reservations are available through the restaurant’s website powered by Yelp. I’d admittedly learn about this after the fact, so I didn’t get the opportunity to test feature this out.
Inside Café Pesto:
After we were seated in Café Pesto, we had an opportunity to appreciate the surroundings. The restaurant takes advantage of its older historic feature with a classy but casual dining space with high ceilings.
The space was buzzy, vibrant and full of locals of all ages there to enjoy a solid meal. This is always a great sign when approaching a restaurant for the first time. It usually means that there is quality food with a solid customer base.
The restaurant featured a full bar for those looking for a little fun. While it wasn’t over the top, it served a functional space as many appeared to be enjoying themselves.
On the Café Pesto Menu:
The Café Pesto Hilo Bay menu starts off with a historic narrative of the restaurant. The menu highlights the building location as the historic 1912 S Hata building that has survived two tsunamis. The menu also highlights that the restaurant has been in operation for thirty years; an incredible milestone for any restaurant.
The menu itself is a simple two pager. Despite it’s plain café styled presentation, there were some gems in the menu that were well worth exploring. Skimming through the menu, I almost missed the Blue Ceasar Salad featuring Hirabara romaine lettuce, along with the Hāmāuka Caprese Salad with Kawmata tomato.
Café Pesto also featured Wood Fired Pizzas that were cooked in a wood burning oven. It was pretty hard to get MrsWT73 off pizza once it was determined that there was a wood burning pizza oven in the house.
The drink menu contained many local beers from Hawaii and a limited wine list. I enjoyed a Kona Brewing Pa’akai Pilsner which was more than perfect after a long day of walking.
The Meal: Perfect Traditional Hawaiian
Café Pesto uses quality ingredients in its food items which really popped out on the plate. For dinner tonight, I ended up going with a traditional Hawaiian Dish; a Loco Moco.
The legend had it that some local youths after school were looking for a quick filling meal. The Loco Moco was the result of that creation. A traditional Loco Moco was an cooked egg overtop of beef, rice and beef gravy.
The Café Pesto version of the Loco Moco consisted of a local egg and crispy onion crown on island beef burger, fire roasted demi glace with bacon and furikake rice. It was exceptionally tasty as all the flavours came together; absolutely perfect nourishment after spending a day out doors taking in all the sights.
MrsWT73 went with a Luau pizza dressed up with a kalua pork, grilled pineapple, smoked mozzarella, onion and marinara sauce pizza that had high marks. The quality of the kalua pork meat on the pizza was excellent and MrsWT73 wished she was able to enjoy more of it.
The check came to around fifty eight dollars, which was pretty reasonable for the amount of food that was served. It was a substantial break from bland food and elevated resort food pricing we had been experiencing from the resorts.
My Thoughts on Café Pesto Hilo Bay:
Café Pesto Hilo Bay really hit the spot in what we were looking for with a stopover restaurant in Hilo, Hawaii.
The charming nature of the historic S Hata Building set the stage for an authentic meal at Café Pesto. The restaurant offered a number of regional ingredients on the menu that were presented with quality in mind in an understated but wholesome way.
I’d highly recommend a visit to Café Pesto Hilo Bay if your travels take you through Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii, USA.
If you have visited Café Pesto Hilo Bay, did you find the authenticity of ingredients to be it’s advantage ?
The Big Island of Hawaii is home to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and the Nāhuku Lava Tubes. The lava tubes are an especially cool and interesting geological feature that you can only experience in limited places around the world. As one feature of the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, it is well worth your time to stop in and explore this attraction.
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Hawaii Five – Oh. A Fiftieth Birthday in Kona, Hawaii, USA via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Bellingham – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Kona
- My Experience Renting with Hertz President’s Circle: Kona, Hawaii, USA
- The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- Climbing in Hawaii’s Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Exploring Nāhuku Lava Tubes, Hawaii Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: Café Pesto, Hilo, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: ‘ULU Ocean Grill, Four Seasons Hualalai, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- From Sea Level to 13,845 feet: Driving Up to Hawaii’s Big Island Observatories
- Swimming with Manta’s: The Big Islands’s Manta Rays up Close
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Kona – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Bellingham
Nāhuku Thurston Lava Tubes: Visiting Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii, United States of America
The Big Island of Hawaii is known for having one of the world’s most active volcanoes in the southern part of the Island. It has experienced regular eruptions over the last thirty years. When the volcano is not actively erupting, the volcanoes can be visited through a visit to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
About Hawaii Volcanoes National Park:
The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park aims to educate about the two large volcanoes in Hawaii; the Kīlauea and Mauna Loa Volcanoes. Each of these volcanoes are among the most active in the world and still add land to the Island of Hawaii. The Mauna Loa Volcano is earth’s most massive mountain, with an estimated volume of 19,000 cubic miles. The park itself showcases the results of seventy million years of volcanism, migration and evolution in the Hawaiian Island’s Emperor Seamount Chain.
With all of this wonder, a visit to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is likely to be a highlight of your trip to the Big Island. If you are an outdoor’s person, make sure that you give the park enough time on your journey to the Big Island, as there are plenty of features in the park that are well worth exploring without being rushed.
Getting to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park:
On the Big Island’s southern edge, there is a national park known as Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. From the Big Island’s West Coast, the tourist destinations are quite a ways away. It took us more than two hours to travel to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park from The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort.
Make sure to schedule an early departure if you’re going to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park so you have all day to explore. You won’t run out of things to do because there is more than enough there to keep you busy for several days’ worth of sightseeing.
Visiting Nāhuku Lava Tubes:
On arrival to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, we paid the entry free for the park. The fee during our visit was USD and valid for seven days of entry.
The Nāhuku Thurston Lava Tubes is accessed off a small parking lot beyond the Kīlauea Iki Overlook. We attempted to get parking at the Nāhuku Lava Tubes parking lot at 4:30 PM on the date of our visit. However, it was completely full.
We ended up turning around and parking at the Kīlauea Iki Overlook parking lot. From there, we walked back towards the Nāhuku Lava Tubes.
The Nāhuku Lava Tubes are located a short distance (less than fifty meters) from the trailhead entrance in a lush rainforest. There is a short ramp down the walkway. The pathway is set up to be walked in a single direction, although there are no directional signs pointing this out.
After landing on the bottom level, it’s a very short walk to the lava tubes entrance. It’s a popular spot to stop and take photographs, so make sure you collect one your photo stream.
Lava Tubes form when an outer crust of lava forms around a flowing liquid river that continues to flow. When the eruption stops, the liquid drained out, leaving the hardened lava tube behind.
This particular tube was discovered by Lorrin Thurston, a newspaper baron who was instrumental in overthrowing the Kingdom of Hawaii. The Lava Tubes are more commonly known by their Hawaiian Name: the Nāhuku Lava Tubes.
Inside the Nāhuku Lava Tubes:
Entering the Nāhuku Lava Tubes itself is a very “Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark” experience. The sight of entering a dark tunnel without light is a particularly spooky experience requiring some nerves in order to set into darkness without any safety net.
Further on in the Nāhuku Lava Tubes, there is artificial lighting that light some of the floor way for the lava tube. It has a particularly creepy experience that can only be experienced in person.
Eventually continuing along the Nāhuku Lava Tubes for about seven minutes, you end up at the other end of the forest. The short one third of a mile walk is a pleasant one. During our visit at about 4:30 PM, we only shared the tubes with one other group. The Nāhuku Lava Tubes would be especially popular with children, who come to wonder in the excitement of it all.
We enjoyed a short walk back towards the Nāhuku Lava Tubes Trailhead and were treated to some Kīlauea Iki Crater views on the way back.
After the Crater Rim Trail, we went on Café Pesto Hilo Bay Restaurant in Hilo for dinner and then back to the The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort for the night.
My Thoughts on Visiting the Lava Tubes Hawaii Volcanoes National Park:
The Nāhuku Lava Tubes were a particularly creepy natural experience in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It was pretty weird to get the experience to wander through this partially lit tunnel, and pop out the other end.
If you’re visiting the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, make sure that you make time during your visit to stop by and experience the Nāhuku Lava Tubes.
If you’ve visited the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, what was your favorite feature of the National Park ?
The Big Island of Hawaii is home to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It’s a place where you can get up close to the volcanoes as safely as possible, and to marvel in the wonders of millions of years of layers upon layers of sentiment added to each layer as a result of volcanic eruptions. A visit to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is well worth part of holiday time.
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Hawaii Five – Oh. A Fiftieth Birthday in Kona, Hawaii, USA via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Bellingham – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Kona
- My Experience Renting with Hertz President’s Circle: Kona, Hawaii, USA
- The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- Climbing in Hawaii’s Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Exploring Nāhuku Lava Tubes, Hawaii Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: Café Pesto, Hilo, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: ‘ULU Ocean Grill, Four Seasons Hualalai, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- From Sea Level to 13,845 feet: Driving Up to Hawaii’s Big Island Observatories
- Swimming with Manta’s: The Big Islands’s Manta Rays up Close
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Kona – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Bellingham
Getting Close to Active Volcanoes on Crater Rim Trail: Visiting Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii, United States of America
The Big Island of Hawaii is known for having one of the world’s most active volcanoes in the southern part of the Island. It has experienced regular eruptions over the last thirty years. When the volcano is not actively erupting, the volcanoes can be visited through a visit to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
About Hawaii Volcanoes National Park:
The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park aims to educate about the two large volcanoes in Hawaii; the Kīlauea and Mauna Loa Volcanoes. Each of these volcanoes are among the most active in the world and still add land to the Island of Hawaii. The Mauna Loa Volcano is earth’s most massive mountain, with an estimated volume of 19,000 cubic miles. The park itself showcases the results of seventy million years of volcanism, migration and evolution in the Hawaiian Island’s Emperor Seamount Chain.
With all of this wonder, a visit to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is likely to be a highlight of your trip to the Big Island. If you are an outdoor’s person, make sure that you give the park enough time on your journey to the Big Island, as there are plenty of features in the park that are well worth exploring without being rushed.
Getting to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park:
The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is located on the south side of the island. It is quite a distance from the tourist resorts on the West Coast of the Big Island. We started off from The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort and it took us well over two hours to get there. This is unlike the driving time to many other nearby tourist attractions.
If you are travelling to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, make sure you plan to leave early to allow for a full day of exploring at the park. There is more than enough there to spend several days worth of sight seeing so you won’t run out of things to do.
The Sulphur Springs Walk:
On arrival to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, we paid the entry free for the park. The fee during our visit was $30 USD and valid for seven days of entry.
We parked at the Kīlauea Visitor Centre Parking Lot where we got oriented and situated on the park’s activities. We checked out the map in order to plan the day’s walking activities.
From the Kīlauea Visitor Centre, we set out on the Sulphur Banks Trail. The trail was recommended as one of the sights to see for those on a day visit. The Sulphur Springs Trail was an easy and mostly level walk from the Visitors Centre.
The walk descended a little in elevation and provided the usual warning signs for being cautious around sulphuric fumes. The walkway allowed for a good feel of the vegetation and fauna for this part of the world. The walk was a pleasant way to start an introduction to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
The walkway led us down to a small valley with sulphuric fumes. The fumes were exiting the ground as a result of the nearby volcanic activity. The area was surrounded by wooden boardwalks, allowing travellers the opportunity to visit the area without having their feet pass through the soft ground surrounding the fumes.
The sulphur springs trail is probably the easiest and shortest walk from the Visitor’s Centre. It’s a near perfect walk to complete with children due to its short length, although admittedly it doesn’t have volcano views.
Walking the Crater Rim Trail:
From the Sulphur Banks Trail, we continued on our walk to the Crater Rim Trail. This was accomplished from continuing to walk the length of the Sulphur Banks Trail, by crossing the road and following the pathways on the other side. The pathways are fairly well marked, so there isn’t much likelihood of getting lost provided you stick to the trails.
The Crater Rim Trail followed the length of the Kaluapele (Kīlauea Caldera) Volcano Rim. The trail allowed for visitors to see a large portion of the volcanic crater from high above in a really beautiful and unique setting. The first part of the trail has views over lava flows that occurred before the year 1924, with views of lava flows from 1982 in the far distance.
During our time there, we had a rainbow make an appearance in the volcanic crater itself. This was a pretty special event given the odd nature of the volcanic crater and caldera. It’s no secret that the State of Hawaii has a rainbow on it’s automobile licence plates, so it was a unique perspective to get to see a rainbow from such a high elevation looking down.
We continued our Crater Rim Trail Walk for about an hour. We eventually came to the Kīlauea Overlook with views over the Halema’una’u Crater, which was more active. The Halema’una’u Crater had water accumulating inside it, which made for a very active looking volcanic experience despite it being from a far.
For those that are not into outdoors and walking, it is worth mentioning that this viewpoint is also accessible by vehicle by driving along the Crater Rim Drive West.Accessing it by car is better for those that are pressed for time or for those that want to see every sight as possible in the park.
After spending time at the caldera, we ended up completing the return walk back the way we came on the Crater Rim Trail. It was about three hours of walking by the time we made it back to the Visitor Centre. We experienced a whole series of views throughout this time along the trail, with a variety of weather patterns floating through the area during our time there.
After the Crater Rim Trail, we went on to the excellent Nāhuku Lava Tubes, before heading onto Café Pesto Hilo Bay Restaurant in Hilo for dinner and then back to The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort for the night.
My Thoughts on Visiting Hawaii Volcanoes National Park:
The Sulphur Springs Walk and the Crater Rim Trail were two excellent introductions to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Both were easily tackled during a day visit.
We got to see a variety of weather and interesting geography patterns based on our time within the park. If you’re visiting, I would make sure that you allow yourself enough time to get out to the park, as it’s quite a drive from the West Coast Resorts on the Big Island of Hawaii.
If you’ve visited the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, what was your favorite feature of the National Park ?
The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort represented the best value that we’ve experienced from a Marriott Bonvoy redemption in Hawaii to date. With a large resort like feel to the property, a world class beach at your footsteps, and a reasonably solid Elite upgrade to an ocean view, there was a lot to like when spending a week at this resort. Our in depth review tackles all areas and experiences at the resort over our five night stay.
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Hawaii Five – Oh. A Fiftieth Birthday in Kona, Hawaii, USA via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Bellingham – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Kona
- My Experience Renting with Hertz President’s Circle: Kona, Hawaii, USA
- The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- Climbing in Hawaii’s Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Exploring Nāhuku Lava Tubes, Hawaii Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: Café Pesto, Hilo, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: ‘ULU Ocean Grill, Four Seasons Hualalai, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- From Sea Level to 13,845 feet: Driving Up to Hawaii’s Big Island Observatories
- Swimming with Manta’s: The Big Islands’s Manta Rays up Close
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Kona – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Bellingham
Review: The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort, Hawaii, United States of America
“The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort represents a terrific value for Hawaii on Marriott Bonvoy points. The property features everything that you might need for a family beach holiday, set on a world class Hapuna Beach.”
Booking The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort:
Marriott Bonvoy Opportunities:
With a stack of Marriott Bonvoy hotel points sitting in our collective family points accounts, MrsWT73 was keen to use Marriott Bonvoy points to offset the cost of this holiday. The Marriott Bonvoy program isn’t always a terrific value in Hawaii, USA, with most properties seeking over 70,000 points per night. This is usually a terrible value redemption, but using points does save some money in the bank by using points over cash.
When researching the trip, we happened to discover that the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort on Kona, presented stay options for a more reasonable 54,000 – 55,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night. The alternative during our stay was a cash rate of about $579 USD per night. While we missed the days of when this property was available for as low as 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points per night (as a Category 5 property), the point rate was still pretty reasonable in comparison to other Hawaii properties at 70,000+ npoints per night.
We ended up redeeming 218,000 Marriott Bonvoy points at The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort for a five night stay. We got the fifth night free, per the Marriott Bonvoy terms and conditions on reward stays. This represented a redemption value of about 0.012 dollars value of a Marriott Bonvoy point, against an accepted value of about 0.008 dollars per point. While this was hardly a terrific value in terms of global perspective, it was, in my view, a reasonable redemption in the context of the Hawaiian environment where most hotels are pricing well over 75,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night.
We booked into a basic Partial Ocean View – King with a partial ocean view and balcony.
As a result of variable pricing, we had a variety of room rates across the stay, we ended up paying an average of 54,500 Marriott Bonvoy points a night. This math worked out to 43,600 Marriott Bonvoy points per night when averaged over five nights.
In my view, this is a pretty reasonable rate for Hawaii and you’d be happy these days in getting a room redemption under 45,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night somewhere decent.
In addition to the base redemption, there were other upgraded rooms available for redemption. These were available provided you were willing to part with a cash upgrade supplement that ranged from 700 USD to 1,200 USD a stay. We ended up selecting to play the upgrade roulette by hoping for a better upgrade at check in on account of MrsWT73’s Marriott Bonvoy Platinum status. Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Titanium and Ambassador Elite members the best available room at check in, including select suites.
For those more interested in paying cash, during our summer months, the cash rates were going for about $579 per night. The range of rates ended up climbing upwards to $879 per night.
Applying Suite Night Awards:
We ended up applying Marriott Bonvoy Suite Night Awards to this reservation. The Suite Night Awards are awarded to Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Titanium and Ambassador members as a Select benefit.
There were a number of Suite Night Award rooms available at The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort. In order to get value out of them, I don’t typically redeem Suite Night Awards for anything other than a suite.
Unfortunately, all the Suite Night Award rooms ended up getting purchased by paying customers and didn’t become available for redemption at the five day mark before our stay. We were unsuccessful in getting a Suite Night Award redeemed, and they were returned to our account. It is worth mentioning that there are only one or two “1 Bedroom Suites” per floor; this makes upgrades outright to these rooms unlikely given their limited availability.
Despite this, the upgrade roulette ended up paying off. We would end up getting upgraded at check in into a Premier Ocean View category room. The upgrade gods had us moving from a $653 USD a night room at the time of stay, into a 859 USD a night room; a pretty reasonable upgrade value.
Overall, I think we came out pretty well in finding value for a Hawaiian Resort stay.
Getting to The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort:
We arrived into the The Big Island of Hawaii on Alaska Airlines First Class Seattle – Kona. We rented a car with Hertz Kona in order to get to the resort, which is located miles and thirty minutes from the airport.
I would highly recommend renting a vehicle during your time on Kona, as the airport to resort shuttle options are practically non existent, and you’ll find yourself stuck at the resort the entire time without your own vehicle. If you do happen to take a shuttle to the resort, the resort does contract with a local company to rent Tesla 3 vehicles, with an advance reservation required.
The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort is located up on the Kohala Coast, as one of the northern most resorts on the western side of the island. The resort is surrounded by the Mauna Kea Golf Course, and is located behind a security gate. Aside from the golf course, there aren’t any other houses, commercial buildings or restaurants close to the A Manalahoa Highway. This means that the resort is quite remote and you won’t be stepping out to dine at a nearby restaurant off resort. Aside from a daytime food truck at the Hapuna Beach, the nearest off property restaurants are located approximately 8 miles or fifteen minutes away by car.
The Westin Hapuna’s Beach Resort shares the hotel beach with the State of Hawaii’s Hapuna Beach. The public trail access for the resort is located to the south of the resort. The beach itself is large enough to share with the general public, and it’s not likely that you’ll see alot of public beach goers during your beach resort time.
Overall, the resort’s isolated location is both an advantage and a disadvantage. The remoteness of the Mauna Kea Resort and surrounding the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort offers that distant and tranquil resort feeling. With the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort being surrounded by a golf course, it allows for greenery and the feeling of having a lot of personal space.
On the downside, being this far out means that you pretty much have a longer drive to get anywhere on the island, including to other off resort restaurants for happy hour, sunset cocktails or dinner. As a result, I highly recommend that you rent a car when visiting this particular Westin Resort’s, and allow for extra time when getting to and from the resort. Without a car, otherwise you might find yourself a little cornered in the resort, without a means of getting out.
Checking into The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort:
It was well after dark before we arrived to the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort. Valet Parking was complimentary, or to be exact, the same price as self parking ($35 USD / day). We unloaded the car and were led around the corner towards the front desk to check in.
We were given a refreshing passion fruit guava drink along with a cold towel; a great refresher after that long journey. While another party checking in at the same time received a lei arrival, we didn’t happen to get this opportunity- perhaps due to our late hour of arriving at 10:45 PM.
We were pro-actively upgraded from the base “Partial Ocean View” to a “Premier Ocean View”. This was described on more than one occasion as being “the highest possible upgrade category available”. We were assigned Room #915, which was located a short walk from the lobby.
We were also provided a sheet with the Westin Hapuna’s Beach Resort Resort Fee inclusions ($37 USD / Per Day per Room). This included some pretty dismal wifi that did not throughly work throughout the resort. We were also explained as Marriott Bonvoy Platinum members, we would be entitled to a complimentary continental breakfast. as an Elite Welcome Amenity. An upgrade could be completed to the breakfast buffet for $25 USD per person. We ended up with the breakfast benefit; which was a perfect amount of food for most days.
Declining baggage assistance, we self navigated up to the room.
The Room: Premier Ocean, King Room, 1 King, Ocean View, High Floor, Balcony
With the lobby on the eighth floor, we took the elevator up one level to the ninth and top floor. All the hallways at the Westin Hapuna are outside, and we wandered one building over (out of three) to our Premier Ocean room.
The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort Premier Ocean Room was a reasonably spacious hotel room at 600sq ft in size. The room was decorated in traditional, but mostly contemporary Westin browns, green and greys, which were starting to look a little on the mature side.
The room featured a Westin Heavenly Bed. The bed was advertised as a King Size Bed, but it felt a little compact compared to the King Size bed at home.
The room also featured Westin’s Sleep Well scent vials. This is more of a gimmick rather than something that I look forward to when I stay at a Westin hotel.
Looking back towards the centre of the room, the bed faced into a large flat screen television which was built into a longer desk.
Instead of a couch or individual chair, the seating area of the room was in a sectional “L” shaped light coloured sofa. This ended up becoming a bag drop zone, so it didn’t reach it’s full potential as a relaxing space during our particular stay.
Adjacent to the couch was the room refreshment centre. There was a small un-stocked mini fridge, a drip coffee maker, and two bottles of AquaFina water. These would end up being the last bottles of AquaFina water we would receive on our stay. The resort offers complimentary water refills at water stations throughout the resort, included in your Resort Fee.
In the hallway by the door, the room offered a pretty spacious bathroom. The construction company designed a great space here, with more than enough space for two people to get ready and exist at the same time.
The washing facilities consisted of a bathroom and Westin Rain Shower facility. I find the Westin rain showers to be a little weak on the water pressure, since they rely on mostly gravity in order to feed the shower head.
The attached bathroom offered a Toto heated toilet. It glowed in the car with blue LED’s at night, which was a futuristic way to use the water closet at night.
Heading outside, the Premier Ocean View offered a small to medium sized balcony. The balcony contained a lot of furniture for a hotel balcony. The balcony featured a two person high top table along with a small lounger for one.
The Premier Ocean View offered a mostly unobstructed view of the Hapuna Beach. From the ninth floor, the view was as good as it could possibly get. However, the view of the attached Mauna Kea Residences tended to partially get in the way, no matter how hard you tried to look past it.
In terms of sleep quality, the room was very quiet. Being on the top floor, we didn’t experience any noise from floors above (or below). The Westin Heavenly bed was comfortable, and we had no concerns with room temperature or setting the climate.
The front desk also provided us with a number of materials which set out a lot of the resort information. These included the inclusions of the Daily Resort Charge ($37 USD per Room per Day), of which the Pool and Beach Chair Service was the most valuable feature of the inclusions. As with every Resort Fee, there wasn’t a lot of value represented within the fee itself.
In summary, the room was a lot larger than I might have expected. It was much larger than the small rooms that we’ve come to expect at The Sheraton Waikiki. However, the light colours of the Westin tended not to wear as well as I might have liked. While there was nothing obvious or stained, the lighter greys on most of the room seating surfaces tended to look a little shabby after a while.
Around the Hotel Property:
The hotel occupies a large space overtop of a sloping hill that leads down towards the Hapuna Beach. While the resort tends to have a large imposing structure, it is an easy property to navigate. Each area relating to the property is slightly tiered towards the ocean, so there is something on each level.
Main Lobby Area:
There are three hundred and fifty rooms on the property. As a result, you can expect up to seven hundred people to be on or around the resort, when it’s fully occupied. While it’s not as busy as a cruise ship numbering in the thousands, it can still get pretty busy around the resort.
From our room on the ninth floor, we set out to explore the property. The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort has an open air orientation, so many of the lobby features, the resort hallways and the views towards the ocean are open.
Adult Pool Area:
After descending to the fourth floor, we walked the garden pathways down to the pool area and the ocean beach. We passed by the Adult Pool area, which was accented by a koi pond with some healthy looking koi fish.
The Adult Pool area did not have a lot of seating space that I would expect for a hotel of this size. The seating was limited to approximately fifty chairs and tended to get occupied quite quickly and early in the morning. If you plan on spending time at the Adult Pool, I would expect to get up early and reserve yourself a seat in advance (before 9 AM).
The Family Pool and Cabanas:
The Family Pool and Cabanas’ was the focal point of all aquatic and children oriented activity at the resort. The Family Pool featured a large and mostly featureless crescent shaped pool with ample seating around the space. Although the pool did not contain any water features like fountains, it offered fantastic ocean views for those supervising parents.
Although it looks quiet within these photos, the family pool area was over run with kids having the greatest time. It was the epicentre of family activity and all the related noise that comes with that excitement. For those looking for a serene beach get away environment, this isn’t the exact postal code that you should be hanging around in. As a result, we didn’t spend a lot of time hanging around this particular zone.
Hapuna Beach:
Descending from the Family Pool level, we walked down stairs to the Hapuna Beach. We passed by the nice looking Mauna Kea Residences. The Mauna Kea Residences appear to be attached to the hotel, share check in / check out facilities with the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort, and have a slightly better and unobstructed view at a 20 – 35% higher price point. If I were staying for a longer period of time, or with a larger family, I would definitely encourage checking out this hotel within a hotel.
After passing by the Mauna Kea Residences, we found ourselves at the Hapuna Beach. The Hapuna Beach is a shared beach with the Hapuna State Park. The beach itself is long enough that you aren’t likely to see many day visitors from off the resort wandering into the resort beach area.
Unlike other Marriott Bonvoy hotels in Honolulu, the Resort Fee covers use of a lounge chair. At The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort, there is no additional fee to rent or reserve a lounge chair. There are also a few with shade umbrellas available.
With a hotel at nearly full occupancy, we never had challenges locating a lounge chair on arrival at around 11 AM. We did happen to notice several people “saving” lounge chairs earlier in the morning. Depending on your travel patterns, this may or may not be your thing.
The Hapuna Beach is wonderfully expansive and broad. It contained really fine sand that was exceptionally smooth on the toes. In the morning, when the ocean is calmer, the beach is suitable for children. In the afternoon, the shoreline tended to get a little rougher and less suitable for young children. Each end of the beach was bookended with the Big Islands’ Lava beds, leaving to a rocky out crop.
The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort was set nicely against the beach, along with the great lawns that Hawaii is known for.
We enjoyed several days during our stay doan at the Hapuna Beach. It marked one of the nighest beaches at a Beach Resort that I’ve experienced in the United States.
Gym and Fitness Club:
The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort has a small gym located just off the spa. While I didn’t use the gym on this particular visit, it has a nice size to it and a day light orientation.
Food and Beverage:
The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort runs several restaurants consistent with it’s size as a resort property. While everything was fine, I actually felt as though this was the resorts best opportunity for improvement.
Ikeda Landing:
Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Breakfast
Ikeda Landing was marketed as having “…a delectable breakfast menu offerings including an abundant buffet including made-to-order omelets and an array of al la carte options with healthy favorites to energize your day“. It mostly achieved that objective.
Located on the fifth floor, we often had a short line up to be seated during the late breakfast hour. Ikeda Landing was open between 6:30 AM – 10:30 AM; late enough for a leisurely breakfast for those not on Hawaiian Standard Time.
Our breakfast was covered as a result of the Marriott Bonvoy Elite Breakfast benefit. The continental breakfast was valued at $30 USD per person, including gratituity. The hotel offered an up charge to the breakfast buffet for $25 USD per person, even though the difference in pricing from the continental breakfast and a buffet ($48 USD) was only $18 USD difference when following menu pricing.
Although there were some interesting menu items on the a la carte menu such as Loco Moco’s or a Hapuna Iron Man breakfast, there was no obvious option to upgrade to the a la carte menu items.
Most days we enjoyed the Continental Breakfast. There were a pleasant assortment of pastries, including a tasty Banana Bread and a wonderful yoghurt parfait with slivered macadamia nuts. Cereals were also available on request, for those days we were looking for variety.
I did try out the buffet breakfast on two days of my five day stay. Ikeda Landing offered a daily buffet that didn’t change all too much across the days. The buffet featured an egg station, a miso soup station and the usual variety of egg and meat dishes. Mostly excitingly, the buffet featured enough items to make your own home made loco moco (egg, rice, beef and gravy dish).
The buffet was ample, but it didn’t contain enough items to keep me coming back day after day. I was more than happy to enjoy it over the occasional day here and there, sticking with the continental breakfast on other days. On buffet breakfast days, it was a healthy three egg omelette with lots of salsa.
While the breakfast was good, I started to find it a little plain after the third or fourth day. Given the size of the resort, I probably would have wished for a little more variety in the buffet.
Naupaka Beach Grill
The resorts casual dining restaurant was the Naupaka Beach Grill. This was located off the pool area and doubled as the beach dining area. Dining was offered al fresco.
The pool area had a bit of an institutional feel to it and I didn’t get an aspirational vibe to dining in a pool area. The menu contained typical resort fare at an elevated resort price point.
Meridia Restaurant:
The resorts high end dining option was Medina Restaurant. Typically, a high end resort restaurant has perhaps a celebrity chef inspiring it’s dishes. Perhaps I was expecting too much but after looking over the menu on Open Table, I didn’t find giving myself a strong reason for dining here. I didn’t see a dinner menu put out during my walk by’s. As a result, I didn’t get any restaurant cravings when I saw it on my daily walk. Despite this, it did appear to offer offered pleasant patio views.
As a result of the less than aspirational dining options, we often ended up going off property to dine. While we were pushed towards taking the complimentary resort shuttle over to the sister Mauna Kea Resort, on the days I attempted to get a casual reservation at 5 PM, I was often told that there were no tables available at Mauna Kea’s food and beverage outlets untill well past 8 PM. That dashed the dining local ideas pretty quickly.
Ultimately, the food and beverage program at the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort was pretty average. I’d probably rate this the resort’s weak spot on the basis that there wasn’t enough to keep us engaged and interested with what was presently offered.While this is a highly subjective area, in our experience we’d end up dining off property on five out of five nights at the resort.
Bottom Line: The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort
A terrific value on points, we enjoyed redeeming Marriott Bonvoy points for a five night stay at The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort. The resort offers a world class beach along with nicely upgraded rooms. Most of the rooms offer a terrific, but partially obstructed ocean view.
The weakest part of the resort was the food and beverage. While there wasn’t anything exactly wrong with it, it seemed to be a bit average and at an elevated price point than what we would typically expect from a resort. The remoteness of the area also impacted the amount of time it took to get to and from the resort property. If you didn’t have a rental car, you’d really be stuck at this property, as there is nothing else around it for miles.
Overall, I really enjoyed the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort. The value that this property represents on a Marriott Bonvoy redemption is unparalleled throughout Hawaii. I’d easily look forward to returning to this property at some point in the future.
If you have stayed at the Westin Hapuna, Beach Resort, did the resort live up to your expectations ?
It was expensive to rent a vehicle on the Big Island of Hawaii. Given that I have been renting with Hertz on a fairly consistent basis over the years, I figured I would rent with them again for the week I was visiting Hawaii. I haven’t been too “wowed” by my rentals in Hawaii with Hertz. Despite this, I ended up having a pretty good rental experience. Read on to see what I learned about renting wit Hertz in Kona, Hawaii, USA as a Hertz President’s Circle member.
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Hawaii Five – Oh. A Fiftieth Birthday in Kona, Hawaii, USA via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Bellingham – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Kona
- My Experience Renting with Hertz President’s Circle: Kona, Hawaii, USA
- The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- Climbing in Hawaii’s Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Exploring Nāhuku Lava Tubes, Hawaii Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: Café Pesto, Hilo, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: ‘ULU Ocean Grill, Four Seasons Hualalai, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- From Sea Level to 13,845 feet: Driving Up to Hawaii’s Big Island Observatories
- Swimming with Manta’s: The Big Islands’s Manta Rays up Close
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Kona – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Bellingham
My Experience Renting as Hertz President’s Circle Member at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport.
I’ve maintained Hertz President’s Circle status for the past several years as a result of some heavy work travel. One of the primary benefits of Hertz President’s Choice is the Ultimate Choice aisle where you get to pick any car in the aisle and go. The marketplace has standardized this feature across many of the major rental companies in this space.
About Hertz Gold Plus Rewards:
Hertz offers a loyalty reward program called Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. The program is primarily designed to keep your driver’s licence, credit card and insurance preferences on file to allow for quicker Hertz rentals that allow for bypassing the legal formalities of the rental counter in many locations and allow you to get out on the road faster.
Hertz Gold Plus Rewards also offers the ability to earn Hertz Gold Plus Reward points. While we didn’t typically get a lot of value from car rental points, they’ve recently delivered outsized value from travel when car rental prices escalated during the pandemic when many Hertz locations reduced their vehicle fleets, driving up car prices.
Hertz Gold Plus Rewards offers three tier levels of Gold, Five Star and it’s top tier President’s Circle. It’s around the Hertz Presidents Circle level where the benefits get interesting.
Hertz President’s Circle Benefits:
Hertz’s highest tier level is Hertz President’s Circle. Hertz Presidents’ Circle offers the following benefits:
- Upgrades: Guaranteed
- Hertz Gold Rewards points earning: $1 = 1.5 points
- Hertz Ultimate Choice: Widest Selection
- Dedicated Hertz Reservation Line
With reward redemptions starting at about 950 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards points, you’ll need a little bit of spend in order to get a free rental.
This leads me to my most recent experience renting from Hertz at the Kona International Airport in Hawaii, USA
Booking at Hertz Kona International Airport:
It’s pretty much essential to have a rental vehicle while you are visiting Kona. and the Big Island of Hawaii. Sights are very spread apart, and unless you plan on eating esclusively at the resort, you’ll want a vehicle. toget out and explore the island and it’s restaurants a little bit.
When I initially priced out a rental car on Kona; prices were stubbornly high. I booked through the Hertz website. My initial quote was for over $600 USD for a week five day rental. I ended up rechecking several months and weeks before our arrival. I was eventually able to get the car rate down to $400 USD,. After a little experimentation, I was then able to redeem 1,800 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards for two anytime award days. This brought my pricing down to $189 USD for the week, with the redemption.
If you are renting through a high demand period, make sure you check the rate. In our circumstances, the best rate was found between 3 – 4 weeks prior to travel.
My Experience at the Hertz Kona International Airport
I arrived into Kona International Airport on Alaska Airlines First Class Seattle – Kona. Our arrival time was scheduled for 8:50 PM. We collected our checked bags and headed over to the shuttle island.
Kona International Airport does not have an attached rental car facility. As a result, we had to take a short bus over that was quite full of travellers. Unfortunately, there weren’t a lot of busses tonight with the competitors Avis, National and Executive running a more frequent bus schedule than Hertz. After about an eight minute wait, we were on our way to the Hertz lot which was located about 5 minutes away.
Collecting the Car:
On arrival to the Hertz Kona International Airport lot, I went to check the Hertz Gold Plus Rewards board to check for my name and my assigned car. Hertz usually has Gold Plus Reward members names up on the board, so that they could get straight to their cards and go; bypassing any counter lines by getting straight to an assigned vehicle.
Unfortunately, despite making my reservation directly with Hertz through my online account, I didn’t see my name on the board for some reason. There is no Hertz Ultimate Choice rank at Kona International Airport (despite a manned exit gate). I ended up walking inside with my reservation number.
Unfortunately, I ended up getting stuck in a bit of a six person line that was split by general renters and those with Hertz Gold members. Since I had a bit of luggage, and no kids on this trip (helpers) to leave with MrsWT73 to deal with the luggage, I ended up getting stuck at the back of the line.
Fortunately, Hertz happened to be taking all the Gold Members first. These were split between two attendants so the wait was under ten minutes.
I never did find out what the reason was for my name missing off the board. The attendant indicated that they were incredibly busy as a result of unplanned traffic of tourists that were diverting to Kona from Maui as a result of the Lahania wildfires which had occured less than twenty four hours ago.
From my booked Intermediate car class, I ended up upgraded to a full size SUV. I was assigned a 2023 Dodge Durango with a HEMI V-8 engine. The vehicle was almost brand new; with a black HEMI leather interior featuring welcomed cooled and heated seats. I wasn’t going to complain about being issued a gas sucking SUV on this trip. A four wheel drive is mandatory for those wanting to drive up to visit The Big Islands’ Mauna Kea Observatories, and this was part of our planned activities list.
I headed out to the car for a quick inspection. Parked in Stall #25, the car was mostly clean. Despite this, they had really forgotten to clean the back side as it was pretty dirty; almost as if the car wash missed the whole back side of it.
We motored out of the lot, and over to The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort. We arrived to the resort after about a thirty minute drive.
A Rental Car is Essential On the Big Island:
Getting to our experience with the car over the week, I can’t emphasize enough how essential a rental car is while visiting the Big Island of Hawaii. During our five day stay, we put on 500 miles on the car; or approximately one hundred miles day. This is pretty high, considering that we had two full beach days during our time on the island.
The Dodge Durango with the HEMI engine was a pretty nice vehicle to drive, and a great Hertz President’s Circle upgrade. Being situated in picturesque and scenic Kona, we were able to see the car in some pretty unique spots.
The HEMI engine wasn’t very economical and was a far cry from my German Audi Mild Hybrid and an auto off feature back home. There were times that we received a reported 5 MPG when we were climbing up towards the observatories. Without an automatic off feature even installed, we burned through a fair amount of gas.
Returning at Kona International Airport:
There were no gas stations immediately at the airport. As a result, we made sure to fill up at Costco Kona at a “lowish” $4.65 USD a Gallon.
We returned the vehicle about three hours before our flight home on Alaska Airlines First Class Kona – Seattle. Even with a trip up the gravel roads to see the observatories, we weren’t too dirty and I wasn’t worried all that much about “additional cleaning charges”.
The roving Hertz agent closed out our contract. Although they didn’t have a printer, they offered to have the bill emailed to my attention. I usually have to chase Hertz. for these invoices but surprisingly, it arrived by the time I made it to the airport. Unusual miracles.
My Thoughts on Hertz President’s Circle at Kona International Airport:
While I’ve previously had high expectations of Hertz President’s Circle, I’ve learned to taper those expectations. My Kona rental was along those same lines.
While I ended up with a short delay picking up the car, I ended up getting assigned a nicer Dodge Durango. While it wasn’t the most fuel efficient rental, it was more the comfortable for our week of driving around the island. We just had a bit of an island experience with the rental in things not being ready with the same efficiency that you might find on the mainland. As the usual stressed out city slickers, we learned to take this in stride.
If you have visited Hertz Kona Hawaii, were you satisfied with your rental ?
World of Hyatt typically offers a spring and fall promotion that aligns with the business travel season. It can be pretty challenging to earn World of Hyatt points, given its lessor hotel foot print and it’s lack of a co-branded credit card outside of the United States. It only takes a moment to register, so make sure you take the time to register for this fall promotion.
World of Hyatt Launches Fall 2023 Promotion “Bonus Journeys”: Register Now
World of Hyatt has announced their fall promotion for the year 2023. We typically see hotels announce a fall promotion across many competing hotel brands. A few weeks ago, we learned of the Marriott Bonvoy Fall promotion. Now, we’ve learned of the promotion for World of Hyatt.
World of Hyatt has gone live with this promotion, as it’s showing up on the offers section of the World of Hyatt web page. Most members will be able to find it under the Offers area in a tiled window under the Offers section.
Without further ado, here are the details of this promotion…
Promotion Details:
Register to Earn 3,000 Bonus Points for Every Three Qualifying Nights; up to 21 nights, completed between October 6 and November 30, 2023.
The details of the promotion are as follows:
- Register now, then earn from October 6, to November 30, 2023.
- Registration ends November 10, 2023.
- Earn 3,000 bonus points for every three qualfying nights
- Earn up to 21,000 bonus points during this promotion
- Earn an additional 1,000 bonus points for World of Hyatt Visa Credit Card Holders for every three qualifying nights
- Earn up to 7,000 bonus points for bonus points under the credit card portion of this promotion.
Additional Promotion Details:
- An “Eligible Night” is defined as any night where a member is paying an Eligible Rate or redeems a free night award.
- There is no minimum length of stay requirement. However, for the purposes of the promotion and bonus offer, consecutive nights at the same hotel constitute one stay (even if you check out and check back in).
Registration:
Registration is required for this promotion. Registration can be completed through the World of Hyatt website, or through this registration link. If you’re a World of Hyatt member, you’ll likely have been sent a “one click” registration email, which will take you to the registration page.
Registration needs to be completed by November 10, 2023 for stays for stays ending before November 30, 2023.
What do I think about this promotion?
On the points side, if you value World of Hyatt points at 1.5 cents per point, this is like getting a potential return of $4.50 USD per 3,000 point promotion. While this won’t break the bank, it can be harder to earn World of Hyatt points; espcially in countries that do not have a co-branded Hyatt credit card.
The minimum stay requirement of a three night stay will prevent those from mattress running in order to take advantage of this promotion. While those travelling for business for the entire week may come out ahead with this promotion, those that are staying for one or two nights like most business travellers will not gain much from this particular promotion.
The promotion period is also remarkably short. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a promotion that isn’t even valid for a full sixty days. Hopefully World of Hyatt is a little more generous for it’s promotion period for the upcoming Spring 2024 period.
The Bottom Line: World of Hyatt’s Fall Promotion
We now know the details of World of Hyatt’s fall promotion. It’s fair to say it’s not too glamorous or generous and is pretty average.
While this promotion isn’t so exciting on the points earning side at just 3,000 World of Hyatt points after three qualifying stays, and an additional 1,000 points after three qualifying stays if you have a World of Hyatt co-branded Visa card.
As always, it’s still worth taking the effort to register, as more points are always better than less points.
What do you make of World of Hyatt’s Fall Promotion ?
Alaska Airlines has among the highest frequencies of service from the mainland United States of America to the Islands of Hawaii. Today’s flight would have us travelling to Hawaii in Alaska Airlines First Class from Seattle to Kona in Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-900 series product. Its been a while since we have travelled to Hawaii n Alaska Airlines First Class, so let’s see what is new, and what has stayed the same since our last trip.
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Hawaii Five – Oh. A Fiftieth Birthday in Kona, Hawaii, USA via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Bellingham – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Kona
- My Experience Renting with Hertz President’s Circle: Kona, Hawaii, USA
- The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- Climbing in Hawaii’s Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Exploring Nāhuku Lava Tubes, Hawaii Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: Café Pesto, Hilo, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: ‘ULU Ocean Grill, Four Seasons Hualalai, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- From Sea Level to 13,845 feet: Driving Up to Hawaii’s Big Island Observatories
- Swimming with Manta’s: The Big Islands’s Manta Rays up Close
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Kona – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Bellingham
Review: Alaska Airlines First Class B737-9: Seattle Tacoma International Airport – Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole
This flight was purchased through an Alaska Airlines Famous 2 for 1 Companion Fare. We purchased this flight in upgradable space and received an upgrade to First Class at the time of booking. We credited these flights to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.
The Alaska Airlines First Class product is fairly familiar to us, and this would mark our twentieth journey in the Alaska Airlines First Class Cabin.
For the return flight, please see our review Alaska Airlines First Class Kona – Seattle
Connecting at Seattle:
We arrived in to the airport on Alaska Airlines First Class Bellingham – Seattle. We killed off a three hour layover at the new American Express Centurion Lounge Seattle. Access to the Centurion Lounge was provided courtesy of the American Express Platinum Card, since Alaska Airlines doesn’t offer upgraded First Class tickets access to the Alaska Lounge. As I’ve reviewed the new Centurion Lounge Seattle recently, I won’t be reviewing again this time around.
Alaska Airlines does not provide Alaska Lounge access to those on upgraded First Class tickets (U Space). If you’re travelling on a fully paid fare or an Alaska Mileage Plan International First Class redemption, you’ll have access to the flagship Alaska Lounge Seattle. This is a great and modern looking lounge, with an Icelandair Saga Busines Lounge Reykjavik styled fireplace. It is worth a visit to the Alaska Lounge if you happen to have access.
Our One World Emerald status wasn’t any help here, as we were travelling domestically and didn’t qualify for International Lounge Access.
Boarding Alaska Airlines:
After spending time at the American Express Centurion Lounge, we wandered over to the North Satellite. The Seattle Tacoma International Airport North Satellite looks much better after it’s renovation, and looks like a place that I’d actually enjoy spending some time in.
We located gate N3, which was tucked off in the corner of the bright terminal. Our plane was waiting for us on the ground and it was a few minutes wait before. we started boarding.
Boarding started right at 5:00 PM, which was the time marked on the boarding card. After calling for serving and retired members of the Military, First class was given priority boarding with all other Alaska Airline Mileage Plan elites called all at once. We headed down the jet bridge and boarded the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-900 series aircraft.
Alaska Airlines
First Class (U)
SEA (Seattle Tacoma International Airport – Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole)
AS 807
August 9, 2023
Booked: Boeing 737-900
Flown: Boeing 737-900
Departure: 5:40 PM
Arrival: 8:50 PM
On Board Alaska Airlines First Class:
The Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-900 represents Alaska Airlines newest aircraft. Despite this, Alaska Airlines has outfitted these aircraft with their older puffy leather seating up front for its first class travellers. Interestingly enough, Alaska Airlines hasn’t yet gone with slim line seating in First Class for their current generation of aircraft. As a result, this must add a little more weight than would otherwise be the case.
Alaska Airlines First Class travellers will have access to four rows of First Class in a 2 – 2 configuration.
These seats are really comfortable for relaxing in, although for a long haul flight beyond five hours, they are a little less than idea as a result of their limited recline feature. I also find the space between the seats to be a little compact and less spacious than it could be.
Each seat offers an individual power port that contains both a three prong outlet and a USB charging slot. This is rather inconveniently located in the centre console, making it a little difficult to see what you are plugging into, unless you happen to be a contortionist.
The table for the seat extended from the arm rest. This configuration is pretty typical for narrow body jets of this type.
Each seat offered individual air nozzles with three nozzles for two seating positions. This added a great deal of comfort for the flight.
Pre-Departure Services:
It is never reliable on whether you actually get offered a pre-departure beverage on Alaska Airlines. In this case, we didn’t get offered a pre-departure bevreage while we waited for the airlines to board the rest of it’s passengers.
Instead, waiting for us on the seat was the usual lonely Alaska Box of Purified Water. MrsWT73 doesn’t care much for the taste of these, whereas I don’t particularly mind them.
The arm rest doesn’t feature any additional storage, unlike seats we’ve seen on American Airlines or Air Canada which can easily accommodate a laptop underneath a shelf.
A thin blanket was also waiting for us on the seat. The light blue blanket provided a little warm for the longer afternoon flight.
The blanket was welcomed, although I wished it was a little thicker in texture. It didn’t add a whole lot of warm throughout the flight. Being seated against the fuselage wall, I tended to get a little cold on the flight.
We ended up waiting at the gate for about twenty minutes as a result of inbound connecting passengers that were delayed. We had about five connecting passengers (and their luggage) that were trying to make this last flight of the day.
During this wait, the dinner and drink orders were taken while on the ground in Seattle.
In Flight Entertainment:
Alaska Airlines offers in phone flight entertainment. This is accessed through the Alaska Airlines home page on the wifi sign in screen.
Alaska Airlines offers free messaging and texting, which is a nice addition for those that need to stay connected with friends and family.
Alaska Airlines has done away with the complimentary tablets previously offered in First Class. If you don’t bring your own device, you’ll be without any video entertainment for the flight.
Departing Seattle:
We set off about twenty minutes late and headed out towards the Seattle Tacoma International Airport runways. On the way, we had some great plane spotting opportunities. We were able to see the Alaska Airlines Pixar plane.
We also saw an Asiana Airlines Cargo Boeing 747-4 and a Cargolux Boeing 747-4. There is always such interesting aircraft on the ground in Seattle, Washington.
Being a pleasant summer evening, we had great views departing Seattle Tacoma International Airport. It was a treat to actually be able to fly this route through the summer months, as it’s typically a dark wintery evening on our past flights to Hawaii.
The Meal: A Two Course Dinner.
Once we were airborne, we were offered our dinner meal service.
For those that had downloaded the Alaska Airlines App, customers would have. had the ability to pre-order food up to twenty four hours prior to the flight.
I ended up pre-ordering the Huli Huli Chicken, while MrsWT73 pre-ordered the Fruit and Cheese Plate. I have typically found that ordering food in advance on Alaska is a better move than risking it with whatever surprise is otherwise brought on board.
Alaska Airlines didn’t present a printed menu. Instead, the drink menu for First Class was found in a flyer in the seat pocket. Today’s wines were featured by Ste Chapelle, along with a variety of spirits and beers.
The selection was reasonable and about what I might expect for a five hour flight in domestic first class.
Unique to the Alaska Airlines Hawaiian flights, a Passion Fruit Orange Guava drink was offered with a splash of rum or sparking wine was made available. These were paired with warmed macadamia nuts, which were not salted. This was presented at about one hour into the flight.
While we waited for the dinner, the flight attendants passed out the State of Hawaii questionnaire.
Dinner arrived a leisurely two hours into flight, or at 8:40 PM PST. Given that I had pre-ordered the Huli Huli Chicken, I had no issues getting my preferred choice.
Most of the other passengers ended up with blackened cod. which smelled up the cabin a little bit. It reminded me of those using fish in the microwaves at the work cafeteria kitchens. I would highly recommend pre-ordering on the Alaska Airlines First Class, if your travels take you through the First Class cabins.
The Huli Huli Chicken was small in quantity but reasonably tasty despite it being a little bit dry. The quinoa salad was lightly seasoned with just enough dressing so that couscous stuck to leaves.
MrsWT73 enjoyed the fruit and cheese plate. She described it as being exactly what she needed for a light dish before turning in for a small nap.
I was also presented with a small lemon tart for dessert. While I wouldn’t get stuffed with dessert, it was nice to finish with something sweet.
Overall, with great thanks to the ability to pre-order food, it a reasonable meal offering. Alaska Airlines typically provides a smaller meal service. This meal was no exeption.
After the meal, since I didn’t feel like holding up my device for several hours while I watched a movie, I turned in for a bit of a nap.
The Second Service: A Snack Basket.
Alaska Airlines provided a second service about ninety minutes from landing. I ended up sleeping through this. However, MrsWT73 offered to collect me a bag of Himalayan Pink Salt popcorn.
I ended up taking this small bag off the plane with me to the hotel room for a snack later in the trip.
Arriving into Kona:
After a six hour flight, we arrived into Hawaii. We had an immediate approach into Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole.
Upon landing at Kona International Airport, we disembarked the plane directly on to the apron. Kona International Airport does not have jet bridges, and all planes empty into an open air terminal.
Even the gate areas at Kona International Airport are outside. We passed by the departure gate and wandered over to baggage claim to collect our luggages.
We picked up our two checked bags and headed off to Hertz Kona prior to self driving to The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort. Baggage service was prompt, and there was no need to use Alaska Airlines twenty minute baggage service guarantee.
My Thoughts on Alaska Airlines First Class:
Alaska Airlines First Class service between Seattle and Hawaii was about as comfortable as you might expect for getting to the islands. While Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 service isn’t anywhere near United or Delta that use widebody aircraft on some routes to Hawaii, this will be about as comfortable as you might expect for a flight to Kona.
If you travel on Alaska Airlines First Class to Hawaii, what keeps you coming back each time?
Air Canada Aeroplan has announced a time limited promotion which allows for Aeroplan redemptions within North American and the Caribbean zones for up to 25% less. This is a time limited offer that’s only valid for new bookings until September 20, 2023.
Air Canada Offers 25% Discount on North American / Caribbean Aeroplan Redemptions
Air Canada Aeroplan has announced a short promotion where Air Canada is offering a 25% point discount on North American and Caribbean Aeroplan redemptions.
The Essentials of the Promotion:
Save Up to 25% on an new Aeroplan Booking:
Air Canada’s Aeroplan has a point saving promotion that may be of some value for those looking for a redemption within the North American and Caribbean region.
The details of the promotion are as follows:
Terms and conditions – Save up to 25% Aeroplan points redemption offer
The following definitions apply for the purposes of the Terms and Conditions (“Terms and Conditions”) of the of the save up to 25% Aeroplan points redemption offer:
- “Aeroplan Member” means a member of the Aeroplan program.
- “Eligible Fare” means all redemption branded fares.
- “Eligible Scheduled Flight” means a flight operated by Air Canada® (including flights operated under the Air Canada Express® banner and operated by Air Canada Rouge®). It does not include codeshare and interline flights.
- “Eligible Destination” means any destination Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge and Air Canada Express fly to, within Canada, to the U.S., Mexico, Central America or the Caribbean.
- “Offer” means discount of up to 25% when redeeming Aeroplan points on Eligible Scheduled Flights from Canada to an Eligible Destination during the Travel Period.
- “Offer Period”means the period between September 15, 2023, starting at 00:01 Newfoundland Time through to September 29, 2023, inclusively, ending at 23:59 Pacific Time.
- “Travel Period” means the period between September 15, 2023, starting at 00:01 local time through to March 31, 2024 inclusively, ending at 23:59 local time.
This Offer is only open to Aeroplan members in good standing.
Eligible Fares must be purchased during the Offer Period on Eligible Scheduled Flights for travel during the Travel Period.
Eligible Scheduled Flights must be the subject of a new redemption booking, created for the first time during the Offer Period, with a new booking reference number. Any booking made prior to the start of the Offer Period that is subsequently changed to include travel dates within the Travel Period will not be considered a new booking that is eligible for the Offer.
The applicable discount will vary and is based on departure/destination airport and departure date chosen.
The applicable discount applies to the base fares portion of the Eligible Scheduled Flight only.
This Offer cannot be combined with any other offer or promotion.
Eligible Scheduled Flights are subject to availability at the time of booking.
The Offer is non-transferable and is not redeemable for cash.
Taxes, fees and charges apply to the purchase of Eligible Scheduled Flights.
These Terms and Conditions are subject to change without prior notice.
Booking a Ticket Under the Promotion:
From the Air Canada’s promotion home page, you can insert a pair of cities and find the cheapest flights under the promotion.
Air Canada has changed to variable pricing on Air Canada metal. The redemption value is a lot less than it is on comparable Star Alliance partners.
I was able to find Vancouver to Toronto pricing for as low as 9,700 Aeroplan Points one way in economy class, on the promotion web page.
When I signed in to Air Canada, I actually found an even better price of 8,600 Aeroplan Points on the same date.
I didn’t see any fantastic deals in Business Class, which were still hovering around 32,300 miles for a one way ticket.
As a result, the best redemption values appear to be in economy class. Unfortunately, this offer only appears to be available for North American and the Caribbean zones. I personally like to save Aeroplan points for long haul international business class, so this offer doesn’t represent a lot of excitement for my personal travel patterns.
What Can You Use Air Canada Aeroplan Points For:
Air Canada Aeroplan points can be redeemed for out right redemptions into a solid Premium Economy product. The Air Canada Premium Economy product is available on their wide body aircraft that include the Boeing 777 series, their Boeing 787 series and their Airbus 330 products.
Air Canada also offers an excellent Air Canada Signature Executive Business Class product that is offered on all their wide body aircraft, including on select domestic flagship routes within Canada.
The Air Canada Signature Business Class offers a fully lie flat seat in a reverse herringbone configuration that is exceptionally private. It is a great way to travel on a medium or long haul flight.
The seats offer a terrific combination of relaxing space and work space thanks to a side table. Overall, it remains among my favourite business class cabins out there.
The challenges of this promotion is finding available award space on a wide body aircraft.
My Thoughts on the Promotion:
Air Canada Aeroplan Points are incredible useful for Canadians. As the leading frequent flier program in Canada, it makes sense to participate in the program.
If you happen to be travelling on an Air Canada flight within North America or the Caribbean in the next quarter, it makes sense to check to see if you can benefit from this promotion. The best values appear to be in economy class, with flights as low as 8,600 Aeroplan points for a Trans Continental flight across Canada.
While it would be great to report that there were terrific values in Air Canada’s Business Class cabins, I didn’t find too many examples of great value on the dates I happened to took a look at.
This promotion is only on for a short while. You’ll have to book by September 29, 2023 for travel before March 31, 2024 in order to take advantage.
In Summary: Air Canada Aeroplan offering 25% off North American & Caribbean Redemptions
Air Canada’s Aeroplan is temporarily offering 25% off North American and Carribiean Redemption until September 29, 2024. This applies for travel between September 15, 2023 to March 31, 2024.
While this won’t move the needle substantially for many, it is worth checking if you have planned personal travel over the next six months where it’s more advantageous to redeem Air Canada Aeroplan points to see if you can take advantage of this promotion.
Will you be taking part in this discounted Aeroplan promotion ?
Alaska Airlines offers connecting service from Bellingham International Airport to its hub in Seattle Tacoma International Airport Our initial flight today was on Alaska Airlines Embraer 175 aircraft, operated by Skywest Airlines. On this flight, we would experience a smooth and relatively spacious flight from Bellingham to Seattle, and with a minimal amount of First Class service while on board the aircraft.
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Hawaii Five – Oh. A Fiftieth Birthday in Kona, Hawaii, USA via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Bellingham – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Kona
- My Experience Renting with Hertz President’s Circle: Kona, Hawaii, USA
- The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- Climbing in Hawaii’s Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Exploring Nāhuku Lava Tubes, Hawaii Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: Café Pesto, Hilo, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: ‘ULU Ocean Grill, Four Seasons Hualalai, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- From Sea Level to 13,845 feet: Driving Up to Hawaii’s Big Island Observatories
- Swimming with Manta’s: The Big Islands’s Manta Rays up Close
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Kona – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Bellingham
Review: Alaska Airlines First Class E175: Bellingham International Airport – Seattle Tacoma International Airport
This flight was purchased through an Alaska Airlines Famous 2 for 1 Companion Fare. We purchased this flight in upgradable space and received an upgrade to First Class at the time of booking. We credited these flights to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.
Checking into Alaska Airlines:
Today’s first flight was to depart from Bellingham International Airport. The Bellingham Airport is a small airport that was partially designed to service some Canadian cross border air travellers. Currently, the airport is serviced by Southwest, Allegiant Air, and Alaska Airlines.
We self parked in the economy lot and headed for the Alaska Airlines check in desks. Alaska Airlines continues to occupy space at the far right end of the terminal with prominent Alaska signage.
Despite travelling in Alaska Airlines First Class, and with Alaska Airlines MVP Gold and MVP status (One World Emerald and One World Ruby), our firm Alaska Airlines Agent made us re-pack our sole checked bag as a result of it being 6 lbs overweight. We ended up checking one of the carry on rolling suitcase, which was a bit inconvenient since we then had to lug around MrsWT73’s floppy purse unsupported.
It’s a bit frustrating that Alaska Airlines still operates on the “piece” concept and not the”weight concept”. When compared their fellow competitors at Star Alliance, elite status usually comes with up to 70 lbs of checked baggage weight per bag.
After about fifteen minutes of re-packing and re-sorting, we headed to Bellingham International Airport’s TSA Security Screening check point. Bellingham offers a TSA Pre-Check system, but there is never anyone usually at the check point anyway. It is almost a private security screening experience.
After security screening, we headed over to the Gate “A” area. All of Alaska flights depart from the Gate “A” area.
Alaska Airlines have reduced frequencies to 3x per day. Alaska currently serves Bellingham with an early morning (5 AM), a mid day flight (this review) and an end of day service (10 PM).
Eventually our aircraft arrived and parked at the gate. Strangely, Alaska Airlines uses the same flight number (AS 3400) for this aircraft on the inbound from Seattle to Bellingham, and the outbound returning from Bellingham to Seattle. While this isn’t unheard of, it would mark the first time in recent memory that I’d use the same flight number on the outbound and returning flight.
Alaska Airlines – Operated by Skywest
First Class (U)
BLI – SEA (Bellingham Internationa Airport – Seattle Tacoma International Airport)
AS 3400
August 9, 2023
Booked: Embraer 175
Flown: Embraer 175
Departure: 12:25 PM
Arrival: 1:15 PM
On Board Alaska Airlines First Class:
Alaska Airlines offers pre-boarding to serving and retired members of the military. After that was completed, First Class was given the opportunity to board.
Bellingham International Airport does not offer jet bridges, so we wandered outside to board our aircraft through air stairs (or a ramp in this case) outside on the apron.
As we arrived on board, we settled into Alaska Airlines Embraer 175 First Class Cabin.
The Alaska Airlines First class cabin on the Embraer 175 is set up in a 2 -1 configuration. The seat is relatively spacious for a short flight under three hours.
If you can life without under seat storage in front of you, the bulkhead offers particularly spacious leg room.
On the left hand side of the aircraft, the Embraer 175 offers a single row of seating. I generally find these seats a little exposed, but they are the preferred seats if you happen to be travelling on your own.
Oversized portal windows offer a substantial amount of light into the cabin, despite having less windows along the side of the aircraft.
The Alaska Airlines seats to not offer an in seat back monitor. Alaska Airlines First Class also offers reasonable leg room for a short flight.
Pre-Departure Services:
It is a bit hit or miss getting a pre – departure beverage on Alaska Airlines. In this case, we weren’t offered one. At times, there is a box of water at the seat, although there wasn’t anything there on arrival today.
In Flight Entertainment:
Alaska Airlines offers in phone flight entertainment. This is accessed through the Alaska Airlines home page on the wifi sign in screen.
Alaska offers free messaging.
Food and Beverage:
Like many of it’s other short flights, Alaska Airlines does not offer any food and beverage service for this short 26 minute flight.
I can’t really fault Alaska Airlines for not offering food or beverage on this segment. It’s pretty difficult to serve a whole series of passengers within the short duration of the flight.
Arriving into Seattle Tacoma International Airport:
With a minimal amount of delays, we arrived into Seattle Tacoma International Airport. After landing, we arrived to Gate C2F under bright blue skies.
We had a short walk up the ramp and into the Seattle Tacoma International Airport Terminal where we’d locate our connecting flight.
We headed off to the American Express Centurion Lounge Seattle (which I’ve reviewed previously) before getting onto Alaska Airlines First Class Seattle – Kona and the Big Island of Hawaii.
My Thoughts on Alaska Airlines First Class:
Alaska Airlines First Class service between Bellingham and Seattle was pretty straightforward. For a short twenty six minute flight, we flew in comfort but without and food and beverage service or pre-departure beverage services.
The cabin was more comfort than I needed. Despite this, I wouldn’t expect all to much in the way of First Class services while on board if you find yourself flying this route.
If you travel on Alaska Airlines Sky West Short Haul First Class, do you find it a comfortable way to travel ?
For that special birthday that comes at fifty, I ended up deciding that I’d need to see the sun rise on the morning of my fiftieth birthday in the Hawaiian Islands. This was a pretty easy task, given the amount of airlines that fly to Hawaii and the amount of hotels that are available in the Hawiian Islands. We ended up settling on visiting the Big Island, the last Hawiian Island that I had yet to visit. We spiced up the trip by redeeming an Alaska 2 for 1 Companion Fare that was upgraded into First Class and by redeeming Marriott Bonvoy points for a five night stay. Read on to see how we managed to maximize value from this particular holiday.
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Hawaii Five – Oh. A Fiftieth Birthday in Kona, Hawaii, USA via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Bellingham – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Kona
- My Experience Renting with Hertz President’s Circle: Kona, Hawaii, USA
- The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- Climbing in Hawaii’s Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Exploring Nāhuku Lava Tubes, Hawaii Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: Café Pesto, Hilo, Hawaii, USA
- Restaurant Review: ‘ULU Ocean Grill, Four Seasons Hualalai, Kona, Hawaii, USA
- From Sea Level to 13,845 feet: Driving Up to Hawaii’s Big Island Observatories
- Swimming with Manta’s: The Big Islands’s Manta Rays up Close
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Kona – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Bellingham
Trip Introduction: Hawaii Five – O, Getting to Kona for my 50th birthday via Alaska Airlines First Class
Planning the Trip:
I had decided that I wanted to spend my fiftieth birthday in the Island State of Hawaii. Hawaii is close to my home in Vancouver, Canada making it a reasonably close hop to get away to an island beach holiday. The Islands of Hawaii have always had a tremendous part of my travel life at various times throughout my adult life. It’s a place that I’ve visit as a younger adult, a Generation X’er in adulthood and as. afather to my son.
It seemed to be the place to ring in a fairly significant birthday and reflect back on the first fifty years of adulthood.
Planning Flights:
Flights from Canada to Hawaii, United States
We’ve always been fairly big fans of Alaska Airlines as a result of it’s generous Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan frequent flier program. While it was more comfortable to fly in United Airlines Polaris Business Class to Hawaii, they are limited to service on this aircraft configuration to Honolulu. Aside from Delta Airlines, you’re pretty much limited to narrow body service to and from the outer Hawaiian Islands and the mainland United States of America.
Through Alaska Airlines now discontinued Canadian MBNA Alaska Airlines World Elite Mastercard, I ended up looking to redeem an Alaska 2 for 1 companion fare to add a little value in order to get to Alaska in a little more comfort.
The companion fares can’t be redeemed against a First Class fare directly, but Alaska does allow redemption against an upgradable economy class ticket purchased in specific fare codes. These are usually a little more expensive than the saver or main cabin fares.
Alaska Airlines upgrade space can be hit or miss. However, using the upgradable fare selection, I was able to easily locate upgrade space about four months before travel in the middle of the summer month of August. I ended up finding space from nearby Bellingham airport to Seattle, to Seattle to Kona, Hawaii, as opposed to the usual departures from Vancouver International Airport, Canada.
Out of the four segments, I wasn’t able to find upgrade space in the last Seattle to Bellignham segment. For a twenty two minute flight, I resigned ourselves to sitting in economy for that segment. Fortunately, Alaska Airlines released some additional “U” fare class upgrade space, and we were automatically upgraded into First Class about thirty days after we had purchased our ticket.
The routing ended up looking like this at the end of the planning stages.
BLI – SEA – KOA – SEA – BLI (paid)
Planning Hotels:
With a stack of Marriott Bonvoy hotel points sitting in our points accounts, MrsWT73 was keen to use points to offset the cost of the holiday. Marriott Bonvoy isn’t always a terrific value in Hawaii, USA with most properties seeking over 70,000 points per night. This is usually a terrible value redemption but it does save some money in the bank.
On Kona, we happened to discover that The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort presented stay options for a more reasonable 54,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night. The alternative was a cash rate of about $579 USD per night.
We ended up redeeming 218,000 Marriott Bonvoy points at the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort for a five night stay. We got the fifth night free, per the Marriott Bonvoy terms and conditions. This represented a redemption value of about 0.012 dollars a Marriott Bonvoy point against a rate of about 0.008 dollars per point. While this was hardly a terrific value in terms of global perspective, it was, in my view, a reasonable redemption in the context of the Hawaiian environment where most hotels are pricing well over 75,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night.
We booked into a basic Partial Ocean View – King with a partial ocean view and balcony. As a result of variable pricing, we had a variety of room rates across the stay, we ended up paying an average of 54,500 Marriott Bonvoy points a night. This math worked out to 43,600 Marriott Bonvoy points per night when averaged over five nights.
In my view, this is a pretty reasonable rate for Hawaii and you’d be happy these days in getting a room redemption under 45,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night somewhere decent.
Overall, I think we came out pretty well in finding value for a Hawaiian Resort stay.
Our points and miles redemption summary:
While this trip a mix of paid tickets and redemptions, it certainly struck the right balance. We were able to earn some hard to get Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles, and were able to redeem some easier to accumulate Marriott Bonvoy points.
In summary, we earned and redeemed:
- Redemption: 218,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for a five night stay at the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort in Kona, Hawaii, USA
- Earned: 4,610 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles (1,519 + 828 + 744 + 1519) on Alaska Airlines First Class (U Upgrade) Bellingham – Seattle – Kona – Seattle – Bellingham as an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan MVP.
While it is always hard to part with points, I think this struck the right balance between earning and burning.
If you visit the Hawaiian Islands, what tips do you use to get outsized value ?
Air Canada has launched a pretty lucrative promotion on it’s Air Canada Gift Cards. The promotion allows gift card purchasers to earn up to an additional three Aeroplan points per dollar. Under the right circumstances, this can be stacked with the right credit card making for an excellent deal for those with up coming fall travel. The offer is very time limited, so you’ll only have until the middle of next week to determine whether you can take advantage of this offer.
Earn Points Twice with Air Canada Gift Cards
Air Canada has just announced a potentially lucrative offer to “Earn Points Twice” through the purchase of Air Canada Gift Cards.
This is a time limited offer and is only valid until September 13, 2023.
The Offer:
The promotional offer was marketed through a general Aeroplan Member email. Anyone can sign up for this promotion and it is not limited to Elite members.
The Deal:
This is an offer where you can earn up to 30,000 bonus Aeroplan points when you buy an Air Canada Gift Card(s).
Air Canada is offering:
- An additional 1 Aeroplan point per $1 on purchases up to $750
- An additional 3 Aeroplan points per $1 on purchases over $750
- A Maximum of up to 30,000 Bonus Aeroplan Points can be earned
- The Maximum Spend under this Promotion is $10,000 in Gift Card Value
- Each Gift Card has a Maximum Value of $2,000 that can be stored.
- In order to maximize this promotion, you’ll have to make five purchases of two thousand dollar value gift cards
The offer is available through the purchase of gift cards on line at the Air Canada Website.
It does not apply to Air Canada Gift Cards purchased at Canada Post, for example.
The Terms and Conditions listed are as follows:
- This Air Canada Gift Card Aeroplan bonus points offer (the “Offer”) is open to Aeroplan members who are in good standing.
- This Offer is available for a limited time to members purchasing Air Canada gift cards, online at aircanada.buyatab
- Purchases must be made between September 6, 2023 at 12:01am EST and September 13, 2023 at 11:59pm EST (“Offer Period”)
- If any of the eligible transactions are cancelled, the Aeroplan bonus points will be removed from the member’s account
- Members can earn: (a) 1 bonus Aeroplan point for every $1 spent, up to $750; or (b) 3 bonus Aeroplan points for every $1 spent, above $750
- The maximum online purchase is $2,000 per transaction, up to a maximum of $10,000 spend in gift card purchases during the Offer Period. Maximum of 30,000 bonus Aeroplan points per Aeroplan Member
- In order to be eligible for this Offer, you must enter your Aeroplan number at time of purchase
- Members will be credited points by October 31, 2023 based on the total amount spent during the Offer Period
- This Offer does not apply to any reload transaction on an existing gift card
- The Offer does not apply to any redemptions for Air Canada gift cards made by a member using points or any other purchase of an Air Canada gift card not occurring on aircanada.buyatab
- Bonus Aeroplan points awarded are not Status Qualifying Miles (SQM)
- The Offer can be withdrawn at any time; terms and conditions are subject to change at Aeroplan’s sole discretion without prior notice; other conditions and restrictions may apply. Offer is not redeemable for cash
- Offer cannot be combined with any other offer or promotion
- Aeroplan reserves the right at its sole discretion to disqualify any individual from this Offer and to ban the individual from any future offers that it finds or believes to be tampering with the process or the operation of this Offer, to be acting in violation of these Terms and Conditions, the General Terms and Conditions of the Aeroplan Program, any other applicable terms and conditions or in a disruptive manner, or with bad faith
- If this Offer is not capable of running as planned for any reason, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, pandemic or any other causes beyond the reasonable control of Aeroplan which corrupt or affect the administration, security or proper conduct of this Offer, Aeroplan reserves the right at its sole discretion to, without advance notice, terminate or suspend the Offer, in whole or in part, or modify it in any way.
Registration:
There is no registration required for this promotion.
The bonus appears when you navigate through to the Air Canada website.
Rather frustratingly, Air Canada continues to require customers to wait until October 31, 2023 to see the bonus points in their accounts. This will require promotion seekers to monitor their accounts for the bonus, and track Air Canada Aeroplan down if the points do not turn up.
What I think of this deal:
If you have some travel planned in the next quarter on Air Canada, or even in the new year, and you don’t mind loaning Air Canada some money interest free, there is no question that you should be taking advantage of this offer.
By purchasing Air Canada Gift Cards, you will be earning up to three additional points per dollar spent, on top of any regular Aeroplan Mileage you will be earning through regular flying.
Gift Cards have no expiration date, so as long as you are comfortable with an interest free loan to Air Canada, you can be rewarded for your efforts through the form of Air Canada Aeroplan miles. It is possible to purchase gift cards, then redeem them directly against a flight, which means that you’d likely come out square at the end.
For those that need a mileage run at the end of the year in order to re-qualify for Air Canada Elite Status, this also might be a good opportunity to earn a few extra Aeroplan miles before you lock in your final plans.
If you were to take advantage of this offer, I highly recommend using a credit card that also earns 1.5 Aeroplan Miles with Air Canada products, such as the TD Visa Aeroplan Infinite Credit Card (for similar). This offer can be stacked with the right credit card to earn even more miles.
The Bottom Line: Earn Additional Miles on Air Canada Gift Cards
Air Canada is offering up to three Aeroplan points per dollar on Air Canada Gift Cards.
This has the potential to represent a great deal for those that have travel planned in the very near future. By purchasing over $750 of Gift Cards, then redeeming them against an Air Canada flight, you could earn up to 3 additional Aeroplan miles per dollar spent.
If you take advantage of this offer, make sure you use a TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card (or similar) that allows for additional points earning on Air Canada products.
This time limited offer ends on September 13, 2023, so you’ll have to act quickly.
World Traveller 73 
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