# Ideas for a hotel prior to late night flight (Kona)



## Luanne (Sep 6, 2013)

We are currently in Kona. Our flight doesn't leave until 9 p.m. on the 9th. Found we cannot get a late check out where we are staying. I'd kind of like to be able to take a shower and get cleaned up before boarding the plane and I've been looking to see if I can find an inexpensive hotel room that we could check into on the 9th (and then out that same night). Cheapest I'm seeing is around $99. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Sep 6, 2013)

Luanne said:


> We are currently in Kona. Our flight doesn't leave until 9 p.m. on the 9th. Found we cannot get a late check out where we are staying. I'd kind of like to be able to take a shower and get cleaned up before boarding the plane and I've been looking to see if I can find an inexpensive hotel room that we could check into on the 9th (and then out that same night). Cheapest I'm seeing is around $99. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.



Check with your resort.  Most resorts have facilities or arrangements to allow guests to shower, change clothes, etc., afteer check just for that purpose.  They will also store your luggage for you as well until you are ready to depart.


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## Luanne (Sep 6, 2013)

Steve, we're not in a timeshare.  We're renting for 5 nights.  The management company says you can request a late check out and they will accommodate if possible. When I checked today I was told they have someone else coming into this unit the day we check out so they can't accommodate us with late check out.  

I was even thinking of booking massages for both of us late in the day so we could shower afterwards.    Then realized a hotel room would most likely be cheaper.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Sep 6, 2013)

Luanne said:


> Steve, we're not in a timeshare.  We're renting for 5 nights.  The management company says you can request a late check out and they will accommodate if possible. When I checked today I was told they have someone else coming into this unit the day we check out so they can't accommodate us with late check out.
> 
> I was even thinking of booking massages for both of us late in the day so we could shower afterwards.    Then realized a hotel room would most likely be cheaper.



Priceline and Hotwire are your friend.  Plugging in Hotwire for one night, check-in on the 9th ofr one night, turns up a 2* hotel in the Kona area for $88.  Makes me think that if you know how to do free rebids on Priceline you might be able to score something similar for $75.  

If there's a concierge where you're staying, you might check with them.  

*****

Or visit one of the "activity vendor" booths that is really just a front to reel people in for timeshare sales presentations.  Tell them that in lieu of gifts you'll take a right to use the pool and facilities during the day before you fly back.    (Have your camera ready to snap a picture of the look on their face when you ask for *that* gift!!


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## artringwald (Sep 6, 2013)

It's been several years, but we once booked a $49/night hotel in Lihue so we wouldn't be homeless the afternoon of the 10 PM flight. The room was nice enough, but it was on the second floor above a Chinese restaurant. The front desk was the cashier for the restaurant. When we did a noon checkin and 7 PM checkout, we got plenty of looks like we couldn't have been married to each other. DW is not doing that again. Now we either book an extra day at the resort and check out in the evening, or book an earlier flight and spend a night in Seattle on the way home.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Sep 6, 2013)

artringwald said:


> It's been several years, but we once booked a $49/night hotel in Lihue so we wouldn't be homeless the afternoon of the 10 PM flight. The room was nice enough, but it was on the second floor above a Chinese restaurant. The front desk was the cashier for the restaurant. When we did a noon checkin and 7 PM checkout, we got plenty of looks like we couldn't have been married to each other. DW is not doing that again. Now we either book an extra day at the resort and check out in the evening, or book an earlier flight and spend a night in Seattle on the way home.



I'm laughing, Art. The thought had occurred to me that if Luanne found the right cab driver it should be easy to track down a place that rents room by the hour!  :ignore: :ignore:


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## Blues (Sep 6, 2013)

The cheapest I've ever seen is the Manago Hotel in Captain Cook, near the Place of Refuge.  Doubles run around $60 per night.  It's an old funky hotel run by the same Japanese family for three generations.  We stayed there once when our flight was scheduled to come in late, and we wanted an early start around the island in the am.  It was clean, adequate, and absolutely not fancy.  Recommended in "Big Island Revealed".  However, it's about 35 miles south of the airport.

HTH,
Bob


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## Luanne (Sep 6, 2013)

Thanks all.  I am :hysterical: about the cab. 

If we'd known ahead of time our flight was going to be so late I would have booked an extra night where we're staying.  However, our original return flight was going to leave at 1:00 p.m., so an 11:00 a.m. checkout was reasonable.  But United changed our flights several times, with the latest being the 9:00 p.m. departure.  I kind of hoped for the ability to do a late check out.

Captain Cook is farther away than I'd want to be prior to leaving for the airport.  I may wait until the day we leave to figure out what to do.  Haven't even run it by dh yet.


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## Elli (Sep 6, 2013)

United and Alaska are both bad for changing flight departures around, often more than once for the same flight.


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## Luanne (Sep 7, 2013)

I think what I'm going to do is to wait until the day of our flight to decide if I want to get a room or not.  The plan that day is to check out, then drive up to Waimea and probably Hawi as well.  I don't know what time, or in what condition we'll be in, when we get back to Kona.  May not need a shower and I'd hate to have prepaid for something we don't use.  I'm sure that we can get a room at the last minute if we need one.  Thanks again for the suggestions.


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## klpca (Sep 7, 2013)

This may be the perfect use for airbnb. I took a look at the rates and they're pretty low. (although not for the 9th.)


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## jlr10 (Sep 8, 2013)

Elli said:


> United and Alaska are both bad for changing flight departures around, often more than once for the same flight.



United did this DH on a trip to Kauai, and ended up giving him less than 30 minutes to change planes in San Francisco, rather than the original hour planned between flights. They landed 7 minutes late, booked the next flight to leave from the international terminal, and then locked the door 15 minutes prior to departure.  It left exactly 7 minutes to deplane, change terminals and board. (DH is a runner and he ran and couldn't make it.)  This resulted in 10 pretty irritated people at the gate, and resulting in a 7 hour delay getting to their final destination  In addition  the displaced passenger were originally told the plane was going to wait for them, but once they deplaned and got to the gate they were told that wasn't true, and the passengers would have to go to the United checkin counter to find their own alternate flight arrangements.  Once we added in the tin can in the sky feel of the plane, and the fact that not one person even pretended to smile for our flights there or back, (which was delayed on the return trip) that is the last trip that will be booked on United by our family.  We'd rather pay more than use them again.


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## Luanne (Sep 8, 2013)

I think I may have found the solution.  Hilton offers spa access at $25/day for non-hotel guests.  This gives you access to things like the hot tubs, sauna, and I assume the showers.   I just called to find out if you need a reservation or if you can just drop in (I would think the later, or at least I hope that's how it works).


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## presley (Sep 8, 2013)

Luanne said:


> I think I may have found the solution.  Hilton offers spa access at $25/day for non-hotel guests.  This gives you access to things like the hot tubs, sauna, and I assume the showers.   I just called to find out if you need a reservation or if you can just drop in (I would think the later, or at least I hope that's how it works).



I was about to ask if you could do that.  Also, remember to check on your flight status before you leave the resort.  We didn't in the past and ended up with a couple delays and everything at that airport was shut down while we were still sitting there waiting for a plane to show up.  People were sleeping on cardboard on the ground.  There really was absolutely nothing to do while we waited for several hours.


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## Luanne (Sep 8, 2013)

presley said:


> I was about to ask if you could do that.  Also, remember to check on your flight status before you leave the resort.  We didn't in the past and ended up with a couple delays and everything at that airport was shut down while we were still sitting there waiting for a plane to show up.  People were sleeping on cardboard on the ground.  There really was absolutely nothing to do while we waited for several hours.



Thanks for the reminder.  We really don't like taking a flight out this late, but the other options available were worse.  There is now something that would have been better, but I'm not going to try and make changes again.


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## Laurie (Sep 9, 2013)

My first trip to Hawaii, I so didn't want to leave ... we stopped for a last look at the ocean on our way to the airport and I couldn't help myself, I just had to go for one last dip. I brushed the sand off and boarded the plane with wet, salt-caked hair... 

I probably wouldn't do that now, but think about it - I always feel so dirty and grungy after flying... the ocean even with the salt is a lot cleaner than an airplane.


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## Luanne (Sep 10, 2013)

Sitting in the United Club at SFO right now.  We did stop at the Hilton, and since it was late in the day they charged us $20 each instead of the usual $35.  Still may be expensive for the shower  but well worth it.  We had a nice dinner afterwards and got on the plane still feeling mostly refreshed.


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