# Big Island Activities Discounts



## Timeshare Von (Aug 28, 2007)

In doing my general research and planning, I've found the following as a general rule of thumb regarding the level of discounting:

BEST:  Hawaii Savers' eBay auctions where you can typically get 2:1 activities including luau, ATV tours, horseback riding and dining gift certificates at substantial savings.

NEXT BEST:  Shell TS presentation "Diamond Card" (someone posted a PDF of their program discounts, I think on TS4Ms, making it easy to compare apples to apples on the activities/tours)

Good:  Entertainment Book or Hawaii Savers Discount Card (they are very comparable but do have some different offerings)

Discounted, better than nothing:  Activtity's website or discount brokers (like Barefoot's)

Overpriced:  Several "brokers" actually have the tours plus a mark up.  Be careful when you're on their websites.

I'm sure I've not found everything out there that is available so hopefully others will add to this in order to provide folks with an idea of where to look for the better/best deals.


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## gstepic (Aug 28, 2007)

*Thanks*

Yvonne,

I noticed many tours are more expensive going through some of the travel web-sites, so I have learned to try and contact company directly.

Was the ebay link you provided for the Hawaii savers coupon book or was that for the entertainment book (I think it was the entertainmnet book).

Gary

Ps: I probably just need to find the post.


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## DeniseM (Aug 28, 2007)

HawaiiSavers and Shell are going to be joining forces.  I think HawaiiSavers is calling it the Shell HawaiiSavers card or something like that.


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## jlee2070 (Aug 28, 2007)

contacting the company directly generally works and many of them offer web discounts if you book on-line (usually the best way).

some tour "brokers" have decent prices such as http://www.hawaiidiscount.com/.

hawaiisavers while less expensive on what they offer, but their offerings are very limited and may not always be the best ones available for a given activity.


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## Timeshare Von (Aug 28, 2007)

gstepic said:


> Was the ebay link you provided for the Hawaii savers coupon book or was that for the entertainment book (I think it was the entertainmnet book).



The Hawaii Savers card can be reviewed at:  http://www.hawaiisavers.com/

The Entertainment Book may be found at:  http://www.entertainmentbook.com/


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## Timeshare Von (Aug 28, 2007)

DeniseM said:


> HawaiiSavers and Shell are going to be joining forces.  I think HawaiiSavers is calling it the Shell HawaiiSavers card or something like that.



From what I can gather, Shell is using Hawaii Savers as their broker but to receive the deep discounts, you will need to attend a Shell TS presentation.  Hawaii Savers may be planning on a two tier pricing program (with and w/o the TS presentation).

When I called Hawaii Savers about a month ago and mentioned looking for a "deeper discount" than they have to offer on one specific activity, she immediately connected me with an off-site Shell TS presentation booking agent located in Kona under the Rio Restaurant on Alii Drive.  That person offered to sell me all tours if I do the Shell presentation through her and with the Hawaii Savers card at a deeper than published discount through Hawaii Savers.  She mentioned "wholesale pricing" coupled with the Shell sales "gift" program but I don't know what that pricing is.  I only have the "Diamond Card" pricing as previously mentioned, which was posted on TS4Ms.

I guess only time will tell how things shake out.  I know that the FF/Wyndham sales program is pretty pathetic in terms of the "discounts" you receive having passed on them twice in the past 18 months on the Big Island.  Before you accept a TS presentation "for the gifts, discounts or whatever" you really need to know the general pricing for the activities you plan on doing before you get in front of them trying to decide if it's worth your time to take the presentation.

Given that we will be on the Big Island for two weeks, with plenty of time to do a lot of activities, we really want to do just one TS presentation that will get us the best deals for our time there.  Back when I stayed at Paniolo Greens in 2000, I was traveling by myself and made great use out of their program.  (They are also a Shell property.)  I'm expecting that the Shell "deal" may still be the best around, especially if it is enhanced with their partnership with Hawaii Savers 

The good news is that our trip is less than two weeks away now.  Once we get back near the end of September, I'll be able to post factually what the "deal" was and what we were actually able to do . . . assuming we take any timeshare presentation for the discounts and/or freebies.


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## hajjah (Aug 29, 2007)

I just returned from Kona Reef and Bay Club on Saturday.  I did the Shell promotion at Kona Coast and got $60.00 cash and the Diamond card for discounts.  I also attended the HGVC via Bay Club and got $100 Hilton dollars (I used the $100 at American Express Travel for the Submarine Tour.) and the Holo Holo card.  We used the Holo Holo card for the Big Island Discovery City tour.  I noticed that both the Diamond card and Holo Holo were around the same prices.


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## aver (Nov 3, 2007)

*diamond card?*

Did anyone recently make the trip to the big island and utilize the discount cards, etc.  We're planning a trip soon and was trying to find the best discounts available for adventures, ie.. luau, horseback riding, helicopter tour, dive tour, etc.  Thanks any help greatly appreciated.


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## starlifter (Nov 3, 2007)

Timeshare Von said:


> NEXT BEST:  Shell TS presentation "Diamond Card" (someone posted a PDF of their program discounts, I think on TS4Ms, making it easy to compare apples to apples on the activities/tours)



While we were staying at the Kona Hawaiian Village in August, we stopped at one of the activities booths on the street. They will give you a "Diamond Card" that can be used at a lot of places for discounts for up to 6 people. The luau that we wanted to go to the Island Breeze was $77 a person. Diamond Card price $40. That was $222 savings for 6 tickets. They also knock off $60 for one activity, so now it is $282. We also have booked snorkeling trip and golf with the Diamond Card. It can be used for the discount as often as you want.

Oh yeah, the downside to the Diamond Card... A 90 minute Timeshare Presentation at the Shell Vacation Club located at the Kona Coast Resort. But for my time and money, I had 5 kids with me, I am will to spend that 90 minutes out of a week, for the over $400 I had saved so far.

We setup the presentation for our last day full day before leaving. We showed up at 8:30 just like we were supposed to. We were promptly taken in to begin our tour. After a little small talk to get to know us, about 15 minutes, the salesman, asked me what I was interested in. I told him nothing at all. If he could match my last eBay purchase of a timeshare for $2, I would be interested. We talked a couple of minutes about our eBay purchases and then he excused himself. Time so far into our 90 minutes was about 15. He came back and told us we could be in the "reading program" if we wanted. The "Bosses" said we had to stay the 90 minutes to keep our end of the agreement for the discounts, but they didn't want to waste their energy with the sales pitch that wasn't going any where. We were fine with that, so he gave us the newest RCI book and we "read" it and just had a nice conversation about Hawaii and his family while we waited out our "penance." After about 75-80 minutes they told us we could go. I do not know one thing about the Shell Vacation Club other than it is points based and they saved my family a lot of money for our 80 minutes.

Being a Wyndham owner and staying at the Kona Hawaiian Village, I declined the Owner Update there for the $100 gift voucher they were willing to give us.

I have scanned the brochure from the Shell Vacations Club. You can check the prices of the activity and the discounted price.

You can enlarge the print of the scan by clicking on the brochure page after it opens.

http://starlifter.zoomshare.com/files/diamondcard001.jpg

http://starlifter.zoomshare.com/files/diamondcard002.jpg

*CONDITIONS* (copied from the brochure)

For eligible participants who attend and complete Shell Owners Club-Hawaii exclusive tour and presentation of its vacation ownership, your invitation will entitle you to receive the Diamond Card. Your card is valid no longer than two weeks after issuance. Tours canceled or not completed will be charged full retail price for all activities purchased using the Diamond Card. Activities canceled less than 24 hours before check-in time are non-refundable. (The printing of changes often lags behind effective dates; all prices and offers quoted are subject to change without notice.) These offers apply upon presentation of your Diamond Card; you must show identification with your card. Offers may not be used in conjunction with any other discount or sale merchandise. Gratuities should be based on full amount of services.


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## Timeshare Von (Nov 5, 2007)

aver said:


> Did anyone recently make the trip to the big island and utilize the discount cards, etc.  We're planning a trip soon and was trying to find the best discounts available for adventures, ie.. luau, horseback riding, helicopter tour, dive tour, etc.  Thanks any help greatly appreciated.



I thought I posted a follow-up to this thread on our experience.  While Aver and I have been communicating via e-mail the past day or two, I figured I should post a follow-up here to close the loop.

The Hawaii Savers discounted gift certificates are by far the best deal you will find available.  Two for one for activities such as the ATV tours, luaus, etc.  We also bought dining certificates ($50 for around $30) at two very nice restaurants.  Yet another way to get your spending down.

The Diamond Card given out for doing the Shell T/S tour is a wonderful deal and far superior to the Hawaii Savers' discount card.  The deals are better, much better and we didn't find any listed vendors not participating.  With the Hawaii Savers' card there were a couple of restaurants that did not participate, which was very upsetting particularly since they (Hawaii Savers') could only say "that happens sometimes."  I felt the card was worthless from Hawaii Savers.

We had our Entertainment Book but didn't need or use it because the activities in it that we may have wanted to do, were offered via the Diamond Card at better discounts.  Specifically the Body Glove snorkel tours, their sunset cruise and the Island Hoppers Circle Island (flight) tour.

When we left the Big Island, I left our book plus the Hawaii Savers card for a friend checking into the Royal Sea Cliff the day after our departure.  Hopefully they were able to get some good use out of them during their three weeks there.


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## Timeshare Von (Nov 5, 2007)

P.S. on the Diamond Savers/Shell T/S tour . . .

They also give you $150 in cash to use as you wish.  You can use it to do activities or just keep it for your time and effort


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