Oahu 2025

[gbabione]

September of 2025 will be our 25th anniversary. We were supposed to go to Hawaii in 2020 for our 20th. Because of Covid obviously that didn't happen. We have never been there and don't want to wait since we're already in our mid 50's. How hard is it to find availability in September? I know to look 9 months out.

 

[holdaer]

Not hard to book In Honolulu at 9 months out.
Grand Waikian is the easiest. Lagoon Tower may require you to walk a reservation. Meaning, book a reservation early and move it forward to your desired timeframe.

 

[Tamaradarann]

September of 2025 will be our 25th anniversary. We were supposed to go to Hawaii in 2020 for our 20th. Because of Covid obviously that didn't happen. We have never been there and don't want to wait since we're already in our mid 50's. How hard is it to find availability in September? I know to look 9 months out.

I agree that if you start at 9 months out you should have no problem with booking Honolulu. I also agree that the Lagoon Tower is harder to book than Grand Waikikian or Grand Islander(can only book GI 6 months out). Lagoon Tower is less points so walking a reservation may be necessary.

I agree you shouldn't wait; we came to Honolulu in 2007 for the first time at 57 years old from New York. We retired in 2008 and returned to Honolulu every winter from 2009 to 2020 to get away from the New York winters. We left Honolulu in March 2020 due to Covid. We moved into a condo we bought in Honolulu in Fall 2021. We are now in New York selling our house to live in Honolulu for the rest of our lives. Our only regret is that we didn't sell our house in New York in 2008 before we left and bought a Condo in Honolulu then.

 

[gbabione]

Not hard to book In Honolulu at 9 months out.
Grand Waikian is the easiest. Lagoon Tower may require you to walk a reservation. Meaning, book a reservation early and move it forward to your desired timeframe.

Is that hard to do? Do you change the reservation every day? Never being there, does it matter which resort you stay at inside the village?

 

[ljmiii]

Is that hard to do? Do you change the reservation every day? Never being there, does it matter which resort you stay at inside the village?

Yes, you do modify the reservation every day...ideally at midnight Eastern Time. The problem is crossing Saturday night stays because the website doesn't tell you how many rooms of which type have been reserved by Home Week reservations...and Lagoon tower owners usually make home week reservations because the point costs are so low compared to the value of the room you can reserve.

We own every other year weeks at Lagoon and our 2020 reservations had to be cancelled due to COVID. I walked to get a week in the summer of 2021...and quite frankly I kept having to jump around with different room types and sometimes had no active reservation at all. That said, I think September is slightly lower demand.

As for which tower, if it is just the two of you and you are happy in a studio I would suggest Kalia - the studios there are larger and you are guaranteed a higher floor. If you want a 1BR then there are advantages to either Lagoon or Kalia. But both have low point costs and are therefore more difficult to book. You may have to choose the Grand Waikikian or Grand Islander. Not that there is anything wrong with them - some people prefer them because they are newer - but they do cost more points.

 

[gbabione]

Yes, you do modify the reservation every day...ideally at midnight Eastern Time. The problem is crossing Saturday night stays because the website doesn't tell you how many rooms of which type have been reserved by Home Week reservations...and Lagoon tower owners usually make home week reservations because the point costs are so low compared to the value of the room you can reserve.

We own every other year weeks at Lagoon and our 2020 reservations had to be cancelled due do COVID. I walked to get a week in the summer of 2021...and quite frankly I kept having to jump around with different room types and sometimes had no active reservation at all. That said, I think September is slightly lower demand.

As for which tower, if it is just the two of you and you are happy in a studio I would suggest Kalia - the studios there are larger and you are guaranteed a higher floor. If you want a 1BR then there are advantages to either Lagoon or Kalia. But both have low point costs and are therefore more difficult to book. You may have to choose the Grand Waikikian or Grand Islander. Not that there is anything wrong with them - some people prefer them because they are newer - but they do cost more points.

Thank-you for the information.

 

[TheDude]

Anyone know of any 1-bedrooms HGVCs in Waikiki that have two desks or at least two seperate areas to work/take conference calls while on vacation. My wife and I plan on working a few hours a day while in Waikiki.

 

[brp]

I agree that if you start at 9 months out you should have no problem with booking Honolulu. I also agree that the Lagoon Tower is harder to book than Grand Waikikian or Grand Islander(can only book GI 6 months out). Lagoon Tower is less points so walking a reservation may be necessary.

Adding onto this, and thanks to great advice from @Tamaradarann in another thread- if booking Lagoon Tower and you can spring for the extra points for the Plus unit (for 1BR), there are more available and easier to get.

we worked on a 14 day reservation for next February (a lower time, to be sure). I had been walking a 1BR standard and inventory was disappearing behind me. When I decided to move to 1BR plus, it was wide open. I still kept walking, just because (did it for like 3 weeks, daily ), but didn't need to.

So, room type is also a consideration even within the lower-point resorts.

Cheers.

 

[Sandy VDH]

One thing to note is that september is the start of gold season, so while at 9 months it is bookable, it does go fast, especially for those who are looking at more bargin pricing to go to Hawaii.

There is 4 weeks in may and 6 weeks in sept/oct, the other 42 weeks are all platinum.

 

[letsgobobby]

Anyone know of any 1-bedrooms HGVCs in Waikiki that have two desks or at least two seperate areas to work/take conference calls while on vacation. My wife and I plan on working a few hours a day while in Waikiki.

i think the bedrooms have a desk in them, but maybe someone who's been recently can confirm.