Tag Archives: Hawaii

a close up of stamps

I’m Back from Hawaii and a Preview of Upcoming Blog Posts

Posted on by . Leave a reply

Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I just returned home from a relaxing trip to Hawaii with Laura for our 2 year wedding anniversary.  We spent 4 nights on the Big Island in Kona at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa using 4 50K Free Night Certificates and then 6 nights on Kauai; 4 nights in Princeville and 2 nights in Poipu at 2 different Vacasa vacation rentals that cost 13,500 Wyndham Rewards Points per night (thanks to the 10% discount for Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card holders).

a pool with palm trees and a sunset

Sunset view overlooking the pool and ocean at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort and Spa

Continue reading →

a black and orange road with white lines

AutoSlash Saved Me Another $500 on 2 Rental Car Reservations

Posted on by . 10 Replies

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you all had a great Father’s Day Weekend.  2 weeks ago, I wrote AutoSlash Already Saved Me $400 on 2 Rental Car Reservations.  Over the weekend, AutoSlash found even cheaper rates for my 2 upcoming Hawaii car rentals for Lihue and Kona, saving me an extra $500 (actually $536.52 total).  I was talking about AutoSlash over the weekend at a family gathering and did not run out of good things to say about the service, and here is why…

For my first rental in Lihue, here is the timeline of events:

  • 5/27 – Initially booked an Enterprise rental for $1,018.59
  • 5/28 – AutoSlash found me a cheaper Alamo rental for $899.95 (savings of $118.64)
  • 6/20 – AutoSlash found me a cheaper Hertz rental for $397.87 (savings of $502.08)

I almost missed the email since it came in late at 9:51pm, but as soon as I saw the email, I immediately clicked the link to book my new rental.

a screenshot of a car rental

Continue reading →

a black and orange road with white lines

AutoSlash Already Saved Me $400 on 2 Rental Car Reservations

Posted on by . 15 Replies

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  A few weeks ago, I wrote PSA: Rental Car Rates are Sky High, Book ASAP where I talked about the crazy high rental car rates and how I use AutoSlash to find cheaper car rentals.  On May 27, I booked 2 rental cars in Lihue and Kona, Hawaii and AutoSlash has already found me rates that are $400 cheaper (after only 2 weeks of searching).  In this post, I will show you my rental car savings and share my best practices.  For my first rental in Lihue, I booked with Enterprise and the rate was $1,018.59.

a screenshot of a car registration

Continue reading →

a blue text on a white background

Pet Peeve: Airline Travel Bank Funds that are Difficult to Use

Posted on by . 8 Replies

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your Memorial Day Weekend is going well.  While planning our upcoming trip to Hawaii (and dealing with expensive rental cars), I had to make some airline flight changes and rediscovered my pet peeve regarding airline travel bank funds.  I have run into this issue with Alaska Airlines and JetBlue, but I’m sure the issue exists on other airlines too.  Nick at Frequent Miler ran into a related issue with United Airlines yesterday.

For our original Alaska Airlines flight home from Hawaii, we had a redeye flight from Lihue (LIH) to Los Angeles (LAX).  I decided to use my $300 incidental travel credit from my JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton Credit Card to pay for upgraded seats which includes 4 more inches of legroom, a free alcoholic beverage, and early boarding.  The upgraded seats cost $133.99 each for a total of $267.98.

a screenshot of a computer

Continue reading →

a black and orange road with white lines

PSA: Rental Car Rates are Sky High, Book ASAP

Posted on by . 23 Replies

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I have a few trips coming up in the next 2-3 months and needed to make 3 rental car reservations.  I always start with AutoSlash and see what deals they can find for me.  As you may know, there is a rental car shortage around the country and I expected rates to be higher than average, but I was not prepared for the sky high rental car rates (rental car rates are more expensive than airline tickets).

Generally, booking rental cars is the last thing I do when I plan a trip (after booking flights and hotels).  Since rental car rates are much higher than normal, I recommend booking rental cars as soon as possible to lock in the cheapest price.  Learn from my mistakes and save hundreds of dollars on your next rental car reservation.

Continue reading →