Looking for Oceanfront Poipu Vacation Rentals? March 28, 2009
Posted by Herb in : 1 , add a commentSeventeen years ago, when I first moved to Kauai, I remember asking a realtor to find me a place on the sand. Literally. I wanted that proverbial little grass shack with a hammock hanging between two tall palm trees in the yard, breezes blowing gently through my hair and the waves lapping at the sand in front of me. Isn’t that pretty nearly every one’s idyllic impression of the perfect vacation rental for a Kauai getaway? It must be because of the number of requests I receive for oceanfront accommodations for our vacation rental Hideaway Cove Poipu Beach. Even though we state that we’re a block from the ocean, people still ask, ”Is it oceanfront?”
What visitors that have never been to Kauai don’t know, is that Poipu has very few true oceanfront accommodations with a white sandy beach in front (or back) or them. Where you walk out your back door, wiggle your toes in the sand, and can jump right into the rolling ocean waves. Poipu has oceanfront properties with retaining walls, rocks and ocean beyond. We have oceanfront properties where there is a public road and rocks between you and the ocean. We have homes and condos that sit on cliffs on the ocean with no actual direct access to the water. We have condo complexes that bill themselves as ocean front, when in fact only one or two of their many buildings are, in fact, right on the ocean. And the list of descriptions of various types of oceanfront accommodations could go on and on.
So are there ANY oceanfront properties right on the sand in Poipu? Of course, and as you might imagine, due to their limited numbers, they’re priced accordingly high. So unless you are a hedge fund manager, rock star or professional athelete. be prepared for sticker shock. So how can you determine if a Poipu vacation rental is on the sand, Besides looking for sky high rental rates,? A good place to begin is www.googlemaps.com. By using the satellite photos option you can get a pretty good idea. Also check out www.youtube.com and enter the vacation rental name in their search box. There may be some videos of the property posted on YouTube. The review site www.tripadvisor.com should have comments from past guests and if you read a dozen or so of those, you’re bound to find one of the guests talking about the location of the property. The same goes for www.fodors.com. Read the reviews. Besides getting a handle on the location, you’ll also find out a multitude of other details that will be useful in determining where you want to stay.
Then, armed with your research, call the owners phone number listed on their website and ask them direct questions. How far is the ocean? Is is a white water or blue water view? Is the shoreline rocky or sandy? In addition, you might want to also ask if there are any amenities nearby. Such things as picnic tables, grassy areas for sun bathing, public restrooms and showers, grocery stores, delis, surf shops, etc. etc. Some of our oceanfront Poipu vacation rentals are more remote, which can be an advantage for privacy, but may require a drive to get something to eat other than that tuna sandwhich you made for lunch that morning. Make sure the property fits with your particular needs. And by all means, enjoy your vacation on our garden island!
Aloha,
KauaiHerb
Fare Warning March 24, 2009
Posted by Herb in : 1 , 1 comment so farIf you are one of those individuals who enjoys saving money on airfare (and who doesn’t in these tough economic times?), check out the following websites, where you can save money without a lot of effort. These websites were brought to my attention by Peter Greenberg, who writes a column called The Contrarian Traveler. Thanks Peter for the tips!
Farecast.com-Enter your dates of travel and your origin and destination cities. The Farecast folks will send an email to you if the price on the route drops. Very useful.
Airfarewatchdog.com-In addition to listing web-only fares and checking for seat availability, this website also sends alerts when prices fall on domestic and international flights. Also shown are unadvertised fares and short lived fares. My favorite are the “error fares”, or as they’re lovingly called in the business “fat finger fares”, because they’re often caused by human error. Frequently the airlines will honor these fares.
Yapta.com-Once you’ve determined that a fare has dropped for a route that you have already purchased a ticket, Yapta will help you get a refund. YEA!
You can also sign up for “fare alert” emails and newsletters offered by airline websites. Hawaiian Airlines, for example, offers a $10 discount on mainland fares if you are a member of their frequent flyer program. You can sign up online and there is no cost.
Other websites such as Travelzoo.com, ShermansTravel.com and Hotwire.com also are excellent resources for the traveler seeking good value in airfares.
KauaiHerb
Can You Fly in a Kayak? March 21, 2009
Posted by Herb in : 1 , add a commentNo, but you can use www.kayak.com to help find low airfares when planning a trip to a Poipu vacation rental on Kauai. Travelers to Kauai and other Hawaiian Islands have, for some time now, been going to the kayak.com website to find the lowest airfares for their travel dates. The site lists all major carriers for your specific dates, that are flying to the Hawaiian Islands, starting with the least expensive. If your travel dates are flexible, check that box and you’ll often find even lower fares. Don’t enjoy flying red eye flights? No problem, just check that box and they will be excluded. But be aware however, that red eye flights tend to be the lowest cost flights in most cases.
One note, if you use kayak.com for domestic travel, is to be aware that Southwest and JetBlue, two low cost carriers, are not included in the results. You’ll want to do a separate search on those airline websites if they fly routes you will be traveling domestically. Neither carrier flies to Hawaii, making kayak.com the perfect place to check for the lowest fares to the Hawaiian islands.
Recently we found non-stop March, 2009 fares from Lihue, Kauai (LIH) to Los Angeles (LAX) for $435 on Delta and American. Lihue (LIH) to San Francisco (SFO) was quoted at $480 on United. And, as is usually the case these days, flying on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday is going to be less expensive than the other three days of the week. In some cases the fares actually double if you fly to and from your destination on a week end.
Another nice aspect of the fares quoted on kayak.com, is that all taxes, fees, fuel surcharges, etc. are included in the prices shown. In the $435 quote, for example, $398 was the airfare and the taxes were $38. This leaves the traveler never having to wonder what the total cost will be, because on kayak that’s what is always quoted. Kayak also seeks the lowest fares by sometimes quoting one carrier, United for example in one direction, and another carrier, say Delta, for the return trip home. And you could also find yourself flying direct to Lihue, Kauai in one direction and returning home by first flying to Honolulu, than having a short lay over before flying home.
So these days, if you’re prepared to fly mid week on a red eye and aren’t hung up on amassing frequent flyer miles on your favorite carrier, kayak can find some pretty inexpensive flights. See you in Poipu!
Aloha,
Kauai Herb
Avoiding The Dirty Dawg Vacation Rental March 20, 2009
Posted by Herb in : 1 , add a commentCan you tell, by simply looking at a photo in a vacation rental listing, what the property is really like? And how about the surrounding neighborhood? Is this property an oasis in an otherwise barren area where you wouldn’t stay on a bet, let alone for a week on your honeymoon or family reunion? Well relax, help is on the way from Kauai Herb!
Although you can obtain the property address and check Google maps, I don’t know about you, but sometimes those maps don’t tell me a whole lot. Yes, you can see how far from the ocean you would be, if that is what you want to know, but don’t expect to see how fresh the paint is on surrounding buildings. Google Maps is good, but they’re not THAT good (yet). BTW have you heard that Google is actually driving around neighborhoods with specially outfitted vans with six or eight cameras mounted on them? They’re coming to your neighborhood soon and when they finish the entire country, you WILL be able to see what the paint looks like. Or at least what it looked like when Google last drove by.
Until then, I suggest relying on the comments of past guests of whatever vacation rental you are considering. Begin with www.tripadvisor.com. Past guests go to their site and post reviews. And owners, if they disagree with the review, can post their own rejoinder.
Provided there are enough comments, say 30 or 40, you can generally get a very good idea about what a stay would be like at this particular vacation rental. It’s pretty easy to sort out the malcontents, who wouldn’t be happy with an oceanfront room at the Four Seasons, from the rest of us travelers looking for quality accommodations at good value. Having a staff that is warm and friendly and responsive to your needs, is not a bad thing either. It’s all there at www.tripadvisor.com.
Tripadvisor has also partnered on a new venture called FlipKey.com, which is a vacation rental site that ranks properties partially by the quality of the guest comments. The site currently has only properties that are under professional management, but intends to add owner properties in the not too distant future. I’ll comment more on the site as it becomes more fully developed.
You can also check for reviews of Poipu vacation rentals at www.fodors.com. The site also includes lots of hotel reviews, however in my experience those that are looking for vacation rental accommodations tend not to be interested in hotel stays.
Aloha,
KauaiHerb