My wife got up around 2:30 and I quickly rolled over and went back to sleep as did the kids. She, unfortunately, would have to work while on vacation which means working east coast hours. The 6-hour difference would be painful in the mornings, but at least she’s be done by noon local time and could enjoy things with us in the afternoon… if she could stay awake.

I got up around 6 am but the kids were still fast asleep. By about 8:00 they were up and we met my wife in the lobby to go down to breakfast. There was a mob of people waiting to check-in at the desk to be seated. It wasn’t much of a line and it was only a few minutes before we were seated. The buffet itself was excellent. It had a waffle station and an omelet station which Tomatico loved. Chef Chris did a great job on his omelet! There were lots of fresh fruit options including of course pineapple which was local and fresh.

There were a number of pastries and several kinds of fresh fruit juices, including guava and my favorite, pineapple. There were the standards as well with bread/toast/English muffins and scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and more. A full two thumbs up from Tomatico.

The Rental Car Stinks

We had noticed the rental car we got the previous day had a very strong odor inside. We had hoped it would go away overnight, but it didn’t. It smelled like a porta-potty but is more likely a diaper type of smell. In any case, it wasn’t a pleasant smell, so I called the customer service line for National in order to complain.

The agent I talked to was super helpful and understanding. He was able to look up my reservation and make the proper note on it. I’d, unfortunately, have to drive back to the airport to exchange the car, but I kind of knew that anyway. With that, I went with the kids to swap it out while my wife was still working. The kids were hoping we’d get a Ferrari as a replacement. They still don’t quite understand how rental cars work…

With traffic, it took almost an hour to get there, but it was pretty quiet in the rental center when we arrived. I pulled in and told the agent our story and he apologized immediately before writing “Air” on the windshield with a grease pencil to make sure it was cleaned properly before the next person got it.

The agent walked with us to the customer support desk and helped us get situated. We got the option of three different types of cars and I chose the Nissan Pathfinder, which is the same type we had on the Big Island. The one we got was much newer and more fully equipped than the one we had on the Big Island. It came with leather seats, navigation (which we didn’t use) and many more features. Most importantly it didn’t come with any unwanted odors!

I was really impressed with how the agent stayed with us at the customer service desk and helped us check out the new car. Most places I would have expected the agent to point us in the general direction of the next step and leave us on our own. He stuck with us to make sure it went quickly and smoothly and that we were happy with the replacement car. He even marked the receipt and told us we could return the car empty. That was a significant benefit with gas being $4/gallon and the sizable SUV gas tank. It’ll likely be running on fumes when we drop it off!

Lunch on the Go

On our way back to the hotel, the kids loved this new car even more than the previous one, and not just because it didn’t smell. The new one had much more comfortable seats and even had a third row our youngest loved having to himself.

We had our timeshare tour starting at 12:30 which meant we needed to leave our hotel around 11:50 in order to get to the resort and check the kids into the kids club in time. We wouldn’t have time for much of a formal lunch so we decided to get some takeout on the way and bring some for my wife as she was finishing up her east coast day.

The Timeshare Presentation

Back in the room, my wife finished up her last tasks for the day while eating her lunch and we got ready to head off to the tour at the Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resorts Villas which were only a 5-minute drive away. Driving into the resort we left the car with the valet and headed into the lobby. It was very Hawaiian and quite impressive. There was a well-decorated area for the timeshare tours and presentations and we asked directions to the kids club so we could get the kids checked in on time.

The kids club was just a short walk away and they had us in the system when we checked in. We gave them our filled out paperwork and we were set. Tomatico was getting a bit anxious about staying there, more because it was clearly geared at younger kids and he was afraid of being bored. There were only a couple other kids there and they were eating their lunch in the back and watching a movie. Once Tomatico saw they had a Nintendo Switch there, the anxiety disappeared and they both dove right in to play some games. With that, we were off to our presentation.

Checking in we turned over our paperwork, entering us in a drawing to get at least 30,000 more points. The agent directed us to the waiting area until a sales agent was available. The stated purpose of the presentation was to first help us understand the new loyalty program that was renamed Bonvoy earlier this year. There wasn’t a lot they could teach me about that as I probably knew more about the program than they did.

Luckily they realized we knew about the program so they skipped that part of the presentation. The sales facilities they had really were impressive, though. They were well decorated and had pictures of some amazing properties around the world. I hadn’t heard of some of them and might put on our list of places to visit in the future.

The agent asked us about our travel patterns and how we travel. We obviously travel extensively and are well versed in using points to maximize value. We aren’t their usual customer and were much more analytical than they were likely used to. They were trying to find an angle to sell us on, but I’m thinking we were a pretty hard nut to crack from their perspective.

The tour took us to view one of the villas on the property. We saw a three-bedroom villa on the first floor overlooking the ocean. It was really nice with a great balcony/patio, three large bedrooms, each with king beds, a pullout sofa in the living room and a full kitchen and dining area. It was pretty nice if that’s the type of space you’re looking for on vacation.

Back in the sales office, they struggled a bit to find an angle to sell us on. They went through their normal sales pitch and the math clearly didn’t make sense for us given the way we travel. They tried a few different angles and one was unintentionally a was a counter-argument to their case.

In that example, they showed us the price for a stay at the resort using the cash price (the resort wasn’t just timeshares. You can pay for nights or redeem points for nights as well). The cash price was about $800/night and it was a category 7 property which means it costs 60,000/night. At that nightly rate that’s a pretty good candidate in my mind to book on points. Though in the same screenshot and equivalent neighbor Marriott branded property was going for over $1000/night and was a category 6 property, requiring only 50,000 points/night. Being a points junkie I’d likely book that one instead given it’s fewer points and a better return per the cash rate (the property was literally next door). They used the cash rates to show how much money you’d save if you bought the timeshare, but the cost of the yearly maintenance fees for the timeshare was more than what I valued the points it would take to stay there.

In the end, timeshare ownership isn’t for us given how much we travel, the way we travel, and how much we value the elite benefits we get when we travel. Free breakfast is hugely valuable to us if you haven’t guessed from reading my other posts. At these villa properties, there’s really no elite benefits you will get. You get a nice big room and a kitchen, but when we travel, those aren’t things we regularly value on vacation.

It something that could make sense for some people, especially people that primarily vacation to resort-type properties and or those that travel with extended families where the larger rooms and the kitchen could be more useful. It’s just not how we roll at this point on our travel lifestyle.

I’ve been in several of these types of presentations in the past and I have to say this one was definitely the most civil and low-pressure one I’ve attended. At some, they are basically holding onto your leg trying not to let you out the door, but they acknowledged that this wasn’t going to be something that works well for us and let us move on. That part was such a relief and definitely makes me open to revisiting the idea in the future as our travel goals evolve.

That said, I know I’m a points junkie because when they were quoting prices to buy a property I was only thinking of how many points that would get me depending on which card I used. Would it code as a Marriott property purchase giving us 6x points per dollar? I was dreaming about what we could do with the extra hundreds of thousands of points!

Early Dinner

After the presentation, we walked around the resort property for a few minutes. We could have left the kids in the kids club for a couple more hours, but wanted to get an early dinner in Lahaina. Since we had struck out at the places we wanted to go the night before because we went at peak time we hoped things would be less crazy if we ate earlier.

We found the kids in the kids club playing video games as we suspected. They were ready to leave so we didn’t have to tear them away like we feared. We picked up the car from the valet and drove into town, heading to the restaurants we didn’t get a chance to go to the previous night. While there was only the happy hour and lunch menu available at the time (about 4:30), we were able to sit down immediately.

The seating was out on a deck right on the water. We had to move tables because of the sun but there were several open tables. The food was excellent, though our youngest didn’t like his chicken fingers. I switched meals with him and I thought they were great! I’m not sure why he decided he didn’t like them. Oh well.

Back at the hotel my wife collapsed and went to bed immediately. The kids weren’t quite ready to go as it was still pretty early so I took them outside so we could watch the luau that was taking place right outside our patio. We stood in the back for a few dances, but then realized we could go up to the lobby and have a better view from up there. Between sets, we quickly made our way up there so we’d have a prime place to watch the inevitable fire dancer part of the show.

The view was spectacular and well worth the cost of admission (free). When the fire show finally came on it did not disappoint. The kids absolutely loved it as they always do. It’s usually near the end of the show and the boys were starting to get tired so we headed back down to the room and called it a night.