Hawaii in May help!

Your best bet would be to look at vbro.com for a condo - read details on each home though! We have been to Lihue on Kauai - loved it !!! We stayed at Marriott in Lihue then but pricey, there are some nice hotels on the Cocunut coast (look for ones on the water front not on the other side of the road there not so nice i.e. run down) We are Going to the Big Island of Hawaii May 1 - 15 renting condo this time, staying 2 places @ about $ 65 per night plus taxes, pool on the ocean water front, cant say beach because to much lava rock. Good luck and have Fun!

I concur with above post regarding VRBO. My wife and I spent 10 days in Oahu on North Shore in early May, 2011. 3 BR house ON THE BEACH for $2000.
Use Pri$eline to bid on a rental car. I bid $8/day for a mid-size and it was accepted by National. The site offered a $2/day upgrade to a full-size, which I gladly accepted.
Sign up to Liv ing $ocial and use Honolulu as home city, and you'll see tons of deals on food, services, and excursions.
Also order an 3ntertainm3nt coupon book for Honolulu. Only about $10, but has hundreds of dollars in deal coupons to use.

Have a nice trip.

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My vote is for maui or lihue. good luck on finding anything less than 100 per day. You may get a 2star for less than 100$. 2 star in hawaii is pretty shabby. I'm not the most pickey in lodging, but i would still aim for a 3*.

VRBO might be worth a shot, but after taxes, cleaning fees etc. I doubt you will get one for less than 100$/day.

Thank you for this thread, I shall be watching.

Going to Maui in November for a wedding. Going to use Southwest Rapid Rewards CC bonuses to get companion pass and fly to San Diego for "free". Then either paying for the flight to Maui or the wife and I are signing up for AA cards to get to Maui from SAN for "free".

I'll check out VRBO. I was already settled on staying at Makena Golf & Beach Resort for 6 nights @ $1684.20 w/Breakfast Buffet included, but VRBO might make me consider elsewhere.

It's been a few years since our last stay, but we always had good luck with the Aloha Beach Hotel (on the way to Kapaa). Did a quick search on bookit for your days and it's right in your cost range. Nice little place out back for beginners snorkeling (Lydgate Park). You didn't ask, but I have to throw a few Kauai suggestions out. Our favorite daytrip is to kayak up the Hanalei River and then back down to the ocean, turn the corner and land at the Princeville Resort. Have lunch at the resort and snorkel just off the beach. By the time we layout for a while, it's early evening and time to paddle back. The rental place lets you drop off after hours. The Wailua River is also fun to paddle. The locals can show you a place to cliff jump/dive. You can also follow some others on a hike to a waterfall. Monico's (Mexican) and Sansei were great places to eat.

On Maui, there is a Days Inn in Kihei (70nt on bookit). I've always heard the rooms were small but overall a decent place to stay. Would highly, highly recommend over staying at budget hotels in Kahului. Kihei is pretty great and you are not far from Wailea, which is wonderful. Have family on the island so would be glad to throw out a few suggestions if you're interested.

Depends on your definition of nice but for sub $100 you should be looking on www.vrbo.com as others has suggested. Oahu will likely have more budget options, but will be a few blocks from the water.

Lihue may be an option as well but wouldn't be my choice to stay in Kauai. I would choose either Poipu or Princeville.

For Maui look into staying in Kihei.

Just got to orbitz. Do a search and sort by lowest price. How hard is it? If you cant find anything reasonable just sleep in a rental car a night or two. A lot of the beaches have public showers so you can bath as much as you want.

Quote from kishme : Looking at Maui, Oahu, or Lihue, haven't been to Hawaii before but we could really use a vacation. Where are the deals? Two people traveling ideally May 1 - May 8 (flexible). Looking for a nice hotel <$100

VRBO or AirBnB. There's a lot of last minute deals there too, usually Hotwire or Priceine. But you should be aware: Hawaii is actually quite expensive.

Quite expensive compared to what? It's roughly the same cost as where I live.

a bit of advice. do your gift shopping at costco. they sell packs of nuts, chocolate, chocolate nuts, coffee, cookies, etc etc etc. all packaged up ready for gifting. WAY cheaper than you can find anywhere else.

Great suggestions! A huge thank you to everyone! Everyone's Hawaii experiences just sound fabulous and I am taking notes. I didn't know about vrbo.com, great idea, very useful. Just browsing for 10 minutes we found many ocean view properties for $150/n,which wouldn't have been bad. Also, I am going to try bidding on a car on Priceline as suggested, we still need to nail down how many days we'll use the car. I'll update once I know the rate!

We decided on Maui for 7 days. We lucked out. We had Marriott points and will be staying at Wailea Beach Marriott Resort and Spa for five nights. We will be in Maui another two nights, still deciding what to do for the two nights, but having the Marriott points cover five really made the trip worth it. We got our airfare via Alaskan Air in from San Jose, CA for $368 each, stoked about that too.

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon HomeExchange.com, a site that pairs you with home-swappers, very safe. We live on the California coast and rent a condo there with a partial ocean view, so I paid the fee and listed our place hoping for a Hawaiian bite. We got requests from great places (France, Italy, Mexico, Canada) for house swaps, but none from Hawaii, although a few weeks seemed short notice. But, there are a TON of properties on there, and even though I haven't actually done a home swap yet, it totally appeals to my Slick Dealer mentality. So maybe next time.

What's your favorite thing to do in Maui? Anything you did you wished you'd have passed on?

I'll give you a list of things I enjoy:

Restaurants/Quick Eats:
Mama's Fish House (Pricey but delicious!)
Maui Brewing Co (more for the beer than anything)
CJ's Deli (excellent for to go meals for a picnic)'
Aloha Mixed Plate (cheap waterfront dining)
The Gazebo (for breakfast; arrive 15 minutes before opening otherwise you will be waiting in line)
Hula Grill (during happy hour at the barefoot bar)
Ulu Lanis Shave Ice
Kula Lodge - for breakfast after sunrise at Haleakala

Luaus: - My wife and I choose not to go because once you have done one you have pretty much done them all. That said here are the best three:
Old Lahaina Luau - Most authentic, no fire dancer
Feast at Lele - family style table service (no buffet)
Drums of the Pacific - best fire dancer on the island

Paid Activities:
Teralani or Trilogy Sunset Cruise - Roughly $70/person, open bar and great staff
Trilogy Snorkel Tours - $100 - $150/pp depending on the trip. Molokini or Lanai are my favorite. These guys also sail during part of the trip, which is nice because there is no longer any engine noise.
Skyline Eco Adventures - $130/pp (IIRC) Ziplining! I love the Kaanpali Zipline course.
Haleakala - $10/car load - Fantastic sunrise, but beware it is very very cold at the top (in the high 30s low 40s).
Stand Up Paddling or Surfing Lessons

Snorkeling Locations:
Kapalua Bay (West Maui)
Airport Beach (West Maui)
Honolua Bay (West Maui)
Ulua Beach/Mokapu Beach (South Maui)
Maluaka Beach (South Maui)
Ahihi Cove (South Maui)

Free Activities:
Waking up to the island on your lanai with a warm cup of Kona Coffee.
Hiking - Numerous hikes along Hana and a few on the west side
Road to Hana (lots of stops along the way!)
I'ao Valley (paved short hike)
Watching Wind/Kite Surfers at Ho'okipa
Friday Night Art walks in Lahaina

AVOID:
The Sugar Cane Train - Tourist trap that promises a lot of history, but folks complain of lack of history, lots of trash along the tracks and no sugar cane sitings.
Timeshare Sharks - They want to sign you up to sit through timeshare presentations in order to get free stuff (luaus, snorkel trips), but to me it isn't worth wasting my precious vacation time.

Da Kitchen - great cheap eats...