Next up is a reader success story to Kona, a seaside town on the west side of the Big Island of Hawaii. Here is Michelle’s story:

My family and I wanted to go on a weekend getaway to Waikoloa last October with another family to celebrate my friend’s birthday. Everyone knows that the Hilton Waikoloa is one of the best places to stay if you’re going with a family. 
 

Flights to Kona from Honolulu

To get there, I booked three round-trip flights from Honolulu to Kona on Southwest for a total of 17,607 points and $33.60. I transferred my Chase points to Southwest to book. We love Southwest because 2 bags are always free, and we board with family boarding because my son is only 2 right now, so we don’t need to worry about checking in right at the 24-hour mark.

Before we took our flight, we went to the Hawaiian Airlines Plumeria lounge to grab some food before our flight. I used my Priority Pass from my Chase Sapphire Reserve to get my husband and son into the lounge. 

When we got to Kona, we picked up the van we rented so both families could go in the same car. I booked the van from Hertz through the Chase portal for $261. The pick-up was quick and easy. 

Hilton Waikoloa on Credit Card Points

There are several hotels on the property: Hilton Waikoloa Village, Palace Tower at Waikoloa Resort, and the Hilton Grand Vacations Club Ocean Tower Waikoloa Village. We decided to stay in the Hilton Grand Vacations Club Ocean Tower Waikoloa Village for two nights in a partial ocean-view king bed. We booked through the Chase travel portal using my Sapphire Reserve for a total of 47,916 points and $94.36.

We got there around lunchtime, but luckily, our room was ready, and we got a room near the other family we went with. I didn’t know they were undergoing renovations, but we ended up getting an old room. It was pretty dated, and we saw some of the new rooms, and they looked so nice!

All About the Hilton Waikoloa

The resort is huge, with a couple of pools, a lagoon, and even just the beach. My son loved the little slides. We even rented a dragon boat to pedal around the lagoon and saw a turtle. We just stayed at the resort all three days to swim and relax. 

For food, we picked up a bunch of stuff from a nearby market and requested a microwave for our room. Our room also had a mini fridge. We did go off-property to eat dinner one night, and the other night, we ate dinner at Nui Italian on the property. What was nice about that restaurant was that we ate outside, and my son could play with the games on the lawn during dinner. 

The resort is huge, but they have a monorail and sometimes have canal boats running. We usually walked, but sometimes, we took the monorail and took the canal boat to dinner.  It took some time to take the monorail since it basically went to both ends of the property, and they didn’t have too many canal boats running when we wanted to catch it. 

Overall, it was a great time for us and a nice weekend getaway. We will definitely be back again on points! 

Thanks, Michelle; we appreciate your reader success story to Kona! We love that credit card points and miles can make a short getaway possible!