Welcome to the Honua Kai Cafe
(We have NO affiliation with the Honua Kai Resort & Spa
Nor IntraWest, nor Playground)

16 times now!!!  On October 20, 2010 Conde Nast readers voted Maui as the #1 island in the world for the 15th time!  Why vacation at any other island in the world but the #1 island – Maui?

This website celebrates the newest 5-star resort on Ka’anapali Beach, Maui; the Honua Kai (Ho-new-ah-keye) Resort & Spa.

We own a condo at the Honua Kai and are members of the Honua Kai “Ambassador Club” where owners can find guests to stay at ANY unit in the resort.  In return we get a small commission and you get THE best rates anywhere – nobody can offer you better rates.

So look at some of the pictures and ask a question if you have one (in the way of a comment which we will answer).  Then when you are ready click the icon below and you will enter the Ambassador Club reservations system with our owner number attached and get the best rates anywhere.

Need a studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, or three-bedroom at the Honua Kai?  Well click here and you will get THE best discounts available to anyone – you get our owner discount!  You will be brought direct to the Honua Kai Owner’s desk – you make your reservation direct with them with our discount number!  This is a win-win for both of us.

Enter my owner number 60001X for owner discounts

Honua Kai Owner’s deep discount reservations
that you can use too – just click the above icon

Click here to make a reservation. You will be asked for “Enter Membership Number” please type in 60001X and make your reservations.   If you have specific requests like a view or floor you can call 877-662-2809 and a reservation agent will help you – give them my Ambassador Number of 60001X to get the owner’s discount. (Honua Kai encourages owners to invite friends and family – please use my number and have a great vacation)

There is a new website that does all the legwork for you comparing prices of all the places you can rent Honua Kai villas – Honua Kai Resort & Spa Rentals. In a matter of a few minutes you will have ALL your questions answered as to pricing and availability of Honua Kai villas.

Watch the below video – just click the picture

Click the above video to view

Outside Pictures

Honua Kai Resort & Spa

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Duke's of Maui Restaurant is the brown ocean front building

Inside Pictures

Six Star Resort

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Treat yourself and stay at a true six star resort in Ka'anapali

July 10 – 17, 2010

Periodically I do a review of the major reservation sites and publish the comparisons here.  The most commonly asked for reservation is a 1-bedroom for a family of 4, and that’s what I searched for.  There are many things to consider when doing such a comparison and here are the things I accounted for:

• Family of 4
• 1-bedroom partial ocean view
• $10/day parking fee not included in prices since they are collected at the front desk at the Honua Kai when you check-in.

I just finished the comparison today, March 21, 2010 and there it is:

* these sources had no partial ocean views available

Hope you find this helpful.

Vacation rental is really a great travel accommodation. But before you leave for your destination, here are some simple things that you shouldn’t forget to bring with you.

Before you leave

You need to basic items to get to your vacation rental. If you are flying, don’t forget to bring your travel documents, especially your passport and other identification cards as well. Also, if you are planning to rent a car once you arrive or plan to drive to your destination, keep your driver’s license close to you.

One way to help you remember these things is to pack them in a single bag. Always keep them close to you. Also, don’t forget to include important contact information and credit cards.

Personal stuffs and some supplies

Of course, you should not forget to pack your clothing. Remember plenty of underwear, and other personal items. Since you are going to another place, it may be a good idea to include toiletries in your items as well as your personal shampoo and soap. Most importantly, remember to bring the necessary medicines. Antihistamine and cold medication are two of the most important things you shouldn’t forget to bring.

If your rental terms don’t include kitchen and bath supplies, you can either get them yourself once you arrive or bring them along with you during your travel. Only buy the necessary items, like toilet tissues, towels and even cleaning agents.

Leisure items

Although you can book a rental with enough toys and games to occupy the kids, to be sure that you don’t damage anything, it might be best to bring your own, especially if you have children or teens with you. Teens especially get bored easily. The novelty of your vacation destination can easily set on them and, as such, bringing some leisure items with you may be helpful.

Lastly, if you are flying to your vacation rental and destination, see to it that you don’t bring anything prohibited. Always check the things that aren’t allowed in the plane before you step out of your home to avoid delays.

There are many people that love their timeshares and are happy that they purchased a timeshare. Other people were sucked into buying a timeshare at a high pressure sales presentation. They experience “buyer’s remorse” immediately. Most timeshare deals are legitimate but there are plenty of scams and shady deals in the timeshare industry. Over aggressive salesmen use high pressure sales tactics to lure people into buying timeshares. They provide inaccurate information to close the deal. Stricter laws covering the sale of timeshares have help to curve these unscrupulous sale tactics. When you attend a sales presentation, never make an impulsive decision and never sign on the spot.

Timeshare is a shared ownership of a property that is used by its owner at different times, usually in one week intervals. There are different types of ownerships that determine how long you own the timeshare. Ownership means the property is deeded to you and you have a share in the unit. If the property is deeded to you, it can be sold, given away or left to family members in a will. The “right to use” timeshares gives you the right to use the property for a certain amount of years. The property owner retains ownership.

The money that you spend to own a timeshare can be costly. Besides the initial payment to purchase the timeshare, there are maintenance fees. Maintenance fees are use for improvements and the upkeep of the vacation property. Most maintenance fees increase every year.

Many timeshare owners feel burned by the timeshare trap. The promises that were made at the sales presentation never materialized. Timeshares are not a good investment because their values depreciate over time. In these tough economic times, many timeshare owners can’t afford to take a vacation and they can’t afford to pay the maintenance fees or the annual taxes.

If one must purchase a timeshare, he or she should try to buy a timeshare on the resale market instead because when you buy from the developer you are paying for all the marketing, promotions and freebies they give away, to entice you to attend their sales presentation.

The Honua Kai is surrounded by timeshare projects – to the south is the Westin and to the north is the Ka’anapali Beach Club.  We own timeshares and if used properly and wisely they allow for nice vacations.  However, the learning curve is huge.

Honua Kai Cafe Late Check-Out Kit

If you live in the Mid-West or the East coast your plane leaves Maui at 9 PM or later and you checked out at 11 AM that morning from your villa.  What do you do during that time?  Well here’s some ideas that might help you.

• My renters can stay until midnight if there is no renter checking in at 4 PM that day – you might ask your rental agent to do the same thing
• Your parking sticker, at the Honua Kai, simply states your check out day – that $10/day you paid is for 24 hrs of parking a day.  So move your packed bags to your car and leave it in the underground garage until you leave for the airport
• The Honua Kai issues wrist bands for the last day of your visit – go down to the pool shack and get wrist bands for your family before 11 AM
• Rent a Gazebo for $45 for the day or $35 from noon onward.  Your family now has a super location for a day of fun
• Have a day of fun in the ocean or at the pool and then use our “Late check out kit” to clean up
• Make reservations at Duke’s for 5 PM (do this a couple of days in advance) and have a full tummy as you head for the airport
• Leave for the airport 3 hours before your flight takes off

Cleaning up

Before having dinner at Duke’s, your family will have to clean up.  North of the Honua Kai is a public park with beach access that the Honua Kai paid for.  Owners like me paid millions of dollars to deed the land to Maui and build a fantastic restroom with outside showers – I here by give you permission to use the showers and restrooms to clean up.

Honua Kai Cafe Late Check-Out Kit Parts

Simply take out our “Late check out kit” and head for the showers.  Inside the kit is a bar of soap and shampoo to use at the shower – keep your swimming suit on and shower up.  I see Maui locals doing this after a day at the beach so no one will think it odd that you clean up.  Hey, that local’s house is probably worth more than yours so if it’s good enough for them it’s good enough for you.  Then use the restroom to change into your cloths for your flight home and put your wet bathing suit and damp towels into the zip bag and put it into your car in the underground parking lot at the Honua Kai.

That’s it – have dinner at Duke’s and head for the airport.

Late Check Out Kit

We built this kit and use it – even as owners at the Honua Kai!  (Assuming there is a renter checking in at 4 PM that day).  All the parts can be bought from Wal-Mart and cost just a few bucks and can be recycled for use on other vacations.

What makes this kit work is the heavy duty 10-gallon plastic zip bag – not the zip lock bags in the kitchen section at Wal-Mart but sold in the ironing section at Wal-Mart.  This bag has a huge plastic zipper with a plastic guide and is waterproof.  Once you place the parts for the kit inside of it and zip it close there is a white valve that allows a vacuum cleaner hose to suck the air out of the bag.  That vacuum squeezes the towels together and holds everything in a tight package that won’t rattle around.

List of parts (From Wal-Mart):

• 1 -medium size Zip bag – by the irons and ironing boards
• 2-thin Towels – use during the day at the pool/ocean and then to dry after shower
• 1-bar soap
• 1-shampoo
• 1-comb
• 1-mini-hair dryer
• 1-toothbrush
• 1-tooth paste
• 1-deodorant

Place the above list of parts in zip bag and hook to vacuum cleaner hose to remove air and squash everything into a thin package.  When packing, the morning of departure, take out the Late Check-Out Kit and have ready.

After changing cloths, put the wet towels and swimming suite in the zip bag which will keep them from other cloths.

Of course this isn’t needed if you add a day to your initial reservation, then you can shower and change in 5-star comfort.  But that’s expensive and sometimes can’t be done because of scheduling conflicts with the next renter into your villa.

Throwing a party at the Honua Kai is as simple as picking up the phone and calling a caterer.  So before you call Pizza Hut and insult your guests with warmed over pizza call a professional caterer and make the party memorable!

Nobody throws a party for locals better than Dani’s Catering in the Wailuku Industrial Area. It’s the two-time winner of Best Caterer on Maui in The Maui News and the kitchen for its parent company, the hugely popular Takamiya Market, aka “Little Giant of Happy Valley,” which has been a staple of island life for ono grinds since 1946.

The reason Dani’s and Takamiya go hand in hand as they’re both owned by the same hard-working family. For those looking to pick up food for smaller affairs, Takamiya is the place to go for sashimi, poke, fresh-cut meats and all manner of prepared foods.

As for Dani’s, they offer take out or delivery service. They also feature a banquet hall with tables, chairs, a podium and the whole nine yards, for parties from 100 to 350 people. What draws them in is Dani’s famous American, Japanese and Hawaiian cuisine.

“We’d like to thank the people of Maui for supporting us all of these years,” says Dani’s General Manager Michelle Hondo. “Our employees are the best. Our catering manager, Anthony Perry, is just awesome.”

Party trays of dry mein, shoyu chicken, pork pimiento and potato-mac salad are crowd pleasers as are the to-go platters of Dani’s crispy fried chicken, sashimi, mixed sushi and vegetables with dip. They even offer meats marinated and ready to grill if you want to cook outdoors yourself. Or let them do roast turkey with gravy, Korean short ribs, won tons and shrimp tempura. The a la carte items may all be ordered by the piece.

“Our Hawaiian foods menu is the most popular,” says Michelle. “People love the laulau, the chicken long rice and the lomilomi salmon.”

First place:
Dani’s Catering
880 Kolu St., Wailuku, Maui  • 808-242-6652.
www.daniscatering.com

Second place:
Celebrations/Bev Gannon
900 Haliimaile Road • Haliimaile • 808-572-4946

Third place:
Bentos & Banquets by Bernard Inc.
Cupies Drive-In • 134 W. Kamehameha Ave.
Kahului • 808-244-1124

• ISBN13: 9781400008353
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Product Description
Fodor’s. For Choice Travel Experiences.

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Visit Fodors.com for more ideas and information, travel deals, vacation planning tips, reviews and to exchange travel advice with other travelers.

Fodor’s Maui 2010: with Moloka’i and Lana’i

The Honua Kai Resort & Spa is a 5-minute walk north

Our 1-bedroom villa at the Honua Kai Resort & Spa is just a 5-minute walk north of WKORV and WKORVN.  I can see WKORVN and WKORV from our lanai.

Your 1-bedroom is 960 sq ft and ours is 700 sq ft, not comparing their size, but I’m suggesting that our 1-bedroom would be a great way to extend your vacation at WKORV.  Or, if you have friends/relatives and can’t get an II exchange for another villa consider our 1-bedroom!

My rates are way way lower than another 1-bedroom Maintenance Fee any day of the year.  Click this link to my rental page.

If you need something larger, click this link and use my owner code of 60001X to get the lowest rates possible for 3-bedrooms, 2-bedrooms, and studios villa.

Your 1-bedroom MF is $1,884 and a 2-bedroom MF is $2,450 – you can easily rent my villa for that and probably a 3-bedroom ocean view too!  Something to think about that’s just a 5-minute walk away!

Don’t forget to try Duke’s Restaurant which is ocean front at the Honua Kai – best food in Maui at affordable prices.  Just a 5 minute walk from the Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas (WKORV & WKORVN)  call ahead for reservations for dinner – they are booked solid every night of the year; that’s how good the place is.

Anyway while at Duke’s why not stroll the Honua Kai grounds, you will find them just as 5-star as your resort and something to consider when visiting Maui.

Please bookmark this page for easy reference later when you realize that I might be able to help you with your lodging needs on Maui – thank you.

Villa rental business is gaining fast popularity these days. Buying a vacation rental property and putting it on hire is a great business idea. Villa rental property can be of a varied range, starting from villas to lodges, boats, cruises, estate, bungalows, castles, farm houses and apartments. We tell you more about the Villa rental business.

Once you are done buying a villa rental property, you must cast your eyes upon the rental plans, rates, housekeeping and other necessities. You must have a clear idea of the rental of other competitive rental villas and then set yours. The most important things to be kept in mind while determining the rental rates is the size of the property, the amenities the villa will offer, the proximity of sight seeing and tourist spots from the villa and so on. All these factors will determine the rates of the villa. If you have nightly rates, it should be somewhat around 1/5th of the weekly rate. Remember, your monthly mortgage should be less than or equal to that of the weekly rate in peak time.

Have a clear idea about target renters. If your villa is small, you can advertise it as a condo for luxury and relaxation for retired people. If your villa is huge and can accommodate more people, you can target families and tour groups as renters.

Furnish your villa properly. Proper furnishing and appealing décor will take you a long way in the villa rental business. There should be ample of free space, a private pool, steam bath and play areas. The décor and amenities of the rooms should be in proper par with the rates you quote.

Introduce off season discounts to get more people. The peak season should mark the time of highest profit and the off-season should be satisfactory as well. Introducing small discounts will keep the money flowing during off-season.

Payments should be very easy and sorted. Remember, the guests will expect the best payment options and policies from you. Acceptance of personal checks, pay pal, cash, and Online Bank transfer will be easy for the guests. Have a written agreement signed by the guests containing all the rules and regulations related to payment. You can possibly ask them to return the agreement paper when they give you the payment.

The website of your villa should be well-organized. It should contain all the information about the villa such as, the rates according to the number of rooms and days, accessibility, amenities and payment options. Catchy pictures of the villa should be put up on the website.

Honua Kai owners I can help you set up a great rental business – just drop me a note; click here.

Not only will a week’s vacation rental generally cost you less than the same time’s stay in a local hotel, you’ll save even more on meals because you have access to a kitchen.

Most major resort and vacation areas have dozens or even hundreds of short-term vacation rentals that are available throughout the tourist season, and sometimes year round. Choosing the right family vacation rental is a matter of figuring out what your family wants and finding a rental cottage or cabin that fits the bill. There are some particulars you should consider when looking for last minute vacation rentals.

Location

Where your vacation rental is will be nearly as important as what it is. Look for a rental cottage that’s close to major attractions, especially the ones that are important to you. Some vacation destinations will offer far more flexibility in this than others. If you’ve chosen a week on Cape Cod, for instance, and your main interest is lazing on the beach for hours, you can find suitable cottages in Wellfleet, Truro, Onset, Dennis, Brewster, Orleans or any one of a dozen other little towns with long stretches of beach and ocean.

If, on the other hand, you’re planning a family getaway with a particular destination in mind, you’ll want to be sure that everything you want to see is conveniently located. If you decide on a Disney vacation, for instance, you’ll find plenty of vacation rentals right in Orlando.

You’ll want to check a map to see just how far they are from the parks you want to visit so that you don’t waste precious vacation time stuck in traffic.

Space

Make sure there’s room for everyone in your vacation rental. While it’s not necessary – or even economical – to find a vacation rental with a private bedroom for each member of your family, you do want to be sure that there’s enough room for everyone to be comfortable. Most vacation rental cottages and homes are designed to sleep multiple people per room. Make sure that you know not only how many rooms, but how many beds are available.

On a longer vacation trip, you’ll want to be sure that certain amenities are included. Your budget will thank you if laundry and kitchen facilities are included in the rental home you choose. The money that you save on restaurant meals and laundromats could easily add up to the admission fee to a nearby water park or a day of shopping in town.

Honua Kai Resort & Spa

If you are traveling to Maui stay at the newest resort on the island – the Honua Kai Resort & Spa.  Villas can be rented for studio, 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, and 3-bedroom sizes.  The Honua Kai is right on the Ka’anapali beach and just minutes from hundreds of activities in Maui.