Maui, Hawaii known as the “The Valley Isle” is the second largest Hawaiian island.  Breath taking beaches, color bursting sunsets, and entire rainbows!  It is in a word:  Fabulous!

Savvy Travel total for this trip for entire family of four including:  5 hotel nights, round trip airfare, and Luau…..          

$229.80 

***For an example of how to Savvy travel this trip, scroll to the bottom of this post 🙂

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The Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa is located in Lahaina, and is a beautiful beachfront destination!  Including five restaurants, a kids camp, spa, and beach activities all on a 40 acre spectacular resort!  Includes SIX swimming pools, plus a 25 ft water slide!

“The Drums of the Pacific” Lu’au is actually located at this resort and it is an amazing family event!

Historic Lahaina Town is nearby and a fun place to stroll through the shops and local art galleries and to have lunch.  Don’t forget to check out the humongous banyan tree at Banyan Tree Park!

Whalers Village is a Beachside mall with boutiques, restaurants, and a whaling museum!

Looking to snorkel?

The Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa rents snorkel gear right on property for the day or week.  You can also rent snorkel gear and other beach related items at  .  We rented a couple beach chairs, beach umbrella, a couple boogie boards, and snorkel gear for all.  We kept it in the back of our rental van while we were there so that as we traveled to different beaches it was always with us and we also didn’t have to lug it in and out of our hotel room each day.  You can also make snorkel tour reservations (and all other kinds of water activity reservations) at the activities desk at the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa and also at Boss Frog’s.  We reserved an afternoon catamaran snorkel tour that included snacks and bbq hamburgers for lunch right on the boat, it was great!  While heading back to land on the catamaran boat the dolphins jumped in and out of the waves right next to the boat as we moving along…..so fun!

Check out Boss Frogs Top 5 Family-Friendly Maui Beaches

& Check out 25 Best Maui Snorkeling spots and beach guide

Our favorite family snorkeling beach on Maui is Napili Bay: 

Napili Bay is a quiet and peaceful beach that has public restrooms, trees for shade, calm waters, and great snorkeling.  We have seen many large and small turtles at Napili Bay and lots of colorful fish.  Napili Bay is the perfect calm water snorkel spot for beginners!  A little more advanced spot that we liked was Kaanapali/Black Rock, you do have to be prepared to go out to the end of the rock and around it in order to get to where the really colorful fish hang out.  I would put Emily (my then 8 year old) on a boogie board since it can take a while to swim out to the good spot, and then she could float on the boogie board when she got tired.  Black rock is also where the rock jumpers leap from at sunset.  The sand on this beach was crazy hot, so make sure you have flip flops!

Boogie Boarding??

We have yet to find a good boogie boarding beach on Maui.  We tried DT Fleming Beach that was recommended by locals for boogie boarding and surfing, but it was WAY to rough for us!  Huge waves that break right on the sand, so when you do ride a wave you are getting slammed into the rough sand.  At least that was how it was the day we were there.  It should have been a clue to us that this is one of the few beaches that have a life guard, duh!  This beach was also SUPER windy.

Maui’s Garden of Eden…..A little bit of Paradise on the road to Hana.  In the garden you will find many of Hawaii’s native species along with exotic plants and trees from all regions of the world.  Features over 700 botanically labelled specimens.  We enjoyed all the colorful beauty of this area.  My daughter Jessica (then 11 yrs old) loved how vibrant all the colors were at the Garden of Eden, she also loved pulling off the road on the way to the Garden of Eden and hiking to the waterfalls and swimming in the waterfall pools.  If you are planning on hiking to the waterfalls, make sure you have water shoes the rocks can be slippery!  There were several waterfalls and spots to just sit and ponder life.  The Rainbow Eucalyptus tree was also a family favorite!

Restaurants we enjoy in Maui:

Hulu Grill in Whalers Village at 2435 Kaanapali Pkwy, Lahaina, HI.  is a family friendly beachside restaurant with great fish tacos, festive drinks, live music, and a great place to watch the sunset!  Danielle’s favorite restaurant 🙂  See their menu here 

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. is a family friendly chain of seafood and American food.  Located on the ocean side of Front street at 889 Front Street.  Great ocean views!  Jessica & Emily’s favorite restaurant 🙂 🙂 See their menu here.…also, great kids menu!

Duke’s is a festive beachside restaurant with great ambiance!  Located at 130 Kai Malina Parkway
Lahaina, HI.  Beautiful sunsets, delicious food and drinks!  Great dinner spot at sunset, go early and watch the cliff divers light the torch at sunset and dive off the Black Rock 🙂  See their menu here

Cool Cat Cafe is a retro 50’s Diner located at 658 Front St #160, Lahaina, HI.  Known for its burgers, pulled pork, baby back ribs, and fish tacos!  Festive 50’s diner!  Mike’s favorite restaurant 🙂  See their menu here

Grocery shopping in Maui:

We have shopped at Safeway at 1221 Honoapiilani Hwy in Lahaina and also at Times Supermarket at 3350 Lower Honoapiilani Rd in Lahaina, and both have a great selection.  There is also a Costco on Maui near the airport, but since most of the food is sold in bulk we found we had a ton of leftovers that we couldn’t take home, so for us the regular grocery stores work better.  Also, to save money we usually check two bags when going on big trips, one bag we fill with extra clothes, shoes, large sunscreen bottles, etc. and the other one is stuffed with all kinds of snacks, cereals, granola bars, microwave popcorn, etc.  While on the trip we eat through the food we packed and then on the flight home the extra bag that was filled with food now has room for our souvenirs 🙂

***Example of how to Savvy travel this trip:

(Below is an overview of how to savvy travel hack this trip, for complete step by step details please sign up for our FREE Savvy Travel Guide that gives complete step by step instructions.)

NOTE:  These are real life examples of using points and miles for this trip, as travel card benefits can change, make sure you read the current offer before applying for any travel cards.

You will want to earn all the points for the hotel AND air fare before booking, because you want to make sure you reserve them at the same time to ensure your hotel dates match up with your airline flights 🙂

Hawaii in general is an expensive place to vacation, due to the higher price of Airfare to the Hawaiian Islands and the more expensive Hotels and restaurants, however it is an amazing experience and not to be missed!  It takes almost TWICE as many miles to fly to Hawaii as it does to anywhere else in the continental United States!  Keep in mind most everything on the islands has to be flown over from the mainland including; sunscreen, clothing, and food so that all has to be passed on in the retail prices.  This is a trip that even with travel hacking you may still need to fork out a few hundred on the hotel or airfare due to how you plan the trip, but that is pennies compared to the thousands this trip would cost if paying cash for the entire trip!

Hotel-

Join the World of Hyatt Loyalty Program https://world.hyatt.com/

Enter your World of Hyatt Loyalty member number when you apply for the travel card.

You and your spouse/significant other can each earn 50,000 World of Hyatt points by taking advantage of travel card benefits.

So, after you have each earned 50,000 World of Hyatt points, you will have a total 100,000 points in your World of Hyatt Loyalty Account.

Once you have the 100,000 points in your World of Hyatt Loyalty member account and you are ready to make your reservation, you would go to the Hyatt website to make your reservation at The Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa.  Reward nights at this hotel are 20,000 points per night so you will get to reserve five nights with your 100,000 points!

For the hotel……. you could use Chase Ultimate Rewards points.  Chase Ultimate Rewards are some of the best transferable points out there!  Due to their transfer value (1 Chase Ultimate Reward point is equal to 1 World of Hyatt point!).

-Example #1 on this trip for hotel, after you earn 50,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points they can be transferred to your World of Hyatt Loyalty account.  If both you and your spouse/significant other each earned 50,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points, you would have a total of 100,000 World of Hyatt Loyalty points.  That would be enough to reserve 5 reward nights at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa in Maui for FREE!  (other than nightly resort fees and taxes)

You can always call Hyatt reservation assistance at 800-233-1234 if you need help with your reservation.

-Example #2 on this trip for hotel, after you earn 40,000 World of Hyatt Loyalty points they would be deposited in to your World of Hyatt Loyalty account.  If both you and your spouse/significant other each earned 40,000 World of Hyatt Loyalty points, you would have a total of 80,000 World of Hyatt Loyalty points.  That would be enough to reserve 4 reward nights at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa in Maui for FREE!  (other than nightly resort fees and taxes)

Airfare-

***Note to keep in mind-

The Chase Ultimate Rewards are some of the best transferable points out there!  Due to their transfer value (1 Chase Ultimate Reward point is equal to 1.2 United MileagePlus miles!)

So, for an example on this trip, after you earn 50,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points they can be transferred to your United MileagePlus frequent flyer account and used on their own once turned into United MileagePlus miles and/or combined with other United MileagePlus miles you have earned.  There are a total of 11 different Airline and Hotel transfer partners for Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Flight to Maui:

Join the United MileagePlus Frequent Flyer Program.  You will want to create a “United MileagePlus frequent flyer” account for each person in your family that will be flying.

Enter your United MileagePlus Frequent Flyer number when you apply for the travel card.

You and your spouse can each earn 40,000 United MileagePlus bonus miles by taking advantage of the travel card benefits.

After you and your spouse/significant other have each earned 40,000 United MileagePlus miles, you will have a total 80,000 United MileagePlus miles in your United MileagePlus Frequent Flyer Accounts.   You can use those points to purchase ONE WAY tickets via United Airlines to Maui for your family.  Say you have a family of four, it will take 22,500 United MileagePlus Frequent Flyer miles to purchase a one way “Economy Saver Award” ticket for each family member to fly to Maui.

So, you will need 22,500 x 4 = 90,000 total United MileagePlus miles to purchase all four one way tickets.  You will need to purchase 10,000 additional United MileagePlus miles in order to have enough to purchase the four one way tickets.  It will cost $350 for the 10,000 additional miles.  Still a great deal considering you will only be paying $350 (+tax of $5.60 per ticket) for all of the four one way tickets from the continental United States to Maui!

Another option for flying United …….is to use Chase Ultimate Rewards points either on their own by transferring to your United MileagePlus Frequent Flyer account and/or combine them with other earned United MileagePlus Frequent Flyer miles.  The Chase Ultimate Rewards are some of the best transferable points out there!  Due to their transfer value (1 Chase Ultimate Reward point is equal to 1.2 United MileagePlus miles!).

ROUND TRIP TICKETS ON UNITED:

You and your spouse/significant other can earn 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, and then transfer those points into your United Mileageplus Frequent Flyer account in order to have more points to use to purchase your needed tickets.  For a family of four you would need 45,000 points per person for round trip United flights from the continental US to Maui, so 45,000 x 4 (people) = 180,000 total points needed to purchase all four round trip tickets on United.

If you and your spouse each earned 40,000 United Mileageplus miles from the travel card AND you each also earned the 50,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points from the travel card (which you can transfer to your United MileagePlus frequent flyer account at a 1 to 1.2 ratio 50,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points would equal 60,000 United MileagePlus points!), then you would have a total amount of 200,000 United MileagePlus points to purchase your round trip United tickets for FREE! (other than $11.20 tax per ticket)

Flight from Maui back to continental United States:

Join Delta SkyMiles Loyalty Program  You will want to create a “Delta SkyMiles Member” account for each person in your family that will be flying.

Enter your individual Delta SkyMiles Member number when you apply for the travel card.

You and your spouse could each earn 40,000 SkyMiles miles by taking advantage of travel card benefits.

So, after you have each earned 40,000 SkyMiles miles, you will have a total 80,000 miles in your SkyMiles Member Accounts.   You can use those points to purchase one way tickets via Delta Airlines to/from Hawaii.  Say you have a family of four, it will take about 26,000 SkyMiles to purchase a one way ticket for each family member to fly to Hawaii.

So, you will need 26,000 x 4 (people) = 104,000 total miles to purchase all four one way tickets.  Since you will have 80,000 miles between your two (parents) Delta SkyMiles Member accounts you will have enough miles to cover three of the one way flights!  You can spend more on the card to build up more points to your account and/or transfer points from other loyalty programs.  You will still have to pay the $5.60 per ticket tax for each of the one way trip tickets.

Transportation while on Maui:

The Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa is about a 40 minute drive away from the airport.  We usually reserve a family van from one of the airport rental agencies so we can just hop in the car and get on our way.  You can get great rates that compare your options at the airport by reserving with Undercover Tourist.  We also like to get out and explore different areas of the island and like to have our own transportation available when we need it when heading out to dinner or shopping.  Traffic and parking is usually not an issue on Maui.  (See the info below on the Flexible Travel Statement cards that can help cover the cost of the car rental!)

Lu’au while in Hawaii:

Reserve and pay for your Lu’au through your hotel (billing needs to be on your hotel bill for this to work), using one of the following Flexible Travel Statement cards listed below you will be able to “erase” the price of the Lu’au from your travel card statement balance once you receive your credit card statement, as long as it is billed through your hotel so it is coded as a “travel” charge on your credit card statement.  In order for this to work you must use one of the Flexible Travel Statement cards below to pay for it!!  This also works for meals billed to your hotel room.   (See the info below on the Flexible Travel Statement cards)

Flexible Travel (Fixed Value) Statement Cards (The Easiest travel cards to use!):

You and your spouse/significant other could each take advantage of using a Flexible Travel (Fixed Value) Statement card.  These are the easiest type of cards to use for travel, as you basically use them for travel, meet the required spend, and redeem the miles as a statement credit to offset your travel purchases on your statement.  Easy!

Venture Miles:  You can earn 50,000 Venture miles when you take advantage of the travel card benefits.  You earn 2 points per $ spent, so you earn 56,000 points by the time you do the required spending, so you end up with a $560 travel statement credit!  If you and your spouse/significant other take advantage of the travel benefits of this card you would have a combined $1,120 in travel statement credits to redeem between the two cards!

Arrival Miles:  You can earn 40,000 Arrival miles when you take advantage of the travel card benefits.  You earn 2 points per $ spent, so you earn 46,000 points by the time you do the required spending, so you end up with a $460 travel statement credit!  If you and your spouse/significant other take advantage of the travel benefits of this card you would have a combined $920 in travel statement credits to redeem between the two cards!

How Flexible Travel (Fixed Value) Statement cards work:

You need to meet the required spend on the card within the required time period, then the sign on bonus is credited directly to your credit card account.

You then just log into your credit card account and use those points to “delete/erase” (credit) those charges off of your credit card statement balance up to the value of the points in your account!  Your “travel” purchase CAN be part of your required spend amount!

These are super easy and flexible points to use and are great to offset the cost of car rentals!

To use the cards to get free or discounted car rental you MUST USE the Fixed Value Point Travel Card to PURCHASE your car rental.  You can get great rental rates that will compare your different rental options by reserving your car rental through Undercover Tourist 

Undercover Tourist has great service and will compare quotes on several different rental agencies and car sizes so you are sure to get a great price!

****NOTE:  You can get your Flexible Travel (Fixed Value) Statement Card right before your trip and then use it while on the trip so that you later can “delete” travel expenses off of the credit card statement of these cards!  You can only “delete” specific travel expenses, some examples would be car rentals, hotel costs, or meals billed to your hotel room that will eventually be on your final hotel bill.  You can also use this card to “delete” daily resort fees and room taxes from hotels, but again you have to be sure you bill those items to your Flexible Travel Statement card in order for it to appear on your statement as a hotel charge and then process the credit card statement credit to “delete” the charge off of your statement within the allowed time period.

The Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa is contracted with “Speedy Shuttle Service” which is a company that will pick you up at the airport for a fee.  The fee depends on how many are in your group.  Just to give you an example, I was quoted $72.31 for one way shuttle service from the airport to Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa.  To reserve a “Speedy Shuttle Service” pick up you would call the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa at 808-661-1234 and press “0” and request to be transferred to the shuttle service and to make your reservation.

Check out all our featured trips: to Washington D.C., Maui, Hawaii, and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida and get inspired to travel!  Each featured trip offers examples of how to offset the cost of the trip by using travel points and miles to help cover airline and hotel costs.  We also include family tips with each trip for best restaurants, family tours, free museums, best beaches for family snorkeling, what loved about the hotels we have stayed at, and what your family should take on each trip to make and amazing family vacation!

**Check out our Reward Travel Credit Cards

Learn how to travel like we do!  Sign up for our FREE Savvy Travel Guide to learn how to Savvy Travel.  You will also get access to our step by step instructions on how to savvy travel this trip along with our other featured trips!  Check it out, you will be amazed at how it will open up travel to your family 🙂

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