Grand Hyatt Kaua’i Resort and Spa: overpriced and noisy

It’s “Grand” because their goal is to mark everything up 1000%.  My $.99 can of Arizona Iced Tea (that’s what they charge locally) goes for $5.00 here, a 400% markup.  Where’s the value-add?  And how about $14.95/day for Internet access?  I know it’s tough to install a couple of wireless routers; I guess all the geek-agers were off doing something else when this big project came up.

It looks like consumers subsidize the cheap rooms offered to business groups, and the hotel makes its money on the facilities and services for the group’s business meetings.

Noisy: my partial ocean-view room on the top (6th) floor overlooks a large water/pool complex.  Every night, there’s been carrying on until 3 AM or later, and it’s been loud enough to wake me over the sound of the surf.  Why isn’t there a policy governing noise after hours?  And why does a guest have to complain (which didn’t do any good, BTW) in the first place?  Shouldn’t the Resort staff pay attention to things like this?  This is very bad management, and I’m surprised.

Expedia.com didn’t do such a good job rating this place.

Next time, I’m returning to Curtain Bluff in Antigua.  In the old days…sigh…my favorite vacations were on my Sabre 42 in the Chesapeake Bay.

Don’t fly Hawaiian Airlines

I’ve had it with Hawaiian Airlines. They’re Hawaiian in name and décor but they have the spirit of a Dick-Cheney-channelling waterboard technician working for a credit-card company. If your HA travel plans change, you could find yourself paying more in change fees that you paid for the original ticket.

I paid premium dollars ($751) in January 2009 for a March flight, a 60-day advance purchase. When my plans disintegrated, I called and cancelled my flight but left the ticket open. A couple of months later, after fares had dropped, I rebooked and was socked with two $150 change fees, one for each direction. My $751 ticket had become a $1,051 ticket. Today, that ticket prices out at $490.

The meal service on the Seattle-Honolulu segment was a bean burrito…yes, that’s right; I though serving them in a confined space was illegal. I was going to grouse about a $10 Chicken Caesar salad but, depending upon the quality, that price may not be unreasonable.

After spending all this money and booking months in advance, would you be surprised to learn that on my connecting flight I was seated in the second-to-last row, right next to the engine? Waterboarding or dentistry without anesthesia would have been less painful. This seat was assigned 30 days before the flight and I can’t believe it was the best available.

I just called to see if I could advance my return flights and a supervisor decline to waive another change fee, even after I pointed out the total I had already paid for my tickets.  Hawaiian even charges a change fee if you want to stand by for an earlier same-day flight (I was booked on the noon flight and couldn’t stand by for the 10:55 AM departure).  This non-valuer-add grab for your wallet is admirable in its gall.

Is there a double standard?  They can change their prices up and down after you’ve purchased your ticket but we can’t change our plans without a penalty.

They piously point to their tariffs as justification for change fees. Well, boys, here’s my tariff:

(1) I will play above-market prices for consistently better-than-average service.
(2) I will not demand freebies as a condition of my patronage.
(3) I will play market rates for commodity services (see the next tariff item).
(4) I will be loyal to my preferred vendors, even if they’re slightly more expensive.
(5) My vendors will treat all their customers fairly.
(6) My vendors will provide good value for their products and services.
(7) My vendors will keep each customer satisfied.

The airlines wonder why we hate them. Yes, business is tough, but driving your passengers into the seats of other carriers is just plain dumb. And as to Hawaiian’s boast about being #1 in on-time service, well, let’s say they’re the best of a bad lot, their ranking is a serendipitous combination of geography and meteorology, and good management has nothing to do with their ranking.

I’m going to complain…a lot.  I’m going to complain to the managers of Hawaiian Airlines; Federal, state, and local governance agencies; other businesses; and my Microsoft colleagues.  I think it will cost HA a lot more than $150 to deal with this issue.  And this situation really sours me on Hawai’i as a vacation destination.