Hawaii Booking Mistakes to Avoid: What a Travel Agent Wants You to Know

Hawaii Booking Myths, Airfare & Hotel Pricing, and When to Use Points (with Travel Agent Kim Tate)

Marcie celebrates the 100th episode of Hawaii Travel Made Easy by bringing on her friend Kim Tate of Stuffed Suitcase, a travel agent she trusts to book trips after Marcie’s Hawaii consultations. They cover what confuses travelers most when booking Hawaii: how to judge airfare swings using Google Flights (multiple airports, calendar view, price graph, and typical/high/low indicators), why last-minute Hawaii flight deals are rare—especially with high oil prices—and how to rebook for a lower fare or use paid services that track price drops for a commission. For hotels, Kim advises comparing similar properties using filters and maps, checking total costs including resort fees, taxes, and vacation-rental cleaning fees, and often booking direct to avoid undesirable rooms. They discuss when loyalty status is and isn’t worth chasing, how to evaluate point redemptions, and why points can be best used to reduce financial stress since they depreciate. Kim explains what travel agents do in 2026—research, logistics, perks, and itinerary coordination—and Marcie shares how to book her consultations or a $50 itinerary audit.

00:00 Booking Confusion Setup
00:35 Meet Kim Travel Agent
01:06 How Their Partnership Works
05:22 Airfare Stress and Timing
05:37 Google Flights Price Tracking
08:45 Last Minute Deals Myth
11:47 Hotel Rates and Comparisons
14:10 Booking Direct vs OTAs
15:15 Hotel Status and Credit Cards
17:28 Resort Fees and Hidden Costs
20:39 Points vs Cash Framework
24:44 Pay Cash or Points
25:43 Chasing Airline Status
26:20 Split Bookings Smartly
27:39 Starting the Points Game
28:45 Award Availability Reality
31:20 What Travel Agents Do
34:48 When You Need an Agent
36:51 How We Work Together
38:53 Agent Planning Workflow
41:12 Prep Budget and Points
42:08 Wrap Up and Resources

About Your Host: Marcie Cheung is a Certified Hawaii Destination Expert who has visited Hawaii 40+ times and spent 20+ years as a professional hula dancer. Through Hawaii Travel with Kids, she helps families plan authentic, affordable Hawaii vacations that respect local culture while creating unforgettable memories.

Learn more at hawaiitravelwithkids.com

Connect: @hawaiitravelwithkids on Instagram | Book a Consultation

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Transcript

 You know that moment when you're staring at flight prices and you genuinely cannot tell, and you genuinely cannot tell if it's a good deal or you're about to overpay by $400, or you've got a pile of points sitting in some loyalty account and you have no idea if you should use them or just pay cash.

Today I brought in reinforcements. My friend Kim, who happens to be a travel agent, is joining me and we're gonna get into all of it. Airfare, hotels, points, miles, and the thing that almost everyone gets wrong when they're booking a Hawaii trip.  📍 Stay with me.

Welcome back to Hawaii. Travel Made Easy. I'm your host, Marcie, and today is our act, and today is actually our 100th episode. It's been such a fun ride and in celebration we're doing something a little different. I have a guest, her name is Kim. She runs stuffed suitcase and she's a travel agent.

But here's the thing, I didn't just find her on the internet. Kim and I have been friends for years. We're both travel bloggers based in the Seattle area. We've actually traveled together and she stayed at my house. So when I say I trust her with my clients, I mean that in the most literal way possible.

Here's how this works. When someone books a Hawaii travel consultation with me, we get on a zoom and we figure out the whole picture, the islands, the areas, the itinerary, all of it. And if they still need help with the actual booking side, I connect them directly with Kim. She takes it from there. It's a handoff I feel really good about.

And I think by the end of this episode you'll understand why today we're talking about the stuff that genuinely confuses people when they're booking a Hawaii trip, airfare pricing, hotel rates, and whether your points are actually worth using or if you're better off just paying cash.

And we're going to bust a couple of myths that I hear constantly in consultations because there's some real misinformation floating around out there. Kim, welcome to the show. I'm so glad you're finally here.

For people who don't know you yet, introduce yourself. Who are you and what do you do?



I am so happy to be here. Marcie. I am Kim Tate. So a little bit about me. I grew up in Kansas and never got to travel, so very much a just. You know, hometown Midwest girl. And I went off to college for a year and that was when I started booking my own flights to come home on holidays and things like that.

And I started going, I love this. I love like figuring out what flight to do, what airport to go

Airport to go to,

And then once I

and then once

of stuck to it. Kept planning and came about to start a blog called Stuffed Suitcase. I started that in 2012 and it was all because I traveled with my husband.

We had kids and I never thought that people stopped traveling with kids, so we just kept traveling and now my kids are off

kids.

so I've been doing this. Quite a while. I just had someone who was a follower the whole time has loved me forever, and she met my daughter who

Daughter.

of champagne.

'cause my oldest is now legal drinking age. And she was like, wait, how can you have champagne? You know, I remember following you when you were this little munchkin. So that's a little bit about me. And now that I've. Used all that. You know, all I've had those decades of experience, of planning my own trips.

I've also become a travel advisor and I get to use all my knowledge and experience and help other people plan their vacations. So that's a little bit about me.

I love it. So you're actually a full service travel agent, right? Disney trips, Alaskan cruises, trips all over the world. But you and I have a special Hawaii partnership where I send you my clients. How did that come about? Like why does it work?

I love our partnership, Marcy. It's makes so much sense. So I have been to Hawaii a few times, but certainly not anywhere close to your 40 plus times. I don't know, are you at. 50 by now. I, you've gotta be close. Probably, I don't even know what your number is, but 

i.

don't have your expertise all over the islands and multiple islands.

So I think the reason we work well is that your set up where you kind of use your expertise to help give people direction on their planning. Like, Hey, this island's gonna be best for you. This area is. Best. If you're looking for this kind of resort, you kind of help guide them. And then

'Em off to me and I get to do my side of it where I put things into motion, I get them quotes, I figure out what's included in rates.

I figure out well how are you gonna get a rental car? And okay, you need to consider parking then, and maybe it would be better to just pay for a transfer since you're staying at the resort. So I get to work out those logistics and actually do the booking, but you get to help them kinda get the directionality and make sure that they're in the right place for the perfect vacation.

I think it's been a great partnership because I love chatting with people about their trips and the cool things they can do and that kind of stuff. But I really hate the logistical part of actually booking things. And I have been asked for years now, like, are you a travel agent? Can you just book this trip for me?

And I was like, I don't, but I will find somebody. So I'm so glad that this has worked out.

Well, and the funny thing about travel agents I even, you know, 'cause I do the planning side of it, I love researching the hotels and comparing the apples and oranges and it's like, well this resort fee here or this has this pool or you know, this is two blocks from the beach, but it's a lot cheaper and you still have a view.

You know, I love comparing those kind of things. But the thing I had to get so much training and set up to become a travel agent, a travel advisor. So I do think it's smart to pair that well and really take advantage of. The different areas of knowledge. 'cause I have to know all these different booking engines and you know, we just don't go to one place and go, okay, this is where, you know, this is what we're booking for you.

We have to look at a lot of information and you know, narrow it down for people.

Yeah, I think we're both professionals in very different aspects of a Hawaii vacation, so it works out really well.

Absolutely.

Okay, so let's get into it. Airfare is the thing that stresses my listeners out more than almost anything in the Hawaii planning process. So someone's sitting there watching prices bounce around, and they don't know whether to book or keep waiting.

What are they actually supposed to be looking for?

Yeah, the biggest advice I have here is Google Flights, which is, sounds funny to say, but it is the. Best tool for kind of helping people if they're early enough in the planning phase where they can kind of research and figure it out. Google flights is amazing. You put in your airport, you

Airport,

your airport,

airport,

like from, and you can even add multiple, you can add up to five airports for like you and I, you know, you can put in Portland,

Portland,

Pain Field. You can put in all those

all.

know, I was. Tracking prices to go to Italy last fall. And I actually added Vancouver and I found an amazing business class flight out of Vancouver. So I just drove, you know, I'm on the north end, so I drove up a little bit. So you can kind of have flexibility if you're willing to move around on hotels or you're willing to move around on

To move around on there.

So that's really

So that's really nice. I like that. And then once you put in,

as you're

as you're clicking, once you put in your route,

on the calendar view, it'll actually

you'll actually show

like green

like numbers.

on the days sometimes. So you're able to go

You're able to go

that.

like that

Wednesday,

Thursday

is a lot cheaper than if I fly out on that Friday

on that Friday or Saturday. So it might be a good.

go like, oh, I'll just adjust our dates a little bit and look at that. But the real

But the real benefit of Pivotal

you can

is they

your

tractor prices. And you can also

look at a

look at a price graph. There's a button that goes,

and it'll say if the price is

prices currently typical,

or high. And people

and people sometimes

to like the

to like

and the prices and they

prices

little,

that little, like they are prices. Typical low or high. And that's a connect

should look now.

now. But also looking at that.

I just, to get ready for this

Writing post podcast I put in,

Honolulu and you can see

you can see that coming up in Memorial Day for the NFA,

prices

the prices start jumping and they pull like

higher all

higher all the way.

And

And then you see the peak

see

and Christmas and that's all

that's all.

through Google flights. And that's based on what they've seen for price history. So that's the biggest

That's the biggest advice. I

is that if you look at that

look at that price graph or

prices are typical or low,

more low,

be a

you know, it might be a good idea to

book.

Oh, that's perfect. Yeah. I always miss that graph too, because I do check Google flights and every once in a while I'm like, I just, I feel like this is not a good deal. And so, I'm gonna have to definitely look out for that a little bit more.

Yeah, for sure.

Is there like a rough price point where you'd say, yes, book this, or does it really vary too much by the departure city to give a straight answer? Like to go to Hawaii

Yeah, a hundred percent varies way too much, especially when you're comparing different airports, you know, certain airports get a lot of flights and they're gonna have a lot of competition on certain routes, and people don't, you can't know that. Like I just saw an article that was saying Alaska's not gonna fly from San Francisco to Newark, so that probably means

that. United or

flies that route might actually

actually

their prices a

their,

because they just lost a competitor on that route. So it's really

so it's

to say,

say.

it with any surety, that's where the Google flights comes in. You just need to really look and say, okay, if, you know, based on what I'm seeing historically this, these airports I should probably go ahead and book it. So, yeah.

Okay, that makes sense. What about the last minute deal? Like, I hear about this a lot, like the idea that if we wait long enough, a deal will drop. Is this truth or a myth?

I wanna add something back on the, when I'm gonna, I'm gonna talk about this one, but I'm gonna add something back on the look it now type thing. Deal. I do wanna say there's a caveat right now with the price of oil being so crazy high. So anybody who's planning a Hawaii trip. year, it's probably not a

Probably not a bad idea.

and book it now. The price, like once airlines start raising those prices for the summer and the fall holidays, they're not gonna suddenly

Not gonna,

oil's cheaper, let's lower the rates. You know, that's gonna take a few months for them to actually start competing again in the market to lower the rates. So that's just an

that's

on that.

So those last

so those last minute deals stack.

be rare. This year just because of the high oil cuss and how they're having to pass that on to consumers. I would also say

Also say

I belong to three travel

that travel

like email alert programs, three different

different

Hawaii

and Hawaii

rarely.

characters

rarely, you know, so it's just not not one that you can really count on, you know, like I think I've seen more deals to Paris than Hawaii over the past year. So it's just something to keep in mind that, you know, it's not one of those

not one of those.

often gets discounted too much. So keep that in mind.

And then I would also say people don't. Always realize this is kind of an added little expert tip for you guys. If you're not on

You're,

economy ticket, a lot of airlines don't charge change fees anymore because of you know, it's kind

you know, kind

COVID. And now with all the different. Travel

travel are.

In our, in the states, they're not charging those change fees. So if you do happen to see that a price dropped and you already booked, you can often call into your airline and say, Hey, I wanna rebook at this lower rate. Now, you're not gonna get a refund back to your credit card.

Likely you'll probably get a credit with the airline that has to be used in a year or something along those lines. But that is something to keep in mind. And there are. Sites that are now

Are.

you and you pay them a commission. I know there's two one's called Payback, PAI back, BACK, and one's

And once all,

And you can

and you could put in your flight information and build track for that.

find

they find the flight for cheaper, they, it,

I'm

I'm hoping that it doesn't hit every

booking. I'm

party book

on that. I haven't

on that,

but they rebook it

but they rebook it and pay like a 10.

commission, which is not a bad

It's not a bad deal.

the money

You're just getting the line back.

of people

So a lot of people are.

success with using those two programs if you don't wanna track it yourself and get on the phone.

That's awesome. I hadn't heard of those. Is do you know if those are free or if you have to, I guess you, you pay afterwards sort of.

Yeah. So if you, they

Yeah.

deal and they save you $200, you're gonna pay, it's 10%, you know, you pay $20 in a commission to

For getting it, so you're only gonna get 180 back. And so that's how it works, is that they make the money on finding those deals and getting the commission share 

yeah. That makes sense.

the full airfare, it's on the savings

Yeah. Yeah, totally.

Yeah.

Awesome. Okay. Let's do the same thing with hotels. I actually have a whole episode on resort versus condo versus vacation rental. It's episode 38, so I don't wanna rehash all of that. But from a booking strategy standpoint, how does somebody know if the rate they're seeing is actually good?

Okay. I think hotels is definitely gonna be trickier.

The best thing I would advise is really comparing apples to apples. So this is where, when I'm researching any city, not just Hawaii, but any town or area I'm gonna go to, I often use those third party platforms like, you know, expedia hotels.com booking.com, any of the ones, whatever one you like. Better of what their map and system looks like. I go to that and I put in the city or the area I wanna stay at, and I kind of start using the filters on those. And it's like, oh, I wanna be in a four star and I want to have pools and I wanna be in a hotel, not a Airbnb. Or like, you can start using those filters to really get, comparing more apples to apples.

So you're not comparing, oh, there's a hundred dollars hotel here, but it's got, you know, a. Two star rating and it's not got good reviews. Whereas you're like only comparing four stars, you can go, okay, well here's a few four star options. And so when you look at that map, you really get an idea of pricing.

So you can be like, oh, they're all around the three 50 to four 50 mark, or three 50 to 400. Or you can kind of see and you can see where the outliers might be and are they really worth that $70 more a night or are they not? So comparing that

Carrying that.

The big thing to look at. And then I think the other part of

The other part of that

to make sure you're comparing the total all in price.

'cause one might charge a resort fee

charge a resort

a

of 30

Might charge $50 a

charge.

so making sure, like it might look $70 cheaper. But if you are paying more, you know, in resort fees, then that adds up as well.

That's a really good point. So should people basically pretend like they're making the reservation to get that final price?

You can do that. Sometimes they don't always show it well on different e, you know, the different platforms. Sometimes they're good and they'll even say if it includes like the resort fee on higher end properties, sometimes they roll it in or you know, like, oh, you can book this right. And it'll include breakfast.

And they like to do some

Like to do.

The extra rates, which isn't always a better deal. Like, oh, get the parking one the parking rate. And sometimes it doesn't work out that well. Most of the time they'll say if there's

They'll say

fee, but if you're not good at reading that, sometimes it

that sometimes.

go to the hotel's website.

And then kind of I, once I determine where I wanna be, go to the hotel's website to really get the price point. Often the. Booking directly is the same price or better than booking through an OTA. And when you book through one of those online platforms, just a little caveat with that, you're often given a run of the house room.

So sometimes they give like. More problematic rooms to those and they keep the nicer ones. So

Oh,

it's like, oh, the corner rooms are actually the same level, but we're gonna give the hotel the rooms that are

the.

elevator or that right next to the housekeeping. You know, or the ice machine.

Those go to the Expedia bookings and the ones that book with Marriott Direct, we're gonna give them the non-no rooms. So you never know, but some

Yeah.

Are sneaky like that. So, but yeah, you can go through the

But yeah, you can

you're not putting in your credit card and saying like,

credit card.

now you're, you can kind of get an idea, but a lot of times they won't show it in their own pricing.

You have to read the details and it'll say a mandatory resort fee. And so do that research and make sure you're comparing those

Research. Okay, that's perfect. Now I wanna talk about hotel loyalty programs because I know a lot of people use points to stay in Hawaii 'cause it's kind of expensive when you pay cash sometimes. So like Marriott Hilton Hyatt, is it worth chasing status specifically for Hawaii trip or is that a rabbit hole that doesn't really pay off for most people?

Yeah, I love this question. I also love that you said Marriott correctly. Most people don't know

Only because you said it correctly and I went, oh shoot.

you're so good. Yeah. Good job. So I would say for most people who are not frequent travelers, and this is like a one-off trip for them, it probably isn't gonna make a lot of sense because to get status, you really have to be staying often.

I mean, you know me, I'm a frequent traveler and even I can't normally get. Bed we call, you call it heads in bed, stays like 15 nights a year or whatever. You, it's hard to hit some of those status points. I will say that every once in a while it makes sense that if you are gonna travel more often or you do like a certain brand, like Marriott has a very nice footprint.

So it's often a popular brand for people where, you know, Hilton has some nice perks and options with. They all have options with suites and things like that. So I think the tricky thing is if you are a frequent traveler, it might look at actually getting one of the higher end cards. And I say that because those will come with higher level status.

So like a Marriott card that is available, it that's the highest, is like a brilliant card and

Like

Status with it, which

platinum status

or a dining food credit. And so that might pay off for you, especially if you're gonna stay multiple times. But when you look at that card, I believe it's

card.

annual fee.

It might even be higher. Now, when you look at that $600, if you're doing the one trip to Hawaii, how much is it gonna cost you to get breakfast every morning? So is that real? And if you're a family, the might only work for two people and not for everyone. You always have to read those details.

Chasing that status. If you're not a

that status. You're

Is not the way to go. And you look at how you can spend that money to just book the rate you want or

not

perk you want. Do you want the better room? Just pay

to better

you

just

breakfast? Just buy

breakfast. Just buy breakfast. But everyone's,

get some perks and it makes sense, especially if you are

especially you are.

More trips.

So that's something to consider.

Okay, perfect. That's really good to know. I wanted to flag something real quick for listeners here. One thing that Kim had mentioned to me before we recorded is that the resort fees in Hawaii can really sneak up on people. I actually did a whole episode on this episode 48, so you can go back and listen to that if you haven't already.

But Kim, from your side as the person actually booking these rooms, is there anything the resort fee episode wouldn't cover? Like things you see as a travel agent that most guests would never know about?

I think most of the time people are. comfortable with it. And your episode covers a lot of the big deals. The biggest thing I think people don't realize is that tax is often included on that resort fee. So with tax in Hawaii being, I think it's close to 19% for the hotel taxing now. So when you look at.

So

That $50 resort fee, that's actually gonna be $60 per night. So just, I think that's the

I think that's the.

people don't always, it sneaks up on them when they have in their mind like, oh, it's gonna be $200 extra when I check out. And it's like, Nope, it actually turned into $300 extra because of that extra tax cost.

So that's one of the burdens to look at. And then I big, the biggest one I think of is that there's now coming up where, you know, Hawaii's really popular for rentals, like condo style rentals. And I had a. Client recently who paid $424 for a cleaning fee. And the cleaning

Wow.

hidden a little bit.

Yeah. So that's not the resort fee. That was a

That's,

fee. And it was a flat fee, so it didn't, they were only there three nights. So it's not like, oh, it's a hundred dollars a night or something like that. It was a flat fee. So if somebody would've stayed one

Somebody,

would be a $424 cleaning fee.

So if you are

so,

in something that's, it feels, and a lot of times you don't

and a lot times

like a hotel like. Can book it like a hotel. They have a website, like a

a, they have a website.

but it's actually almost like a, you know, a vacation rental timeshare type situation. But

But,

managed

they're managed as those.

can be high.

So that's another thing that's different

Another thing that's

to

sort

you know, mentioning it. 'cause I think it's, you know, I was shocked

of,

that

was shocked.

I was thinking cleaning fees of, you know, $50 a night or something like that. But yeah.

That is crazy. And I know that a lot of people just assume that vacation rentals are gonna be a lot cheaper than hotels, so they don't even look at the hotels and they only look at the vacation rentals. So that's something really good that I'm glad that you highlighted because people don't wanna pay resort fees, but they also don't wanna pay those crazy high cleaning fees either.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You can save money on food. That's great with vacation rentals, it really, you

Yeah.

In Hawaii. But that's just something to keep in mind. And

Thing about those kind of resorts though, versus an Airbnb cleaning fee is, you know, it seems like Airbnb now, they want you to. Do half the housework yourself before

Yes.

check out, yet you're still paying a $500 cleaning fee. 

Yes.

that is one thing where those rental, the rental companies do benefit where that is you truly can just leave, you know, so that,

Yeah.

But

Oh, that's good.

housekeeping during that, during your stay. Whereas at hotels you have housekeeping. So for a family, a busy family, we've got, you know, towels and garbage and who knows what else.

And all that sand.

Yeah, exactly.

Exactly.

you want your vacation to look like? Do you wanna just have a different home or do you wanna be on vacation?

Yes. That's a really good point. Okay, so this is probably the question that I get most in consultations. Should I use my points for this trip or just pay cash? So what's your actual answer for this?

This is such a big question. I get asked this question tons of times and I myself as a points user and frequent traveler struggle with this so much, and thanks to the. Multiple points. Influencer, content creators I've been following over the years. I've kind of come to an answer for this that I think can help people. Technically you should look at the redemption value. So you look at what is gonna be the cash price of whatever you're getting and divided by the number of points and you get like a price per point for that. And so each point program. Has been

Has been valued.

all these, like point the points guide or they all have a estimated value of each point.

So, Alaska used to be close to 2 cents. It's closer to like 1.6 I think right now. So I guess called Atmos now. So it gives you an

So it gives you an idea if you do that math and those

You know, around

around that value.

a good use of that. Point right then. And so

So that's always.

to consider.

They always

They always say.

with your use when you're using those they're called multicurrency points where you can like chase Amex, those kind of points that can be transferred to partners. The 2 cent mark is kind of the. Considered the holy grail. You always wanna try and get a 2 cent per point redemption. So that's just the math. Like if you wanna be technical, that's the math to do. To give you an idea. So if you're doing the

You're doing The math

value, it might not be the

might not be the best,

but I have 

but I have a caveat for

a lot of your guests or your.

your

you know, travelers that are listening to you, they're probably doing

probably

They don't

why they don't think,

or they're traveling with a larger family. And this might be kind of a big splurge trip because Hawaii's expensive. It's crazy. You can go to

yeah.

the same price. So,

Yep.

very expensive. So I think that. If the money that you're spending

That you're spending on this

to be a hindrance or a stress for you, and you have these points just sitting there, the points are a depreciating value Every year.

year

programs make things more. You have to spend more

spend more points

you got. A year or two prior. So in

so.

that's a depreciating asset. So using those points when you have them makes a lot of sense. 'cause saving them up, it's not like they're gonna be worth more in five years. It doesn't work like that.

So, I would say if

I would say,

and you're, you know, this, it would help you make this trip less stressful on a financial side, then use the points. But if

but if you're

valuation, your redemption

redemption value is ascent or

Even less

less,

and you have

and you have another trip,

opportunity to use those points in the next year or so.

I'd

opportunity.

just spend the cash and don't redeem 'em when they're not a good redemption value.

That was a great answer. And I know that I had reached out to you a few weeks ago personally because I wanted to go to Kauai to visit my mom, but I don't, I wanted to stay in a resort 'cause I wanna bring my son and I know I sent you a message going, is this good? Like the points value. So this was perfect.

'cause I know like I travel to Hawaii.

to me when you sent me that.

Well, but I have the same question that all of my clients have because it is so expensive and you see that price tag for, you know, wherever you're gonna stay in Hawaii and you go, gosh, is it better if I just use my points? 'cause I earn points quickly. So I was like, I don't wanna hang onto them, I wanna spend them.

But it's just, I don't know, it's such a tricky decision for a lot of people. So you really helped me a couple weeks ago. So I'm glad that you were able to help all my listeners here too.

Yeah. Well, and I think you also said another big pit tip is that you earn points quickly. So if you just can got, you know, you just got one signup bonus and you don't spend a lot, or you're not able to earn bonuses easily, then that's something to consider. But if you wanna just sign up for another credit card and get another bonus for next year's trip, then that's, you know, you can earn those points back and spend them on this year's trip.

So, yeah,

Yeah.

good insight.

Oh, totally. Are there any situations where paying cash is genuinely the smarter move over points, even if someone has plenty of points to cover the trip?

Yeah, I think that. brought up one of the big points is just that if it's gonna be a financial insecurity for you to pay cash I think using the points makes the smart move. Just don't put added stress on your lifestyle and your family where you're stressed the whole time you're on the trip worrying about spending more money.

Because is, Hawaii is one of those trips

one of those trips where every day you're.

that credit card for more stuff and so you don't wanna. Go all in thinking you spent money in one place and then you keep spending money and your stress. So that would be one. One thing I think also, if you're a family who rarely travels, and so this is like your one big trip, you using those points makes sense.

But if you travel frequently and. If you keep earning those points and the redemption value isn't

Value isn't

paying cash might make more sense and use those points for another trip where maybe you get a better redemption value. Or maybe you're going to Europe

to Europe

You're gonna need two rooms in Europe because you're a family of four and you know, Europe rooms don't fit.

Big families very well. So just kind of think of that way, how

that way.

then I would say the other big caveat or use would be if you are chasing

Chase status.

status, that will get you some kind of

Some kind of books that will actually pay off.

I was

I was telling my daughter that she

to try and hit silver status against, she got silver

got silver status.

you know, one year she's I get a free bag. And she's so happy about it. I'm like, you can just. Pay by the how many flights you would have to take. You can just pay for your bag. Don't always think that status is where stuff you actually have to look at what the benefits are of that status and whether it makes sense to chase it, you know, if that makes sense.

But if you're close and you can just pay for your ticket then that might be a good

That might be good.

be

And then don't,

are

if

enough. Don't be scared

don't be scared to separate

flights or reservations so you can book, especially this

especially

for flights, so if you have enough

you have enough.

ticket or to, you know, you can book one person on points and then book three other people on, you know, cash or however that works.

That makes sense. Don't be

Don't be scared.

that kind of setup. As long as if you have young

You have young kids. You

have

won't have.

to get around the

Get around unaccompanied.

It's always a good idea to make sure you book, you're an adult with

Yes.

so you don't wanna split those. But otherwise, if you're older, you're fine.

Perfect. Yeah, my kids are still young-ish and so I always have to be really careful when I'm using the points and companion fairs and all that kind of stuff to make sure that they're still on one of our reservations.

Yeah,

Yeah.

I'm a terrible mother. I would always, I get upgrade on the upgrade. I know this sounds horrible. I get on the upgrade list, so when we would do family trips, I would like pay for my ticket. So, and I would be on the

Yeah.

but I couldn't, I didn't wanna, I couldn't upgrade the whole family.

I can

Right.

one, but I wouldn't know who to pick between my girls. So I would put. Paul and the girls on one reservation and me on my own, and then sometimes I would get upgraded and they all hated me for it. They're like, mom, and I'm like, Hey, this is my little benefit of doing all the work to plan this

Yes,

doing

absolutely. I think there's nothing wrong with that.

Yeah,

Okay. I've got one more question about points. What about somebody who's never gotten into the points game at all? Is there even enough runway to make it worth starting if Hawaii is the goal?

I think that this is one where. you're a year or more out. Absolutely. And there are tons of points. I'm definitely not a points influencer. There are people who, this is their bread and butter. They talk this stuff. They know when every bonus is coming. I can give you a few names maybe for the show notes of people I know that I know there's one like.

Katie something. And she does a lot with Southwest and more budget level travel. And she's been to Hawaii on points a few times. She's good. And then there's another one, Annie something, and she does points travel

Travel.

So I think if you can find some of those people to follow and start

Start listening

a good

that's

since a lot of them have. Free resources to help you get started.

started.

sometimes message them like, Hey, I, I'm trying to plan a Hawaii trip for my family. Do you have any posts or articles

Articles or options regard,

started? And they'll

and they'll.

send you some information. But I think that would be the advice I would have for everyone.

I think that the. The tricky thing with that to think about is that the points people use points a lot in Hawaii. So if

So if.

months out and you're hoping to stay at, you know, the Hyatt Regency on Waikiki, there's limited rooms available for that. And so if you. Think you're gonna do all this work and spend all this stuff and there's no room.

I see that happen all the time, that people are like, I signed up for this credit card, I did all this so that I could plan this trip and stay here, that I saw on Instagram. And it's like, but when I go, it shows nothing available. And it's like, that happened to me. I was convinced I was gonna stay at this hotel, Hyatt Hotel in Paris.

And we, I was booking, I don't know, five months, a shout and it wasn't available and I couldn't do it, so I had to. You know, rethink my plan. Thankfully, I knew

Thankfully

that, but just know that just because you want the hotel doesn't mean they're gonna have points, rooms available. Flights are a little trickier.

trickier. There's stuff.

and stuff where your points are worth. You wanna get a deal with your points from my standpoint. So, and a, you know, Alaska Atmos is common for us on the West coast and going to Hawaii. So what those points, tickets might cost doesn't make a lot of sense. And so you might go, oh, you know, I see it

I see it available. I'm gonna book it.

60,000 points, which can also fly you to Frankfurt, Germany so in, in business class.

Yeah.

it's just something to keep in mind.

Yeah. Oh, perfect.

like follow some of those points, people to really make sure your journey is going the right way and you don't waste or forget it. And then if you're too close and there's no point rooms even available, then it's probably too late.

Yeah, I've had that happen to me too, so I'm so glad that you brought that up because I had a book, my last Hawaii trip, I used points and I did it, gosh, probably 10 months in advance because I was like, Hey, I know I wanna secure these rooms. And I knew I could cancel them if I didn't end up going. But then now I'm thinking about going in November, so we're only a few months out.

It, you know, sort of, like not a ton of months out. And so, I was already seeing a tons of hotels that I thought I could stay at that didn't have any rooms available. So you kinda have to snap 'em up.

You have to snap 'em up. And Hawaii's one of those tricky ones where the people are planning in advance. So those

Yes.

when they're waiting for those year, the one year to open and they're booking the rooms at the prime resorts. But there are, things will happen. And like you said, the nice thing is with points bookings, a lot of times you can cancel them. So if you do make a points booking you might, they might can, you might cancel it, which might open it for someone else, or they might be on over capacity and they won't even re-release that award availability. So it's a tricky world.

Totally. Okay, so here's the question. I know some people are thinking, but won't say out loud in 2026, with every booking app and comparison site available, what does a travel agent actually do that I can't do myself?

Absolutely, and I'm gonna start with a myth buster first. I had a client come to me and I think they thought that I was gonna have access to these like magic rates that they weren't seeing anywhere else. And I was gonna save them, you know, 40% on their vacation and. Travel agents don't work that way because it is 2026. And so many companies and businesses can go direct to consumer online, there's very little margin for travel agents. So, we often are seeing the same rates you're seeing, so it's not, you're not

Not, you're not using the travel agent.

deal. However, the reason you

the

a travel agent or advisor is because. Because it's 2026, there's so much information out there. There are so many things to research and

research

to read, and hotels to review, and. It can be overwhelming. Like how do you even compare? You know, I've seen,

I've seen

to

often.

are like, I've looked at all these hotels and I don't even know which one to choose. And you know,

You know, especially it's not a frequent

you don't maybe know like, oh, let's compare

Let

Like this one's only this many square feet. This one's so far a family of four, you're probably gonna want a little more space. 'cause you're gonna feel really cramped for five to seven days in, you know, a 200 square foot room.

And so it's nice to be

Nice to be

Talk to

able to talk to an advisor or.

familiar with some of those things that you should compare, like what you should compare and what you should look at. And

And

so we

so we helped them do all that research, narrow it down,

are on computers. They don't wanna come home after

after birth.

computer and plan a vacation.

Some people

Some people love it. Like,

vacation planning. It's a hobby to me. Like I work late all the time because it's. Interesting to me, but a

but a lot of,

your thing. And so that's

and so that's where.

can help you is that we, we can kind of do all that behind the scenes and that research and help really then

Really that you

here's the pros and cons.

This is good for

good for this?

not so much

Not so much

then you can, you

can

laid

have it out.

makes the choice making and the decision making much easier where you can just have someone kind of guide you on that round. I would

I would say also it's

to

nice to know that traveling,

you know, agents like myself, I'm a

I'm a.

member. And so for upscale properties you know, like we, I'm working with one of your at one of your consultations and we're looking at like the Four Seasons on CO in Colina and

And they have

get

for breakfast, they get on,

they get a hundred

they get a hundred spending

Some of

some of those available

Platforms or

platforms or partners. But when you work

we can really look at that and say,

that say, Hey.

go ahead and get you these added perks. So I think

So I think that's the other reason 

a advisor. And then

And then overall, we just help.

your trip gets planned in a fluid way and in. Stuff doesn't jump

Doesn't

like

on you like all that transfer

like, oh, well how are you gonna get from the

And, you know, how are you gonna get

gonna get to this

we

activity.

that with a another client. It's like the luau is ways away. And when you have a 3-year-old, you can't just hop in an Uber.

So it's that kind of like figuring out that transportation of like those little things that. An agent advisor. That's what we

What?

and that's how we work. So that's what I

That's perfect.

paying

paying.

getting, yeah. You're getting the expertise and a well plan trip. You're not just getting, you know, a deal.

I love that. Is there a type of Hawaii trip where you'd really push someone to use an agent, like a scenario where you'd say, please don't try to figure this out on your own?

Yeah, I would say number one would be like, if you're not a frequent traveler, if you

Definitely having someone who can help you go like, well, you need to go into this airport. Or, that's not even the right island. Or you know, like Howard.

How,

you, I this happened, you know,

you know?

this, do you really wanna go on a boat trip at 7:00 AM

Yeah.

when

When you're in a

you know, jet lagged

jet lag or if you're not, accustom

hour

an hour drive.

where you're gonna catch

Yeah.

where you're staying.

And like, there's those kind of things like Hawaii is not, like, it's often just singular roads that get very

Get

up. So

up.

just go like, oh, I'm just gonna hop over here and get picked up for my excursion. So, I would

I would say like not

with planning that kind of trip. Knowing how that would be a reason I would want someone to use an agent is just to help them kinda think through

think through all those navigational

those planning

planning steps.

each item and activity. And then the other

And then the other thing I would say is, 

hopping I think is useful. Just keeping things in line of like, well, you're gonna. Go

Go from, you know, Maui to aah

or you're going to Kauai and you wanna

You wanna land at this time and this flight's probably gonna invest. It allows you time to check out,

you're gonna

you know, you're gonna

amount of time to

time

the airport

at airport to get there early. And then

just all

just all those

of,

logistics of an island home.

Itinerary I think is useful. And again,

And again, that's another one.

get overwhelmed. Like all the hotels, they start blending in together. I mean, I just worked with a client who was staying in three different properties, so there was, know, Hilo and, you know,

And you know, like all these different areas

Even for me, I was trying to make sure

trying to,

keeping every hotel straight. Like these dates on this one,

on this

this

sun's on this

on this one, you

sun,

And then the

and then the car rental.

she needs to drop the car one way but keep it longer. So that kind of logistics of let's change the drop off location and which in Hawaii is really difficult and not

I wanna walk listeners to how exactly we work together, because I think the way that we do it is a little different than what people might expect.

So when somebody books a consultation with me, we hop on a Zoom call and at some point in that conversation I might bring your name up. Can you describe what happens from your side when I make that introduction?

Yeah, so it works out well because you kind of, what happens

What happens?

off, you send me an email and it kind of covers where they're going, what they're thinking. I love

I loan that,

you're able to tell me, Hey, it's

Hey, it's this

or kids with this age, because the kids think people don't always think of that with hotels and you know, that really makes a difference when you have, you know, even though, and this is as someone with kids who are

kids are not under.

You don't realize

Don't realize

is now an

now.

sometimes affects things with hotel occupancy and all of that. So that works nice where you hand it off. I'm able to see, kind of get an idea of who the people

Are,

and then you've

and then you've already talked to them about priorities are,

So I get an

so I get

of like what they're looking for, and then I can kind of go, well, this hotel might be better. Or, you know, they're a family of

a

hotel doesn't have anything. On their standard setups, unless they're in one of the three suites they offer, so we might need to look at a different property.

So, being able to

being able kind of

through those things and get that idea of what they're doing. But I think the biggest

think the.

already told them maybe what islands

What islands they

that helps me a lot where

need to offer. I like,

already know that they're planning on, you know, Maui, or

Natalie, are they go, you know,

Kop Poly?

Are they going

are they going

gonna go, you know, or

somewhere? Are they over

They're wanting the North Shore vibe or they're

they

Colina vibe

five.

Beach thing. So, I think that's how we work well is where you can kind of hand off some of those determinations and then I can come in and use my experience, say, okay, how are we feeling about this?

Like, where's your budget? 'cause you know, you can make recommendations on hotels, but then if I come in and I'm like, well you're, you know, way under budget on all this, but

Right.

option, or there might be something better here. And that, that can be useful.

Yeah, totally. For someone who's never worked with a travel agent before, what does that process actually look like once you're in the picture? Like, what can they expect?

Yeah, so I think agents and advisors work in a lot of different ways,

different ways,

the formatting goes, you fill out an intake form or you give me some initial information. I'm able to start getting quotes or

quotes or layouts of

for. Do you need flights? I

flights. I often

Travel

travel

make money on flights.

A lot of agents who do book flights will charge an

charge,

But sometimes if

sometimes.

booking partners they can bundle in an airfares and sometimes they

And sometimes

special

they, especially for

for the Caribbean,

the

get special rate packages

package with

So if you want flights, I can

lights, I can always price out.

But,

But,

if you're not looking

you're not looking for that, I also can help.

let's get

Let's get you, you know, here's the link.

I want

Here's what I want you to go ahead.

I can't. You know, get you any benefit by booking it for you. So

So those are a couple things about

You get that idea, we get it

Get

out.

I

planned out. I have my temporary platform and so I start in everything.

When I

When I get it, I'll put in

gonna

price gonna and

give a credit card

credit card authorization.

booking for you. So you're

going

through any of that. You give the

that off.

I go ahead and

I go ahead and

the bookings. I put all the

put

numbers, and you're left with this beautiful itinerary that tells you, you know, your flight. Times your hotels, what

what activities

day. So you can

you have so you can actually use that as you're going on.

And if you have any

Do you have any

you've made on your own, I can drop

extra drop goes in for you and it

works

kind of works out where the trip starts coming together, and then as something is added

comes through, you just fill it out and you're like, that

that you're like, that sounds good.

off your. Agenda, you're not researching, you know, you're not trying to figure it out. I do all that on the backend, so

That's

agents

traveling, just kind of.

in handy.

If

it

you

cruising. You know, I do a lot with the last,

cruising, and that's where you

that's where

Hey I'm

I

research all the cabins or

cabin.

this rate. And it just is, it's just a handoff. So I think it works well for Hawaii because the itinerary, putting it together and putting together all the parts, because most people do activities in Hawaii.

So being able to look on, like, this day I have this and how am I getting from the hotel? Oh yeah, I booked, we're booking this transfer for you, or, oh, you're gonna pick up the Hertz rental car. Or, you know, like, dropping that in is nice.

Yeah. Oh, totally. Is there anything that you wish people knew or had figured out before they came to you? Like things that make the whole process smoother on your end?

The biggest thing is they need to know what they want me to do. So are they gonna, the, they need to have that points decision already kind of made, are they gonna use point 'cause, our relationship. I don't charge a planning fee, but a lot of times when I'm planning a seven day trip for someone and I have to put together all the hotels and the activities and get them restaurant recommendation, there's a planning fee with that.

But for your clients, I don't charge, I waive the planning fee is, that's part of our relationship. So, if they know that they're already going to use points and stuff, that helps. 'cause if they come and I do all this work. Because it is a lot of work for agents to do. And if I do all the work to get them prices and options, and then they're like, oh, I just booked the,

Know

know, Alani with

lot,

points or I booked the Hilton with our Hilton points.

All that

all that time.

an effort, I spent. I get nothing out of it. So,

so, the hope is 

Okay. I hope you love that as much as I did. I've known Kim for years, like this is someone who slept in my guest room, and I think what comes through when you talk to her is that she actually knows her stuff. She's not guessing. Now, if anything in that conversation made you realize your Hawaii trip is more complicated than you thought.

Or you've been staring at flight prices and hotel rates, and you genuinely don't know if what you're seeing is good. That's exactly what my consultations are for. We get on a Zoom, we talk through your specific trip, and if you need someone to actually handle the booking, I'll connect you directly with Kim.

You can grab a 90 minute, or you can grab a 60 minute or 90 minute session at Hawaii Travel with kids.com, under Hawaii Travel Consultant, and if you already have your trip booked and you're more in, did I miss anything mode? I have something for that too.

It's called the Hawaii Itinerary Audit. It's $50. You send me what you have and I go through it and flag the things I, the things that tend to trip people up. Mistakes people don't realize they've made until they're staring, until they're standing in a parking lot in the Laina. Wondering why they scheduled old Laina luau on their first night when they're landing at 5:00 PM.

Little things like that. You can find this at the resources page on Hawaii Travel with kids.com, which is also where I keep everything I mentioned today. Booking tools, car rental, info guides, all of it in one place. Summer travel is coming up fast, and if you're in the middle of planning right now is actually a really good time to get your eyes on, to get eyes on your trip before you're too locked in to change anything.

Thanks so much for being here. I'll see you next week. Aloha.

that I,

with the customer and the client for future. But it's

but it's just something I want them already have that.

And then the other big thing I would say is their budget. It's the biggest.

And be honest with yourself. Don't say a budget and then. Also know what

And also know what that budget

the whole trip out the

trip out the door, or is that just

then all you're spending on the island is its own budget?

budget? So

knowing your budget is the biggest thing. I would say for people, because Hawaii is a sticker shock for a lot of people, especially when you start putting in the taxes and the resort fees and car

and.

And so that's one of the things I would just want people to really. Know in advance what they wanna

What they wanna spend so that I,

of

we not, neither of our time is wasted. Like

that. They tell me

they tell me they could spend $10,000 and then they're like, oh, that's five.

So, yeah.

Yeah, it's always so tricky and the sticker shock in Hawaii is real. I think a lot of people really don't anticipate that. Even I get sticker shocked at the parking fees, like in Waikiki, where I just, I know that it's gonna be expensive, but when I see the end of, you know, my week there and I go, holy moly, that was so expensive.

Like, did I, should I have rethought this? Yeah. Yeah.

be crazy.

It is nuts. Okay, so last thing. Where can people find you if they wanna work with you or keep up with what you're doing?

Yeah, so you can find me on all the major social media channels, Facebook, Instagram, you know, all of that. My handle is stuffed suitcase everywhere, so S-T-U-F-F-E-D-S-U-I-T-C-A-S-E, stuffed suitcase, and then that's my website as well. So

Website.

I have blog articles there. I have. Books for sale, and I even have a Work with Me button that'll kind of show you all about my travel expertise.

And then there's a form on there that you can fill out to get started, or you can always, of course talk to Marcie and then she hands you off. Once you guys figure out where the Dream Hawaii vacation looks like for you.

Okay. I hope you love that as much as I did. I've known Kim for years, like this is someone who slept in my guest room, and I think what comes through when you talk to her is that she actually knows her stuff. She's not guessing. Now, if anything in that conversation made you realize your Hawaii trip is more complicated than you thought, or you've been staring at flight prices and hotel rates, and you genuinely don't know if what you're seeing is good.

That's exactly what my consultations are for. We get on a Zoom, we talk through your specific trip, and if you need someone to actually handle the booking, I'll connect you directly with Kim. You can grab a 60 minute or 90 minute session at Hawaii Travel with kids.com under Hawaii Travel consultant. And if you already have your trip booked and you're more in, did I miss anything mode?

I have something for that too. It's called the Hawaii Itinerary Audit. It's $50. You send me what you have, and I go through it and flag the things that tend to trip people up. Mistakes people don't realize they've made until they're standing in a parking lot in Lahaina. Wondering why they scheduled Old Lahaina Luau on their first night when they're landing at 5:00 PM.

Little things like that. You can find that at the resources page on Hawaii Travel with kids.com, which is also where I keep everything I mentioned today. Booking tools, car rental, info guides, all of it in one place. Summer travel is coming up fast. If you're in the middle of planning right now is actually a really good time to get eyes on your trip before you're too locked in to change anything.

Thanks so much for being here. I'll see you next week.  📍 Aloha. Okay.