Introduction: A Quick Jaunt To Hawaii

I'm trying to write as many trip reports as possible. We took a trip to Hawaii a few days after our journey to Oman, so it's time for the review. This will be a relatively short series, but should have some interesting flight and hotel reviews.

Why we decided to travel to Hawaii

We love Hawaii. The state has so much to offer, including several islands with a huge amount of natural beauty and diversity. There are still some challenges to international travel, so there is something to be said for traveling domestically. Hawaii will soon drop all domestic travel requirements, which is great.

We traveled to Hawaii in May of 2021 and stayed at the new Andaz Maui villas and the Four Seasons Maui. We wanted to check out two new hotels on this trip. I was looking forward to visiting the Big Island for the first time.

The airlines we flew

We flew American Airlines from Los Angeles to Honolulu and both flights were on the A321neos. I haven't reviewed American's A321neo first class. American has recently improved meal service in first class on more routes.

We flew from Honolulu to Kona with Hawaiian Airlines. We were able to book an A321neo because Hawaiian uses Boeing 717s for inter-island flights. I was curious to check out this first class product, even if it was only a short flight on the mainland.

We had to fly to Boston due to a commitment, so we flew United from Kona to Chicago, with the first flight on a Boeing 787-9 and the second flight on a Boeing 737 MAX 9. I was excited to check out both of those products, and the 737 MAX 9 product was particularly interesting.

I will share how I booked each flight in the individual review posts.

The hotels we stayed at

We stayed in three hotels. The Hyatt Regency LAX was a great place to check out when we were in Honolulu. I last stayed at this hotel when it was still called the Concourse Hotel. I wanted to see how much had changed.

We spent a couple of nights at the Four Seasons Oahu. One of the Four Seasons properties in Hawaii is often overlooked. It's located on Oahu, under a 30 minute drive from Honolulu Airport, making it a very convenient option for travelers.

We went to the Big Island and stayed at the Four Seasons, which is the most well regarded island property. I was happy to have the chance to check out the Big Island for the first time.

I will have detailed reviews of both Four Seasons Hawaii properties that we stayed at.

There are a few things to note about the Four Seasons reviews in Hawaii.

• I know a lot of people are interested in reviews of points hotels, and I completely get that, and I hope you at least enjoy the flight reviews; I’m making an effort to review more aspirational points hotels, and will continue to do so (for example, I just reviewed Alila Hinu Bay and Alila Jabal Akhdar, and will soon check out the Waldorf Astoria Maldives, Gritti Palace Venice, Domes Miramare Corfu, and more, so this is very much a focus for me)
• The main reasons for these Four Seasons Hawaii reviews it that Ford books a lot of clients at Four Seasons’ Hawaii properties, but hadn’t yet visited these two properties, so they seemed worth checking out
• There are all kinds of people in the miles & points world — some like to use rewards points for everything, while some like to use rewards for flights so that they can spend more at hotels (and many people love Four Seasons for the consistently great guest experience that the brand offers)

Bottom line

One of my favorite places to visit is Hawaii, which we just wrapped up a great trip to. There will be reviews of premium cabins on American, Hawaiian, and United, a review of the Hyatt Regency LAX, and a review of the Four Seasons Oahu at Ko Olina.

Stay informed, thanks for reading.