Hawaii Vacation Blog

The title is really to get your attention. After doing the podcast on "over shopping the Internet" I felt the need to vent a little bit more about this topic. We are getting inundated with calls and requests from people who just can't seem to understand the difference between what we do and what the online megastores do such as Travelocity and Expedia. When you book with us you are not booking your trip "online", it's all humanized. All of our agents are trained professionals, independent contractors, who already know what the prices are on the various megastores sites that you see on the Internet. We see the same things you see. The thing that happens most often is that customers are deceived by what they see on the web and they think they're getting a great deal but their not. Very often the great prices, when you take a closer look at what they are doing, any travel agent especially ones in Hawaii (like us) can meet and even beat those prices but the big difference is that you get personal service to make sure your trip is done right. So in other words, the same or cheaper price with the important value of service and also knowing that you are contributing to the Hawaii local economy. Keep in mind also if you want the great deals like that you will have to pay in full right away no deposits and pay later.

I can't tell you how many horror stories I've gotten from people who have booked their Hawaii trips online. Getting customer service is a huge issue. Keep in mind when you're traveling to Hawaii your not traveling to a mainland destination, that's a big difference! In fact when you ask people who post negative comments where they booked their trip most of them will tell you "I booked it online" without any human interaction. Big mistake.

When you book with Hawaii-Aloha.com your booking your vacation with a human and not a faceless Internet company. Sure that's how you found us but once your initial interaction with our website is done, everything else is humanized.

I guess that's what I've been trying to say all along, book with us and we will have your back.

In this podcast Yaling and Bruce talk about Bruce's appearance on the Travel Channel and also talk about some hotel specials and activities that are worth noting in March and April on Oahu and Maui. The also review and congratulate new customers and give expedia beating examples and choose a Deal of the Day!!

I am getting a lot of questions which have to do with price differences between online companies like expedia and travel agencies like ours.

Very often customers will see a great deal that they find online but find out very quickly that they have to pay for it right away. For example, I had a customer yesterday who just insisted that we give her the same price she sees online but only had enough money to put a deposit down. We had to explain to her that we could could give her the same online price but she has to pay right away. She became very frustrated, and just couldn't seem to understand why this happens. Unfortunately it comes down to money; the big online megastores want your money now because they need it now, and when that happens consumers suffer because they do not get the service to back up the travel purchace. In other words if you have the cash right now and you can pay right now you can get a really good deal and we offer the same deals the online companies do dollar for dollar and sometimes cheaper but we give you service too. You can get the same prices and get the value of the service that we offer at the same time so it's a win-win situation and a partial win for the muti nationals :).

Additionally, (like of the woman I was just talking about above) when you're on a budget that's just not an option, with a company like ours you can put a small deposit down and then pay over time for your trip as money becomes available. In my opinion it's better to put a deposit down if it's not that much more money or the same price and deal with and human being and that way be able to protect your money and your trip. The money is much better working for you, gaining interest in your account, then a mega-multi-national Corp. like Expedia and Travelocity etc. With us very often you can put a deposit down and we still can beat the mega online prices so certainly get in touch with us and let's compare notes and see if we can help you to save money and give you the service you need at the same time.