Hilton has a new resort on Kauai, and there’s a pretty good reason to consider using points to stay there.
Hale Hōkūala Kauaʻi, Curio Collection by Hilton opened October 2. It’s the Curio Collection brand’s first property in Hawaii.
The newly built resort has 210 rooms overlooking Nāwiliwili Bay near Kalapakī Beach and Līhuʻe Airport (LIH). There are 23 suites, a pool, access to a full-service spa, tennis and pickleball courts, more than five miles of trails, and preferred tee times at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Ocean Course at Hōkūala.
There’s also a cultural program developed with local organizations and practitioners, two restaurants, and plenty of outdoor space across the wider Hōkūala resort community.
That’s the resort. What caught our attention, though, was the price.
Standard Rooms Are Wide Open With Points
Hale Hōkūala currently has standard rooms available for 120,000 Hilton Honors points across a wide range of dates. Really, as far as the eye can see.
That’s a lot of points for one night. But then again, this isn’t a cheap resort.
Around the Christmas holiday, for example, we found a Resort View room with one king bed for an Honors Discount rate of $689.08. Add $48 in fees and $137.91 in taxes and government charges, and the total comes to $874.99 for one night.
Or you can snag the same room for 120,000 points.
There’s an important Hilton Honors benefit working in favor of the points rate, too. At participating hotels with resort fees, Hilton waives those fees on stays booked entirely with points or using an eligible free night reward.
The “entirely” part matters a lot. A Points & Money booking doesn’t get the same treatment.
And skipping the resort fee doesn’t mean skipping what comes with it. Hale Hōkūala’s $48 daily resort charge includes internet access, cultural activities, bicycle rentals, beach gear, an hour of tennis or pickleball court time with equipment, lawn games, refillable water bottles, and reef-safe sunscreen. Those benefits are still included on an eligible points or free-night stay.
Free night rewards play here as well. Some Hilton credit cards offer them as an ongoing benefit or, at times, as part of a welcome offer. Since eligible rewards can be used when a standard room is available, all of this availability makes Hale Hōkūala a potentially useful place to redeem one.
More on This: How to Search for Hotels with PointsYeah
Buying Hilton Points Can Work, Too
If you don’t have Hilton points, you’re not out of luck.
Hilton regularly sells Honors points with a bonus. During its better promotions, the price can drop to 0.5 cents per point. At that price, buying 120,000 points would cost $600.
Against the $874.99 Christmas-period rate we found, that’s a difference of nearly $275 for one night.
That doesn’t mean buying Hilton points is always worth it. Points sales come and go, cash rates change, and there’s no guarantee all of this (consistent) 120,000-point availability will stick around.
The better method is to find the room first and do the math from there. Anyone who already has some Hilton points would need to buy fewer, while still booking the stay entirely with points to get the resort fee waived.
And there’s one more opportunity for longer stays. Hilton Honors elite members (of any tier, so Silver and above) get the fifth night free on qualifying stays booked entirely with points.
Five nights at the 120,000-point standard rate would therefore cost 480,000 points instead of 600,000.
For a new Kauai resort where cash rates can climb toward $900 per night, there’s a pretty good case for checking the points price before paying cash.
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