If you don't plan on going on any activities with tour companies, then skip this entry. It's targeted at people who are going to be on the island for a few days and want to do things like ride helicopters, go on sunset/snorkel/dinner cruises, play golf, take guided hikes, or do anything else that involves paying a guide or tour company.
On the Big Island, most of the activities are very expensive. For example, a helicopter ride for 1h40min is $340/person. Golf is $145/person. Guided hikes are about $100/person. The list goes on and the prices are all very high.
The catch is that all of the tour companies work with the people that sell timeshares to funnel the discounts through agents f
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On the Big Island, most of the activities are very expensive. For example, a helicopter ride for 1h40min is $340/person. Golf is $145/person. Guided hikes are about $100/person. The list goes on and the prices are all very high.
The catch is that all of the tour companies work with the people that sell timeshares to funnel the discounts through agents for the primary purpose of getting you to go through the whole timeshare sales pitch. We were unable to score any discounts through other means, including our hotel concierge. He said "go look at a timeshare".
Once you decide to view a timeshare, most activities become half-off, even if you don't actually BUY the timeshare. It's the age-old game of getting you to look and listen that they are paying you for. So, as much as we didn't want to do it, we agreed to go hear the schpiel.
Here's what we did:
(1) We arrived at the Big Island and talked to our concierge about activities. He explained how the activities worked and how they are nearly all attached to timeshare-viewing.
(2) We went to the Activities Booth in the Kings Shops. We got the list of available discounts we would be eligible for after viewing the timeshare. The list was long, and included plenty of activities of all types (helicopters, hikes, cruises, golf, luaus, etc. etc. etc).
(3) We left the booth to think about it - we reviewed the list and decided that we would, in fact, save hundreds of dollars by viewing the timeshare.
(4) We went back to the booth and signed up to see a timeshare. We went over to the Bay Club (Hilton) about a mile away and met with a salesman.
(5) This is the step where most people have to go on an hour-long tour of a one or two bedroom condo. If you have no interest in buying, you simply say NO about a dozen times and you're done. If you DO want to buy...well, I have no advice for you there because I've never bought one of these things. For us, we got lucky: we told our salesman that we were on our honeymoon, and he short-circuited the whole process and we were done in 15 minutes (he explained that he KNOWS honeymooners don't buy timeshares, and he was smart enough and kind enough to save us all the time).
(6) After the schpiel, you go to the Bay Club concierge to book your activities. We booked everything we did for the next six days through this concierge - all at half-off or close to it.
(7) You don't have to book all at once or immediately. We decided a day later to book another round of golf. We called the Bay Club up, gave them our name, and they set us up at half-price.
(8) They are undoubtedly making a little bit of a cut every time you book a discounted activity, so you don't have to be bashful about "taking advantage" of the system. They know what they are doing. They sell a lot of timeshares even if YOU say no.
As it turns out, everybody on our helicopter and most of the people on our cruises had done the same thing. I honestly think the "system" was different on the Big Island, but for now, timeshare viewing is about the only way (without some other sort of inside connection) to fair prices on these activities.
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