Most travelers (and locals, for that matter) prefer to stay at branded hotel properties. It's like eating at Mickey D's instead of some unknown, untested local burger joint. Except its a lot more expensive so why risk it? Enter the Internet, where information gets easy and cheap and you can find pictures of everything. The risks of getting a really bad hotel or condo have gone down markedly in the age of blogs, email and Flickr.

Which means, the off-brand discount is overdone and bargains that were a crapshoot before are now far more certain. Witness the Park Shore Waikiki Hotel. It's totally off-brand, relatively unheralded in TripAdvisor (which is, naturally, somewhat brand biased) and undercovered by the travel media. It also happens to sit on a magical spot in Waikiki at the top of Kapahulu Avenue where corner rooms can have views of the Pacific Ocean and Diamond Head as well as the green expanse of Kapiolani Park. It's close to some of the better beaches in Waikiki (read: more popular with locals). Rooms are on the small side. Decor is not great. However, some rooms have been renovated fairly recently and are a bargain. And the average price of this hotels is $129 per night with the very best rooms going for less than $350 per night. That's shockingly low compared to bigger, branded resorts where $350 per night gets you a room with a view of a construction site or a parking garage. So, the moral? Figure out the best location and look for the off-brand hotels inhabiting that location. Book cheaply and wisely. A hui hou!

Related Posts: Hilton Hawaii Village Review

Image via Expedia

—Alex, 12/28/06