Originally Posted by pokee

I'm in the same boat as you - booked a 2 Queen Makai mountain side room - but I'm paying with cold hard cash (groan). I thought about switching to a Hale Ike room, but then I remembered reading reviews that the Makai building location was just better/more convenient.

What I'm thinking of doing is selecting the e-upgrade to Makai oceanside for $62 (not a bad deal considering the Oceanside Makai room rates are currently $100+ more than my booked rate). But, I'm not sure if I want an ocean view that badly - especially considering I'm Canadian and I'm gonna get stuck paying another 35-40% extra on top of the exorbitant amount I'm already paying...

Originally Posted by ksyrah

Nothing special - Just updated rooms. When I was there a couple of weeks ago, even the Makai seating area around the Kona pool seemed to have disappeared. It was abused anyway.......

Originally Posted by pokee

Thanks! That helps. I called, and of course the desk clerk was very non-committal in saying she thought it should be okay to have the bikes in the rooms or on the lanai...

Originally Posted by Eddie98

Wish I could've seen this flash sale. We really want to go to Maui but this would have been worth it.

Originally Posted by Passion4Points

My husband rents an expensive bike to ride every time we stay. He always has walked it through the property, up the elevator, and into the room, where it stays when not in use. We've never had a problem and he has done this many times. We won't even leave it on the Lanai as it would be several thousand dollars to replace and we just don't want to take any risk with it. So, no worries, you're fine.

Originally Posted by Passion4Points

Feel bad I didn't see this in a timely manner. In the future, know that you can cancel your original reservation (assuming you did not book the non-refundable rooms) Make sure you are signed up for email notifications and watch for better offers before your stay. They just had a Flash Sale that offered some excellent values on this property. You could have snagged exactly what you wanted for quite a bit less and then cancelled your original reservation without penalty. Also, be sure to sign up for all of the various bonus offers through the HH website that they have right now. Log into your Hilton Honors account and look under the offers tab. Current ones that have come to my e-mail or are available in my HH account are 1000 bonus points when using your American Express, 10,000 points for a two night stay, and I'm sure that there are other targeted ones via e-mail. One thing you can pretty much count on nowadays at the Hilton Waikoloa, is that you will not be upgraded at the front desk - even as a Diamond. I used to have pretty good luck prior to a couple of years ago. Oh the stories I could tell about my last visit in January. However, if you don't like your room or do find something "wrong with it", and would really like to be upgraded without paying, go complain about something to the Hilton Honors desk. They guarantee to "make it right" which they did for me (Asphalt room in the Lagoon Tower (seriously the WORST room I've ever been in) to the Ocean and Lagoon view). Hope this helps - at least for next time.

Originally Posted by Passion4Points

Completely agree with that. When we were there a few months ago, there were no towels set out on the chairs like their had been previously. There was no increased service. And, there were plenty of guests who did not have the "Makai" wrist band on. I honestly wondered how that was going to work when they first rolled it out. It really is a joke now.

Originally Posted by Passion4Points

We did stay at the Grand Wailea, the only property that you could use your Hilton points on in Maui, and although the rooms and beach were nice, we really didn't like staying there. It had a very stuffy feeling-- not relaxed at all. Everything is overpriced. All the staff we came in contact with were really very aloof acting. The pools were jam packed like a can of sardines. The pool area was not monitored or picked up like one would expect for such a hotel. I also didn't like having to wait in very long lines for the valet, because self parking wasn't an option. Now I am typically not one to judge, but the vibes of eliteness given off was so obvious one could not simply ignore it. Unless you're into that kind of thing, you may have a similar feeling about this property. I know many people think it is all that -- which is what we thought also before we stayed there. I won't stay there again. And as far as points redemptions go, it is outrageous from what I can see right now. You could use your two free night certificates from the Citi Hilton Reserve Visa card, or your annual certificate with 10,000 spend to get a feel for it. I just would not spend that many points on it if it were me.

Originally Posted by little_dc

Just checked in today 2 rooms oceanside Makai. Really looks like they have given up on this concept but still charging for it. My rooms were both not very clean... dusting must not come with Makai. I watched the Makai promo video on their webpage and I asked myself where the hell is all that. More to come later in a full report. This is my 4th time at this hotel and it is falling apart in my eyes.

Originally Posted by little_dc

Ok quick review of my Makai room. This is my 3rd time at this hotel in the past 120 days, first time in Makai. They market Makai as an upgraded room and experience. There is a video on the hotels webpage showing all you "get" with a Makai room. I would have to say the video is far from the truth.

The arrival - Went to the Makai desk, there was a guy sitting there, he looked up and said "Are you staying Makai?" I said yes. "Give me 10 min I have to make a call or just use the front desk". Went to the front desk and was treated like anyone else, the video online shows hot towels and someone walking you to your room. Ha not even close!


The room - We had 2 ocean front rooms 3328 and 3329 connecting rooms, one with a king bed the other 2 queens. The king room has a glass shower and the 2 queens had a tub with curtain. The queen room had a wonderful mildew smell from the curtain. Both rooms were not as clean as you would think at a Hilton. Mostly not from a room this hotel markets as upscale!

Makai rooms list upgraded bed sheets. Both rooms had 1 pillow case that was like the bedding show in the video. The rest of the sheets were standard hilton sheets.


Both rooms had miss match of bath towels and they were very warn. One would think Makai would have nice towels that match.


The bathroom had a sliding glass door that was dusty and nasty.



Also nasty shower heads in both rooms


Here are some other photos from around the rooms





Now for the special area for Maiki guest around the pool. Here is a side by side what the video shows and what you get

When asking a pool side server about that Makai area that on the video has cushions, towels and special service, they told us, "we do not do that anymore, you can pay to rent one"

I also noticed a lack of care by the staff. Some dirty pool towels were left outside the elevators. They were there for over 24 hours. I watched over 10 Hilton staff just walk on by them.


The Food - We did carry out pizza and salad from the Hotel pizza place. The pizza was $24 and was like school cafeteria food. The salad was $9 and here is what you get.


I was shocked how bad this stay was. My past 2 stays were in the Ocean tower and were not that bad. This was the upgraded tower. The service was bad and the room was not clean in my eyes.

As of April 1st the long time GM left this hotel to become the new GM of the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Oahu. The hotel is without a GM, I guess that could be a reason why things are not great on this stay. But many of the cleaning issues with our rooms were long term issues.

I will have a hard time going back to this hotel and will never do Makai.

Originally Posted by Passion4Points

I would choose to spend my points at the Hilton Waikoloa Village if it were me. We did stay at the Grand Wailea, the only property that you could use your Hilton points on in Maui, and although the rooms and beach were nice, we really didn't like staying there. It had a very stuffy feeling-- not relaxed at all. Everything is overpriced. All the staff we came in contact with were really very aloof acting. The pools were jam packed like a can of sardines. The pool area was not monitored or picked up like one would expect for such a hotel. I also didn't like having to wait in very long lines for the valet, because self parking wasn't an option. Now I am typically not one to judge, but the vibes of eliteness given off was so obvious one could not simply ignore it. Unless you're into that kind of thing, you may have a similar feeling about this property. I know many people think it is all that -- which is what we thought also before we stayed there. I won't stay there again. And as far as points redemptions go, it is outrageous from what I can see right now. You could use your two free night certificates from the Citi Hilton Reserve Visa card, or your annual certificate with 10,000 spend to get a feel for it. I just would not spend that many points on it if it were me. There are great redemption values at Hilton Waikoloa, especially if you are Diamond and stay a certain number of nights.

Originally Posted by little_dc

Update- The hotel did make things right after I emailed them. I was called by the acting GM and he ensured me the rooms we had were due for a heavy clean and it was clear there we some issues. He was clearly worried about these issues. He also told me he would look into the services for Maiki.