ski1stoney

We stayed at the Westin Maui for 5 nights at the end of January. The following is my review:

- This property is currently under renovation. The top three floors of the Ocean tower were closed with the top two under construction. This was something you didnt even notice.

- This was our fourth year staying at this property and we just love it. The first two years I was Gold and we paid to upgrade our rooms to ocean views. The last two years I was Platinum and with both stays...there was a considerable effort made by the front desk employee to make sure we got the best room available. This year, the lady that helped me was able to secure an ocean view room for 3 nights and the luxury suite for the final 2 nights. The luxury suite is over 1,200 sqft and staying there was a great way to end our trip.

- There is a new chef at Tropica (the upper tier restaurant at the Westin) and the food is much better and we had a surprisingly nice meal (no where near as good as the Lahaina Grill...but good).

- With the exception of the dinner service at Tropica. The rest of the food offerings at the Westin are BAD! We try every year in hopes of a different experience...this year, even the chips & salsa were bad...chips were horribly stale! The Hyatt has the Westin beat in regard to food. We went down to the Hyatt twice to get lunch.

turkeyRIOO

Has anyone been successful in reserving a beach tower room using SPG points at booking? I have been able to reserve an ocean tower ocean view but the good tower never seems to be available. I have been upgraded at check-in to a premier deluxe ocean view and a deluxe ocean view as a Gold.

The Westin Maui really is 2 separate resorts as far as the rooms go. The ocean tower rooms seem claustrophobic after being in the beach tower. If you have a Beach tower room and late flight and use a courtesy room, you will be in the ocean tower and get to experience the difference.

Fizzer

Whenever we have had a special request using SPG points we usually phone in to the SPG Reservations line. They have access to more rates than are displayed on spg.com and can often reserve a higher grade room ( for more points usually) than you might have access to. We have done this on a number of occassions, although never at this property.

turkeyRIOO

This is how I have done my bookings at the Westin Maui, I have never been able to get anything better than an ocean view at booking. (default is garden/mountain view)

Fizzer

Fair enough. As I said I have never tried it at this hotel as we stay at the Westin Villas these days.

montreid

Maui Westin either does it completely right or just gets it wrong, and you can’t tell which one you’re going to get.

Front Desk: Our visit was during Easter week and understandably there was a lot of turnover on Saturday when we checked in early and rooms weren’t ready. Gave our phone number and manager would call. 3pm checkin time came and went. No call. Went over 330pm and given 2nd floor parking lot views. A quick check on SPG showed availability all the way through our stay on Superior Oceanviews with 4+ rooms, so that didn’t sit well being a 75night Platinum member. A quick chat online with the platinum desk and a message was left for the desk. The following morning, we checked upfront and Wayne made things whole---moving us up to ocean views for the remainder of the stay. Later in the week though, we had to get the room rekeyed. There was a line of late arrivals (900pm) and the couple if front of me in the Platinum line was told they had to wait 30minutes for their room being not ready. Also, unknowingly to me, they removed the Platinum line sign and the front desk gave this ‘ah, who’s next? And actually said “I’m confused, who’s next?”. It was apparent that the folk in line were already brewing given the late hour, so instead of making a scene, elected to come back another time to rekey—talk about a total hit/miss, but more miss than anything. Overall, the people up front need to explain a little better and clear about their intentions. Edit: Front desk explained: when two people, they remove the sign completely to reduce confusion to those in the queue, but when three, they have the sign up for the Platinum...guess that makes sense to their management?

Housekeeping: Competent, but appears to be extremely understaffed. Clean, efficient when in-room, and able to ascertain your needs for daily use. However, that completely disconnects when you witness room delays at check-in.

Food: Don’t know why people complain. Platinum ‘continental’ buffet has full salad bar, salmon, cold meats included. The hot portion upgrade was $15 and got the standards with omelet station. Kids buffet $15 for everything. Friday dinner was good for $30 prime rib 3course.

Swimming Pool: The JEWEL of Westin. It’s heated…enough for the kids to tolerate for hours on end. In the winter with the tradewinds blowing, I can see the reason for the gripes. But mid-70s and 80s mid-day it was plenty fine—even downright warm after time in the ocean. Poolside service is adequate. Swim towels good and quality towels. Only downer—no real outside Jacuzzi—had go to Spa on 2nd floor for that. Nice, but for the kids to dunk in quickly, would have been nice to have that option in the main pool and really heat up the whirlpool in the cave for that purpose.

Parking: Self parking included in the $30 resort fee, so get your rental car and enjoy Maui to its fullest. Valet comp'd when self is full (usually after 800pm). Minivan parking is tricky...use stalls on the left side (north end of lane) or the far south side of self parking.

McFlyPHL

After a pretty miserable experience here on my last trip where we were given the low floor, parking lot view runaround when all kinds of rooms were available I'm looking at a return trip. Based on the poster above's experience, I'm hesitant to book here.

Can anyone share recent experiences at this property booking with points and/or using suite night upgrades?

Reisen

I stayed there for a couple of nights last week. Had initially booked the Sheraton, but moved to the Westin based off the pool issue (didn't want to risk the pool being closed during my stay).

Booked using points in advance. Standard 12k for a cat 5, then an extra 2500 a night for an ocean view (which I knew meant Ocean Tower Ocean View).

Flew in early in the morning to JHM, rented a car (stupid, didn't need or use it), and got to the property by 10am. There was a line of people checking out, and I seemed to be the only one checking in that early. The front desk clerk was very good and gave great service. I inquired about a beach tower room, and she offered to upgrade me for free to a deluxe ocean view in the beach tower. I saw that the room overlooked Whaler's village, but took it based off the beach tower supposedly being nicer. Further, they let us check in at 10am, which amazed (and delighted) me.

We were on the 5th floor overlooking Whaler's. It's really not much of a view, but you can see the ocean. We also could have seen Black Rock if not for some palm trees completely obscuring it.

I would call the room very standard Westin, but nothing special. Not particularly large, no double-shower head, but fine. Small balcony. Tub/shower.

The pool was good. Not as nice as some other resorts we've been to (Grand Hyatt Kauai), but still good. Water was moderately cold. I was ok, but my wife got chilly every time (this was late May).

As reported, the hot tub was tiny, and there was only one. Pretty stupid, really. Also, as reported, the thing was inferno-level hot.

The grounds are beautiful, but, and I risk getting flamed for saying this, the hotel seems to draw a different crowd than most other *wood properties I'm used to. Certainly very different than the NYC *wood hotels, Westin Kierland, W Scottsdale, St. Regis Princeville, Moana Surfrider, and St Regis Deer Valley (My stays in the last 12 months. I realize those hotels can draw very different crowds themselves). To be honest, I think it's mostly just honeymooners, but I've never seen so many tats in my life. Felt more South Padre Island / Senor Frogs than anything (although, sadly, no wet tee shirt contests or giant bananas being pulled behind boats, at least that I saw). I think a lot of people were there right after college graduation.

The beach was quite good, with some snorkeling right there, and better at Blackrock. Maybe I missed it, but the best snorkeling, by far, is actually just a bit further north, off the Westin Villas' beach.

The fare was about what I expected, which wasn't much. We didn't do Tropica, but stupidly ate at the Marriott (someone had given us a gift certificate) one night, which was even more overpriced for what you got there. At least the drink specials at the Westin were ok, and even better from 3-5 at Leilanis next door ($4 Mai Tai's). Another night we ate at Star Noodle, a few miles away, which was quite good (although very popular).

The golf course you see on the way in to the resorts didn't look that impressive, either.

The one major issue we had was the staffing of the front desk. Literally, every time I needed anything over a 3 day period, you were looking at a minimum of a 5-10 minute wait. That included checking in, checking out, reserving the courtesy room when they couldn't accommodate late-check-out, picking up the courtesy room key at our allotted time, getting a room card replaced that didn't work, and getting security's help in retrieving my wife's swimsuit that blew off our balcony.

Not once did the front desk pick up the phone, despite me letting it ring for 30 seconds or more. We lost 10 minutes of our 30 minute courtesy room time waiting to pick up the key, despite me asking the concierge if anyone else could just grab it for us ("no, you have to wait in line").

A hotel where I have to walk to the front desk anytime I need something, and where I have to wait in long lines every time is not something I expect from a Westin. No separate line for status, and never more than 2 people manning the desk, even though there are 7 computers. Most of the time, a single person was working, with no one at the Japanese check-in counter.

When I complained, I was told this is one of their busiest times of the year. First, I'm not sure if I believe that, but second, all the more reason to properly staff the front desk.

It's not the staff's fault: everyone I spoke to there was very friendly and gave great service. But management is way understaffing this hotel. I'm going to write to guest services directly. I even took a few pictures of the lines of 15+ people waiting.

Two closing thoughts:

- They closed two of the pools one day at 5pm, which was kind of funny given the whole Sheraton thing. Still, they kept 3 open, it was only after 5pm, and it was for a local high school graduation, which I thought was kind of cute.

- While we enjoyed ourselves, and would return if family/friends really wanted to go, I do not think Maui (or at least he Kaanapali area) is for us. As others have written, it felt way more like Waikiki than Kauai did. Very commercialized. I would choose either Poipu or Princeville/Hanalei over Kaanapali. I'm glad I did the Kauai trip first, or it might have soured me on Hawaii a little bit.

ghia74

We are staying for a week in August with our 4 and 7 year olds. Anyone have an experience with the Wailele Luau here? They seem to have a special on geared towards kids as well. I have reserved us spots Old Lahaina Luau as it was better reviewed on Tripadvisor. Just wanted to check the opinion of any FTers. Also curious of any recent experiences with the Westin Kids Club here.

Fizzer

We went to the Luau at the Westin when staying at the villas. Was very, very disappointed compared to our previous time at the Old Lahaina. Didn't notice anything geared towards kids ( except the "Samoan" fire dancers perhaps ) whereas at Old Lahaina our kids loved some of the pre luau activities.

Without kids in tow the Feast at Lele was the best IMHO.

controller1

While we did not see anything special for kids, we thought it was the best luau we had attended. My TripAdvisor review is here: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...i.html#REVIEWS

Travel Pro

I have to say when my wife booked the Old Lahaina Luau I thought it was going to be a touristy nightmare. However, I was pleasantly surprised. It was so well run, the chow was vg (I mostly concentrated on the excellently prepared roasted pig). Also, the show was really good as well as the service. Overall a great time and highly recommended.

I didn't go to the luau at the Westin, but walked by it one night and on the surface it didn't seem like it stacked up to the Old Lahaina... can't really say though.

sarah9228

My husband and I checked into the Westin Maui Resort & Spa on Sunday, July 14, 2013, two days earlier than planned (under two separate reservations). This trip was our honeymoon and we used points for the whole stay, totaling 96,000 points and we took advantage of the 5th night free. I am not one to complain, in fact, I don’t recall ever complaining at a Starwood property because I always receive kind service and a clean room. However, this property was the worst Starwood property I’ve stayed at and is severely lacking in customer service. Every day we were a guest we were inconvenienced in some way by the hotel staff. I’ve categorized the good and bad below. Please save your hard earned points and heed my advice: do not stay at this property.

The GOOD:
Concierges: Mat and Brian were the only two helpful hotel staff we came across during our stay. Both men provided excellent recommendations for sightseeing and dining. Mat and Brian treated us as loyal guests who truly wanted us to enjoy our honeymoon on Maui.

Pools: The pools are really well maintained and have lush landscaping to provide enough shade from the strong sun rays. It was really nice they had an adult pool option since it is mostly a family resort and the little kids seemed to love the pool and slides.

Luau: The luau was very entertaining and the food and drinks were good. It had a nicely stocked bar and the buffet wasn’t bad. They also arranged the seating well so that everyone could see the show.

The BAD:

Access to the guest relations manager (GRM): Like I said, I really don’t complain, but you will see below that I had plenty of reasons to. On my second full day, Tuesday morning, I walked down to the front desk and requested to speak with the GRM. The front desk said he was in a meeting but that he would call me. At lunch time I checked again. This time they told me he was busy with the construction going on (clearly, they put guests as their top priority). So I checked in again early evening since I still had not received a phone call, and they apologized again but he was busy. That evening while I was at dinner (sometime between 7:00 & 900PM), the GRM finally called and left me a voicemail asking me to call him back that evening. The last thing I wanted to do at after dinner at 9:00PM was call the GRM back who finally got around to calling me. The next morning I went to the front desk and asked to see the GRM. My husband and I waited for about 10 minutes until she finally came out. We discussed our issues, but she didn’t do much other than offer to waive the $30 a day resort fee and bring someone upstairs to fix our TV.

Check in: We arrived around noon on Sunday and had no expectation our room would be ready. However, the front desk said they would rush our room as a platinum guest and we would receive a phone call when it was ready. Around 3:00PM we followed up and they indicated it would be ready in 30 minutes and would call our number. By 4:15 we had not heard from anyone so I stood in line to check on it again and they said it was ready. So much for a phone call.

Room placement: I understand we had two reservations for the stay, but there was no effort made to find us one room for the duration of our stay. We were also told there were no ocean front rooms available.

Our first reservation for two nights was made last minute, but still I would not expect to be put next to an elevator as a 75+ night platinum guest. All night for the two nights in that room we heard the elevator going up and down the shaft. So much for restful uninterrupted sleep .

The second reservation was made nearly a year in advance and I used 5 suite night awards. At check in I was told they were not able to accommodate our suite nights, but that we would be upgraded to an ocean view premium deluxe room on the fourth floor. So…basically a hotel room with a few extra square feet that if you crank your neck you can see the ocean.

While we did not have the sound of elevators at night, our second room was over the Ono Grill restaurant. We slept with the patio doors open to let in the breeze (the rooms were incredibly warm) and every morning around 6:00AM we would be awakened to the clanking sound of the servers sorting silverware. It was an awful noise to wake up to.

So I spent 32,000 points for an ocean view hotel room by the elevator, and 64,000 points on an ocean view 4th floor hotel room with free morning wake up calls by the servers downstairs.

Housekeeping/Maintenance: Tuesday morning my husband and I were told to pack up our bags in the morning and the hotel would transfer them to our new room when the room is ready. We just completed packing and our phone rang around 9:00AM. It was the maintenance department who needed in our room to look for a leaking shower. We were on our way out to the pools but I let him in. Sure enough, our room was the culprit of the leaky shower and our bathroom was out of commission until 3:00 that afternoon as maintenance guys fixed the leak. No apology, no real warning other than a phone call inviting themselves in, nothing.

After housekeeping barged in the day before, I put the deadbolt on after the maintenance guys left. Approximately 10 minutes later, I was sitting outside on the porch reading while my husband napped when I heard someone trying to open the door with the bolt latched. They were persistent in trying to open the door and I ran over, opened the door, and said, Excuse me?? They apologized because they thought we were no longer in the room and asked to see the fixed shower. I have no idea why they needed to see it, but whatever.

Don’t forget this was the day our second room was supposed to be ready. After checking on the room twice (the second time just before 3:00PM), the hotel staff assured us they would transfer our bags when the room was ready. At 4:45 as I was boarding a sunset sail the hotel called and said our room was ready. It would have been nice to have a time frame because it was annoying having to live out of a suitcase all day.

Dust: The hotel rooms are incredibly dusty. When we checked into the first room there was dust all over the TV stand. Then after staying in the rooms and leaving a water bottle out overnight, it was evident how quick the dust accumulated and coated the bottle. For someone with severe environmental allergies and on two medications, I spent the first hour or so of every morning with a nasty feeling in my throat.

Breakfast: We opted for the continental breakfast as our platinum amenity (the only platinum treatment we got all stay). Save yourself the stale cereal and dry muffins. When I complained the GRM said she was surprised to hear that because there is a bakery on-site and she suggested I grabbed a bad croissant. I really had nothing to say other than try them yourself.

Phones: In our first room, the automatic dial features on the phone did not work, so we had to dial “0” for all our requests and ask to be transferred. We asked to have this fixed but it never fixed was over the course of the two days. It was annoying because every time we called down we had to be transferred and were placed on hold for significant periods of time.

TV: The TV in our second room did not work, and so we called the evening we checked in when we realized it. We were promised someone would be up to fix it. Two days later someone finally came, only after I complained to the GRM.

Wine glasses: Ok maybe this is trivial but every Westin I’ve stayed in always has wine glasses. Every day we had to call down to room service to have them bring up wine glasses for the free bottle of wine they gave us for our honeymoon. Usually this would require two calls before they finally arrived. At one point the room service guy broke a wine glass in our room, so we had to have housekeeping come vacuum the floor while we waited for a second glass.

Late check out: Finally on the last day all I wanted was a late checkout. We had a 9PM red-eye and I really wanted to be able to get in a full day at the pool and shower before we left. Of course they could only accommodate a 2PM checkout since they were at capacity due to the construction, but the GRM offered the spa to us. I asked her what that meant, and she said there were 3 showers in the spa we could use if we wanted to. So basically that would mean we would give the bellman our luggage in the meantime, cart it up to the spa to shower, and then leave…no thanks. My last request at the hotel went unfulfilled as did all the others. So much for platinum amenities.


So bottom line – I spent 96,000 points, all of which were earned by hotel stays and not credit card points, and the only apology I got was to reimburse me the six days of resort fee. While it was a nice gesture, it does not compare to the inconveniences I experienced on my honeymoon that I had saved my points for.

Please do not stay here, and I encourage Starwood to take a good review of this hotel to align it with its brand of service.

DCF

I feel genuinely sorry for Sarah9228's ruined honeymoon, and some of the service issues she endured are totally unacceptable.

But it was a terrible idea to use Starpoints and attempted SNAs for a honeymoon at that hotel, especially during the southern hemisphere winter holidays.

Firstly, those of us familiar with this board know that the standard award rooms are just terrible at the Westin Maui (the ones with a view of the parking lot and no closet). In actual fact, they got a room above Ono restaurant which means that they were upgraded from the usual award inventory in the ocean tower to the beach tower with the better rooms (including a closet!). Realistically, that was as good as it was going to get.

Secondly, while the US economy in general is going badly, Hawaiian hotel occupancy is very high because tourism from Australia and New Zealand is going through the roof. And this trip was scheduled slap-bang in the middle of the New Zealand winter school holidays and at the end of the main Australian ones. The chances of a better upgrade, let alone fulfillment of SNAs, was minimal.

Thirdly, this property is a resort. Platinums are not entitled to a late checkout. I always fly out of Hawaii on a late night flight (I have to fly out of HNL because I live in Australia) and I invariably book an extra night wherever I'm staying so that I can keep my room, my safe, my shower etc, etc. I had the same problem at St Regis Monarch Beach last week: my bags were left outside on a trolley all day and while I was allowed to shower in the spa, my kids had to shower at the "pool showers" OUTSIDE the restrooms.

Fourthly, the Westin Maui is not a luxury resort by any means. The only genuinely luxurious Starwood property with top-notch customer service in the islands is the St Regis Princeville, and that is blighted by excessive rain. The issue of "room placement" is an interesting one. Should the hotel give its crummiest rooms to people who are actually paying for a room or to people on award stays who have status earned elsewhere? That debate could go on forever!

As someone who owns at the Westin Kaanapali Villas and probably averages 15-20 paid Starwood hotel nights in Hawaii each year, these are the rules I operate by:

1. View Hawaii as a destination for earning Starpoints, not burning them. The 35% off rack plus 5th or 6th night free usually allows access to a good room category at a less scary price, while allowing heavy earning, and is almost always the way to go, especially as it's often linked to double or even triple Starpoints.
2. Don't book a lower category room than you would be prepared to occupy, because high occupancy levels mean that upgrades just can't be assumed to be likely. If you book an award stay, make sure that you have read all about the base room category, because you're probably going to have to occupy one of those rooms.
3. View SNA's as a "maybe but unlikely".
4. Never, ever expect a late checkout. If you're on a late flight, buy another night.
5. Don't just consider the US school holidays when you book. Make sure that you steer clear of Japan's Golden Week and also don't book without first checking out the Australian and New Zealand school holidays.

beofotch

Wow, thank you for the thorough review! ^^^