Cascadia

Your property is worthy of the Westin brand. I toured through there last week and was impressed. What is a "rack rate" price for Xmas week there. Last week I was unable to get in.


My main point is that if *wood wants to keep customer loyality in Hawaii then they must improve most of their properties and service levels asap. I can pay @$400 for the FS or the Fairmont and always feel appreciated (and have a 5 star fantastic vacation). I have felt ripped off at the Surf Rider paying $150. I never complain about price when the service and value are consistant. $650 should have been spectacular.

tommy777

They got to you, eh..

Stayed at this property for our honey moon in October, I was SPG Gold at the time.
I booked an ocean view room for 395 USD pr. night + resort fee and taxes. I was upgraded to an Ocean Front (over the Spa). Awesome view. At check in, they were informed about this being our honey moon, there was a bottle of "Champagne" and strawberries waiting in the room. But there was running water out of the in wall air conditioner and the floor was all wet... I called reception and they only had crappy rooms available, but if I stayed in that room, they would get me a nicer one the next day. The first night was free and I got breakfast for free for the entire stay (which was good since they charged 25 USD pr. person for the very ordinary buffet) The next day, we moved to a bigger room further up with the same view, wasn't a suite, though.

The 18 USD resort fee covered internet, parking, 2 bottles of water daily etc. The parking lot gets full every night, a lot is reserved for valet. Since you pay for parking that wasn't available, I had issues with paying for valet. I talked to the reception stating I didn't want to pay the resort fee for parking that was never available, they took valet off the bill without any problem for the entire stay, they were used people reacting to that.

What I liked about the property:
SPG elites got towels for the pool brought to the room the night before with turn down service (nice chocolate and flowers every day) along with the pool bracelet.
Great Spa and work out facilities, not very pricey.
A lot of pools and no problems finding a great seat at the adult pool any time of the day
SPG manager reception was awesome! Lots of drinks, lots of good finger food

What I didn't like about the property:
VERY expensive (like the rest of Maui) mediocre food. But there are good restaurants right next door.
"Concierges" (time share sales persons, actually) really bugged us until my wife told them where they could put the 7500 SPG points + 50% rack rate voucher they offered us to go on the 90 minute presentation.
These "concierges" were useless for anything else than selling real estate. We wanted to go on a day trip to HNL and wanted a little info on flying there. Nada. They didn't know squat. So I was allowed to use my computer to figure it out.

Besides that, I thought the property was fine and I would definitely go back, but I would not pay more than 300 a night to stay there..

shar161

$650 is a crazy price for a Westin, and I'm a fairly loyal Starwood member. We're staying there one night on points before we check into our Westin timeshare up the road during spring break.

freeupgrade

$650 for a nightly rate at ANY Westin is HIGHWAY ROBBERY...

couscous

Twice !

jnswinnipeg

In two weeks my wife and I are going for 7 nights on points.

This hotel has the most mixed reviews I have ever read on TripAdvisor.

Anyone else who has been there recently have anything to add???

adgtravel

Just back from a 5 night award stay and will never go back!!! We took our 19 yr old son and were charged 65$ a night extra for him, plus the resort fee (17$ I think). I have a real problem with paying extra on an award stay!!! It should be a free room, not just for 2 people! This is one time I regretted being honest, I should have said our son was 17!!! The resort fee is a joke, the only benefit to us was 2 bottles of water a day! The room was so small with the roll away, we had less than 12 inches between furniture! They refused to upgrade us to Beach tower as a gold. The doors to every room made a lot of noise when shutting, don't plan on sleeping in at this hotel. We could even hear the people talking in next room! We stayed at 4 hotels in Hawaii, and this was our worst stay! We had just left the Princeville, now that is a nice hotel!!!! Westin in Maui could learn alot from them! Hotel and beach were very crowded, it is right next to Whalers Village. Starwood lurkers, if you are listening, we are treated much better from Hilton. We joined SPG because it has some wonderful Luxury hotels in the world, but a few nice stays (Danielle and Princeville are top notch) don't make it worth it. And with the upcoming change in starpoints at most hotels (it seems), we will be giving up SPG. Hilton has a more well rounded program IMHO.

daddcap

I stayed at the Westin Maui this past November and loved it. As a plat I was upgraded to a suite in the beach tower. The room was fantastic, not worn. The staff was great and I love the location right next to Whalers village. I also walked down to the Sheraton and thoght that it was very nice as well. But being so close to Whalers was a big advantage for me. The beach at the Sheraton was much nicer but the bech at the Westin was smaller but very usable. We mostly hung out at the pool and it was a very quick walk to jump in the ocean since the beach was narrower than the Sheratons. next time back I am going back to the Westin. Having said all that I would not pay over $350 a night, I used points for our stay.

CutStyle

People seem to be confusing the Westin Maui and the Westin Kaanapali.

Westin Maui bad, Westin Kaanapali good.

The Westin Maui is undergoing a slow overhaul - new deck chairs, new spa, new restaurants so far, but it is progressing too slowly. The rooms are generally small and feel dated. The hotel is often overcrowded and underserviced - dirty common areas, no early checkin because they can't get the rooms clean in time etc. It has problems like running out of towels and broken elevators.

I've stayed there more than a few times since 2000, but any stays in that area now will go to the Sheraton or Hyatt.

jiggs

Okay - cold feet time...I have an award stay booked at the Westin Maui coming up the first full week of Feb. I'm reading the reviews on FT and some other sites and the reviews are dramitically contrasting. The Sheraton 2 doors down was booked when I booked this award, and after reading some recent reviews I begining to think I shouldn't have 'settled' for the Westin.

I am Gold, but I'm not prepared for much other than a standard no-view room. Is the hotel as bad as some people claim or are only those with bad experiences posting? My wife and I always seem to make the best of the situtation, so I'm hoping that will hold true here as well. The grounds look nice, we never really eat in our hotels anyway b/c we like to try more local fare when traveling. Many hotel resturants come across as overpriced for what you get many times.

So, should I be looking to make other plans or stay here with my points? If the room is small, I can deal with that, but I'd like it to be clean and updated. I could care less about the timeshare people since most people think we're too young to afford such things, how wrong they are, but I'm not complaining.

Comments about "this hotel shouldn't carry the Westin name" and so fourth are scaring me off!

Help!

travelovingnurse

We just stayed for 9 nights at the Westin Maui over Christmas on an award stay. This was our 4th stay there. We love it. We requested one of the newly renovated rooms. Yes, the award rooms in the older part of the hotel are small, but they have made some great improvements in the newly renovated rooms like a new flat screen television, larger armoire for hanging clothes, new carpet, heavenly beds with new mattresses, etc. We love the Westin and especially love the adult pool. We sat at the adult pool and could see the humpback whales breeching and surfacing out in the ocean. We love its location near Whalers Village. The grounds are gorgeous and I think the staff is wonderful. We are SPG Gold and there is a nice manager's reception weekly for gold and platinum members. The hotel was sold out, so there was no upgrade, but we were very happy with the newly renovated room. There is a great view of the West Maui Mountains from the award rooms.

We have stayed at the Sheraton Maui also and really liked it, but the Westin is our first choice. I hope you have a good experience. We certainly have no complaints with this hotel. We adore it and cannot wait to return.

thaliajen

You'll love it! I was only Gold when I went years ago (been plat for almost 4 years now) and was there when a Plat arrived and very rudely suggested that she deserved an upgrade to a suite and she and her hubby were leaving for another hotel. I was next in line and was requesting an upgrade to a suite b/c it was our anniversary. The clerk was pretty angry b/c of the person in front of me and I just said "I overheard that you have no upgrades available and that's all I wanted to know." I was polite and smiled, and the clerk told me they had specialty suites if I wanted to pay more. I chose one that was 100 dollars a night more and when we switched rooms, our jaws dropped. She had given us the nicest suite I'd ever been in and it was NOT the one I'd paid 100 more for. In fact, when she had shown me the fold-out of the suites with photos and details, I'd salivated over that suite, but it was WAYYY beyond our budget. She gave it to us anyway. The bathroom was larger than most living rooms!

But basically, you're not spending much time in the room when at Westin Maui. It is STILL my all-time favorite hotel. Granted, the suite helped, but we could've been in a closet and still enjoyed the pools and the ocean, the Whaler's village and all the gorgeous landscaping and tropical birds and fish ponds- it was gorgeous! And if you really want a better room, I suggest asking how much it would cost to upgrade. When I did, they showed me a fold-out of suites and rooms and as I mentioned, they gave us a much better suite than I paid for. I also find that in Hawaii, they ask if you are celebrating anything special. If you're near a birthday or anniversary, I would mention it, they might give you an upgrade.

I will say that during another stay I found the staff to be rather rude, but that was just me. It didn't affect our stays and even today, my hubby tells people about that hotel. In fact, I am redeeming points, too, but in Puerto Vallarta, and I'm jealous that you're going to Maui Westin, LOL! Really, it's an amazing property- there is not much that can bring your stay down if you're looking to relax by the pools and enjoy the setting. We went to Honolulu on our 1st trip and it didn't seem like Hawaii. Maui defintely DID feel like Hawaii, and the Westin was the nicest place we've ever vacationed.

While I am certain that you're very nice, I recommend to everyone going to this hotel to be OVERLY EXTREMELY nice when checking in. I've found that really friendly behavior works better at this hotel than people expecting upgrades or already sure that their room is going to be bad. The desk clerks seemed to have little fits when people mentioned SPG status and upgrades- you could see it in their eyes. And they will explain the resort rule, the one that says we don't get the 4pm check-out. Still, they have a hospitality suite so you can stay and enjoy the pool and then change in the suite. We found it useful.

In any case-Have a Blast!

stevens397

jiggs-

If you can't have a great time staying at this hotel for free, you should use your remaining points for some serious counseling!

Just keep teling yourself that the room is free and that you're with loved ones in Hawaii. It'll be great.

jiggs

thank you both for you quick responses. Its nice to know that there are people who like this property. Many of the bad reviews I read were from people that seemed to be turned off by one thing and not looking at the big pitcure. It will be my wife's birthday the day we arrive so maybe I'll try to play that card. The hotel is not at capacity at this time and has quite a variety of rooms.

Can I pay to upgrade an award stay? I've never really inquired about it before.

Thanks again for the feedback.

sambo2443

Jiggs don't go!! Gift you award stay to me and I'll put up with this Westin in your place. Hate to see you have a bad stay. This much I would do for you, being the nice guy that I am!