Great visit!
Just returned from 1 week at the Kea Lani. It was heaven.
- Thanks to the above posters for their alert re. the special rate. I printed my reservation confirmation the night before leaving. Turns out there was no problem honoring the special rate nor with my free night certificate I redeemed, but always better to be safe than sorry.
- The staff were excellent, consistent with my best Fairmont experiences, and many remembered us from day to day and made an effort to say hi by name.
- The construction situation is so well-managed that it was minimally noticeable. Ironically, my partner and I went on this vacation to get away from our home-renovation project! (The staff really got a kick out of hearing that.) Work was mainly down in one of the courtyards, next to the pool area. It was walled off. We overlooked it from our 6th floor lanai (along with an amazing view). Work never started before 9:30 and was always done before 5:00, so typically when you'd be out and about. The main noise was the back-up beeper from the bulldozer down there. If you were on the beach, you couldn't even hear it. One wing of our floor was closed off for work, but we couldn't hear a thing. They warned us of construction noise in the spa when booking spa services, but we couldn't hear a thing during our massages.
- Ko restaurant proper is closed (for the renovation), but the Ko staff serves the Ko menu in the Kea Lani breakfast restaurant, so it's the same awesome food in a more casual setting. The food was remarkable (and we're foodies), so we'll definitely eat there again when we return. Service at Ko was excellent, including realizing the jet lag hit us out of nowhere during our appetizer-course and speeding up the meal to light-speed so we didn't fall asleep in our food!
- They are apparently having record occupancy during what is otherwise a very slow season, given the special rates. Reservations for Ko aren't a bad idea, and plan spa sessions in advance.
Yes, it was still a vacation from our home-renovation!
We are already talking about when to go back!