dw

I just stayed here last week. For the price (which was significantly lower than some of the higher end properties in Wailea), I had a pretty good stay. Service was generally good--everyone was certainly very friendly and you could tell they were all trying--but if I was to be nitpicky, I would say that the service generally lacked the polish you would expect from some other luxury properties.

Housekeeping could definitely use some work-- and one thing I was surprised at was that they all left their carts in the hallway during service; once a cart was almost blocking my door and I had to squeeze around it to get in the room. At a luxury property, I'm accustomed to housekeeping servicing the rooms without you really noticing that they are there.

Since there isn't a whole lot that is nearby, you may find yourself eating and drinking a lot at the hotel. I found the food (both the breakfast buffet and dinner at Terrace) pretty good and was surprised that the prices were at times lower than at the Wailea Marriott I had arrived from-- I appreciated that they don't try to gouge you even though it's more convenient to just eat at the hotel than to drive elsewhere.

Overall, you could see signs that the property ownership was under some financial distress (i.e. cost cutting). Even though there are now only two restaurants serving dinner, they aren't both open every night, so on the nights I was there you had to either eat at Terrace or at the lobby bar. They are switching over to house branded toiletries (presumably as a cost cutting measure), but still have stock of the Asprey toiletries, so I had a mixture of both (and the perfumed Asprey shampoo scent doesn't go at all with the tropical scent of the house brand conditioner). And what was most surprising was that there was no complimentary sunscreen at the pool-- they even had that at the Marriott! The attendant said they used to have it but for some reason were "out" at the time... but he did offer to sell me some.

However, for the rate I paid, I was more than satisfied and would certainly return. I wasn't paying Four Season Wailea prices, and wasn't expecting the same experience.

As for your question about the rooms, the non-club, non-suite room categories are Terrace < Deluxe Resort View < Deluxe Ocean View.

I would not recommend booking Terrace (unless you think you may get an upgrade) as it is described as limited or no view, and I suspect these are the rooms that are on the ground level. Some are located right next to entrances to the wings, so people may be walking past your room a lot, and others are located a few feet lower than the walkways around the pool, so it may feel basement like, and again, people may be walking past your room a lot.

On the other end, Deluxe Ocean View is actually described as a "partial" ocean view-- this is the room category I was upgraded to (had booked an Amex FHR rate), and like so many "ocean view" rooms in Hawaii, if I looked diagonally out the window, I could see a sliver of ocean, so I'm not sure this category of room would be worth the $100/night premium over Resort View.

There is a $25 resort fee, which includes internet but not much else. Parking is $10 for self parking or $18 for valet. There is also a free on demand shuttle-- run by the Kapalua development, not the property-- that will take you around the surrounding area (i.e. if you want to go to a different beach).