Just back from my trip to Maui.
At check-in at the hotel, they were not able to give me an upgrade. We were given a room at the main tower with a room on the 4th floor (really 2nd floor) overlooking the lobby. Room was partial ocean view but lacked privacy without the curtains closed. Since we didn't spend much time in the room, didn't care as much.
The rep at check in did try to give us an upgrade though, but was unable to due to capacity. She wasn't lying because I did notice that rooms were not open for at least part of the week when I looked online. The resort looked fairly full the first two days but it became clear on day 3. 3 BIG busses full of tourists of Asian decent arrived at the resort. Now the resort was PACKED. I figured this was the reason why we couldn't get that upgrade. The tourists left the same day we did, so I guess our timing was a little unlucky. Oh well, like I said, we didn't care as much.
Since we couldn't be given that upgrade, the rep did offer us complimentary use of the Cabana for a day ($250 value i think?). I asked if we could trade that for free parking instead ($25 a day). She said, sure no problem. So we parked for free for a week and got $175 value out of that. Pretty sure we could have valed our car ($35 a day) and it would still be free. But we didn't mind. The parking lot is a 30 second walk from the lobby.
All in all, the resort is quite nice. We walked over the the Grand Wailea on day 1 and for their Luau on day 6. That place is too over-crowded in my opinion. I mean, their beach chairs literally have less than 0.5in between them, so you must get really comfortable with your neighbour. Also felt that the GW is a humongous property with too many rooms. And the rooms looked a bit outdated (at least from our limited perspective). The Marriot Resort on the other hand is divided into 7 buildings, each 3 floors tall and spread out throughout the property grounds. This gives it a very laid back, mellow, island feel. I LOVED the hotel lobby. So cool. The view from the pools/lobby is amazing.
I had redeemed 120K SPG points for Marriott Nights and flights for a 7 night stay here (+ 162K Aeroplan Miles during the +30% promo). I thought the redemption was well worth it.
Happy to answer any questions.