Originally Posted by
iahphx
Yeah, I wondered about not renting a car at the airport. But, since it's Maui, I assume the shuttle fee to the hotel is quite high. And I also assume that the daily rate for renting a car at the Grand Wailea (I think it's now an Enterprise location) is usurious. I know the car rental taxes at OGG are high (is there any expense on Maui that's not high?), but I'm sure I can use some sort of code to get my rate down to about 35 bucks/day (sad that the parking fee at the hotel is about the same as the car rental cost!). I don't think I would enjoy being a car-less "hostage" at the hotel. And after a few days at the Grand Wailea, we'll head elsewhere on Maui with our car for a different vacation experience.
Just came back from this property and can answer your questions, well mostly.
First, not sure if they heat the water or not, but the pool was ridiculously warm - yes, like jumping in doesn't require any courage kind of warm. That was the first week of September.
Second, the parking fee IS charged to the room, though my resort credit hasn't posted yet. (BTW, does anyone know how long it takes? I know the airline credit usually posts within a few days, but this one has been over a week.) Don't think there's any other place you can safely park overnight. Wailea is a masterplan designed resort town, so I think they eliminated that possibility from the very beginning.
Third, the room service credit CAN be used anytime of the day. Breakfast price is actually better than I thought. One acai bowl and one french toast comes out to just over $30. Plus the $7 service charge and 20% gratuity (which is mandatory) I think we paid around $16 extra. IMHO with breakfast you get more value out of it. For dinner, I think an entree is around $30-40. If you have a car, there are many dinner options around Kihei that are much cheaper. Not sure if you can stack against multiple days though - only stayed one night on my FN certificate.