Currently at the GW on a five night point stay, thoughts and experiences below:

- the resort upgraded us to a Napua Club suite for no extra charge, which based on what I’ve read seems to be extremely fortunate. I did ask about paid upgrades and this is where they put us before we arrived.

- check in was a little disorganized. A few wrong turns based on staff instructions were quickly sorted out. The front desk person was very pleasant. I asked for a map and which way the elevator was, and she pointed us the wrong way. She didn’t describe the breakfast benefit, but that was probably because of the Napua benefits. Bags arrived quickly, and despite the missteps we were happy with the service.

- our room is fantastic. We’re really lucky to have received the upgrade. Amazing view of the pacific, resort grounds and we are directly above the Napua lounge.

- Napua benefits have been far better than expected based on what I’ve read here. The breakfast this morning had hot food (eggs, bacon, sausage, banana pancakes), fruit, pasteries, bread, cheese, etc. Basically everything you get at the full buffet minus the omelette station. The afternoon and evening options are nice as well, borderline replaceable for dinner even. I would definitely pay for the upgrade if necessary if we ever come back.

We’ve stayed at the Four Seasons Maui and Four Seasons Lanai (no kids in Lanai) in the past seven months. Both are more luxurious (especially the Four Seasons Lanai), but the kids are bouncing off the walls about the things to do and the pool. It’s really as good as they say, or even better. The pool area at the Maui Four Seasons is very lacking imo.

The staff has has been very good so far — not quite the level I expected but everyone has been pleasant. Calling the font desk to ask for a blanket for the pull out bed took 3 minutes (not a big deal but a bit odd), you do your own beach chair towel set up (also fine but strange for a five star hotel).

Generally I’d say that this resort has most of the things I’m looking for in a family vacation without some of the more elite level service touches you’ll find at the Four Seasons. But I’d choose this place over either of those two for this particular trip.

The last point I’ll make is regarding the size of this place - I was expecting a lot more people. The resort is either full of very close to it and we haven’t ever really felt like we are in a crowded place. This isn’t the ultra luxury seclusion thing but it’s not nearly as crazy here as I expected. The resort layout really helps in this respect.