Originally Posted by
brosnan6
Wanted to post some highlights from a recent week-long stay at the property. Feel free to ask if I missed anything you're interested in hearing about
- Status benefits - no difference in benefits for Plat or Titanium from what I could tell. I'm Plat and the couple we were with were titanium and we both received the exact same treatment as to upgrade, breakfast, and checkout
- Upgrade - reserved standard garden room on points (6 nights for 260K; 5th night free) and received ocean-view upgrade, which seems to be the norm at this property for elites. Same upgrade treatment for my Titanium friend
- Breakfast - received a daily voucher for 2 which covered coffee, pastry, and fruit, and was redeemable at either SBUX or Whale's Tail. SBUX was closer to our room and had good flexibility with "upgrading" your breakfast. How it worked was you could use the value of each category to get anything else within the category and simply pay the difference.
- Coffee - you received credit for any tall beverage on the menu, not just plain coffee. Could upgrade to larger sizes for extra cost. Note that most drinks here are $4-7 (I think the credit amount for a tall beverage was $4.50). I never ended up going to whale's tail but my understanding was the credit could only be used for plain coffee there and not for upgrades.
- Pastry - there was a daily continental breakfast pastry. The days we stopped by the options varied between plain and chocolate croissants and blueberry scone. This you could also upgrade to any other food item and pay the difference (it was the standard SBUX food menu of egg bites, breakfast sandwiches, wraps, etc). Most of the hot items were between $6-7
- Fruit - option of fruit cup or banana. Don't think there were any other options within this category
- Note that you could only use the credit for each category to upgrade within the category -- I think in total the daily credit value was around $20 for 2 people and it's not like you could add up the entire amount to use only on coffees, or only on pastries. You were limited to using the coffee value within the drinks category, the pastry within the food category, etc
- Resort fee wifi replacement amenity - front desk staff had no idea what I was talking about (as expected) but were more than happy to have me send them the details of the request via email (I simply sent the screenshot of the Bonvoy T&C along with a link to a blog post discussing it) to double check with a manager. I received a call from one of the managers later that same day and she advised the replacement benefit for this property was a free dessert at Kapa restaurant, ~$15 "value" at menu prices
- On this note - I never actually received clarity as to what the resort fee actually includes. I know the website mentions a couple of things but it also says there's much more. I never received any details at checkin about what's included (most properties typically provide an itemization of what you're conned into paying for) and I never ended up inquiring.
- Checkout - received 4PM checkout upon request. I had requested it at checkin and it wasn't confirmed until the day before checkout. Same treatment for my Titanium friend
- Pool chair situation (only can speak to the adults-only infinity pool) - based on this thread and tripadvisor it seemed the old daily chair reservation system was quite controversial. Now that the reservations are gone it's back to first come first serve. TBH it seemed fairly quiet at the start of last week and we had minimal to no trouble finding chairs. We'd usually sit for a couple hours in the AM, give them up, and then come back in the afternoon or evening and usually no trouble finding chairs again. Seemed as if many guests were conscientious and made it known they were leaving soon in case they saw you looking for a chair. Pool staff were very friendly and had ample supply of cold water bottles and glasses of ice available at the towel stations. Food/drink orders could be placed with the always-roving staff or via mobile with your specific chair number.
- Food/drink - we ordered snacks at the pool a few times but otherwise did not eat at any of the other restaurants in the resort. There is a large grocery store (Island Gourmet Markets; a rebranded ABC store) just next door at the Shops at Wailea with a large deli/fresh food case as well as liquor, snacks, drinks, local food items, souvenirs, etc. I think the next closest grocery store is Safeway in Kihei (~10 min drive)
Thanks for taking the time to let us know. Here is my question, "At what point does a vacation in Hawaii without the benefit of points become prohibited" The way these properties are pounding away one has to ask is it worth it? With all these inflated prices I think think Bermuda looks pretty cheap ! "tongue and cheek"