I just completed a 4 night stay at this property for a wedding we attended. We checked-in on 8 July and checked out on 12 July.
OVERALL -
I would NOT recommend staying at this hotel. I am a Titanium and Lifetime Platinum so I have stayed at a wide range of properties but this was by far the worst experience we've ever had. I will break this down later.
CHECK-IN -
We recognized that Maui, and Hawaii in general, was experiencing very large amounts of visitors because of the desire to travel post-COVID. So we prepared for longer than normal lines at the airport and hotel. Luckily we were pre-cleared by United in Chicago so getting out of the airport was easy (felt bad for those who couldn't/didn't pre-clear). Getting our rental car was relatively fast as well. However, upon arriving at the Westin Maui we waited in a line that had maybe a dozen folks but took over an hour and half. There was no elite check-in at all. Rough guess was that each group/person was taking 10+ minutes for check-in which is crazy. We noticed lots of folks that seemed unhappy both with the wait and whatever rooms they received.
Check-in is where things went very wrong for us as well. We finally reached a check-in agent who lacked any real "aloha spirit". We provided her our IDs and our Hawaii QR codes showing COVID approvals. She indicated what type of room I had originally booked and said I was upgraded. I told her that the room she indicated was the room I had originally booked and that I had applied SNAs and told I was upgraded to a suite. She said no the room I had was the upgrade. I then showed her the original email and the email showing an upgrade but insisted that I was upgraded. I asked her to talk to management so she left and went back to find management. She came back and said they could put us in the new Hokupa'a Tower room but would not have access to the Lanai or bar. We asked why and she indicated because they were busy and had too many people we couldn't get access. She also then doubled down on the fact that I was already upgraded but they were trying to accommodate. I then again showed her that I was in my originally booked room and asked if we could pay a small fee for the Lanai and she came back with $200 a day for access. At that point, we had been talking for about 15 minutes I was done and asked that they keep me in my room and return my SNAs. She said she'd have to talk to management again about returning the SNAs. I figured I'd live to fight another day and get the SNAs back somehow.
The thing that killed me is they didn't believe the emails that proved my point and insisted I was upgraded. I don't know if their system is different from what I saw but they showed NO empathy and no true care for elites. The experience I had is similar to what some travel bloggers have experienced in Greece. It felt as almost outright contempt for me. I don't think I was being unreasonable but expecting that they would honor the upgrade they indicated that I had received!
I tweeted about the experience to Marriott Bonvoy who promptly asked me to PM the details. They said they had, "reached out to the hotel management team and requested follow-up regarding this matter." Well that follow-up never occurred.
ELITE BREAKFAST BENEFIT -
As per our benefits we choose to accept the elite breakfast benefit at the hotel. In retrospect I should have asked more details about what the breakfast truly consisted of but it was just coffee, OJ, a muffin and yogurt each morning. It was a grab and go situation at Waicoco. It's OK but nothing amazing. Every day there was at least a 15 - 30 minute line to grab the breakfast. That is consistent with the 30+ minute wait for Starbucks every day. The benefit is consistent with a continental breakfast but nothing special at all.
POOL-BEACH -
As others have indicated here you need to pay for the chairs and umbrellas etc on the beach. I forget the daily charge but two chairs and one umbrella for one day amounted to $88 (taxes included). Kinda crazy if you ask me. The pool was always packed and you couldn't reserve chairs and just leave you had to stick around. You do get several towel cards that you need to track. You can refresh towels anytime but need to remember to collect your tower cards or you could be charged. The pool area was nice particularly if you had kids. The beach was also nice but the swell and drop-off could be a bit much for novice swimmers.
FOOD -
Despite being a huge resort there really weren't a ton of food and beverage options. Waicoco is the main restaurant on property but it's hours are limited. We only got the grab and go breakfast and did not eat dinner as their prices were higher than other options in the area. There is a more basic food option near the pool area where you could also redeem your 2 free drinks. We had some small bites there which were OK and on par with other hotel food options. There is also an adult bar near the adult pool but that's it. We choose to eat at restaurants at the Whaler's Village and in Wailea. Much better options in those areas.
HOTEL CONDITION -
This was our first (and last) stay at the Westin Maui but you can tell the hotel was renovated in the last few years. That said some of the workmanship was poor. You could see rips and poor quality work throughout. It looked nice but it is already starting to show some wear and tear. We did not visit the new "premier" Hokupa'a tower so cant comment on it's status but believe that is the newest renovation. The Ocean tower where we stayed was older and renovated in the last few years.
CUSTOMER SERVICE - OVERALL IMPRESSION -
Like I said the hostility and pure lack of caring for their visitors, particularly their elite members, was notable. They seemed annoyed anytime you asked questions or dared to question that validity of their comments. There systems are also antiquated. One morning our name didn't show-up on Waicoco's list of elite members so they charged us for the continental breakfast. It's interesting to note this happened the morning after my tweet. What's worse is they didn't get rid of the charge before checkout despite my asking!!!! Another example of hostility is when we called to ask why we didn't have bottles of water in the room. When we called they acted as if we should know that they give every room reusable water bottles. Maybe some signage in the rooms would help?!?!
I know the surge of travelers is challenging a number of hotels in Hawaii but there really is NO excuse for the hostility and lack of true customer service. This is just another reminder how the standards of Marriott continue to drop, especially at former Starwood properties that had very very very different values prior to the merger. I will NEVER stay here in the future and will look to the Hyatt or other places that had (and have) much better customer service.