I've stayed at both a few times. In most ways, I think the Andaz wins as a resort, but I prefer the Ritz location in Kapalua for golf, hiking and proximity to Lahaina. The Andaz beach, food, and rooms are definitely better, but the Ritz has done some recent renovations and they seem to continually revamp the food offerings, so maybe those are better now. The Ritz club experience is also fantastic but $$$$.

All things considered, we would probably choose the Ritz more often for the location, but the beach setup is horrible and we are definitely more of a beach family. The beach always seems really crowded, the chair setup sucks and it's a decent walk from the hotel with small children. I will never understand why the hotel doesn't have something a little nicer for hotel guests. It's almost like they want to discourage guests from using the beach. I'm not a huge fan of the Andaz pool setup, 6am chair snagging, and the occasional rowdy group, but it's really easy to get a nice setup at the beach if the pool is too crowded.