Originally Posted by
josephstern
$300/night for that upgrade is really a pretty good deal, in my book. I'm not one to usually opt for that kind of thing, but I would have taken that one, no question - maybe even without the view.
Last time I was there the beach was pretty small but still swimmable, and they were still putting out chairs, but most activities (save for outrigger) were canceled. So the beach is even smaller now? This happened up at the Hyatt Regency also. Could take some time for it to come back, but I think there is a vague annual cycle to it in Wailea.
Occupancy was low, so it really felt they were trying to generate more revenue from an award stay on a suite that would probably have stayed vacant, but they were offering lower level Partial View suites as "Premium" for 90,000 points/night, so I think we extracted good value from our points with the cash upgrade. This was the first time we've ever paid for an upgrade on an award stay, but it really made the difference between a mediocre and an excellent stay, especially since we were able to whale watch from our lanai.
By the day we left (2/5/24), the beach situation was improving. They were able to put out chairs, but no umbrellas due to insufficient sand. The boat ramp was still washed out, which meant outrigger and kayak activities continued to be cancelled, but the surf was finally calm enough for snorkeling and paddle boarding. We'd never been to Maui during winter before, so now we know that ocean activities can be more unpredictable than we are used to. That's the trade-off for coming during whale season, which we enjoyed, especially with the excellent views from our lanai.
Mokapu Beach 2/5/24
2/5/24 Mokapu Beach erosion
Mokapu Beach boat ramp 2/5/24
Mokapu Beach access with steep drop-off 2/5/24