I've stayed at both hotels and would pick the 4S over the Grand Wailea.

We all have differing opinions about grounds and rooms and service and .... etc. There is one very key thing to remember about The Grand - incentive trips. We stayed there as part of a "President's Club" type trip in 2001. My company took over about 85% of the hotel and I truly felt sorry for all of the regular guests there on vacation. Our group was full of a lot of people with little or no class. After our group left another, very similar one moved in. When we were at the 4S last November (over Thanksgiving weekend) there was another, similar, incentive group at the Grand.

The Grand Wailea is one of the most popular destinations in the world for incentive travel. Even if you pay full rack rate for your room you won't be as important to the property as the group that is occupyng most of the hotel and holding catering and entertainment functions every night.

The icing on the cake for our group was a fireworks display at 10:45 PM. I know that it woke a lot of people up and generated a lot of complaints from regular guests, but the hotel just didn't care.