Does anyone have any experience to share from the AC Hotel by Marriott Maui Wailea? It's 60,000 points per night (vs $837 on the day I looked at). Does anyone think it's better or worse than the 140,000 point options?

Anyone stay here yet??

I've got a reservation coming up at 50K/night.

Will I really be the first?

Only if you report back here to this thread.

David

Stayed here for two nights recently. This is my first AC Marriott. It feels like a higher-end Element in terms of service (effectively, self), decor, and design. The room is nice enough - small, but pretty thoughtfully designed to work for a short to mid-length stay. There's no true closet, no bathrobes, no slippers. One sink in the bathroom. There is a decent couch along with the king sized bed (we had a basic room) along with a nice TV, desk area, and long bench below the TV that was perfect for our luggage. At the end was a sliding door taking two thirds of the outside wall, with a small balcony containing two comfortable-enough chairs. I do wish that outside wall was all-window and could let in more of the light and the view, but a third of it was just solid wall.



I will say that the AC is not putting the "AC" in A/C. Both nights we stayed, I had the temp set at 65 and the fan on high. Ha. We had started out hot at 68, so I lowered the temp. Clearly, this is one of those thermostats that ignores your wishes below a certain point. I did wake up that first night feeling warm, but also a little annoyed at the mini fridge noise. That's when I put the fan on high. Also ignored. I get it. But why do they frustratingly even give me the option if they're just going to lock me out? I hate that. Just don't give me an option below 70 if you don't mean it. Tried to unplug the fridge the second night but I couldn't easily get behind it. BTW, that fridge has a glass door, which I thought was a nice touch.



What else about the room? The bed was firm and comfy. Sheets were fine. Internet wasn't the fastest but we could stream video and we didn't have any dropouts. The shower had decent pressure. And the door closed fully, unlike so many showers in tropical hotels where you just get a partial enclosure that can make for both a windy shower and a wet bathroom floor. Glad they got that part right. I didn't like the toilet at all - square and modern with almost no water living in the bowl. That's a smelly mistake.



I'm unfortunately not terribly familiar with Marriott benefits, but apparently my Titanium status only got me an ocean view (same size room, and not really a ton of view, but better than overlooking the road) and $10/pp/per day for food, either at "breakfast" or at the little display of packaged foods. I've got pictures below of the breakfast. I suppose it could just be Covid, but I really thought that was pathetic. I think the cost was $22 but I'm not certain. Either way, you'd have to be pretty desperate to bother with it - and I saw very few people doing so. Maybe it's a vicious circle and it has devolved into this accordingly. (in the pics, note the signature AC Hotel item, the Berkel slicer, sitting unused in the corner)



Parking was $30/day, self park with convenient spots. We walked to breakfast one day at Akami Coffee (highly recommended) and the other day to Honolulu Coffee Company. I've liked HCC in the past, but this time (first for me during Covid) they had way fewer options and my coffee tasted burnt. I'd give them another shot though - I've definitely had good, carefully pulled coffee there in the past.



I'd rate the pool and hot tub as better than I expected. In some ways, it felt a little sad to think of tourists on their big Hawaiian vacation kinda getting stuck at this pool, but if you're doing other things, and/or you've been to the area before, it's more than adequate. We swam, soaked, and lounged, and the experience was very relaxing. In fact, the view is really pretty fantastic from most of the loungers, most of the pool, and maybe half the hot tub. You can see the ocean, West Maui, and Lanai. We could see whale plumes from up there, and the sunset was nice. I do think that maybe the civil engineers could have sculpted this in a way as to hide the parking area a bit better from the pool deck (see the cars in the pics) but again, it's not terrible and that view is still very, very present. There is a bar at the pool, and they'll serve you on loungers if you'd like. There are pool towels and we took those to the beach one day - smallish, but still reasonable sized. I can't say the lounge chairs were great, but for an hour, fine. There were also umbrellas for good shade, and three cabanas to rent.



Cost-wise, I booked on points. Originally I booked at 50k/night, and then I saw the points went down, so I rebooked at 40k per. In my mind, that's about $240/night, which I consider fantastic for Wailea these days. But rates on the site were over $800 the whole time I was paying attention. I would most definitely have had a very different bias to my review if I had spent $800/night. I did meet some guys there who were from the Big Island and they got a kama'aina rate of about $360 they said. I have no idea how the proof of residency works for booking, but if you've got it, use it.



I didn't use the gym, but it was clean and complete with the regular treadmills, weights, a true Peloton, etc. We never really sat in the lobby area, but I believe there was a computer and printer there to be used by guests.



The hotel was new and neat and clean. I didn't witness any maintenance issues (I wouldn't consider my A/C to be one) which is always nice. Front desk staff was helpful and polite. I didn't see a concierge and I doubt there is one, but I'd bet the front desk person could give you some help if you needed it. There's no valet parking and no help with your luggage. I didn't love that I had to take the elevator to my room each time - I often prefer stairs. I did eventually find an outside entrance on Wailea Ike drive that gave me access via keycard to stairs that had an exit door on my floor. But there isn't a way to do that from the main area that I could find.



Overall, for this sort of trip (a little relaxing and a little personal business) I'd stay there again so long as the beachfront hotels are unobtainable for points and in the $1200+ price range, which is what I encountered when planning this visit (I've got reservations back at my fave, the Andaz, on points for a few future trips, and I think that's well worth the cost difference in points, and in my mind, that 30k Hyatt point outlay is only about twice a 40k Marriott point outlay). I do wish they'd do something about the food silliness and I'd maybe complain about the A/C if I went back, but I've seen that often enough at hotels that I'm just getting used to it.



Any questions that you think I can answer, please post and I'll try my best!



Mahalo

Looks like standard AC room, which is not bad, though a bit small and as you note more window would be nice.

I think I'd take the RI up the hill at the same price - larger rooms, kitchen, full breakfast, more expansive grounds.

Interesting thought and I might do that also. When I hear "Residence Inn" I usually don't think good thoughts, but if I have another quick need in Wailea, I'll consider it.

I have an upcoming stay at this property next month (wow are the room prices expensive, over $1k per night)
My room type lists "Guest room 1king, sofa, balcony" - and I was looking into using my SNA (I am a Titanium member) to try and upgrade and there appears to be several choices - but they all lot the same? The app suggests checking everyone that I might be interested in.

any advice?

-m

I'm not really sure, but I got the impression that the suites were just a slightly bigger room with a bigger balcony on the west end of the building.

Website says regular rooms are 310 sq ft and the suites are 350. I didn't bother trying a suite cert here - felt it wasn't worth using the cert. But the balconies on the west side did look useful actually.

from what I can tell - it looks like the upgraded rooms are facing the ocean (vs parking lot), maybe a little larger....since this is a special occasion and unlikely I would want or need to use the SNA for anything else, why not use them (or try)?

anyone stay here recently? is the breakfast situation still very bad? any menu for what hot items are provided for the $22 buffet?

I actually stayed there for a few days about 3 weeks ago and the breakfast looked great. I am not a breakfast person, but the selection looked good (not huge but a few simple choices - like 2-3 types of cheese/meats not the usual mega-buffet 20), they had a nice menu of things they would make hot for you - and it was all you could eat for $22 - which considering everything else, was a great deal! Those who ate it (I just had the coffee out by the pool) looked like they really enjoyed it and probably no other way to get so much food for so little...... and the staff was great.

I stayed there two weeks ago for two nights to burn an expiring Free night Award and to get some island time. I landed at 1pm and had done the app check in, so with 48 hours on the island my original plan was to go straight to hotel and then hit the beach. Instead I grabbed some lunch, then hit Costco to get some local coffee to bring back and made one other stop. Got to the hotel at 3:15ish and they said my room was not ready, which I was not too thrilled at. They said it would be ready by 4, so sat out by the pool and waited. It was not real by 4 -- end up being 4:30. If I had known that I would have changed in the bathroom and hit the beach so that was not ideal. They ended up comping my parking ($30 x 2) which was reasonable. Part of the delay was that I did use some suite night awards and they gave me one of the corner rooms which are larger and have bigger balconies and better views. The room did have two robes and 2 sets of slippers.

The beach was about a 15 minute walk and it was not crazy hot out so it was pleasant. I'm not sure of the official path you are supposed to take but I just cut through the Marriott Wailea property. As mentioned earlier, the pool has a great view although I did not spend much time in it. There is a fire pit and also a hot tub that seemed to be the places to hang out after sunset.

I thought the breakfast was actually pretty nice. It is $22 before the $10 voucher, so $16 after tip. The buffet part of the breakfast was OK but not great -- muffins, fruit, some shaved turkey and ham, oatmeal, etc. But in addition they have a menu of small plates that are made to order -- and you can get as many as you like. They are not large so you can sample a few. I had the Belgian waffle and the avocado toast the first morning and had the loco loco the second morning before my flight -- I like Loco Loco but usually the portions are so large I end up needing a nap so glad a could get an appetizer sized portion. And both mornings I ate out by the pool with the amazing views.

I agree with earlier posts that I would not feel good about paying over $800 per night , but it was a good use of points

Here are some pics of the food (sorry - had already started to eat), the corner room and the pool area:

I stayed at this property recently over Christmas. I booked a regular room and as Platinum Elite was upgraded to an Ocean view room. My previous stay was in 2022 and there have been some changes.

First, the parking is now $40/night!

Also, as of June 2025 the hotel has introduced a "Destination Fee" of $25/night. I suppose it's not a true junk fee because it includes:
Daily $25 Beverage & Food Credit: Credit may be used at the AC Kitchen, Kai Bar, or The Market. Credit is per day and must be used in full in a single transaction. It may not be accrued over the course of the stay.
Two (2) Maui Ocean Center tickets, per stay: Redeem at the Front Desk when ready to use - this has a value of $49.95/adult and the aquarium is actually very good.
Two (2) Souvenir Refillable AC Branded Path Water Bottles, per stay
Enhanced high-speed internet (WiFi)
Daily Bonvoy Elite Amenity (Gold members and above): $5 AC Store credit or beverage - note that this can only be used at the AC store and not at the Food and Beverage venues

NOTE: I was informed that you must use your daily benefit before midnight or is it forfeit, and that includes the day that you check in. So if you check in late and no Food or Beverage venue is open, to avail of the first daily credit you have to grab stuff from The Market (selling primarily overpriced snacks). I think that also means you don't get any credit on the day you check out.

Fortunately, since I made my reservation in February 2025 before the introduction of the "Destination Fee", I was given the option of not paying the fee (and not receiving the inclusions, obviously).

The Elite breakfast benefit is a credit of $10/person per day (or Bonvoy points). I believe it can be combined with the daily $25 Beverage & Food Credit, but the $5 Daily Bonvoy Elite Amenity can only be combined if used at The Market.

Breakfast is $30/person and includes a small self-serve section (parfait, cereal, charcuterie, fresh fruit, croissants, granola and juices).and hot food which is ordered from the kitchen. The following hot items are available: Avocado Toast, Classic Oatmeal, Open Face Toast, Belgium Waffle, Gourmet Egg Tarts, Croissant Sandwich, and Loco Moco.

For those opposed to paying a resort/destination fee, the adjacent Residence Inn does not have one (yet, uncommon in Wailea) and it also provides a free hearty breakfast.

Hope this update helps someone on an upcoming trip.