Eujeanie

Just got back from our second stay at the Ho'Olei condos across the street with full GW privileges. Only way to go for families or 3 couples - both times (first on points, this time we paid), much less than 3 individual rooms at the hotel with soooo much more space plus fantastic to have a kitchen. And free parking, plus access to the shuttle is great (we just walked we were so close to the GW).

And here it is August, and the whole place was empty! (not empty, but surprisingly light). Got lounges every day in the shade, pools were never crowded, really surprising with school still being out, much busier last October (with kids). Pools are still the main draw, beach was great, ocean water warm, sea turtle swam right past our legs (a big one!)

As far as the condos (villas as they like to call them) go, within the same category they can vary a bit in size and quality. There were some things better and some things worse than last year, but still very nice. We got the least expensive garden view both times.

Use or lose your $50 food credit every day (no problems!). Either the food truck (bbq) wasn't there or we're blind as bats. Went to the breakfast buffet twice, otherwise went out or ate in. Food credit otherwise used daily by pool.

We got the fun of the island-wide power outage one day.

Honestly, so many things I could say but would take forever, so will be happy to answer any questions.

left_arm

It's tucked into some bushes just north of the main pool behind the Aqualani tent

We experienced that, too. While our room got a little warm, we thought things were handled pretty well.

Eujeanie

OK, blind as a bat. Kids were happy with chicken fingers and Virgin whatevers. What the heck is the Aqulani tent?

Never mind, found it. The place where you rent stuff and tours, etc. Nope, never saw the truck.

Cledaybuck

Just FYI, but my son has been back in school for a week and a half now.

Eujeanie

Yes, the Midwest usually does go back earlier, as do some other areas (AZ, for example) Still a lot of the country goes back after Labor Day. It's still "summer vacation" for a lot of people. I'm just saying it was a LOT less crowded than when we were there in October.

Baze

Hawaii went back to school beginning of August.

BlueZebra

There is no "low" season in Hawaii, but October comes about as close to a Low season as any. Starting about the week after Labor Day (the quietest I have seen) to about the week before Thanksgiving. Been to Hawaii 6 or 8 times in that timeframe.

Cledaybuck

I bet it's a lot less than you think. For example, Los Angeles Unified School Districts started back August 15 and San Francisco the 17th. I believe a lot of the later starting schools are in the northeast, which isn't a big driver for Hawaii traffic (I swear every other person there was from Southern California).

comeflywme

Does anyone have any idea what Grand Wailea capacity might look like during the first weekend of March 2023? (inclusive of Fri 3/4 & Sat 3/5) I believe spring break hits shortly after this weekend (at the earliest). TIA.

Adriene21

How much are they charging for the Breakfast Buffet? Do they have an a la carte menu option also? Just wondering how far my $50 credit will go. Thanks.

Eujeanie

Not far. It was $55 pp for adults, $40 for kids 12 and under. It was a nice spread, but not like a fancy Sunday brunch would be (carving stations, etc.). They did make very good omelets. And had lots of Hawaiian/Pacific specialties and fruit, as well as more typical bacon/eggs/pancakes/potatoes, etc. They didn't have anything a la carte at that location. Everything was really quite good albeit expensive.

Other option was stuff at the Loulu place (something like that, used to be Cafe Kula). Not sure where else to get breakfast, we were in a condo so were well stocked, we just like to bookend trips with a nice restaurant breakfast.

BTW, Saturday is the day for their fancier brunch, it was called the Rose Brunch so I assume ??? they included Rose wine?? (don't know how to make accent marks on my computer). Not sure of the price of that, I'm sure higher.

We were also told we couldn't use the credit on the last day, but since we weren't planning to I didn't make an issue of it.

left_arm

The rosé brunch is $85 for adults and $65 for keiki.

We ate breakfast at the buffet our last morning (Friday) and the $50 credit was applied to our final bill

Eujeanie

It's so annoying when everyone tells you a different thing. It didn't matter to us, but glad you were able to do it.

left_arm

Fully agree. It'd be way simpler if it was #days x$50 off on the final bill vs worrying about the timing of a room charge.

tjbrooks

I got three different stories too.

The final explanation was: it's up to $50 per calendar day of on-site dining, and it's done every day automatically after midnight. We got it automatically at Humus, coffee shop, pool service. If you don't use all of your $50 the day of arrival, they will let you use that remaining amount of that first day's $50 on the day of checkout. You'd have to ask them at the front desk to do that though.