anabolism

What do you mean "Diamond breakfast benefit of the month?" Is Hilton highlighting a Diamond benefit every month?

likry2000

BlueZebra

That was sarcasm...notice the emoji? This is in reference to the many changes...almost one a month...in the breakfast benefit.

iahphx

Parking is now $35 per night and the resort fee is $40 (fortunately, you do not have to pay the resort fee, which basically includes nothing, if you are on an award stay). The parking is valet only, which I personally find to be annoying, but at least they are efficient if you call for your car ahead of time from your room. They also leave you with a couple of bottled waters, usually cold, in the console.

I have stayed in dozens of megaresorts around the world, and several in Hawaii, and the Grand Wailea is pretty typical. If you are expecting luxury and highly personalized service, you will be disappointed. That just does not seem to exist in large resorts in the USA. Rather, the ambiance is more upscale mass-market, with a clear focus on making money through ancillary revenue. Kind of like if Disney was managing the hotel -- but with a less fun environment.

I think this is a decent resort to stay at with Hilton points or free night certificates, but a terrible deal if you are paying cash for it (room only rates now seem to be about $750/night including tax and resort fee). I would not say that this is lighting money on fire, but it's close. The Wailea area is a planned upscale resort community with a very nice oceanside walking path, pretty foliage, and a sterile feel. It feels extremely safe, so if that's what you are looking for, you will be happy..

The hotel itself feels very much like the 1991 Japanese real estate development fiasco that it was. There are many over the top features, that were cool 30 years ago, but now feel a little dated. The pool area is the prime example of this. I think young kids will like it very much, and everyone else will be satisfied.

Wailea has a nice beach, usually with calm surf good for swimming. The best beach in Wailea seems to be in front of the hotel. Not that many guests use it, as I think they are afraid of the ocean.

As a Diamond member, I did not feel that I got much of a room upgrade. It was on a high floor, and did have a nice ocean view (most of the rooms at the hotel have a decent ocean view). The king room was large and pleasantly decorated, but did not feel luxurious. Kind of like an average 4 Star resort room.

We had $350 to spend on incidentals thanks to my AMEX Honors Aspire card and a concurrent AMEX Waldorf Astoria offer (now expired). In addition to paying for parking, we used some of that to cover the breakfast expense over the $30 per day we got at the Grand Dining Room with the gold/diamond credit. With this credit, we did not mind having to chip in another $35 to enjoy a full breakfast for two. The food is good, if not memorable. If the cash had been coming out of my own pocket, I might have felt differently. If you opt for the $39 per person buffet, obviously the $15/person credit doesn't go very far. You might want to try the buffet once, but I doubt you would want to eat it every day. The best Dining Room option, is the $65 brunch buffet that they offer on Sundays only. It's expensive (you get to apply the $30 credit) but pretty lavish and tasty, with a roasted kalua pig, prime rib, and lots of seafood like crab legs, raw oysters, and jumbo shrimp.

If you are trying to eat affordably at the hotel, your options are quite limited. The somewhat hidden Kula Cafe in the shopping arcade does have some good $14 sandwiches (try the kalbi beef) and decent looking large pizzas in the low $20s. There is also a very short happy hour between 5 and 6 p.m. at the Bistro Molokini that has $10 personal pizzas and $5 craft beers ( ask for the happy hour menu) Outside the resort, if you start walking north on the main road, in less than 10 minutes you will reach the ridiculously upscale shopping mall (with shops like Prada and Gucci) that has an Island Gourmet Market. The groceries are very overpriced, but the deli counter and grill are surprisingly inexpensive. Breakfast is affordable, and you can get things like a complete New York strip steak dinner for $11. Very tasty at that price. I would think this deal would be very useful for families.

I would not bother paying for the luau, which I think is $150 per person. But you can easily sit on a chaise lounge outside the venue and see the show from a distance. it is not the greatest entertainment I have ever seen, but it is the best evening entertainment available at the hotel.

Cledaybuck

That was not my experience at all when I was there last summer. There were plenty of people on the beach and in the ocean.

BlueZebra

Agree...in our many trips there we see many people swimming in the ocean, particularly when WE swim in the ocean. However, recently, due to the near misses by hurricanes in 2018, the amount of beach has definitely shrunk there and elsewhere in Wailea.

UAmainbird

We checked in on the 25th, out on the 30th. Used 3 weekend certificates, plus points for 2 more nights. Diamond Desk said they had to keep it as 2 separate reservations, but included a note to ask that we stay in the same room without having to move after the 3rd day. Found that availability 3 months in advance.
I had received 2 separate contacts from Waldorf Astoria concierge about 3 weeks ahead, asking if we wanted to make advanced dinner reservations, etc.; replied to both, received no reply. A week ahead of time I tried another email address ('gwconcierge @ waldorfastoria.com') and did receive a reply that time. I did not specifically ask for an upgrade, but did mention that the day of arrival was a milestone birthday for my wife (true). Also set up reservation for Sunday brunch.

Day ahead, received notification that we could check in online. I had booked KING terrace room (base award category); online checkin initially showed that category, but with no open rooms to view. Hours later, it had changed to Deluxe Ocean 2 QUEENS. I am 6'5" so greatly prefer king, but queen is doable. The pre-assigned room was at the corner next to Napua tower, on the 8th floor, but wouldn't have much view compared to rooms farther out on a wing. As I reviewed room choices, there were a couple more on the 8th floor to the south (Molokini wing), one on the 9th floor to the far north (Wailea wing), and one on the 7th floor. I chose the 9th floor for the more expansive view, and hoped for a KING availability at checkin.
Upon arrival, I was prepared for the parking (non-) choices thanks to this forum. We helped put our bags on cart and headed to checkin, receiving a lei / kukui nut greeting along the way. Hilton Honors lane is to the far right. Turns out that my choosing something other than the pre-selected room almost caused a problem: They had chosen that room because it was available for all 5 days, whereas that 9th floor room was available the first 3 but not the last 2 nights. (online checkin could not "see" the add'l linked reservation) The clerk found another 2Q on the 8th floor of Wailea wing; no Kings available in either Ocean or Deluxe Ocean categories during any day of our stay. We chose the view over the bed.

The FDC reviewed the Diamond breakfast benefit in the grand dining room, saying that it would be deducted on the breakfast bill itself -- and yes, that is how it was done each day. I asked if the discount could be used for the Sunday brunch and was told NO. So I later cancelled the brunch reservation. (part out of spite, part because I really didn't need that much food)
I thought the room had a very good view. Saw a number of whales -- spouting, breaching, etc. The deck was a good spot for relaxing while the sun went down.
Everything was neat and clean. Bathroom was nice. Nothing over the top about the furnishings, but nice. Oh, I could not get the power outlets between the beds to work, and eventually traced it to a power strip behind a panel, and the strip's switch was off; otherwise room functioned well.
We wanted to catch up on some shows via our Roku stick, and although I could plug it into back of the TV, I could not figure out how to switch the TV inputs. Then accidentally discovered that channel 74 will access HDMI-1.
Internet speeds were typically very good. Within the room, testmy dot net reported 25-30 Mbps. Signal strength dropped dramatically out on the deck. There is a separate access name for the pool areas.

Breakfast: I had the grand acai bowl ($20 - 15) all 5 days, and really enjoyed it. My wife had it twice, and the avocado toast ($21 - 15) the other times. Chose orange, grapefruit, or guava juice depending on the day; and the coffee cups were constantly refilled. The hostesses and servers always pointed out the buffet ($39) like they wanted us to do that instead, but never disappointed when we chose from the menu. The first morning we were seated at the very front of the balcony -- closest to the water. Other days were also outside on the deck area. Not sure if that was also because of higher Honors status, because indoor tables were being utilized also. Never felt I needed more food to justify getting the buffet. A couple servers asked if we wanted more coffee in a to-go cup as we departed.

Other dining: We were able to snag a dining slot at Humuhumu the first night, after someone cancelled. Service was a tad slow, but food was good. We took advantage of happy hour drinks at the lobby bar + sushi on Saturday (no sushi there on Sun or Mon). Happy hour drinks + snacks at the Bistro, including great sunset view. Good poke nachos pool-side. Got a sandwich plus moco loco from Cafe Kula one evening; served its purpose, and we probably would have utilized it more if we had stayed longer.
Drove to Maui Brewing Company (Kihei, brewery location) after hiking the King's Highway south of Makena. Went back for happy hour a couple days later. Both times (Sunday @ 1:30pm and Tuesday at 5:00pm) were very busy. Walked to the Shops at Wailea a couple times for happy hour also: Cheeseburger Grille & Tap Room was a disappointment; Pint & Cork was very good. The deli at Island Gourmet Market would probably have been a good choice based on our visits to the Waikoloa location, but our only purchases were souvenirs for the grandkids.

It was apparently unusually cool (and windy) during that time, especially for breakfast first thing in the morning, also in the afternoons. But we still took advantage of the outside each day ('cause we're in Hawaii, dang it). We primarily used the adults-only pool area. Most days we could find 2 chairs together on the pool deck between 8-9am, or later, but a couple times we went onto the grassy terrace (also marked adults only) just below that deck. The terrace has a better view of the ocean / beach compared to most of the pool chairs, although most of the terrace chairs are set to view the sun (south) rather than ocean (west).
Sand is very soft -- at the beach itself, and as far out into the water as I ventured. We did not set up on the beach, but did walk back and forth. Water initially seemed very cool each time. But I would get used to it each time and stay in without a problem. I think ocean temps were in the 76 F range.
I was annoyed the first morning at breakfast because another guest stood right next to our (prime) table while he had a phone conversation with his kids -- including showing the beach / ocean to them, and explaining how he was out on a paddle board and a couple women stopped to tell him that if he put his head under the water he would be able to hear the whales. I tried it and whaddyaknow... they were right! Super cool! You made up for it, buddy!
Because of the wind, there was usually enough wave action to body surf right at the shore. I did not try any snorkel gear this time, although I saw many others. I can imagine more undersea life closer to the rocks on either side of the beach. Overall I thought it was a very, very good beach. My fave has been Hapuna Beach on the Big Island when we visit HWV; and is probably still better overall. Wailea was less busy although not as big, but super-convenient to just walk up the hill to the room when done.

Very nice sidewalk running along the shoreline; goes from the Fairmont (on the south) past the Four Seasons, Grand Wailea, Marriott, to the Andaz to the north -- plus all the condos in between. It is not very wide, however, and gets a lot of traffic so can be crowded for someone wanting to get in a good jog or vigorous walk.
There was a medical convention with 500 attendees during our visit. The resort was full, but never seemed crowded to me.
We didn't utilize the other pool areas. The temps, winds and water temps were not conducive to sitting in the shade of the Grotto Bar -- as much as I wanted to! We didn't explore some of the walking paths, nor examine all of the art work.

Overall, I would say it was a good use of certificates + points, particularly combined with good flight times / prices that we found. I would not be opposed to staying again, but there are still many destinations to experience -- within the Hilton family and beyond -- so we are unlikely to be competing with y'all for room inventory for the foreseeable future.

Eujeanie

Very disappointing that you can't use the breakfast benefit on Sunday - so you receive basically nothing on that day. I think maybe a trip to another restaurant for Sunday Brunch is in order. Will investigate that.

ChinaShrek

You can still order breakfast on Sunday just not brunch.

Eujeanie

Really? When we were there on Sunday we were expecting the brunch and that is what we got. So if you go they will offer you the regular breakfast menu?

ChinaShrek

What time do you eat breakfast? The breakfast buffet is offered on Sundays from 7 am - 10 am. The brunch starts at 11am.

Eujeanie

It was after 11, since we were going for brunch. At the time when we were there (2 years ago?), I believe the benefit was a very logical and reasonable dollars off per day at any venue, most days we got coffee and pastries from Café Kula. So we probably got that in the early am and still went for brunch.

They've just been all over the lot crazy trying to settle on something that makes sense for the breakfast benefit. I don't think they've found it yet.

ChinaShrek

I think they need to create a small lounge or room where they offer free coffee, juice, fruit, and pastries (a true continental breakfast) for all Golds and Diamonds.

iahphx

We were able to use the $15 credits for brunch, so this may be a YMMV situation -- probably based on the newness of this latest breakfast rule. It doesn't really make sense for them to prohibit you from using the credit for the much more expensive brunch. Nobody could eat both meals, and you'd feel like a chump paying full price for brunch and throwing away your breakfast credit. I would ask to speak to a manager if I were denied the credit for brunch.

gaobest