I'm here right now for 7 nights. Used C+P and a DSU. Was given "suite" 318. Somehow they call this a partial view ocean suite. If you can see the ocean, let me know.

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We eventually got tired of staring at the wall of Villa 1 and asked to be moved after the 3rd night. We were told there we no suites available, even after waiting for most Sunday departures to leave. I checked he website and sure enough the only thing available is an ADA Garden View Queen. Since we were downgraded to a non suite room, I was told the DSU i used for this reservation would be refunded, though I have my doubts on that since it was expired. The new room is obviously smaller, but we do have a much better view which is all that matters. Bottom line, if 312, 314, 316 and 318 are where they put DSU reservations, I would suggest saving them unless you REALLY need the extra space or a tub.

Regarding the breakfast, total for 2 comes to $93.25 I believe and includes gratuity. This is for the pantry/breakfast. I find it odd though that if you want something from the regular menu like the pork Benedict which is half the price, it's not included. Theoretically that and bottomless mimosas come to about the same cost as the buffet. It really should be a set $ amount assigned per person.

The staff has been super nice and accommodating during the entire stay. I was a little worried about that based on some recent posts. The only thing I wasn't fond of was the sales pitch for the resort fee upon check in (which we opted out of since I made this reservation prior to April 2)

If you're going to have "The Conversation" with the staff about your room you need to do so upon check-in, not after 3 days.

I thought Diamonds were getting the full breakfast again, not the Pantry breakfast?

Scott the GM is very nice and accommodating. Both times he has upgraded us without issue and gave us daily amenities. We are platinum :D

I meant it's not the same full breakfast from when I was here last time which included mimosas, and a few other things.

Also, we did try to get a new suite the first night, there was nothing. Was told they may have something open up Sunday. They didn't. But we're more than happy with the room we have now. Just hoping the DSU gets refunded.

Just to be clear, is this the launch you are referring to?

Boat Ramp Parking Lot, Kihei, HI 96753

FYI, while everyone mentions a "beach walk," just to be clear, this is a paved, landscaped walk that goes resort to condos to resort just above the beach.

Hotel contact
 

I am wondering if anyone has a good email contact for an upcoming stay I have at this property. I have stayed multiple times at the property, but not since the change in GM and my other previous contact has also left the property.

I emailed the current GM about 10 days ago at his first name . last name @andaz.com and received no response. Thank you for the help.

The hotel's own website now has a page entitled. "Hyatt Gold Passport Member Benefits," which spells out very clearly who gets what and when. Worth reading carefully and bookmarking.

Looking forward to a return visit next week. We've been fortunate enough this will be our 3rd Christmas season here and 4th or 5th visit overall.

Might try the Kihei parking option this time if we can find the path. The member benefits link seems to imply that award bookings are not charged the resort fee, but the resort benefits are extended. I might try some of the outrigger stuff and the gopro and bike rental.

Going to reach out to the concierge but any other suggestions for someone to talk to (since GM didn't respond) for room requests?

What are you looking for, a Front Office manager (Karla)? Name of a friendly and helpful FO agent/staff (Angel is great in my experience)?

Posted some of this in another thread, but:

We just checked in here late on Sunday night for 7 nights. Diamond (expiring in Feb). We booked a Queen Garden in July and then were able to switch it in November to a King Garden. Got upgraded to a 3rd floor Ocean View right over the adult pool which we are pleased with (maybe partial? Can see ocean and the wind farm, but honestly I think I prefer being on the adult pool side (less noise, less people looking up at our balcony). Not sure I would be happy paying $600/mo for it but really can't complain on points, its certainly a ~2-3 category upgrade (Garden/Mountain/Partial/Full).

Did Valet the first night since we arrived at almost 10 PM and wanted to walk the route in the daylight first, but canyonleo graciously shared the info on Kihei option and parked there last night.

Staff has been friendly, including breakfast, didn't get the sense that the front line people are actively trying to avoid Diamond benefits. Breakfast was a little odd in that they take your name and look it up on the iPad so you would think they would proactively explain the Diamond breakfast benefit but we had to ask - as others have said, buffet only, no a la carte. Certainly pleased with the quality of everything. Unlimited mimosa's are $15 pp add-on, which I think is fair given that they are made with the fresh juices and compared to the prices of drinks elsewhere on the property ($16 cocktails and $8 beers). Pourover coffee was not offered but perhaps you can ask (menu does say speciality coffee included), they did give us the "tour" of the buffet which is a nice touch (but the skeptic in me says its just to upsell the buffet vs a la carte for those paying for it).

The room is fine, as usual with any Andaz a few touches are a bit form over function (particularly regarding the bathroom), the real selling point are the pools, beaches, food & beverage (expensive but high quality, and diamond breakfast). It seems not very busy right now, I would guess 50% occupancy but who knows. (Restaurants have been full, but no wait, at peak times, no issue at all with pool seats). We asked for 4PM checkout and they were able to confirm that the next morning after checkin.

Some confusion with Gold Passport call-center and email about award fee being waived on awards, they kept saying it would not be but the property itself is clear on this, both on the property's gold passport member benefits site as well as at checkin.

There may be a delay in getting your DSU reinstated so you should follow up with Gold Passport.
If it is an expired DSU from 2014 which was used on this reservation, my experience has been that Gold Passport will not add it to your DSU account for 2015 and you will have to negotiate with the hotel some form of compensation.

In the two cases when this happened, one property offered me 33,000 points and the other offered to upgrade me to a Suite upon my next visit.
It turned out better than I thought when not only I didn't have to ask for the upgrade but ended up in a larger Suite.

Good luck

On the breakfast tour, I would have actually appreciated one. There weren't many signs, and I couldn't always tell what area was for patrons versus chefs. Good atmosphere and helpful people, but signs would have been useful.

It's the same price but it's not the same cost, the marginal cost of the buffet is very small (they make x amount of food regardless of how many people order buffet based on their projections, whereas anything made to order has a direct cost associated with it).

Hi Leo,

Looking for someone that can help with making sure we get high floor/ocean view rooms for next week. Emailed the concierge last night but haven't gotten a response back yet. PM if you would like is fine.

Thanks!