Same here -- July 13-17 -- see you there!!!

Reports about use of the Kihei Option, or info on how to use it? If the latter, drop me an IM. If the former, it worked great for me last Fall.

I was nervous about this as well, but asked the hotel directly while I was there. They said sometime in the late evening or during the night they go through and check whose keys they have at the valet and charge those people. We used the valet a couple of times during the day, but mostly parked elsewhere and were never charged.

recent reports about the use of kihei option. i believe we had already discussed 'how' to use it :)

thanks !

My wife and I spent 4 nights here in late March. I got info about Kihei from FT and gave it a try. I ended up parking my rental there for 1 night only. I didn't get the feeling it was unsafe for my Chevy Cruze rental, but I was slightly worried about getting a ticket-- I didn't. The main concern I had was how far it is. The walk is about 10-12 minutes, which isn't too bad, unless you consider that when night falls, you're walking in near pitch black on the beach sand that can have rocks and other hidden hazards. I am pretty cheap, but it didn't take my wife long to convince me to go with valet parking. I think valet is worth the $30 + tip.

With valet, it's not necessarily the price, but the inconvenience of not having control of one's car.

I always have a small LED flashlight for the walk... or an iPhone with white screen at worse. Not a bad way to end a day, walk on the beach at night.

Kihei Option - used it for four nights 6/18-22 and it worked great.

Bottomless Mimosas - beware that I was charged $15 when I got the BM as a diamond. They said no free alcohol. Oh well, I had six bloody marys.

Just completed a four night stay and here are some thoughts.

-Kihei option worked great for us...no parking charges showed up on folio at checkout.
-Breakfast was great as has been mentioned ad nauseum on this board. Keana was a standout server and was great with our infant. The gratuity did show up on bill at checkout and was promptly removed when asked about it. The breakfast for two was $110 inclusive per day. Staff were eager to make made to order pancakes, egg dishes, smoothies, coffee drinks, etc. but did not seem as willing to go overboard as previous posts indicate...no taro pancakes for example. We did not try the mimosas so no idea if that would have been included.
-We were given room 518 in the hema wing using DSU on a P+C rate. The room looked directly out over the residence club building roof but had an ocean view in distance plus a great ocean view if looking 45 degrees in each direction around the residence building. I imagine the rooms directly above us on the 6th and 7th floors would be classed as full ocean views.
-Someone asked about the pool rooms up thread while using DSU. We asked during checkin and were offered one if we preferred that over the POV. We stuck with the POV.
-We did the outrigger canoe experience. If you are interested, push the staff at check n. We asked about it and they never got back to us about it. The guide must have had an off day or something but seemed grouchy. No narration about island history or fish or anything. Lasted all of about 20 minutes. Pales in comparison to the fairmont version which is 45 minutes long, gives history, let's you jump in the water during, etc. my wife did both this trip and she saw two mantas and 10 turtles on the fairmont outrigger.
-The suite has a half bath in the living room. The main bath has a bidet in the WC.
-We had an AC issue on our 3rd day and after several hours maintenance was not able to remedy. The staff made good with the situation and moved us to a pool suite - room 134 in the makai wing - for our final night which we made good use of with our infant.
-Our party had two other rooms at the place, one on credit card nights and one strictly points. One got an upgraded room in the makai tower and one got the parking lot view with early morning trash dump noises.

All in all an enjoyable stay and we will be back again.

Perhaps parking wouldn't be as expensive here if people didn't use the valet service all day, and then move their car in the evening in order to avoid paying for it.:D Just a thought...

Doubt it - they set that price before anyone ever posted about any other place nearby to park... and there really aren't any nearby places to park, Fairmont and Kehei Option really aren't as close as a typical adjacent parking lot.

They set that price to make extra money, because so many guests are of the "I'm on vacation I'll pay extra" mentality, rich enough to not care, and have no visibility to any self-parking parking near the property (because there is none).

A couple of other points:

The minibar offerings seemed limited as compared to the Andaz 5th Ave. also, my wife was disappointed that there was no espresso machine in the suite a la Andaz 5th Ave.

Just returned from four nights and had a fantastic time. We were in suite 518 as well, a week before pickles110 checked in. Staff was very attentive and eager to please. Chilled bottle of champagne was delivered to us shortly after we returned from dinner with a card thanking us for choosing Andaz to celebrate our anniversary. View was a bit obstructed, but overall, stay was quite memorable.

Kihei option
 

I'm staying here July 20-27. Could someone please msg me info on the Kihei parking option? Thanks!

I enjoyed the Andaz. Pretty quiet almost to the point of boring, but since I was trying to go for ultimate relaxation it was fine. Had andaz suite 729, pretty good full ocean view and overlooking the 4 main pools.

I see the $30 parking fee as kind of the same as the resort fee at other properties. I think if they called it a resort fee that includes free water bottles, pool service, valet parking, internet, etc it would be better tolerated.

The room drinks and snacks were pretty lame. Ate a couple of bags of potato chips during the week I was there, but the other stuff was very limited and not great.

The service was spotty. Some great, some average. The free breakfast for diamonds was great. Lounge chairs in the shade by the pool were hard to get because people would put stuff on them at 8am and then come down hours later. Excellent snorkeling just on the otherside of the black rock on the left side of the beach. Swam with turtles. Overall though it was a very good experience.

Why would one better tolerate a resort fee? Most hate resort fees, avoid them, and often don't pay them (e.g. Diamonds on point stays). I would avoid or game a resort fee, where I could, same as a parking fee.