Four Seasons Hawaii Resorts, Andaz Maui
 

I am looking to go to Hawaii in late May with my family of four (everyone over 20 years old), we originally were looking at the Four Seasons on Lanai or on the big Island; however we found the Andaz Maui, specifically the villas. With a budget of about 3.5k/night and needing a minimum of two rooms, we can get a three bedroom villa at the Andaz and have more space as well as the ability to all stay together. Otherwise at the Four Seasons, we would just get two ocean front rooms.

Anyone have any experience with either of these and would be able to say which is better. I assume the service is going to be better at the Four Seasons but is it that significant.

Other hotel / room options are welcome.

Thank you for any help you can provide

You can rent a beautiful villa at Four Seasons Hualalai for around $2000 a night then pay a small fee for the use of the hotel facilities and you would be well under your budget. I have heard the Andaz in Maui is not very good. With your budget, you can do so much better.

According to this website Hualalai - Rates and Policies , the "small fee" for the use of the hotel facilities ranges from $65 to $250 (!) per day PER GUEST, plus tax. Is that what you mean by a "small fee?"

If I recall correctly this FS Hualalai "deal" was the subject of lengthy discussion on here, and also several lawsuits...

If you want to be treated a second class citizen by FS in Hawaii, I would really recommend booking their residential villas through AirBNB.

Re: FS Hualalai -- During high season, even with the fee we were seeing renters being refused service at the restaurants and bars in the evening. I've lost track of the various lawsuits and I've long s-listed this FS after several disastrous Thanksgiving stays. This FS might still be very good during low seasons but it *sucks* during the high (Cisco) season. If you rent one of the condos you appear to be treated as if you do not exist. Also, but off topic, the place needs a serious renovation to justify its >$1000/night rooms.

Maybe "small" wasn't the right word! It really depends on the season.

I've done an inspection of the villas at Andaz Maui and was impressed. While the guest rooms themselves are a bit too minimalist for my taste, I really liked the villas.

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2...ionaire-fight/

Excerpt:
Les Firestein is a Hollywood screenwriter who had brought his family to Hualalai as hotel guests for years. “It’s extravagant, but they deliver,” he says. “You know you’re going to have a perfect time.” Last summer a friend who owned a home there offered him free use of his place for a week. Firestein said yes. Then he quickly learned that if he wanted to do anything at the resort beyond hanging out at his friend’s house, he had to pay daily “unaccompanied guest” fees—$150 for adults and $75 each for his two children. The fee gave Firestein pause, but only briefly. “Right off the top, we’re paying $450 a day,” he says. “But then again, you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s the Four Seasons. We’ll suck it up.’ ”

Firestein then learned that even after paying the fee, his family wasn’t entitled to the same access as hotel guests. “It was like there were two systems of privilege operating at the same time,” he says. He wasn’t permitted to reserve a table at any of the restaurants between 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. He had to show a guest ID card everywhere—“like, ‘Show me your papers,’ ” he says, still annoyed.

It was poolside that he particularly felt the caste system at work. “You’d go to a pool and order what you want,” he says. “And then, when you make the mistake of sitting in the wrong seat, a Hualalai brownshirt basically comes over and says, ‘You can’t sit there.’ And there was literally no one else near the pool because it was kind of drizzling. It was just bizarre.”

Firestein writes dialogue for a living. Standing by the empty chaises longues, he didn’t hold back. “I said to them, ‘You know, this is weirdly like Jim Crow. You’re telling us we can eat here and not here, and there’s no one else around?’ ”

He didn’t stay the full week. Another family the Firesteins had rendezvoused with there—visitors, he notes pointedly, from South Africa—also left early. “I don’t want to exaggerate,” Firestein says, “but it really is an apartheid experience.”

Have to disagree with you here. Not everything needs to look like the FS Lanai. Both the sleek, spare-no-expense, Pacific Rim-influenced decor of Lanai and the classically breezy/tropical feel of FS Hualalai have their place. I think more minor upgrades - like changing out the area rugs, floor tiling and updating the aesthetic of the countertops would be sufficient.

We have been to FS Lanai, FS Maui, and Andaz Maui recently. We have also been to Hualalai but their beach does not deliver for us.

Andaz Maui - we really enjoyed it. Great beach. Excellent pools. We enjoyed the restaurants for all meals. Modern, hip vibe. My wife toured the villas and said they were amazing.

FS Maui - all the goodness that Andaz has, but on one level up on service and overall quality. We have stayed Ocean Front at FS Maui.... and I would personally pick FS Ocean Front over a Villa at the Andaz.

FS Lanai - incredible. a private paradise where no expense has been spared. We played golf 3x and had the course to ourselves every round. Resort is on one of the best beaches in all of HI. We were Prime Ocean Front and the room was amazing.

A strategy that worked for us was we spent 5 nights at FS Maui and then we took the ferry from Lahaina to FS Lanai for 5 nights. Flew into Maui. 9 mile ferry ride that takes 45 minutes to Lanai. Fly from Lanai to HNL and then home. We loved visiting both properties on one trip, and getting from one to the other was super easy.

I hope that helps!

I can tell you by April 1. :)

If you have a Visa Infinite card (like Chase Sapphire Reserve) booking through that website will give you VIP status and some additional perks.

My husband went with Andaz because of fewer children and a more adult-centric atmosphere.

Just checking a random stretch of days near the end of May, at Montage Kapalua you can get a 3 bedroom Premier Ocean Residence for $2425/night, or a 3 bedroom Grand Residence for $3045.

I know I'm an outlier on this forum for preferring the Montage over FS Maui (and Andaz, by a long shot), but IMHO it's worth checking out.

I just don't think you get your money's worth in Hawaii. The prices are stratospheric whilst service is iffy and the hard product often does not add up. Plus ... lots of people ... and families with kids. And forget Hawaii at anytime remotely approaching holidays or school vacations. Unless you want beaucoup company.

The Montage is great. I agree it is the best on Maui.