Kacee

We enjoyed Morimoto at the Andaz; you have to book way in advance for dinner. We also liked Monkeypod, but that's walk-in - they have a system and it works quite well.

Jailer

Bluff, we will be there at the same time. Voting with my feet, I made reservations at the resort's Humble Market on our first night (no MR points for dining, unless it has changed) and Momma's Fish House in Paia: expensive but worth every penny, every time, IMHO. Try to make reservations for sunset, and before you eat go to nearby Ho'okipa Beach, a protected sea turtle reserve.

We aren't that big on breakfast and are happy to have just a muffin and coffee at the resort's Whale Tale, and that is covered by the breakfast certificate. Certs can be redeemed at Starbucks as well. But, you can walk to the shopping center and have the cheap breakfast special at Cheeseburger in Paradise, which has a nice vibe, although the one in Lahaina come's with a million dollar view, but a longer wait.

Generally we will try to parlay our free Mai Tai chits into a happy hour meal once at the pool bar as the music can be pretty good, but let them know that you are ordering or they will let you sit, in my experience. And, re happy hour, the Monkey Pod is quite nice but we prefer the one in Whaler's Village to Wailea...although not enough to merely go for a drive as it's not that close. If you like art, and frankly even if you don't, walk over to the Botero Lounge at the Grand Wailea for a museum quality experience. The Botero's are probably worth $50 million, and while the drinks aren't free, they don't seem outta line with other high end resorts.

We like less fancy Kihei and generally try to eat at the Paia Fish Market and Three's Bar on a walk up basis, but we often go out with friends who live in Kihei and they are more current. There's a Ululani's shaved ice in Kihei which is a must, and search for food trucks.

If you like beer, the Maui Brewing Company in Kihei has a good restaurant to go with plenty on tap.

Tin Roof is a carry out near the airport: it's a winner and a must if it works around your flight schedule.

Most unique, you can go and tour O'o organic farm upcountry in Kula and they will make lunch partially with what you and your tour group pick. It's family style, so you'll be seated with whoever signed up. They are tied into/same folks own Pacific'O restaurant on Front Street and I want to say that they will make a reservation for you and give you a discount or free something. Oh, there's vodka tasting at Ocean Distillery on the way home from the farm.


We skipped last year due to COVID, so look before you leap, and likely others will update my list with closures, etc.

Mighty_Bluff

Jailer, Some great advise, thank you. Just booked a couple of your recommendations and looking into the others now. Thank you !!

brosnan6

Wanted to post some highlights from a recent week-long stay at the property. Feel free to ask if I missed anything you're interested in hearing about

• Status benefits - no difference in benefits for Plat or Titanium from what I could tell. I'm Plat and the couple we were with were titanium and we both received the exact same treatment as to upgrade, breakfast, and checkout
• Upgrade - reserved standard garden room on points (6 nights for 260K; 5th night free) and received ocean-view upgrade, which seems to be the norm at this property for elites. Same upgrade treatment for my Titanium friend
• Breakfast - received a daily voucher for 2 which covered coffee, pastry, and fruit, and was redeemable at either SBUX or Whale's Tail. SBUX was closer to our room and had good flexibility with "upgrading" your breakfast. How it worked was you could use the value of each category to get anything else within the category and simply pay the difference.
  • Coffee - you received credit for any tall beverage on the menu, not just plain coffee. Could upgrade to larger sizes for extra cost. Note that most drinks here are $4-7 (I think the credit amount for a tall beverage was $4.50). I never ended up going to whale's tail but my understanding was the credit could only be used for plain coffee there and not for upgrades.
  • Pastry - there was a daily continental breakfast pastry. The days we stopped by the options varied between plain and chocolate croissants and blueberry scone. This you could also upgrade to any other food item and pay the difference (it was the standard SBUX food menu of egg bites, breakfast sandwiches, wraps, etc). Most of the hot items were between $6-7
  • Fruit - option of fruit cup or banana. Don't think there were any other options within this category
  • Note that you could only use the credit for each category to upgrade within the category -- I think in total the daily credit value was around $20 for 2 people and it's not like you could add up the entire amount to use only on coffees, or only on pastries. You were limited to using the coffee value within the drinks category, the pastry within the food category, etc
• Resort fee wifi replacement amenity - front desk staff had no idea what I was talking about (as expected) but were more than happy to have me send them the details of the request via email (I simply sent the screenshot of the Bonvoy T&C along with a link to a blog post discussing it) to double check with a manager. I received a call from one of the managers later that same day and she advised the replacement benefit for this property was a free dessert at Kapa restaurant, ~$15 "value" at menu prices
  • On this note - I never actually received clarity as to what the resort fee actually includes. I know the website mentions a couple of things but it also says there's much more. I never received any details at checkin about what's included (most properties typically provide an itemization of what you're conned into paying for) and I never ended up inquiring.
• Checkout - received 4PM checkout upon request. I had requested it at checkin and it wasn't confirmed until the day before checkout. Same treatment for my Titanium friend
• Pool chair situation (only can speak to the adults-only infinity pool) - based on this thread and tripadvisor it seemed the old daily chair reservation system was quite controversial. Now that the reservations are gone it's back to first come first serve. TBH it seemed fairly quiet at the start of last week and we had minimal to no trouble finding chairs. We'd usually sit for a couple hours in the AM, give them up, and then come back in the afternoon or evening and usually no trouble finding chairs again. Seemed as if many guests were conscientious and made it known they were leaving soon in case they saw you looking for a chair. Pool staff were very friendly and had ample supply of cold water bottles and glasses of ice available at the towel stations. Food/drink orders could be placed with the always-roving staff or via mobile with your specific chair number.
• Food/drink - we ordered snacks at the pool a few times but otherwise did not eat at any of the other restaurants in the resort. There is a large grocery store (Island Gourmet Markets; a rebranded ABC store) just next door at the Shops at Wailea with a large deli/fresh food case as well as liquor, snacks, drinks, local food items, souvenirs, etc. I think the next closest grocery store is Safeway in Kihei (~10 min drive)

Mighty_Bluff

Great summary, thank you! Good to know about the ocean view room being the typical upgrade for elites and the resort fee wifi replacement amenity. Thanks for taking the time!

brosnan6

Glad it was helpful. And just to be clear, I don't think the ocean view upgrade is guaranteed for elites, just that that's the most likely upgrade for Plat/Titanium. From what I've heard from others who have stayed here it seems that suites are almost never given out without an upsell, even though the capacity is there since they aren't even close to being fully booked most of the time. I think I saw something from Marriott a while back showing this property was in the top 10 worldwide for elites redeeming points -- all that to say there are probably a ton of elites on-site at any given time and they likely don't want to have a precedent of upgrading to suites.

UA-NYC

Big fan of Sansei in Kihei for non-hotel dining

Enjoy Horhito's taco truck as well for lunch

edgewood49

Thanks for taking the time to let us know. Here is my question, "At what point does a vacation in Hawaii without the benefit of points become prohibited" The way these properties are pounding away one has to ask is it worth it? With all these inflated prices I think think Bermuda looks pretty cheap ! "tongue and cheek"

Mighty_Bluff

One added data point. We are booked in a standard garden room that we booked fully on points. I reached out to the hotel to inquire about upgrading to suites early, as opposed to day of check in. The best room they had available during our dates was the Garden Suite, which is actually perfect for us with a toddler. More room and we can close the bedroom door after she sleeps and enjoy the rest of the evening... long story short, they offered me the room for an additional $125 per night, which I accepted. Well worth it to me, given the entire stay is on points and we really need a suite with a bedroom door that closes for the toddler.

edgewood49

That was a great compromise. Had that happen a number of times traveling in Europe. Hotel makes money we get suite.

Mighty_Bluff

What the resort fee covers... and what you get for the continental breakfast. As mentioned before, the Starbucks deal isn’t that bad. You can upcharge if you want to upgrade to a larger size drink or a breakfast sandwich instead of a pastry. Just pay the difference in price, which is about $2 on average. In lieu of the continental breakfast, they were offering 1,000 points “per night”. Hope this helps.

edgewood49

Thanks for posting so what about your room, were you given an upgrade with status? Its too bad that your not allowed to use this as a "credit" towards a real breakfast.

Mighty_Bluff

The resort is maybe half full at best, which is actually nice. Everyone is social distancing with ease and 95% are wearing masks around the property, except at the pool. The standard upgrade for plat/titanium is an ocean view room. Beyond that, there is an up charge. Because we have a toddler, I needed a suite, so we paid the extra $125 per night for the Garden Suite. Worth it for me in my case. They don’t have a traditional sit down breakfast offering for elites but honesty, the Starbucks offering isn’t as bad as it sounds. You can upgrade to a better meal, such as sausage and egg sandwich for a $2 up charge. You can get any specialty coffee or tea on the menu included in the price with no up charge plus a fruit cup or banana. Not fancy but it’s enough for us. The resort has so many nice outdoor seating arrangements, so we take our breakfast and relax looking at the ocean or beautiful gardens while we eat. Great resort and vacation so far.

sunbon

Looking to go as a family of four with our two teen children. Do you think it's better to stay at the Wailea or the Westin where we get the full breakfast Titanium benefit? Also, is this property much more upscale?

btonkid12345

I’ve always gotten an ocean view, 1 bedroom
suite, as a titanium, while staying here.

Sounds like you were played for a fool on the upcharge - and especially on accepting what the “standard upgrade” is