We stayed for a week last summer. Bedding was typical Marriott and comfortable. They are pedestal beds and are a little lower to the ground as DavidAnderson noted.

We didn't eat at Mala but did have lunch at the pool a few times. The food was good (typical Marriott resort quality). Service is a bit on the slow side but friendly. Relax your in Hawaii, get into the Aloha spirit...

We also did the luau in exchange for doing a TS presentation. The setting by the ocean is great and the show is nice. Food was better than normal for a luau but still mass produced (as expected). We really enjoyed the luau and would do it again.

At least for us ^ ^ ^ for this property and the Wailea area.

--Jon

P.S. Offsite there are many dining options in the adjacent Wailea shops (walking distance) and Kihei (short drive).

Marriott Wailea Report!
 

We just got back from an 8 night stay at this property! We had a great experience and would go back in a heart beat:p

Arrival: My husband is Platinum and we did reserve this room on points.
When reserved on points a resort view room is the norm. We were upgraded ( a few days beforhand I noticed the upgrade on the reservation) to a ocean front room. Our room was 4408 which is ground level directly behind the adult pool. This room was awesome for us!! Spectacular view that did not disappoint. We used our lanai quite a bit and we could even walk down to the pool (not even 20 steps) and order drinks from the waitresses:)


Resort Staff: Our feeling was that the entire staff was very gracious and helpful. The bellboy (Matt) took us to our room could not have been more kind. He made it clear that he would help us in any way that he could, all we had to do was ask.


Resort: We had our two children with us (12 & 10) so we spent a lot of time at the kids pool with the slides. They (even my 12 year old) loved the two slides. We adults even participated a few times:) We usually sat up top (there are two pools the water slides are at the top with a regular pool and the water park area is at the bottom where the slides come out) so that it was a little quieter and we could find a spot with a view of the ocean.

We thought the lobby areas of the resort were just beautiful. We were not expecting a ritz carlton or 4 seasons, but the marriott is still very pretty. The room was nice and clean and I liked the modern look of the room and bathroom. The bed was nice to sit on, but a little soft ( for my liking ) to sleep on. The maid service was great and I have no idea how they are able to get all the sand out each day!! The resort is spread out and it is a rehabed old hotel so it doesn't look new everywhere, but we thought the upkeep was fine.

We took everyones advice and parked up top in the parking garage each time we went out and it was never a problem to find a spot big enough for our car on top!

We walked to Wailea Beach almost every day. Our kids enjoyed going to the beach in the morning, coming back having lunch and going to the pool in the afternoon. It was not a long walk to W. Beach, but we learned after the first day that we did not have to bring everything with us each time we went to the beach!!

Restaurants: We ate at the Kumu Bar a few times for lunch and thought the food was good. They have drink specials from 3-5 each afternoon. The lunches run $10. for kids meals and $15-19 for adults. Not cheap, but not the most expensive we had on our trip either. We loved the Mai Tais as our bill showed when we checked out;)

We ate a Mala one night and it was DELICIOUS. The food was outstanding as was the service. Not cheap, but it was memorable! OUr children enjoyed it as well.


All in all we thought it was a good use of our points. We had an awesome time on our trip and would revisit this hotel again, especially if we had the points to spend!

CSBM

I love this place. Was there a few years ago when I was a gold and got a similar upgrade as yours. They seem to take good care of elites.

Can't wait till the kiddo is old enough to sit through the 8+ hour plane ride. :D

Why wait? You may be pleasantly surprised trying it now. We stayed there last summer when my daughter was 3. We flew PIT -> ORD -> OGG RT. With a DVD player and a few toys to entertain her, she did fine on the plane.

When she was 1, we went to Kauai. That trip was a little harder with the infant car seat and mainly due to UA cancelling our last leg LAX -> LIH on the way out. We still had a great time in Kauai.

--Jon

I believe I was upgraded to this same room last summer on an awards stay - overlooking the infinity pool. It is a very nice property, though I've heard that the other side of the resort, with the actual resort/mountain-facing rooms, isn't quite as nice.

We've also done PIT<-->(HNL/OGG/LIH/KOA) with kids who were 1,3,5,6,8, and 10 without any significant issues. A DVD player, gameboy, books, etc., and they're usually good to go. The return is a red-eye and kids can usually sleep well in-flight (unlike Dad)

We went three years ago to the big island when my girls were 6 & 8 and they did way better than I would have imagined! With DS's and the like, they were entertained enough!

This time we had a straight flight from chicago ( 8+ hour flight) and they didn't even complain one time, I couldn't believe it. They watched the inflight movie and played on their electronics stuff.

CSBM

We are now comparing $240/nt (blended rate with M11 weeknight promo) for a studio @ the MVC villas v. 120k points for 5 nights @ Marriott Wailea.

Decided to book Wailea (even though ROI is barely .01 per point) then received a call from the MVC marketing department offering 5N studio @ MVC Ocean Club for $750 with $100 resort credit. Decided that was a better deal, so we cancelled Wailea and bought the package.

Benchmarking v. other programs, we found both Sheraton and Westin offerings points + cash rate of $90 + 4800 per night (roughly .02 ROI at current rates).

Update on our fastly approaching trip -- we got a deal at the OC and have a nice oceanfront 1 BR villa for 145K points (5 nights). Another tip, the OC has a concierge that can book your activities and charge them to your room, allowing you to use points to pay for these too.

Wailea Marriott Maui - Cabana
 

Planning a trip in September to the Wailea Beach Marriott Resort & Spa.

First thing on the list is to secure one of those floating cabanas at the adults pool for relaxing and viewing the sunset.

Apparently the 6 cabanas are numbered from 6-5-4...3-2-1 when facing the ocean...#6 on the far left and #1 on the far right.

If I have my pick from all six I'd like to make an informed descision.
I'm looking for some opinions on which ones of the six offer benefits and why. View of sunset obscured by trees, too close to edge for the infinity effect, etc.

Any other info concering the cabanas is appreciated.
Thanks!

#3/4 are in the middle and have a good view. However, I wouldn't bother, except for maybe 1 day.

The grounds are beautiful and you'll find some much better spots to catch the sunset, such as a hammock or the loungers you occaisonally sea by the sea

Have a great time, one of my fave places

david

all have good views. My wife and I were there in July for 10 days and I remember they were having a special for the cabanas that day.

$60 which was 1/2 price and you received 2 drinks and some fruit. I thought it was a ripoff at $60, but at $120 its insane. Plenty of great views,chairs,umbrellas

Enjoy

We sprung for it for a day when we were there a couple years ago.

We preferred one of the outside ones (1 or 6) because you could swim up to the Cabana on one side without interfering with anyone else if there were next to you. For the most part nobody was next to us though. ^

Marriott Wailea Question
 

I know many of you have stayed at this resort before.

We are going next summer. I have an oceanfront room reserved for 4 nights.

I am a Marriott rewards member but have no status :td:

Are there any specific buildings or rooms I should request? Any I should stay away from?

It's our honeymoon also, would we get any special perks if I notify them of this ahead of time? I wasn't sure how this property handled special occasions. I didn't see anywhere to put this on the reservation, so I could send them an email I suppose.

Thanks in advance!

We were there in June for our 20th. If you have an oceanfront room then you should be set. It is REALLY nice. I can send you some pics if you PM me your e-mail address.

Concierge (Sarah) was fantastic. She arranged several things for us to do.

We had a great time at http://www.warrenandannabelles.com/

Had a great dinner at http://mamasfishhouse.com/

Had a VERY nice dinner @ Capische (sp?) in Wailea while we were there.

Property is nice....you should enjoy your stay. If you're in oceanfront you should be fine.