edgewood49

Hockey is correct as doe comparing onsite to offsite that's not even apples to apples. with this property so close to the mall one should be dining there as much as possible frankly. Not sure where Target and Costco comes into play here but the staff in Kirkland knew exactly what they were doing when they built that store in that particular location and the donut shop!! The Wailea Marriott is a perfect example of the current upper management of Marriott which frankly is in name only, it's all about
room count" the Marriott of old would never have let this property get out of hand like it has same with some of the other lame reflags that happened in the islands for the sake of a flag and bed count. Like most service related industries "Equity Capital" has taken over

Nash_Andrew

You're absolutely right about this... I should have been more clear about my comment here.

Yes, the restaurant has a decent bar and it is located right off the lobby. But this restaurant is completely enclosed, and is decorated like a faux-Lower East Side NYC gastropub with Edison light bulbs. Kind of like a cross between a Houston's and Schiller's Liquor Bar (RIP). Whereas the lobby is this beautiful, open-air, breezy, lots of plants, much more Hawaiian experience. Though the bar at Humble Market is close geographically to the lobby, it is not a place we found ourselves wanting to linger for a drink or a snack on our Hawaiian vacation (whereas the Four Seasons lobby bar, for instance, down the beach is open-air, ocean breeze, and feels more inviting and upscale beach-vibe). Just my $0.02. Hope this clarifies the intent of the comment.

Nash_Andrew

I actually asked about this. Assuming the woman at the front desk is correct, the Humble Market Kitchin is operated by a third party, but the Hapa restaurant, pool bar at the adventure pool with food truck, and Whale's Tale are all operated by the hotel. Not sure about the Starbucks.

Cledaybuck

Humble Market Kitchen isn't totally enclosed. I mean, it can be, but they have outdoor seating with large glass doors in between. These doors were open when I was there.

arlflyer

edgewood49

It's Hawaii and "equity capital" owned. This property was slated to be a St. Regis many many years ago when it was still a Renaissance. Now it's akin to all the other properties in Maui over priced and under performing

Cledaybuck

Huh? I will agree with you that prices at resorts in Maui are overpriced, but I am not sure what any of that has to do with whether Humble Market is open air or not.

cdoobiest

I was there same time as Nash_Andrew review and echo the same comments as him. We stayed over President's Day weekend with 2 kids, wife and I took my parents as well. My wife and I are both Platinum members and were given (as expected) interior garden view room. No upgrade available. We were in main tower, 7th floor with dumpster below us.

I looked at availability for rest of week and found no openings until mid week so I waited until mid week to inquire about changing rooms due to noise from trash dumping in AM and PM. I was told, hotel sold out and no better rooms available. The staff was nice about it and proactively offered me free breakfast at main restaurant for rest of the three remaining days we had left which I accepted.

It would have been nice to have a ocean view but based on everyone input, I doubt this would have been possible anyways, so free breakfast for family was nice. FYI, if you are paying for buffet breakfast, it is not worth $35 adult, $17 kids. Typical breakfast offerings, nothing special. Thank god, we didn't have to pay. My daughter literally had one croissant and 2 pieces of bacon one morning. It would have killed me to pay $17 for that. I have been to the Fairmont breakfast buffet for $5 more, you get the omelet station, waffles, pancakes and benedicts. Humble kitchen only had frittata of the day and scrambled eggs. It was the same egg dish except the frittata had a sprinkle of veggies and cheese on top. Also, no waffles, pancakes, just sweetbread bread pudding french toast which was a dense dessert like bread pudding and nothing like typical french toast. Kids were disappointed with that. I have to admit the pastry selection was very good.

A few other things, the resort is called Wailea Beach Marriott. We tried to go to Wailea Beach three times during our trip and they had no umbrellas and chairs for guest available. The resort contracts to outside vendor and they only had 3 sets of chairs and umbrellas set up for Marriott guests! The guy running the thing was pretty rude stating we need to get there at 8am to grab a chair and he refused to set up any additional chairs stating he can't kick people who put their towels down since it was public beach. I understand his point of view but he should have layed down more chairs in the beginning. The Grand Wailea in comparison had over 50 sets of chairs and umbrellas. We ended up sitting on beach towels one day and I ended up driving everyone over to the Fairmont to use their beach for our other beach day. We stayed at the Fairmont in the past and love Polo Beach there. I slipped the beach attendants $40 and they gave me 2 chairs no problem!

To pay an outrageous $35 resort fee and not get beach chairs is a joke. Plus as previous member mentioned, you get NOTHING for the resort fee. At least the Fairmont gives you an hour guided canoe ride to see the turtles and the Andaz gives free access to Go Pros. The $35 parking fee is also a joke and the spaces are narrow as something else mentioned. FYI, Fairmont has free parking with resort fee. I redeemed two 7 night certificates for our stay and still paid over $70 a day for our "free nights!"

If you are going to use the pools, the adult pool and kids pool is probably the best in Maui. It is a huge resort, very spread out but at same time, it spread out guests so none of the areas were too busy. We never had problem getting chairs as long as you were not picky being right up front. Only time, I ended up securing beach chairs was on last day of departure since I knew we would spend the last day at the pool. Also, they were generous with 4pm check out time which I am surprised they honored and I did check out the departure lounge which was pretty nice if you needed it.

So overall great resort if you don't mind the lack of Plat recognition for room upgrades and the $35 resort and $35 parking fee daily. I would still recommend a car if staying for longer than 3 days. Checking out rest of island is a must do in my opinion plus you can find much cheaper food options in Kihei 15 min away and eat out or bring back to the room. We eat at Da Kitchen twice for mixed plate which is dirt cheap and so good. Foodland for Poke, Ulalani for shaved ice, Threes bar and grill and Kihei caffe for breakfast. Plus going to Lahaina is always good for a day trip or Paia or Road to Hana. Car rentals are reasonable if you plan ahead.

Having been to Maui for the fourth time, I still prefer Wailea area to Kaanapalli area for the beaches and a little better weather during the winter months when we go. Amenities at this hotel are better than the Westin or Sheraton and the Ritz has no direct beach access and a little secluded. The only Marriott property I would consider next time are the time shares of Westin and Marriott but they are tough to redeem on points in prime months. Can't wait until our return to Maui again!

hockeyinsider

I have a hard time believing that even over a holiday weekend everyone with a better room -- as in any room not above the dumpsters -- booked a different category or had higher status.

edgewood49

have the same attitude as the staff at the Maui Andaz. Don't get me started on that one. I also agree on the Fairmont superior service

hockeyinsider

I don't understand this.

Kacee

I agree. It sounds like they made no effort at advance room assignment and that staff just fell back on "nothing available" script rather than making an effort to find a better room.

edgewood49

It all starts from the top down. If the Gm is not discussing this at staff meetings making sure that the desk managers follow up it's just not going to happen. I usually don't push it unless the desk agent is speeding past my status etc I will ask half heartily what room did I get? Many times that subtle hint prompts them to relook at the room selection making it obvious that no one has done room assignments for the upper tier travels. At the end of the day " you only get what you pay for"

Cledaybuck

I was here for a two night rewards stay last summer (pre Aug 18, if it matters) with my wife and son. Checked in around 9:30-10:00 and was upgraded, as gold, to a two queen ocean view. Now before anyone gets too excited, realize that ocean view means you can at least see a sliver of ocean from your room. In my case, it was past the bar and pool out by Wailea Beach. We did have a problem with the battery door lock card reader going bad which took a couple of trips to the front desk (which is not close) to fix. Once maintenance got there, it only a couple of minutes to fix.

As for the beach, my experience was better than yours. They definitely had more than 3 chairs, although I believe we got two of the last ones (in row 3) late morning (11ish?) I don't think they ran out of chairs the next day as it clouded up late morning and even spit rain for a minute or two. The guy setting up the chairs was nice. If we weren't at the beach, we were by the NALU pool. My son (8) enjoyed this quite a bit, and I even enjoyed a couple of trip down the water slides. We never had much of a problem finding at least two chairs together. Didn't use the other pools, but did walk by, and the adults only pool looks beautiful with a gorgeous view.

We did have breakfast in the restaurant one day. I thought it was good, but overpriced. My wife and I did the buffet and my son ordered of the menu and with tax and tip, the total was around $100! We did have lunch at KAPA one day. Nice open air setting with pretty good food, but with standard Maui resort overpricing. Speaking of overpriced, I believe the drinks we something like $15 each. They did have a happy hour from 3-5, but only at KAPA. So if you were by the pool with the slides, you had to walk over to that bar to save $3 per drink. The most overpriced thing might have been the equipment at the activity hut by the beach. Rent or buy your own somewhere else if you are going to be staying for any significant amount of time.

All the above said, this is a very nice resort. The rooms are nice, the grounds are very nice, and the pools are great. The also have a nice game room with video games and air hockey that was fun. I would love to come back, but I don't think I could justify it for the amount of cash they want, although I would consider it for 50k points per night (+$70 in the worlds skinniest parking spaces and resort fee which you probably won't use except for the two free drinks).

Intl359Widget

I've encountered this issue quite a few times to a point of where I politely call a day before to ensure they're cognizant on availability for the upper tiers.