Oct 29, 2019, 5:18 am
Last edit by: Oxon Flyer
Hotel email: [email protected]
This property was reflagged to become a Westin in 2018. Pre-2018 (and therefore SPG-era) reviews and discussion can be found in this thread :
Hapuna Beach Resort, Waimea, Hawaii [to become a Westin Spring 2018 after renovation] - FlyerTalk Forums
This property was reflagged to become a Westin in 2018. Pre-2018 (and therefore SPG-era) reviews and discussion can be found in this thread :
Hapuna Beach Resort, Waimea, Hawaii [to become a Westin Spring 2018 after renovation] - FlyerTalk Forums
Hapuna Beach Westin Resort, Waimea, Big Island of Hawaii [Master Thread]
Feb 5, 2019, 5:32 pm
#46
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kan@da
Programs: Anything with sweet spots
Posts: 1,790
I was there in August with a group. I gave the the hotel something like 170 nights of business. Part of our stay overlapped the 8/18 integration of Marriott and SPG. Under our contract, we had one guaranteed suite upgrade and three other upgrades to the best available room, including suite, at check-in. Basically, we had to fight tooth-and-nail for the three upgrades, despite the hotel being dead.
While the property has its own general manager all of the other back office management and ownership is the same as the Mauna Kea, Autograph Collection. It's actually kind of weird because some employees, like maintenance, wear Mauna Kea clothing and even the Westin gift shop sells only Mauna Kea-branded attire. You really feel as if you're staying in a cheaper annex of Mauna Kea, but I digress.
It could have been that this was a new Westin and staff weren't familiar with the upgrade benefits, but given the fact that we had contractual upgrades and the fact that the Mauna Kea is known to be stingy with elite benefits I don't think I would expect anything more than what I booked, unless you're willing to fight for the upgrade and escalate to the general manager. For what it's worth, it took forever for the property to post the points and send me a final folio for our master account. Island time is very much a real thing. When I was on-property everyone was warm and welcoming but I could see that island time is very much a real affliction (even for managers).
This is a beautiful hotel, albeit with some weird design flaws (see my review, https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30086224-post1.html). I'm not happy with how they handled (and may still handle) the construction. I had to throw a fuss to get all of our event participants moved to rooms away from the construction. They actually assigned some of them rooms directly adjoining an active construction site.
I would be curious to know if they have changed the food-and-beverage now that they've had nearly a year to get things straightened out. When I was there the big complaint was insufficient variety of dinner options. Besides only having two restaurants -- three if you count the room service menu -- the menu never changed. I don't mind eating the same food every night if the food is good, but I know most of the 40 or so people in our group were tired of the limited food choices after three nights.
While the property has its own general manager all of the other back office management and ownership is the same as the Mauna Kea, Autograph Collection. It's actually kind of weird because some employees, like maintenance, wear Mauna Kea clothing and even the Westin gift shop sells only Mauna Kea-branded attire. You really feel as if you're staying in a cheaper annex of Mauna Kea, but I digress.
It could have been that this was a new Westin and staff weren't familiar with the upgrade benefits, but given the fact that we had contractual upgrades and the fact that the Mauna Kea is known to be stingy with elite benefits I don't think I would expect anything more than what I booked, unless you're willing to fight for the upgrade and escalate to the general manager. For what it's worth, it took forever for the property to post the points and send me a final folio for our master account. Island time is very much a real thing. When I was on-property everyone was warm and welcoming but I could see that island time is very much a real affliction (even for managers).
This is a beautiful hotel, albeit with some weird design flaws (see my review, https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30086224-post1.html). I'm not happy with how they handled (and may still handle) the construction. I had to throw a fuss to get all of our event participants moved to rooms away from the construction. They actually assigned some of them rooms directly adjoining an active construction site.
I would be curious to know if they have changed the food-and-beverage now that they've had nearly a year to get things straightened out. When I was there the big complaint was insufficient variety of dinner options. Besides only having two restaurants -- three if you count the room service menu -- the menu never changed. I don't mind eating the same food every night if the food is good, but I know most of the 40 or so people in our group were tired of the limited food choices after three nights.
Feb 5, 2019, 5:37 pm
#47
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Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2005
Programs: Delta Diamond, Marriott Ambassador & Lifetime Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, United Silver
Posts: 6,334
Feb 13, 2019, 11:22 am
#48
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 32
Hello everyone! My wife and I are planning our first trip to Hawaii for the first week of June. How would you compare this to Maui's sheraton/westin? I would love to find a category 5 we are happy with and save the points. We are thinking 7-8 nights. Prefer to stay at one island, but are considering doing 5 nights and 3 nights. We want a mix of beach relaxation and exploration in the forests.
Feb 13, 2019, 12:34 pm
#49
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Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2005
Programs: Delta Diamond, Marriott Ambassador & Lifetime Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, United Silver
Posts: 6,334
Hello everyone! My wife and I are planning our first trip to Hawaii for the first week of June. How would you compare this to Maui's sheraton/westin? I would love to find a category 5 we are happy with and save the points. We are thinking 7-8 nights. Prefer to stay at one island, but are considering doing 5 nights and 3 nights. We want a mix of beach relaxation and exploration in the forests.
Feb 13, 2019, 12:55 pm
#50
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: None - previously UA
Posts: 4,867
Some people like the Maui scene, there are lots of nice beaches on Maui and the beaches on the Big Island can be harder to find. But I hate the bumper to bumper traffic Maui has these days, quite frankly I may never go back to Maui except for maybe a short visit, wedding, conference etc. That said if you never plan to leave your resort the traffic may not be an issue.
Feb 13, 2019, 1:06 pm
#51
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: EDI/GLA
Programs: DL 2 MM Unobtainum | UA 1.1MM Gold | MR Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 2,272
Some people like the Maui scene, there are lots of nice beaches on Maui and the beaches on the Big Island can be harder to find. But I hate the bumper to bumper traffic Maui has these days, quite frankly I may never go back to Maui except for maybe a short visit, wedding, conference etc. That said if you never plan to leave your resort the traffic may not be an issue.
Feb 13, 2019, 4:31 pm
#52
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 42
Hello everyone! My wife and I are planning our first trip to Hawaii for the first week of June. How would you compare this to Maui's sheraton/westin? I would love to find a category 5 we are happy with and save the points. We are thinking 7-8 nights. Prefer to stay at one island, but are considering doing 5 nights and 3 nights. We want a mix of beach relaxation and exploration in the forests.
Feb 13, 2019, 11:34 pm
#54
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: JAX
Programs: UA Plat MM, AA Gold MM, Marriott LTT, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 3,770
Hapuna Beach is much nicer than beaches around Westin Mauai. Some consider Mauna Kea Beach to be the best in all of Hawaii, but I prefer Hapuna Beach over Mauna Kea Beach. Hapnua is much bigger, and never crowded right before Christmas when the hotel was sold out. Mauna Kea Beach felt more crowded. Just south of Hapuna is Beach 69, which is much smaller but interesting and lots of shallow reef for decent snorkeling.
Hapuna Beach and Big Island is just more relaxed and a lot of things to do. There's also nice snorkeling and world class diving at Two Step, south of Kona. No sandy beach, you have to take two big steps off rocks to get into the ocean.
Feb 18, 2019, 9:16 am
#56
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 32
Thanks Everyone! Do you think 7 nights is too much for this area since there is not much around? We want to do ~4 days on the beach relaxing and water activities, then ~3 days more adventurous activities like the volcanoes, hiking, etc. I would prefer to stay at the same place, put if the adventurous activities are not close by then we may do 3 nights somewhere else on the island.
Feb 18, 2019, 1:49 pm
#57
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Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2005
Programs: Delta Diamond, Marriott Ambassador & Lifetime Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, United Silver
Posts: 6,334
Thanks Everyone! Do you think 7 nights is too much for this area since there is not much around? We want to do ~4 days on the beach relaxing and water activities, then ~3 days more adventurous activities like the volcanoes, hiking, etc. I would prefer to stay at the same place, put if the adventurous activities are not close by then we may do 3 nights somewhere else on the island.
Feb 20, 2019, 3:03 am
#58
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Singapore
Programs: SPG LTP, HH D
Posts: 729
I think Hapuna's renovations are completed so it is probably nicer than the Sheraton/Westin on Maui. Hapuna is also kind of isolated and loosely connected to Mauna Kea Beach. If you are going to stay 8 nights you can split up your trip on the Big Island so you can stay part of the time at Hapuna and the other on the east side.
While some FTers have reported that it's walkable from Hapuna Beach to Mauna Kea Beach, and the Hapuna staff certainly did not deny it, they recommended that my wife and I drive over to Mauna Kea and valet park since as Hapuna guests we would not be charged any parking fees. This was a good recommendation that worked a treat.
Incidentally, our stay on the Big Island was divided into 4 nights in Hilo (Hilton Doubletree Grand Naniloa), 5 nights at the Westin Hapuna, and 2 nights at the Marriott Waikoloa Beach.
Feb 20, 2019, 3:14 am
#59
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Singapore
Programs: SPG LTP, HH D
Posts: 729
Thanks Everyone! Do you think 7 nights is too much for this area since there is not much around? We want to do ~4 days on the beach relaxing and water activities, then ~3 days more adventurous activities like the volcanoes, hiking, etc. I would prefer to stay at the same place, put if the adventurous activities are not close by then we may do 3 nights somewhere else on the island.
Feb 20, 2019, 3:29 am
#60
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Singapore
Programs: SPG LTP, HH D
Posts: 729
Construction was still going on before Christmas, so it won't be complete anytime soon.
Hapuna Beach is much nicer than beaches around Westin Mauai. Some consider Mauna Kea Beach to be the best in all of Hawaii, but I prefer Hapuna Beach over Mauna Kea Beach. Hapnua is much bigger, and never crowded right before Christmas when the hotel was sold out. Mauna Kea Beach felt more crowded. Just south of Hapuna is Beach 69, which is much smaller but interesting and lots of shallow reef for decent snorkeling.
Hapuna Beach and Big Island is just more relaxed and a lot of things to do. There's also nice snorkeling and world class diving at Two Step, south of Kona. No sandy beach, you have to take two big steps off rocks to get into the ocean.
Hapuna Beach is much nicer than beaches around Westin Mauai. Some consider Mauna Kea Beach to be the best in all of Hawaii, but I prefer Hapuna Beach over Mauna Kea Beach. Hapnua is much bigger, and never crowded right before Christmas when the hotel was sold out. Mauna Kea Beach felt more crowded. Just south of Hapuna is Beach 69, which is much smaller but interesting and lots of shallow reef for decent snorkeling.
Hapuna Beach and Big Island is just more relaxed and a lot of things to do. There's also nice snorkeling and world class diving at Two Step, south of Kona. No sandy beach, you have to take two big steps off rocks to get into the ocean.