peroorim

Looking to book 2 rooms for 5 nights for my family with 3 kids and 3 adults. Both hotels require the same number of points per night: 40 L. Which one would be a better option?
I like the larger rooms at the Residence Inn, Kitchenette, free breakfast and no resort fee. However , the Wailea Marriott looks closer to the beach and has many more pools for the kids including a water slide.

DnvTrvlr

Hipplewm

Not sure if you have status, but the new program includes breakfast at resorts, so depending on status and timeframe of this trip, you may have breakfast available at the Marriott Wailea

Nieskese

I am doing almost the same thing - 2 rooms for 5 nights but my 3 kids are all college age. I agree with the other posters - it's nice being next to the beach. This is my wife and I's third trip to Maui (Sheraton and Westin Resorts at Kaanapali Beach were the other areas) but first with the kids. Although it sounds nice to have the kitchenette, it also means leaving where you are (beach, pool, etc) and going back to the room, making a meal, eating, cleaning up etc. I tend to go on vacation to try to get away from things like this.
It can save some money and I am all for that but what is the reason for going to Hawaii but to get away from everything and enjoy all that the island has to offer. And if you are enjoying the activities on Maui, do you really want to go back to a room and make a meal etc.?

buckwg

When does the new policy for breakfast at resorts begin? August 1? I'm a gold elite and will be there for a week in June with my family ... any chance of us getting breakfast?

dblue

Stayed at the Wailea Beach Marriott and it was solid, especially if you have kids. Great kids pool, etc.

The Residence Inn is further back and closer to a strip mall. The Marriott isn't on the actual beach, but you can easily walk to the beach along a path, not down a road. Don't think it makes sense to go all the way to Maui and then stay in the RI, but that's just me.

I preferred the Westin in Kaanapali beach to the Marriott in Wailea, but the Wailea Marriott might be better with kids.

Hipplewm

99.99% sure it won't be before August, but not sure if ti is August or 2019 to be honest

aaparikh

I'll offer a different perspective. We stayed in Maui over New Year's with our 2 little ones. We were booking last-minute and decided to split our award stays between Wailea and Kaanapali. The Residence Inn was the only Wailea property available for using points, so we didn't have a choice. It was easily the nicest Residence Inn I've stayed in. Property is open and well-decorated. It's a short, 5-minute drive to the beach. The hotel offers a free shuttle to pick-up and drop-off or you can park in the free public parking lot next to the Four Seasons. The rooms are large and have kitchenettes. We were upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite with an ocean view. For us, since we were traveling with kids, having space was important to us to enjoy the room itself and not feeling cramped in a standard room at other properties. Breakfast was better than any other Residence Inn we've stayed in. Parking was only $20 per day and no resort fees while the Wailea Marriott was considerably more in both categories for a "free" award stay. Both properties you are considering are great options and have trade-offs depending on what's important to you.

On a side note, we stayed at the Westin in Kaanapali as well for the resort portion of our trip. There are tons of activities to do at that property, as well as, the neighboring hotels. The kids really enjoyed taking pictures with the parrots, feeding the fish, seeing the flamingos, pools/waterslides, and we walked over to the Hyatt for an amazing wildlife tour where you get up-close to feed ducks & geese. Have a great trip!

tawcan

We just recently stayed at Wailea Marriott and had a great time. My parents stayed at Residence Inn.

The rooms at both properties cost roughly the same. For the price, Wailea Marriott s a way nicer hotel with more add-ons for guests.

ORD-TGU

Just completed a 5 night stay at Residence Inn while travelling with kids and was very satisfied with my choice over Marriott for a couple reasons.
-Now RI is 35K/night at new category, less points than Marriott
-Full breakfast which was decent (spinach, greek yogurt, brie, edible eggs, etc)
-Spacious 1 room suite with living room, small dinning room table, full kitchenette. I really liked the option of having kids in living room watching TV and I could close door and sleep in or take an afternoon nap.
- Full Kitchenette, we went to Safeway and stocked up on food and drinks. This saved us a lot of $. FYI, Island Gourmet delivers to hotel. They also have 5 grills, we used twice to bbq some steaks and pork chops. All utensils, plates, etc provide for free by hotel.
-No resort fee
-Unobstructed ocean view with spacious balcony.
-On demand hotel shuttle that picked us up and dropped off at beach and at the shops, have very little wait.
-Kid friendly. And as expected, a lot of families.
-Hotel is less than 2 years old, so everything worked, not 1 single issue.

Overall, RI is an excellent choice if you want to save points, resort fees, breakfast cost and save on food plus get a bit more room. You do give up being ocean side, but it is only a 15 minute walk downhill or 5 minute van ride to beach. Now if I would return just with my wife, I would skip the RI & Marriott and go to the Andaz which is very nice and they waive resort fees when booking with points.