New Hotel Opening in Maui
 

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to let everyone know about the new Renaissance Kapalua Bay Resort in Maui which opened on August 31st! For those of you looking for redemption opportunities in Maui - this could be the place for you.

For more information on this property log on to www.MarriottRewards.com or click on the link below.

http://marriott.com/property/propert...rshaCode=jhmkb

Thanks and happy trails!

Chris

Did this property get rebranded from Sheraton?

Never mind ... just answered my own question:
http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacif...0/daily50.html

Ren Wailea for the Sheraton Kapalua? Starwood got the better end of that deal...

I'm sure it wasn't an even trade, probably some cash involved so Starwood got a nice property, uncle Bill got some cash and MR members got the short end of the stick. Just my cynical view... :D

Funny, I see it the complete opposite way. Both properties are aging and suffering from some corporate parental neglect, but the Kapalua Bay is a top-notch property on the most elegant part of the island. The Ren/W Wailea is perhaps the least impressive of the resorts down there. Wailea is a nice area (far classier than Ka'anapali, for instance), but a step down from Kapalua.

For those of us who are a little on the slow side, I think we are all talking about the Kapalua Bay Hotel, which was part of the Luxury Collection of Starwood. Seems to be a lot of references to Sheraton in this thread. There is the Sheraton Maui Resort further to the south of this property.

Correct. I've stayed at the Kapalua Bay Hotel on several occasions and it's a superb property. IMO, it'll be an excellent addition to the Marriott family.

So now that Marriott has two properties in Kapalua (the Ritz and this new Renaissance) any thoughts on which would be better? Due to a Ritz point-saver the number of points required is the same....

You'll find many posts over the last few years about the deterioration of the Kapalua Bay Resort. I've stayed there since it opened and as recently as last month and the rooms need refurb, the service levels need improvement, etc, etc. No way this property made Starwood "Luxury Collection" standards the last few years. It used to, but not recently, IMHO.

I also don't think this was a result of "parental neglect" on the part of Starwood. More likely the owners not wanting to invest more capital for whatever reason. In fact the buzz from the bellstaff there last month was that Starwood gave the owners some ultimatum about capital improvements and the owners balked. I know bellstaff are hardly the best source for reliable info, but that was the scuttlebutt going around.

As a bit of history for you folks, when this hotel opened it was the creme of the crop as far as quality and service goes. It maintained that worldwide reputation for many, many years until the Ritz opened nearby and took away a lot of the high rate payers. In order to fill rooms, the Kapaula had to lower rates substantially and that lowered the the type of clientèle, the service levels and also the amount of reinvestment capital, I suspect. At that point it really should have been rebranded a Westin or a Sheraton. It was one of those landmark properties that was now living primarily on it's past great reputation and not it's true current less-than-stellar standards.

Anyway, it's a great location and has great potential to get back up close to it's opening standards with a little investment. Even with all it's recent lackluster performance, I'm going to miss it as a Starwood option (primarily for award stays in the more serene Kapalua area).

Interesting. I haven't stayed there since the mid-90's so it's obviously gone downhill since then.
But i've got to believe Marriott plans to invest the $$$'s to bring it back to some semblance of it's former self.

I stayed there in 1985 or so, and it was one of the most spectacular hotels in which I had ever stayed. From the comments here, it obviously went downhill in the recent past. But, Kapalua Bay is one of the best beginner snorkeling locations in the islands. And the beaches and resort physical plant were spectacular.

It would not take much more than a renovation and renewal of the prior attention to service to bring this resort back to the point where it is one of the finest in the world.

My opinion is also based on staying there quite a few years ago, so it is entirely possible that things slid quite far in that time.

I'm now more skeptical that Marriott made a good decision. Given the fact that they let the Renaissance Wailea slip into such disrepair and employee indifference, I'm not at all confident they will invest what it takes to turn the Kapalua Bay back into a stellar resort...

Add to that a rebound in the economy (leisure travel) and they don't have to invest in the property to attract visitors. The owners (if its franchised) or Uncle Bill get to line their pockets, ride the wave until things slow down and only reinvest when tourism slows down and they have to grab market share in order to stay full.