Wailea Marriott Hotel

The hotel operators often refer to themselves as being in the hospitality business, but very few of them have as much right to do so as the Wailea Marriott hotel. We have just come home from a week and a half there and we found it, in spite of the renovations going on, as pleasant as ever. The property is being upgraded significantly. The rooms are much more modern and ours, at least, was in mint condition. In general, they are going more upscale. Today, the lobby is rather torn up, but depending on where your room is you may not even notice that. At worst, you have to walk past some plywood barriers. But the hospitality comes from the people. The first day I went down to breakfast I told the hostess my name and room number. Thereafter, she greeted me by name. She did not ask for the number, but I noticed she did not write it down, so I guessed she was going to look it up later and gave it to her. The desk clerks and bellmen whom we recognized from earlier stays uniformly greeted us saying, welcome back. I mentioned in passing, placing a room service order for my wife, which is diabetic, and a few days into our stay the management sent a little treat to the room. I noticed that the room service waiter who brought it had little boxes of chocolate nuts on her cart, but she had a fresh fruit plate for us.

This hotel made me feel welcome: My wife, who is disabled, had a problem with the bed, which was too low for her to get out of independently. I called housekeeping and they immediately sent two housemen with an old box spring set, to put under the new mattress and thereby raise it. Unfortunately, we discovered in a day or so, that made it too tall, so she could not get into the bed. I called again and the housemen promptly came to remove the box springs. They offered two featherbeds, to raise it a little but not too much. We tried one which proved to be too soft so she still could not negotiate it. The housekeeper said they could replace the whole mattress with an old box spring and mattress set, from before the renovation, and I said that would be fine. However, it turned out that all the old ones had been hauled away the previous evening. I suggested that if they had some kind of low blocks they could put under the bed that might work. The houseman would have to talk to engineering about getting something. He returned with four sawn pieces which he put under each corner of the bed, raising it to a perfect height so that she was able to get in and out with ease for the balance of the stay. Maybe any decent hotel would rebuild the room for any guest who happened to ask, but I doubt it very seriously.

Having stayed at the old Outrigger hotel for years, which is now the Wailea Marriott, I was very disappointed with my last stay which had horrible construction noise and dust and to my horror let kids stay free.

The lovely upper pool that was just right for honeymooners and grown-ups who didn't want screaming children has been turned into a plastic kiddy pool area. The wonderful Hula Moons cafe is gone along with some of the best food on the island. Last time I went to Maui, I stayed at the Prince and came up to the Marriott for a meal. It was a very disappointing meal, it was greasy and very expensive. Everywhere else we ate on the island, the restaurant staff was more than willing to modify menu items, even come up with special things for the two of us who are on diabetic diets. The great old Hawaii art work and ambiance is gone.

While we tried to eat our dinner and enjoy the hula show, the baby at the next table screamed like a banshee and I actually had to get up and tell them that they should take their food to go and eat on their balcony. Everywhere we went there were hot and cranky and crying beet red babies. There were older children screaming in front of our room at 6 in the morning. It was awful. I wouldn't stay anywhere but the Outrigger and now I won't go near the Marriott. I am part Hawaiian and even though I live on the mainland, I "go home" as often as I can. Now, I stay at the Prince.

This hotel has been undergoing renovations for about 2+ years. We are familiar with the Wailea area of Maui and looked forward to a fabulous resort.

Instead, we were greeted with a temporary tent at the entrance and a temporary registration desk that had a portable disk or cassette player with Hawaiian music on a side table. There is one restaurant and the night we checked it out, there were maybe two tables of diners. The other restaurant closes at 5 pm.

There is one 'general store' in the lobby and as you wander throughout the premises, you get the feeling that Marriott is in trouble financially. Not that they are, but that's the feeling you get.

Unfinished trims, unswept walks, plants that looked unkempt and weirdest of all, there were no areas in which guests gathered, except for the pool area. Our room faced the kiddy pool; it had a tacky water slide that didn't blend into the surroundings.

The Wailea Shopping Mall next door is nice, but there are only 60 or so stores there. The Marriott staff used that mall liberally in promoting things to do.

We 'commuted' daily to Kaanapali and Front Street to see any signs of life. Wailea, where the Marriott is located, is really a residential area, and a nice one at that. Lovely place to live, but for vacationers, it leaves a lot to be desired, unless your hotel is self-sufficient. The Four Seasons, a few doors down is such a place, as is the Grand Wailea. I would stay in either one of those before venturing into the Marriott again.

One example of very poor service: I needed a zipper for a pair of pants. So I called the concierge, expecting them to help. Instead I was told they did not have a tailor on site, and I was given a phone number of a dry-cleaner in town. They didn't offer to call, so I did. The tailor worked from home and the cleaner people would have had to mail my pants to the tailor. I didn't have that kind of time! So after 6 phone calls, a very nice lady gave me some names of local seamstresses. I gave the name of the one I ended up using to the manager. It was strange that they have never done any research themselves.

Did I mention the trims are poorly finished? I snagged a favorite silk top on an edge in our room. The manager was very nice and offered to replace it. Of course, some prices on Maui have doubled since we were last there in 1999. A similar silk top would've cost $250. So I settled for another polyester top costing $150.

I have nothing against the Marriott, but this experience soured us on even considering a timeshare with them. I would hate to have the same group managing our vacation home.

They have good people. The drawers didn't slide well. It had low bathroom lighting. There was construction noise. We upgraded to a Marriott level seven from a six and then discovered we could have stayed at the Renaissance two hundred meters away and done so at a level six rate and not have had to listen to construction noise.

Everything was perfect, the room, the people, the food, the pools, and the luau.

We went on points and it was perfect.