Hawaii Accomodations

Can someone explain what 'more commercial' means? I dont understand.

My choices are:
- Stay with the Hyatt. Rate is about $100 less than the discount sites are quoting. 72 cancellation policy.

OR

- Take my chances on hotwire and pay about the same for a 5 star luxury resort in the same area. Could be better, could be worse. No cancels allowed.

Not sure what to do.

If you are paying $150 less a night then don't worry about breakfast! Yeah, we didn't stay at the Grand Wailea because it was SO much money. What do you look for in a hotel that you love? The room being amazing? The food? Or do you value most things like a great pool, great beach... good concierge? If you tell me what you like most about hotels, I can tell you if the Hyatt gets high marks from me in those regards!

When I saw more commercial I think I mean it's more .... hmmmm it's hard to explain.... it's not as quiet or secluded... the beaches rent out chairs to you instead of bringing them to your spot and laying them down for you. The food by the pool is more salads, pizza, sandwiches...

I haven't stayed in all that many luxury hotels in my life but for example, when I stay at the Ritz Carlton for work, when you call up to ask for something, they run it up to you in 3 seconds and everything they say has a 'my pleasure' after it. At the Hyatt, while they do go out of their way to be nice, it's not as fast service ..... Hope I explained that right!

Stef - I wouldn't worry about it - The Hyatt is still a wonderful place. We were just used to being in a top notch resort that was spread out nicely so that we didn't run into a lot of people and felt more isolated, which is what we wanted.

When I say more commerical, I mean...more touristy - this hotel is a high rise located next to several other houses. It doesn't have a huge feel for Hawaii like some of the more secluded hotels may.

Maui in general is more commerical - you'll find find food restaurants, strip malls, etc. Whereas on Kauai we only saw one small town! It's just a matter of preference but it's still a great hotel. If the price your getting per night is great than go for it!!! You do so much more on Maui anyway you won't be hanging around all the time.

ETA - our breakfast was included as well but we still had to wait - everyone did to be seated, regardless of how they were paying.

Since it's not in your package don't worry about it- Lord knows you'll find a cheaper breakfast anywhere else!

Ideally, I would like it all But I realize that for $250 in Maui, Im not going to get that. Such a shame since I dont consider that cheap but i guess when you compare it to $650, its a deal.

Ive heard the beach is not great b/c of the erosion. That is one of my bigger concerns ...but that is true of all of hte area hotels. Prefer to stay in Wailea but its way out of my league.

Cleanliness is a huge factor. I like a really clean and 'new' room with a nice bed.

I would prefer not to have children all over but i think there isnt much I can do about that since all the resorts seem to have childrens programs. At least the Hyatt has a childrens pool which should be good enough.

Would love to have luxury survice ala four seasons (which ive stayed in other cities and wow) but I dont think i can afford the nicer ones.

That is a good rate for the hotel. Again, it's not a Four Seasons but it is a beautiful hotel. I didn't think the beach was a problem. It's not a wide beach but there was plenty of room for us- it actually wasn't really crowded. There is a kids pool and most of the kids stayed in there which was nice.

IMO, I don't think there are many hotels - if any- worth $650 a night. The hotel was very clean. If anything, we had a problem at the Hyatt in Kauai and that is listed as one of the two nicest hotels in Kauai. There were bugs there, but we were moved and problem was corrected!

For those loooking for good rates and are booking their own accomodations.

Priceline is a good source if you know how to beat the system. a friend referred this site to me.

www.biddingfortravel.com

chatline that posts what was entered to result in your desired hotel. Check it out. We got the sheraton maui for 140 per night and rack rates are listed at 265/ night.

For 150-160, you can get westin and better. I think the hyatt was listed as one. Although you may be getting standard rooms, the chat talked about a lot of people getting upgrades to ocean view rooms if you are on your honeymoon or if you are a starwood member!!

Check it out.

Stef - when we were there, it was crowded with adults, but not so many kids...they would have annoyed me too!

I'm not a huge beach fan so we spent most of our time by the pool. It had rained almost each AM we were there so the ocean was really muddy looking....one of the staffers told us to stay away from the water because sharks sometimes come close to the shore since they can't see too clearly in the murky water....that was enough for us! But the waves but us weren't even that great.

Up near Paia the waves were HUGE! Crowds were gathering to watch the surfers....that was cool to see

The rooms at the Hyatt were very nice - the beds were comfy and ours was very clean. I wouldn't worry about that at all. In that respect, it's a great hotel.

Very comfy beds- they even have a little card in the night table telling you where you can buy the mattress because so many people like them.

We went to the Hyatts in Maui and Kuaui in early october '03. Neither were really crowded and we never had to wait for breakfast to be seated or to get a spot at the pool. The beach in Maui wasn't that big - but the pool area is so huge that we stayed there most of the days we weren't doing activites. We loved Maui and the Hyatt's location was great for going to Lahaina (the cute town with tons of shops and restaurants) We liked the food and choices of restaurants so much in that area. It was also nice to have the path along the ocean to walk and see all the other hotels.

The rooms seemed newly updated and the beds were super comfortable. We had an ocean view room and it was beautiful.

We drove down to Wailea for DH to play golf one day and I didn't like that area as much.

Hey girls,
Those that are looking for reviews of the Hyatt. Sassy has a review on the official hawaii honeymooners thread in BHB. Check it out. Sorry, I dont know how to link it.

Hi,

Does anyone have a review for the Sheraton in Maui? What do people think of this hotel?

stef, if i were going back to hawaii, i would take my chances with the other hotel rather than the hyatt in mauai. the hyatt was a nice hotel, but i completely agree with some of the girls' criticisms.

regarding your room comment,
while the rooms were comfortable and roomy, i felt they were a bit dated compared to the hyatt kauai, which is brand new. it was a nice hotel, but i wasn't overly impressed & felt we spent a lot of money to stay there.

eta: we did not have breakfast included either. we spent a fortune the first few days on nice breakfasts, then we wised up & asked the bellhops for some inexpensive breakfast recommendations & they were really helpful.