Ho'olei At Grand Wailea

“Nice resort, questionable value”

My review is long overdue but I spent a lot of time looking at reviews of Ho'Olei before booking, so wanted to offer my 2 cents. My biggest hesitation when looking at the property was the price - we paid about $25k for 7 nights during spring break 2023. Granted this is a prime time to go, and they … more

My review is long overdue but I spent a lot of time looking at reviews of Ho'Olei before booking, so wanted to offer my 2 cents. My biggest hesitation when looking at the property was the price - we paid about $25k for 7 nights during spring break 2023. Granted this is a prime time to go, and they charge accordingly, but expectations are sky high when you're paying this much. Pros: - Plenty of space for our party - my family of 4 (with 2 small children) plus 3 grandparents. 5 adults and 2 kids total. We had a nice 3 bedroom setup. - Beautiful views from the top row villas - Our villa was nicely appointed with relatively modern finishes - Housekeeping was good / fine but I didn't find it to be anything special like you might get at a premium resort hotel. - Access to the GW amenities was very nice to have, but again this is where the value is questionable. My 3 year old loved the slides + kid friendly pools, and the beach/chair service is a plus (though they don't have full food/beverage service on the beach as its technically a public beach). But are the rooms worth more than double to access the GW amenities? Not sure. - The smaller pool and fitness center at the villas itself was nice and quiet, but again not 5 star resort nice. - There is a shuttle that can take you from the villas down to the main hotel, and to other areas within Wailea. A nice to have, but it felt silly taking it down to the main hotel, especially with all our kid/beach gear with us. We took it back up the hill a few times with older grandparents. Cons: - While we had a lovely view from the top row villas, it was a LONG walk to get from our door to the GW pools. And walking downhill there is much easier than walking back uphill. Just didn't feel like we were actually at a resort because we couldn't pop into our room to get things or put the baby down for a nap. We had to really plan out the days, it felt like when we left the villa we were going on an excursion for the day. - No food options / service up at the villas. Which meant walking down the the main GW buildings or driving elsewhere to get food. Net-net it was a nice experience and probably a once in a lifetime trip solely due to the cost (and necessity of bring both sets of grandparents). You're paying for the space, and in some regards paying for access to the GW amenities, which are nice but it doesn't feel like part of your resort. For our next Maui trip we just went with our family of 4 and stayed at the Fairmont - you could probably get 3 1-bedroom suites for less than the cost of Ho'Olei and you're right in the main building area, overlooking the pool with quick access to all the resort amenities. GW might have marginally better amenities in terms of the slides and activities for kids, and the full kitchens in the villas can be nice if you use them, but the resort / hotel offerings are comparable. Just giving my honest review that Ho'Olei is nice but I really struggle with the value you get for the price paid. Probably would continue to explore other options in the future.

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“Overall Great Service but Beware of Housekeeping”

We stayed in a 3 bedroom that was very spacious and clean. Plenty big for our family of 4 plus our niece fresh from college graduation who also stayed with us. The "uber" service via app was great and took us quickly to the main hotel and local restaurants/shops. Despite its vast size, the service … more

We stayed in a 3 bedroom that was very spacious and clean. Plenty big for our family of 4 plus our niece fresh from college graduation who also stayed with us. The "uber" service via app was great and took us quickly to the main hotel and local restaurants/shops. Despite its vast size, the service at the pool and at the cabanas was wonderful. But unfortunately, my niece left her necklace on the dresser while tanning at the cabana and it disappeared after housekeeping came... On our last day, our niece (in her early 20s) left the 2 necklaces she'd worn the entire trip on her dresser to prevent tan lines at the cabana. She noticed the housekeepers entering as she left and almost hid them but figured it was a trust worthy hotel. Unfortunately, when we got home from the pool, her Tiffany necklace (a grad gift) was no longer there. After double checking everywhere in her room, I immediately called the Ho'olei desk hoping that if it was by accident, the housekeepers could check their rags before washing them. After an hour of not hearing back (and still seeing the housekeepers on property), my niece personally walked down to the office. They still wouldn't contact the housekeepers and said they had to send security. After waiting another half hour, I called again and a man (security?) finally arrived. While filling out a form, I asked him to contact housekeeping as we know it disappeared while they were there and was sure they'd be able to find it in their rags. He said he had no way of reaching housekeeping staff either. We finally left for our last dinner on the island and I texted the office asking them to let me know after they'd spoken to housekeeping, hoping I could give my niece some good news during dinner. They texted that they wouldn't be able to speak with housekeeping until later the following day (after check out). My niece called when she landed the following day and was told to wait for a call from their insurance to work on the claim. Management has yet to reach out to us. We spent tens of thousands on this vacation, reserved cabanas most days, ate a huge meal at Nobu...I really expected more from management. I don't understand why they couldn't address the situation in the moment and try to be more helpful instead of wasting our time on our last evening. My husband feels they're all "in on it" because there is no incentive not to steal when they just submit it to insurance and Grand Wailea doesn't care to follow up. Unfortunately, they lost our trust so we will never return.

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