My daughter and her boyfriend are going to Hawaii and have made all their reservations (she's military, so everything on Oahu is a great deal) except Maui. They were both born in Hawaii and have been to Maui a few times each, but they experienced severe sticker shock when they checked out Kaanapali rates! Now she's interested in the Lahaina Shores condo, which has several studio units for rent on vrbo.com for $100-150 per night. I know it's not much of a beach - they'll want to go up to Kaanapali -but how is Lahaina Shores?

My family stayed there a couple years ago for a get-together (parent 50th anniversary) - we had 5 rooms total at Lahaina Shores. It was perfectly adequate. The beach is narrow out back, but you can snorkel off it. The pool area is very nice with lounges on a big grassy lawn.

We really enjoyed being able to walk into the town of Lahaina for meals without having to get into the car every time.

Since the rooms are individually owned condos, the finishes were different and some much nicer than others, but all OK to my family's expectation for the decent price we paid.

I visited friends who stayed there in a one bedroom. Their's was nicely furnished, and as Suze said, it's in a great location.

Aloha - my most recent stay at LSR was in Feb of this year - it was my 5th stay. The last 4 times, I've booked direct with the owner, thru vrbo.com. I'd advise getting an oceanfront unit - the view is great! If you stay on the mountain side, you're overlooking the parking lot & get some nighttime noise from people leaving the complex next door. As already reported, the beach isn't great, but you can do some swimming & snorkeling there. Maui has so many great beaches, that it doesn't take long to drive to a better one. The pool is small, but adequate. The thing I really like, is that you can easily walk into downtown Lahaina, and not have to worry about finding parking.
Dianne

Thank you for your replies. Walking into Lahaina really appeals to them, too!

I'll throw out a few more ideas for them:

loved breakfast at Pioneer Inn sitting on the veranda

if you get a view table at Hecock's (restaurant right next door to Lahaina Shores), the Feast of Lele goes on at a location below so you can see part of the show if you time it right.

there is a historic walking tour that you can get a brochure of and follow along. it gives an interesting insight about the town and it's past. you can go with a guide or on your own.

not cheap but really delicious is a small restaurant off a patio that is "Swiss" something. it's tucked in back behind/next to the fast food place (burger king?), on the right, as you head into town from the hotel along Front St.

U'lalena is a cirque-de-soile crossed with a luau, music & dance show at the Myth and Magic Theater if that's their kind of thing. You can find discounted tickets for it around.

Another good place for breakfast in Lahaina, is the Sunrise Cafe. Speaking of Pioneer Inn, sometimes in the evening they have good live (usually acoustic music) on their Veranda.