Hi all --
honeymooning in maui end october - trying to figure out what side of the island and which hotel. there are deals for ritz and fairmont through costco. I have been to maui before - 10 years ago and stayed wailea -- remember liking the beaches. as for hotel -- have liked fairmont in past. have never stayed in ritz or four seasons -- not sure if want to pay the extra. highly considering fairmont -- if I get the deluxe ocean front room - there is one other room class - a corner ocean room, would they likely upgrade me for free for honeymoon. should I get a lesser quality room and pay less if I am likely to get an upgrade at fairmont or the other 2 hotels -- four seasons garden room is 300/night less. any input would be appreciated

Tough choices here (or not so tough depending on how you look at it). We've been to Maui multiple times. Have stayed at the Ritz(Kapalua), Four Seasons(Wailea), and the Grand Wailea. Have not stayed at the Fairmont but have walked thru there several times.

I guess it somewhat depends on which side you choose. For the Kapalua side, the Ritz is the way to go. Beautiful hotel, beautiful view of Molokai from the grounds. One thing to consider, the hotel is on a cliff so it can be pretty windy at times, especially in the pool area. Also the beach is a little less accessible in that you have to walk down the hill. But for that end of Maui, we like it there better than staying in Kaanapali which is more crowded and Waikiki-like.

For Wailea, we prefered the Grand Wailea over the Four Seasons although both hotels were fantastic. They are right next door to each other, but the GW is a wider property so a lot more beach frontage. The grounds are really beautiful there and the hotel has a very open and airy feel to it. Grand Wailea has several pools; one used mostly by adults-quieter, and then they have another set of pools connected by small water slides that leads to a large pool close to the beach with a rope swing, swim up bar, caves and alcoves- and then another water slide. Alot of fun. This meant there were a few more kids than the Four Seasons, but not a ton of them. Both hotels are upscale enough that they wouldn't be considered family type resorts.

We were there for 8 nights once and we just split time, 4nights Kapalua/ 4 nights Wailea.

The Fairmont looked pretty nice too but I can't comment on the rooms.

Good luck, enjoy, and congratulations!

The area where the Ritz is will have more rain and wind than the Wailea area, so it is not worth spending extra money to stay there. Any of the hotels you mentioned in Wailea are great, so I would pick based on price and best view.

thanks - may go with the fairmont, since can get a deal with costco. have read that grand wailea has a lot of kids. any thoughts. we don't want a lot of noise. are there good restaurants in the wailea area? any thoughts on which hotel has the best oceanfront rooms. I liked at Kauai Hyatt having an oceanfront room and watching the waves come in. Can we get something like that on Maui?

I don't think you'll need to worry about lots of kids in October, which is one of my favorite months to visit Maui.
My choice for better weather (usually) would be Wailea, and my choices for best beachfront would be either Fairmont Kea Lani or Grand Wailea.