TLW

We will be traveling to Maui in Feb. 2004. This is our first trip to the Hawaiian Islands and will be spending 7 nights there, after spending 3 nights on Oahu.

Our travel agent booked us into the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel with an Aloha Value Special rate. (Garden View without the breakfast I guess). Sounds like these rooms are facing either the Sheraton or the Whaler Hotels.

Although we probably won't be spending a lot of time in the room, it's kind of nice to have a fairly good view at least when you are there. And Have been considering changing to an ocean view room, but debating if it is worth going from $186.00 per night to $276.00, which includes breakfast (18.00).

Would appreciate any input from someone that has stayed there. Have also heard that you should request o.v. rooms in the Maui or Lanai wings as they have been remodeled lately.

Any info. would be helpfull !

Ladybugs

Dear TLW:
So sorry to see that nobody has responded to your question. I think that no matter what room you decide to pick that you will have a great time. If you are questioning the Aloha Value Rate room, then I think that you should just get the oceanview room. Then you will know what you have and will not have to wonder. I think for your first time in Hawaii you want to make it memorable and don't want any regrets. So if I were to pick I think that I would go for the oceanview and ENJOY!!!! Hope you have a nice evening and hope to see you soon!!!

Slw

I stayed at KBH 2 years ago in a garden view room - ours actually did have a bit of an ocean view. We kind of overlooked the garden area between the hotel and the beach. There is a large garden area between the hotel and beach. We had a room in the wing on the same side as the parking garage (not a noise problem, but handy).

cj123

Well TLW, I tried to post this last night. We just came home from Maui yesterday morning (Plenty of Jet Lag). We stayed at the Sheraton with an ocean front room. May I suggest that you spend the extra money and get the view. Going to sleep and waking up in the morning to the sound of the ocean is an amazing experience. It sounds like your rooms will face the Sheraton lawn, not a pretty sight when the little kids are outside playing at 7 AM an the view from the other side Whaler Village is not very

cj123

(sorry a little glitch) sight. Of course we paid almost $400 a day for our rooms, but that included, parking, breakfast (three different hotels), free outside phone calls (good for computers) and towels. A tent was put up in front of the ocean front rooms for two days, gone was the view and we were not happy. The hotel was very good about taking care of us.

Make your trip a happy one with fond memories, we were there for 18 days and would not have traded it anything. Coffee on the veranda, beautiful sunsets from your rooms. Go for it.

Good luck and have fun.

cj123

Aloha

Gellers

I honestly think that if you are going to pay $276 for an ocean-view room, you'd be better off going to a nicer hotel and getting a lower-rate room there.

We stayed at KBH two years ago and booked an ocean-view room. The view was very nice. The hotel itself...not as luxurious. IMO, you'd get a better deal staying at a nicer hotel--you'd sacrifice the view but get a better pool, restaurants, rooms, etc.

bquarre

I have to agree with Gellers about spending the extra money for a lower grade room at a nicer hotel with better facilities. One that comes to mind is the Maui Prince. It is down in Makena, if that makes a difference. They usually have deals for $250.00 or so for a garden/ocean view room. I have stayed at the KBH hotel in an ocean view room and it was good. I had a nice view through the gardens to the ocean. It was fine, but the view was not dramatic or super special in any way. Why not pay a little more for one of the interior garden view rooms? These are on the lower levels that face into the hotel garden areas. Less money that the ocean view, but still a better view than the super saver view. Just a thought. The hotel is a good property primarily for the location on Kaanapali Beach. The grounds are very nice, but not fancy. Low key and quiet in every way. I did enjoy laying out in the shady areas of the large garden dozing and reading the days away under the palm trees. Ahhh....Have a great time!

Gellers

Just out of curiosity I checked rates for the Sheraton on spg.com (you can become a Starwood member for free). You can get a room there for $279--and it's a FAR nicer property than KBH.

TLW

Thanks to all for taking the time to reply to my question. According to our booking agent (NW Airlines world vacations), the only rooms they have left in their block during our travel time are ocean view, although we can put in a request for a p.o. view. Since we are traveling during a busy period, the chances for an upgrade don't seem very likely. I verified with the hotel directly that the rooms we are booked into probably will face other properties, so we may be looking to go with the ocean view or possibly another hotel altogether. Still undecided.

anita

TLW, we stayed at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel about 15 years ago so I can't comment on the current conditions of the rooms. It was a comfortable hotel and the location can't be beat. In fact we will be staying there over xmas.

We had narrowed our choices down to the KBH and the Sheraton. We chose the KBH because we can stay there in an oceanfront room (car included) for the same price as the gardenview room at the Sheraton. While the Sheraton is definately the nicer hotel of the two the view was more important to us.
Plus now I have all of that extra money to spend, spend, spend!

You're going to have a great time no matter what you decide on!

sieben7

We stayed @ KBH Oct 5-12. We went with the Aloha value room. Our room was in the Kaua'i wing #382. We were happy with our room. It was facing the gardens but we were close to the ocean so at night we would leave our patio door open and could hear the waves. Our room wasn't one of the renovated ones but it was very clean. Nothing fancy but for the price we were happy. We also thought about getting an ocean view but are glad we didn't since we were on a budget and would have had to sacrifice some of the excursions we did. We were only in our room at night when it was dark out, nothing to see anyways then. We would stay there again if we ever got a chance to go back to Maui. The staff is very friendly & helpful. They place the best cookies on your pillow every night. Good luck in making your decision, have a wonderful time!

TLW

Sieben7, thank you for your reply...appreciate the information!

Alohamom

Perhaps you should consider the price of breakfast and where you think you may be eating every day. If you plan to use the in room coffee service (assuming there is one) and do a continental style breakfast on your lanai that you have brought from Safeway or whatever (sometimes this is a very peaceful way to start a vacation morning!)then the only value to the upgrade would be the view. However, if you like to do the breakfast buffet thing, and there are alot of nice ones along the Kaanapali hotel section, then the upgrade is actually not too bad as far as value goes. Your average buffet breakfast is about 15-20/person at the big hotels, perhaps slightly less elsewhere but not much less. We find a later buffet keeps us going past lunch so that we snack lightly in the afternoon and have early dinners to enjoy sunsets while dining etc...So what I would consider is that if your ocean view room with breakfast is going to be $90.00 more a night and 30-40 dollars of that 90 is coved off by breakfast, your upgrade is not costing you that much in the long run! (did you follow my convoluted logic?!?!) Personally, we spend so little time on our rooms, that view has really never been an issue for us. I would much rather sit directly outside on the beach to watch the sunset or indulge in an early sunrise walk. Have a wonderful time, Feb is such a nice time to go! Aloha

vickey

we just returned from maui and hated to leave. it was so beautiful (my first time there too). we stayed at the royal lahaina in an oceanfront cottage, which is just up the road a little way. i am really happy we paid a little more for oceanfront. my thoughts were - if i was going to maui, I wanted to wake up looking at the ocean every morning. we went through AAA, who used blue sky tours and the whole package was only like $300.00 more for the 8 days for oceanfront. the cost difference was a package rate, not the gigantic nightly rate increase you see posted by the resort. Did you ask your travel agent the difference in cost? if the package includes air, car and room, it's not neccessarly that much more. Our choice was either garden or oceanfront. we liked the cottage too since we could just walk right out to the ocean - no elevator hassels, etc. we went with the advise from our travel agent and only spent 2 nights in Oahu, which was plenty, maui is much more relaxing.
you will find lots to do on maui where ever you stay. have fun!

vickey

anita

TLW, we just returned yesterday from a 10 night stay at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel. We were in an oceanfront front room in the Kauai section. Our room hadn't been remodeled but it was clean. The hotel is exactly how others described it. It's not fancy but it is very comfortable and laid back. The staff was very friendly. The one thing I really liked about it was that even though the hotel was full it never seemed crowded. It has alot of green space unlike most of the hotels along this stretch of Kaanapali. The other hotels have great pools but that's it. Pools and alot of concrete.
The grounds between the KBH and the Whaler didn't look bad at all. It was just grass and some shrubs.

Our room rate included a car instead of breakfast but we did eat at the breakfast buffet twice. It was ok.

If you plan on doing any whale watch tours or snorkling trips the Trilogy boats leave right from the beach in front of the hotel verses driving to Lahina or Ma'aalea Harbor.

TLW

Thank you Alohamom, Vickey and Anita for providing some feedback, it's greatly appreciated!