We just returned from a wonderful week at the Grand Wailea. We had honeymooned at Fairmont Kea Lani in 2015 and considered all the Wailea properties before settling on Grand Wailea. I was accompanied by my wife & 7 year old daughter, here is a breakdown of our trip: Room - We booked a deluxe ocean view room and was given 7093. - We enjoyed the location, sure it was a decent walk to the pools and everywhere else, but I didn't mind it due to the beautiful surroundings, and the need to be active to get rid of the added weight gained! I read previous reviews speaking to the distance you have to walk to the pools & beach, but after experiencing it first hand I thought those reviews were exaggerated. - The room was spacious enough for us, we considered upgrading to a suite, but opted to use that money for other vacation items. Fairmont rooms are certainly much larger (as is Venitian/Palazzo in Vegas), but we enjoyed the views and spending time on the balcony relaxing (and looking for whales, which were really active). - TV channels & outlets to charge our devices were plentiful and the bathroom was very spacious. - There is a refrigerator in the rooms with refillable water bottles, which was great, however, there is no microwave (more on that later). Pools - This is where we spent the bulk of our time. Our daughter absolutely loved the huge activity pool and all that was attached to it, including the slides, rope swing, and lazy river, we all had so much fun here. After reading all the negative reviews here about getting chairs I was worried and went down at 7:30 AM on the first day and found every option available to us so the next day we slept in more and arrived at 8:30 AM and still had a ton of great options with umbrellas available. - I was able to sneak away to the Hibiscus (adults only) Pool a few times to enjoy a quieter experience and just relax in the pool or hot tub a bit before heading back to the fun-filled activity pool & slides. - The slides & rope swing opened at 10:30 AM each day, which seemed like a bummer at first, but once we came down later each day we adjusted to that and enjoyed the quiet before everything fully opened. - The desk to get your wristbands had some big lines after 10 AM, but getting there early helped get ahead of that. The workers there were super friendly and helpful. - We rented a cabana one day (steep price of $1,350, but we really enjoyed it and hope to come with another family next year to help split the cost up and do multiple days with a cabana). Service - We experienced great service everywhere on the property. The poolside service was great, very speedy and friendly. - Check in/check out employees were very friendly and helpful, the scavenger hunt for kids is fun and they get a nice prize if/when they complete it. - Management is definitely reading reviews here because I read many complaints about unattended chairs, we witnessed multiple employees marking unattended chairs and when they came back around if they were still unattended they removed the towels & items off the chairs to free them up for guests who wanted to use them. Based on our experience this week I would suggest getting down to the pools no later than 9 AM to avoid stressing over this, but maybe it was a less busy week than normal and we were lucky? - The staff put out pool toys/floaties each day around the activity desk, which was a nice surprise. Our daughter used a pool noodle and floatie about every day and just would return it as we headed back to our room each afternoon. Property It's such a massive property with shops on site and beautiful views everywhere you turn, I couldn't stop taking photos & videos due to how awesome it was. Food - It's pricey, but we braced for that going in. $4 for a single banana, $11 milkshakes, $16 grilled cheese, etc., there are ways to help with that, which we learned the hard way and will take advantage of more next time. - Disappointing that there is a $50 charge for a microwave, especially given the fact the portion sizes are really big. The $12 side of fries easily fed the 3 of us so that made the cost for those more reasonable. Other items had very generous portions as well, being able to take it to the room and heat up leftovers the next day would've been a great option, next time it may be worth the $50 charge on day one to have that microwave. - Heading over to the Shops at Wailea was a quick walk and presented some cheaper options as well. - The breakfast buffet is great, lots of birds waiting for us to finish, but it's a beautiful place to enjoy breakfast with great food. - My favorite meal was on site at Olivine (kids pasta was $22 there, which is crazy high, but my $52 wagyu bolognese dish was one I would gladly get again). - Having reusable water bottles in the room was awesome and the refill stations throughout the property helped reduce cost with that, very nice. Cons - The biggest thing I would love to see when we return to Grand Wailea is some sort of kids club. I know Four Seasons has this and I would love to see GW offer some variation of this as well, to particularly help kids who are there without siblings or friends to meet others like them, which would help make their stay more enjoyable. - No microwave in the room was disappointing. I'm not going to list price as a con because if you are going to Wailea in general you know it's going to be super pricey (expect food and drink prices like you see at a MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL game, take a trip to a store on the first day to help with snacks, too). Summary If you have kids and want to stay in Maui then I don't know how you beat Grand Wailea. My daughter cried hard when it was time to leave and said this was her favorite place she's ever been. We walked to the other Wailea properties on the awesome trail, and came to the conclusion that while our daughter is young that this is the place we'll be returning to, we can't wait to come back!…
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.