Last week, I took a 4 day trip to the Hawaiian Island of Maui to attend a friend’s wedding.  Since their wedding was in the Wailea area of Maui, my friends and I decided to stay at the Wailea Beach Resort – Marriott.  The resort is right on the water next to both Wailea Beach and Ulua Beach.

We arrived at the resort around sunset and driving into the resort, you can’t help but be impressed.  Unfortunately, I did not capture the moment but the driveway to the resort was lined on either side by large trees with floating lights hanging from them.  It’s an impressive sight both during the day and at night.  The reaction in the car when we arrived was a resounding “WOW”.  At the valet turnaround, you’re greeted by an open lobby concept with multiple seating areas and a lit-up ALOHA sign.

Upon arrival we all received leis and upon check-in, we were provided with cold towels and flutes of POG (passion, orange and guava).  As a Marriott Gold member, I was able to request late check-out at 2 pm on our last day.

For parking, you have two options, valet of self park.  Valet is $40/day and self park is $30/day.  We chose to self park and you use your room key to get in and out of the parking lot.  Many of the parking spots were quite compact but there were always plenty of spots.

I don’t have any photos of the room since we were in a rush to meet up with someone when we arrived and our stuff ended up strewn all across the room but it was spacious, contemporary and had a small balcony though ours look onto a parking lot.  There was also a mini fridge that allowed us to keep water and our leftovers, fruit and poke cold.

Since this was a resort and we were paying resort fees (which are $35/day), there are a lot of amenities and services which we mostly did not take advantage of.  The resort has three pool areas one of which has water slides and another with jacuzzis.  There is also a movie room, game room and fitness room.  They do provide various fitness type classes, nightly movie and some other classes for guests.  They also provide a complimentary 30-minute photo session.  Some other things on-site but at additional cost are the spa, a small market, an escape room called Submerged, Te Au Moana Luau and a Starbucks.  There are also a couple restaurants and bars.

Although we arrived on a Thursday, with the wedding on Friday, we didn’t really get a chance to explore the resort until Saturday and spent most of Saturday and a part of Sunday relaxing at the resort.  In the morning we walked along the oceanside and spent some time on the beach.  It really is gorgeous but I suppose that is to be expected in Hawaii.  We walked over to Wailea Beach where a Marriott staff was on hand with beach chairs and water.  My friends even saw a sea turtle while he was standing in the ocean but we didn’t see any other sea life when we went back later in the day.

At night, we went back to the beach and afterwards stopped by a little outdoor bar called Whale’s Tale Beach Bar.  The bar has drinks and a small food menu but the main reason we stopped here was because you can pretty much peek into the luau performances happening right next to it.  Okay, it’s less of a peek and more like you can pretty much see everything going on just from a slightly bad angle.  So if you don’t feel like paying $100 for the luau but you still want to watch some performances, this is the way to go.

The rest of the night was spent in one of the pools and the jacuzzi.  The pool was an infinity pool and probably would have been even better during the day time.  There is a bar, the Kapa Bar & Grill nearby that will pour drinks in plastic cups to go so you can bring them by the pool.  Kapa Bar & Grill also has a happy hour from 4 PM to 7 PM daily where draft beers are only $5.  Also, if you do end up here.  The non-alcoholic smoothies are amazing.

The last great thing about the resort was that they have an arrivals & departure lounge.  When you check-out, you can ask for keys to the women and men’s lounge (two separate keys) where they have towels, lockers and showers for you to use even after you’ve left.  You can also use the lounge keys to get in and out of the parking lot that day.  This was perfect for us since we had to check-out prior to our kayaking tour but was able to come back and shower.

Now of course, the most important part.  How much was the room?  So I got lucky and caught a AAA Hot Escapes sale that brought the base price of a Garden Guest Room to $304 per night.  Of course when you add in the taxes and fees (including the $35/day resort fees) and the $30/day self parking fee, we came closer to $1,300 for the 3 nights.  However, if you really take advantage of everything the resort has to offer, I think it’s worth it and the price we got was a lot cheaper than some of the surrounding resorts such as the Grand Wailea and the Four Seasons.  In fact, we had friends who stayed at the Four Seasons but like the Marriott resort more since it had a more modern and fun vibe to it.

 

Wailea Beach Resort – Marriott Maui

3700 Wailea Alanui Dr, Wailea, HI 96753