Grand Wailea, A Waldorf Astoria By Hilton Resort in Wailea, HI

Stayed here with my husband for 5 nights. I probably won’t come back. It wasn’t great but not terrible. The spa and location on the beach are probably the best parts of this hotel. Our room was just ok bathroom nice, room needs new carpet. A lot of stains and wear and tear. You can tell it’s an older hotel. It’s also very large. There is an adult pool and kid pool. This hotel is more of a kid /family hotel. We went to all the restaurants on site and all were wonderful. Very pricey, but you kinda know that going. We did sit on the grass by the pool daily on lounge chairs, and only 1/5 days were served drinks. (Sparkle was the server, shout out to her) . That was the only bad part was nobody came by and when we went to the walk up counter by the kids pool they weren’t super friendly and told us there was a server but there wasn’t. We did visit the grotto and try the water slides, super fun. Warning, parking a car is $65 a day and resort fee $55 a day. Again not terrible but won’t be back, more of a family place and too big. Needs a little updating.

I really wanted to love this resort. We were there for my husband's incentive trip with about 400 other people. Our first full day there we went to Loulu for lunch. We waited 40 minutes and our buzzer never went off so my husband went to check on his poke bowl. The cashier went to the back and PULLED IT OUT OF THE GARBAGE CAN!!! Unbelievable! My husband couldn't believe his eyes and when he asked the cashier if she got it from the garbage can, she hesitated, stuttered and said no! My husband told her he didn't want it because he saw her take it from the garbage, then she offered to make him a new one. He took a look at the container, saw the contents spilled to one side (from being thrown into the garbage) and lost his appetite for the rest of the day. We immediately went to the front desk to ask to speak to a manager, they advised one would be calling us, and FOUR days later I had to call because no one called to follow-up with us. This incident truly ruined our trip and really had me weary of all of the staff. I didn't even want housekeeping to come into our room during our 5 day stay. A few other things: - We saw an iced coffee on the concierge desk left behind by a guest and for two whole days it sat in the exact same spot! - The garbage cans were overflowing each time we walked by Loulu. - The top flat sheet on our bed had an odor and I had to replace it with the extra sheets in the closet. - No slippers or toothbrushes in the room, you have to call housekeeping. I will say the spa is beautiful and the treatments were wonderful but not enough to make me want to return.

Pool service non existent (operating hours 11-3 roughly), pool chairs stacked one next to another with 1” distance in between, you have to pay for beach chairs and they take them at 4, you can not call valet to bring your car…..you have to go downstairs and wait. There is bunch of other things to mention and I might sound like a spoiled Karen but I did pay pretty penny for this garbage. Complete embarrassment.

Everything Hilton touches turns to trash. They have also recently ruined The Monarch in Dana Point, CA. We loved the GW, it’s been 6 years since our last visit and this trip was disappointing. We stayed in the $3,500 a night villa for the week, it’s probably about 2,500 sq ft, they only service it M, W, F. Unacceptable. We had to call for towels daily which were left in a trash bag in our entry way. I knew better than to eat much on property for dinner, so we only dined at Olivine, it was mediocre. Daily breakfast buffet used to be a family favorite, it was awful. The pool, the crown jewel of the property, disgusting. No chairs, broken chairs, broken path ways, half the slides closed, chunks missing out of faux decorative pool rocks, overall filthy everywhere. Pool food was either soggy, cold, or mangled upon arrival daily. Pina colada is basically a milk shake, ask server for ingredients. I have not one nice thing to say, really sad for this once magical property.

Before I write my review, just FYI we went to Grand Wailea over our daughter's spring break from March 29 - April 4, and we have been long time Hilton Diamond Members who have stayed at Grand Wailea over 5 times in the last 8 years. We also used to be Elite members that cancelled due to rising membership costs and deduction of the benefit discount. THE GOOD: Grand Wailea is still an amazing resort. Beautiful grounds, excellently appointed and remodeled rooms on the inside, amazing pools and friendly staff. It is still a slice of paradise perfectly located next to the Wailea shops and well connected to neighboring resorts via beach path. We used Hilton points to book our stay, and from experience we knew that weren't going to get to Ocean View through any kind of free Diamond upgrade, so we emailed the in house reservations when we booked the base level room to ask about upgrades. For $120 per night extra we were able to upgrade to regular Ocean View, and then a few days before our trip we got most likely, the Diamond Upgrade to Deluxe Ocean View which is the higher floors and better views. After years of staying in the Wailea Wing we chose to try to Molokini Wing and we were very happy we did. This is a little closer to the pools and beach, MUCH closer to Loulu the grab and go breakfast/lunch/dinner/coffee shop downstairs and overall had a very nice different angled view of the ocean from the balcony. The chat feature within the Hilton app is fantastic and you can always get someone to help with anything you need usually within a few minutes. Our digital key worked flawlessly as well in addition to our room keys. THE "NEEDS IMPROVEMENT": Several things over the past few years have slightly soured our visits, and they seem to be pretty consistent with what most people are saying. Overall, it does seem like Grand Wailea is "nickel and diming" guests to the point where you feel like nothing is included except your bed, water and electricity. We are of course extremely grateful to have saved enough points to stay here for "free" but we are still using years of saved points as well as spending quite a bit of money on extras. CHECK IN: What happened to flower leis upon arrival? If it is specifically due to being wasteful with precious island resources I respect that, but they just disappeared in the last few years without any signs or notice. VALET: $65 a day with no other choice, but they no longer allow you to call to get your car brought up, so we had to bring our whole family down and wait 5-10 min each time, or have parents separate to come down ahead of the family to get it pulled up. BOTERO - Lobby Bar/Restaurant: Great live music every night, and excellent place to have a drink. Fully understanding that the sushi menu had to go away with the introduction of NOBU, however once again Grand Wailea introduced a new menu without direct Kids options (same thing happened when we went to Olivine and paid $40 for kids spaghetti and meatballs). Four Seasons next door does an excellent job of kids menus for a very fair value, and with Grand Wailea being especially kid friendly I'm very surprised that there are no kids menus in the majority of restaurants we visited. We paid around $200 for 2 adults and a child for a casual lobby bar dinner and 2 alcoholic drinks, with just OK food. I know this is a new concept and hopefully it is improved soon with feedback. Also, not sure if it was just an off night but it was spring break week and there were only 2 servers attending to about 20-30 tables the one night we went. We waited about 20-30 minutes to order and receive a drink, and another 40-50 to order and receive our food. It did seem like other nights we walked past were much better staffed. BEACH SETUP: This was a massive downside for us. After years and years of coming here and enjoying lounge chairs and an umbrella on the beach for the price of a tip to the guys setting it up, GW is now charging $75 for a half day, and $150 for a full day. On top of that, the full day is reservable online, and for those of us with a napping child in the early afternoon who only want a few hours of beach shade in the morning, $75 is a huge disappointment. Tommy Bahama folding chairs (without umbrellas) are available first come first serve, but only until 3:30 and the supply is limited. We did the full paid rental once, then drove down the street to a snorkel rental place to get a basic umbrella rental for several days for $20. POOLS: The pools are kept quite clean, it was nice to see people tending to the sand pool and cleaning the pools early in the morning. The ropes drop at 7am for people to begin reserve lounge chairs. I completely understand that if one person was to go ask for 10 towels they could reserve way more chairs than they need and it wouldn't be fair to everyone else. I also understand it takes time to stock up on the clean towels. However, Grand Wailea should have something on the computer to tell them how many people are in your family/room staying there when handing out towels. As we have a young child who most days wouldn't be fully ready at 7am to go down to the pool yet, however will absolutely need a shaded chair, it isn't fair to make two adults and a 4 year old get 3 towels together at 7am just to reserve their 3 chairs. I was often only able to get 1 or maybe 2 towels at a time unless other members of my family were with me, which was a bit of a pain. POOL FOOD/DRINKS: Don't open until 11am. Again, this is a family focused resort with kids that have been up since 5-6am most days, getting to the pool at 7am, and are ready for food and/or drinks well before 11am. Several days we walked over to the Beach Cart at Four Seasons to get some fruit or a drink. That's money that went out the door from GW to another resort and I'm sure many people do the same. It is a long walk back up the path to Loulu which is the only place open to grab stuff in the morning. Additionally, not sure if it was just the day/week we tried, but the qr code ordering to the chairs that used to work in previous years did not allow us to order anything before or after 11am. We had a great server within a few minutes of 11am, but it was a nice perk to be able to order at your leisure to the chairs. Hope this is fixed or added back. These are all minor inconveniences within an amazingly well run place, but they do add up and leave a lasting impression in an expensive week's vacation. I still highly recommend Grand Wailea to friends and family, however I now feel the need to caveat to them a lot of the nuances that have changed and most of my restaurant recommendations involve leaving the property. Hopefully the introduction of NOBU (opened right after we left) will be a massive new win.