Wailea Travel Guide
Tags: Snapshot / Hotel Pools / Maui Hotels / Four Seasons Hotels / Waldorf-Astoria Collection / → All Tags
Start Your Vacation By Waiting in a Line at the Grand Wailea Resort
Last month, we told you that the Grand Wailea Resort and Spa in Wailea, Maui might have the coolest pool amenities (little grottos, a kiddie pool with a beach, waterslides galore) but that the place was too crowded with children for anyone to truly enjoy.
Well, we thought you might like some photographic evidence of just how crowded the pool scene is: here's a snapshot of the line for beach cabanas that we snapped last Friday.
Guests (only hotel guests are allowed access to the resort) must wait in this line before obtaining one of the beach cabanas. As usual with pool chairs and the like, the early bird gets the coveted seat on the beach and by early bird we mean folks who rise before 7:30am.
Also, a quick word about those cabanas--they look ratty and old. We stayed at this resort back in 1996 and we're pretty sure those are the same cabanas in use then. Not surprisingly, the GWR is a part of the Waldorf-Astoria Collection, whose resort properties continue to disappoint with their old, run-down facilities.
Tags: Hotel Pools / Hawaii Hotels / Maui Hotels / Four Season Hotels / Hotel Construction / → All Tags
Coming Soon: The Most Scenic Place to Take a Dip in Wailea
We just spent a ridiculously relaxing week on Maui but we were able to do some hotel snooping while we there. We have oodles to report on the Hawaii hotel scene, but at this very moment, we’re most excited about the July 10th debut of Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea’s new infinity-edged swimming pool.
When we site inspected the hard hat area hole in the ground this past weekend, it looked like it had a ways to go, but Director of Marketing, Mark Simon told us that after several deadline extensions, what’s being dubbed as the "Serenity Pool" would finally be ready for hotel guests right after the 4th of July holiday weekend.
We sure hope so, because the weather was beyond perfect while we were there (as if there’s really ever a bad time to go to Hawaii weather-wise), and we’d hate to see summer vacationers miss out on what’s going to be a truly spectacular, upscale, kid-free pool experience.
Tags: Hawaii Hotels / Hotel Amenities / Hotel Spas / → All Tags
New Spa-Ah Additions at Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea
We don’t like to play favorites, but will confess that we’re totally smitten with Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea. If you’re not down with love, it’s probably not the best destination for you. Heck, if you’re not down with love, maybe you should steer clear of Maui, period.
The island embraces a laid-back, anything-is-possible vibe, and the Four Seasons’ poshy posh resort simply oozes romance at every turn. Its line-up of services and amenities, like Oceanside couples’ massages in a thatched hale (a romantic outdoor retreat), poolside Otter Pop and fresh fruit kebab service, and the rock star steaks at DUO (hello, Japanese Bobe beef!), is like a big fat “O” that keeps delivering eyes-roll-back goodness. It’s really that good.
Tags: Hotel Woes / Baccarat Hotels / Barry Sternlicht / → All Tags
Baccarat Wailea Gets Postponed -- Hopefully Not Cancelled
While Barry Sternlicht and Co are busy starting up their new hotel management company, SH Group, another one of the initial Baccarat Hotel and Resorts has been postponed joining the Baccarat projects in Atlanta, Anguilla, and Water Cay which have also been postponed or canceled.
The Baccarat Wailea Hotel & Residences was originally scheduled to open in 2010, but currently they have not even started tearing down the existing hotel on the property - the former Renaissance Wailea Beach, and Starwood Capital came out with a statement this week stating that:
"We are going to take some time and pause to determine the proper course of action for our properties and evaluate some additional possibilities."
The Baccarat Wailea website has been deactivated and all mentions of Baccarat Wailea have been removed from BaccaratHotels.com.
In the mean time it's been reported that over $300 million in sales have been made since the project was first announced, but somehow that still didn't make the project successful enough.
No word yet if those who committed to a pre-sale are being let out of their contracts or if they are expected to wait for more news on the project; the General Manager of the Wailea Community Association said he expects an announcement within three weeks on the status of the project.
Even though most of their hotel development projects have been scaled back or canceled - the Baccarat Hotels brand (along with 1 Hotels and Crillon) will continue under SH Group, but when a location from one of these brands will actually open is another story. The formation of the management group can't come fast enough!
Tags: Hotel Deals / Hawaii Hotels / Four Seasons Hotels / Maui Hotels / → All Tags
Four Seasons Maui's "Suite Life" Deal
The people at the Four Seasons Maui are really keen to get guests in to see their grand new renovations, and after having a 6 for 5 special, they've now got a new promotion called the Suite Life, available for guests who book a suite for five nights or more.
As part of the Suite Life deal, you'll get quite a few nice inclusives: limousine airport transfer (or free parking instead), champagne and local snacks on arrival, and gifts like a Four Seasons beach bag full of beach towels and sunscreen. Throughout your stay you'll also be entitled to breakfast daily and (the bit we especially like) free WiFi in your room.
We're always thrilled by free WiFi (although we look forward to the day when it's standard), and that's one of the best features of the Four Seasons Maui renovations. All rooms also now have large flat-screen HD TVs and iPod docking stations, too. The Suite Life welcome gift should be encouraging us to spend more time at the beach, but with everything we need in our room, we may not want to leave it.
[Photo: afc76]
Tags: Celebrity Scoop / Kid Friendly / Maui Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Denise Richards Gets Kiddie Massages at Four Seasons Maui
Denise Richards must have paid close attention to Britney Spears' hotel picks as she recently put herself and her two daughters up at the Four Seasons in Maui, a notoriously kid-friendly spot. Word from Celebrity Babies blog which spotted Denise Richards at the hotel the other week, found out that her daughter scored not just any plain ol' massage, but a full body one, nonetheless.
Damn, these kids are starting their pampering young and the Maui Four Seasons is practically the force behind it all. As the blog noted:
There are even massage therapists who walk around the pools, offering foot, shoulder, neck and scalp massages (prices start at $65 for 20 minutes).
Here's the funny part: Denise got a full body massage for Lola, a shoulder massage for the boy calling her Aunt Denise and a foot massage for herself (while holding Sam). Lola seemed to enjoy the massage or at least didn't squirm much. During Lola's massage, Denise chatted on her cell phone, smiling. I asked a massage therapist if massaging babies was a normal practice and she said, "We'll massage a baby any age as long as a parent is there."
The hotel doesn't stop serving kids at the spa. Kid sized robes are available, kid bath products, a kid DVD collection, babysitting services and more. We're not even sure if this place will take adults in the future.
As for Denise, she can't stop copying her former best friend, Heather Locklear. A valet at the hotel said Heather had been there the week before Denise got there.
Related Stories:
· Danielle's vacation celeb sightings [Celebrity-baby Blog]
· Four Seasons Maui Reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Brit Picks Kid-Friendly Hotel [HotelChatter]
Tags: Hotel Heaven / Hotel Pools / → All Tags
Finally, a Waterslide with Alcohol
[Ed. Note: HotelMaven Courtney hit up the Pool/Bar scene in Maui and practically rediscovered her second childhood, except this time around it's with plenty of alcohol. Enjoy!]
Bars, pools, and waterslides together in one sentence many times will scare us. We can't help but think of either: screaming children, spring breakers, or white trash. But in this case, it's none of the above! Maui's Fairmont Kea Lani Resort has a pool with swim-up bar and a slide that takes you to the lower level pool.
Drinking in the pool can be fun until the novelty wears off. But we did not get bored at this hotel. There are so many activities available that it's hard to decide which to do yet in the end, we chose to do nothing as the point of being in Maui is to just relax at the beach and of course, eat up all the Mahi-Mahi we can handle. Overall we and most travelers found this hotel a good place to lay your head:
We had a renovated room and the furniture was brand new. The bed was the most comfortable we have ever slept on- so comfy that we plan on calling the hotel this week to find out what kind of bed it is- we want to buy it!
Drinking on waterslides and lounging at heavenly beaches by day and crashing on a sleep-inducing bed by night, we kind of want to move in here.
Image via aguntupalli/Flickr
Related Stories:
· Fairmont Kea Lani Resort Reviews [Trip Advisor]
Tags: Celebrity Scoop / → All Tags
Pam & Tommy Open Up Shop At The Maui Four Seasons
All is right with the world again, Pam & Tommy are back together, at least according to the NY Post.
The newly minted recycled couples first stop? The Four Seasons Maui, with their two sons, of course.
The happy duo was reportedly hugging and kissing all over the resort. Perhaps Pam & Tommy II will be a byproduct of this reconciliation?
And yes, this is the same Four Seasons Maui resort that we dubbed a "Ten Hotel Spas to check out" earlier this week.
Related Stories:
· Pam Ex-citment [NY Post]
· Four Seasons Maui Reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Ten Hotel Spas: Live Like A Federline [HotelChatter]
Tags: Miscellaneous / → All Tags
Ten Hotel Spas: Live Like A Federline
Up first in our Hotel Spa Series is Maui's Four Seasons Maui. Yeah, that's right, we will start with a lay up. We mean, who wouldn't want to go to Maui? If you love Britney Spears, then you may have already heard of this hotel on the gorgeous island of Maui, since Mrs. Federline is a constant visitor. How nice to be a "constant visitor" to a Maui spa.
And this is a good one. The spa has consistently been ranked as one of the top hotel spas in the United States by readers of the Travel & Leisure and Conde Nast. It's also received a four-star rating from Mobil.
The spa boasts staff members with "years of experience in their chosen modalities" which range from traditional Hawaiian, master Thai, craniosacral and ayurvedic massage therapies.
On the spa menu are several cocoon treatments which involve soaking in whirlpool baths filled with aromatherapy gels while receiving a massage.
All body scrub treatments and wrap use plenty of native island materials like pineapples, sea salt, sandalwood, and mandarin oranges.
If you would like to mix and match, the spa can customize your body-pampering experience for you.
Opt to have a treatment in one of the 13 spa rooms, or in one of the three ocean-side hales (bungalows.) If leaving your room is too much work, then set up an appointment inside your room.
Rounding out your spa experience are yoga classes at sunrise or Pilates with private instruction.
Related Stories:
· Spa At The Four Seasons Maui Reviews [TripAdvisor]
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