We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
It just goes to prove that there's no such thing as too many palm trees, when you stare long and hard at this killer view from the Lahaina Shores Beach Resort in Maui. Because we could stare at this from within our cubicle for hours and hours.
Lahaina Shores is actually a condo-rental place with full resort-style services and amenities including daily maid service, a concierge and internet access (at a price), plus you can use the barbecues poolside to grill up a feast. Rates start at $147 per night for mountain view suites but if you want to look over the palm trees and the sea (we certainly do) then you'll have to pay from $193 a night.
We fantasized about leaving our cubicles for the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua in Maui last October thanks to the hotels killer view but we were saddened to discover the resort was closed due to a $160 million make-over.
But on Jan. 7th, we are free to flee our cubicles again--not just in our mind but in reality as the hotel is set to re-open then. The hotel actually opened its doors last Friday for the PGA Mercedes-Benz Championship but even then crews were still working to get things all fixed up.
All 445 guest rooms as well as the lobby, fitness center, restaurants and other public areas have been upgraded. A new spa will open in March and residential suites will go on the market sometime in mid-January. Additionally, an entire wing of the hotel was converted into 107 suites, making it more family-friendly. And instead of using a bland standard Ritz-Carlton decor scheme, the hotel will focus on its Hawaiian heritage. The Honolulu-Advertiser wrote:
[T]he resort has moved away from the Ritz's "cookie-cutter" Old World style, and redesigned its rooms and public areas with a Native Hawaiian motif, incorporating local art, images of significant native plants such as breadfruit and ti, and meaningful objects, like calabash bowls.
Hotel staff will be trained to explain the history, meaning and cultural significance of the items to guests.
The only sad thing is that when hotels do top-to-bottom renovations, a price increase usually occurs and at this Ritz, the room rate jumps up nearly $200 to $599 a night. So will probably have to stick to cube dreamin' after all.
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
...we are so hitting this place up.
When you want to take a holiday in paradise, check into Room 2609 at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua on the island of Maui, Hawaii, and make sure the conditions are right for a rainbow.
This view probably doesn't happen every day, but even without the rainbow you'd probably feel like you'd struck your personal pot of gold if you could overlook both the swimming pool and the bay like this. In fact, the big attraction at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua is really the golf, so it's possible that some guests might even feel dissatisfied with this view, lacking any golf greens as it does. But not us.
A big word of caution, however: the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua is currently CLOSED. It's getting a $125 million renovation-come-transformation ready for January 2008. Guest rooms are getting remodeled, there's a new spa and fitness center and a new Japanese restaurant. But the views should remain more or less the same.
Although we prefer our WiFi in every hotel, every city, in a box, with a fox, and so on and so forth, we are willing to admit there are places in the world where we probably shouldn't get our panties in a bunch about internet access. Places like Maui.
But just in case we want to hop online, at the Mahana Resort in Lahaina, Maui every room is oceanfront with a lanai and all have free WiFi to put to good use like this couple recently did:
We used the gas barbecue grills, the pool, and the shuffleboard court. We walked the beach, and enjoyed lounging in the chairs on the seaside lawn. My wife enjoyed a Sunday lesson on making a ti leaf lei. An added bonus was complimentary WiFi Internet access, which we used to brag to the folks back home via email about our lovely island home.
Perfect, use the internet to show off your hotel digs. The only thing left to do is to make is the Mai Tais (the better to forget about the 80s pastel bedspread.)
Of course you never need a reason to go to Maui, but when you have one it's all the better. The Chicago Tribune points out two reasons at the Kaanapali Resorts. The company is offering two packages that will appeal to either your adventurous side or the foodie that lurks within.
For the action lovers, go to the Kaanapali Beach Resort for the "Maui Adventurer"package which:
Offers one activity for two--a horseback ride on a working cattle ranch, a bike ride down Haleakala, an ATV ride, a waterfall hike or a Molokini snorkel excursion--plus five nights in an ocean-view room, daily breakfast, daily rental car and admission to a dinner show blending Hawaiian dance with magic. Good until Dec. 24, the "Maui Adventurer" is priced at $1,879 for two, with additional nights costing $295, including breakfast and car rental.
If it's the food you're after, you'll have to follow your nose to the sister hotel, The Plantation Inn in Lahaina for the "Island Gourmet package." For $799 you get "three nights, covering lodging, one dinner for two, daily breakfast and daily car rental." Both deals are subject to blackout dates so inquire about that when you are booking. Both also are good through the end of the year. .
As for the Kaanapali Hotel, it was voted "Most Hawaiian Hotel in Hawaii." Perhaps because they keep it "real" by not providing internet.
Why is that? Maybe because the resort boasts three 18-hole championship courses--one of the only places to do so in Hawaii. Two of the courses were designed by Arnold Palmer and the third by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore. The resort also is home to the Kapalua Golf Academy which has 23-acres for golfers to use for practice. Lastly, the hotel is home to the PGA Tour's Mercedes championship held each year in January.
As for the hotel, it's a typical Hawaiian resort offering ocean views, leis upon arrival, and luas at night. This resort was built next to an working pineapple plantation so expect plenty of that fruit to grace each meal. And for nightlife, the town of Lahaina, a historic century-old whaling town, is nearby with shopping, bars and restaurants like Jimmy Buffet's Cheeseburger in Paradise.
On arriving, I found a tiny little boutique hotel with a very cosy reception area, manned by one friendly receptionist, who turned out to be the porter, concierge and everything else you can think of as well. The entire hotel is charmingly decorated in a very old style; I loved the flower wallpaper, old sepia portraits of long-gone people, the homey feel of the common room where there was free coffee, tea and a tin of Japanese sweeties out for everyone to help themselves too. The room also housed the only television in the hotel, but when you're on a beautiful tropical island like Maui, you don't need a television.
I just love the old-fashioned feeling of this tiny room. There was hardly any room for me to drag my suitcase from the door to further in the room, but still I wished I could have stayed longer there.
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by amandak
Although we prefer our WiFi in every hotel, every city, in a box, with a fox, and so on and so forth, we are willing to admit there are places in the world where we probably shouldn't get our panties in a bunch about internet access. Places like Maui.
