The Birds and the Bees
Jan 18, 2021 TheMongrelHorde Houston, Texas
We booked this resort during the Covid pandemic and two weeks after Maui reopened to outside tourists. We booked based on location and price for 11 nights. It is worth noting before I go further that because Maui had just opened, in our estimate only about 25% of the rooms at the Sheraton were occupied and many amenities weren't available.
We…
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We booked this resort during the Covid pandemic and two weeks after Maui reopened to outside tourists. We booked based on location and price for 11 nights. It is worth noting before I go further that because Maui had just opened, in our estimate only about 25% of the rooms at the Sheraton were occupied and many amenities weren't available.
We arrived early (like 1am) Sunday morning and the desk clerk checked us in and gave us general directions and an all-but-useless map of the property. Our room was in the Nalu Hale building, across the lawn from reception and butted up against the cliff. We booked an Oceanview room and were assigned a room on the 5th floor.
We'd rented a car for our visit and were directed to park in the garage. If you're given a room in Nalu Hale, the parking garage is on the opposite side of the property with no direct route to the building. Unfamiliar with the layout, we dragged our suitcases up and down and all around the property's assorted buildings. There is a small lot closer, but since we arrived so late, it was full. The remainder of our stay, we had no problems finding a spot if we were in by 10.
Our room was nicely updated with clean and bright furnishings. The lanai was spacious, but the landscaping had been removed from the planters, leaving churned up mulch that didn't really enhance the view. I would be amiss if I didn't mention the bees. Almost every day, our doorway had dozens of honeybees on and around it. Occasionally, one or two would sneak in when we opened the door. There were no stings, but my wife was having none of it. Housekeeping ladies said they'd been doing that for years and no one knew why. We also kept coming across downed seabirds at night. Shearwaters kept getting stranded in the corridors, unable to get out. I picked up three just in our time there. The desk staff will hold them for a seabird rescue, which was cool.
The exterior of our building showed it's age, in our opinion. While the grounds were relatively kept up, it looked like no effort has been made to keep it fresh. We saw big, unlandscaped beds and modest attempts to screen utility areas from public view. Other buildings seemed freshened. I'm not sure why ours didn't warrant the same upkeep.
The staff was top notch. Reception was quick to answer questions and resolve issues. Housekeeping could not have been friendlier. And the maintenance men who came to unclog a toilet and repair a faulty keycard reader were cheerful and personable. Pool staff were accommodating and friendly.
Most of the restaurants were closed due to Covid-19, leaving only one on-property option (the little sports bar by the pool). I only had one meal there - pulled pork in a lavender BBQ sauce on a taro bun - and didn't care for it at all. That's subjective, though. Others may love it. But it was disappointing not to have dining available on the property when other restaurants in the area were doing just fine.
The pool area was clean and kept up. I did notice a plywood barricade across a beach access walkway, which was rather tacky. Paying for pool loungers was questionable, as I'm not sure what our mandatory resort fees pay for, if not basic amenities like chairs.
Would we stay here again? Maybe, if the price was right and we were given a bee-free room in a nicer building. The location on Kaanapali Beach is spectacular, which is really why we stayed there. Just bring the property standards up to the level of the staff and it would be great.
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