Travaasa Hana

Resort offers complete relaxation, pampering, unplugged experience with great service, food & amenities; wonderful for solo travelers, couples or families; area outside resort abounds with culture, hiking & magnificent sightseeing

First time for an overnight stay in Hana. This property, while a little expensive, was worth every penny. So peaceful. Morning yoga was perfect. Not a place I would take children, but excellent for a romantic getaway or a place to escape to decompress. Pay a little more and get the ocean bungalow. The sea breeze that comes thru the open air suite is so peaceful. Will spend fewer days in west Maui and more days here next time.

This lovely spot, all the way at the road's end in Hana, Maui, is both lovely and intriguing. The only problem is planning enough time, away from all that is Maui, to enjoy BEING THERE. So much to see and do, or do nothing at all. The cute cabana style rooms all have views and vistas right outside to be enjoyed from the lanai outside your door. The folks are very attentive but also eave you alone to relax and refresh.

We decided to go to Hana but did not want to drive there and back, so chose to spend the night at the Travaasa. It is terribly expensive, but we would stay there again, and plan to. It was beautiful, relaxing and the service was outstanding. The restaurant was also excellent with one of the best meals that we had while in Maui.

My husband, pre-school daughter and I were supposed to be here for three nights, but we stayed for only two because the level of service we received was so poor that we left early. Read on…. I have read travel magazines, websites, blogs, etc. for as long as I can remember and I have read about this property for years and thought it would be amazing to stay here. So when we were booking our 20th anniversary trip to Kauai and Maui, we of course wanted to stay here because the property receives so many awards and accolades and it has an excellent reputation for service and standards. None of that was experienced by us. The room: We had an ocean view bungalow and were in the second “row� of bungalows so had a wonderful view of the ocean and could easily hear the waves crashing. It is truly a beautiful setting. The bungalow itself leaves something to be desired. I wish I had taken pictures of our bathroom area because I do not think the pictures on the Travaasa website of the ocean bungalow represent just how outdated the bathroom and shower areas feel due to the floor to ceiling tan tiling. Important to note that the bathroom area does not get much cross breeze even with the windows wide open because outside of the bathroom there is a wood fence/wall that was maybe erected to create privacy so you can have windows open, but it eliminates the ability to get a breeze in the bathroom and it felt sticky and warm in there. Which brings me to my next point, which is do not underestimate the lack of AC. Another reviewer recently wrote this and I am going to say the same. The tradewinds that are supposed to cool the bungalows were not blowing during our stay and the space got uncomfortably warm. The ceiling fan is nice, but it does not help in the heat of the day. The bungalow itself has a large skylight area above the bed and even if you try to keep the space cool by keeping shades tilted so that no sun comes in the windows, you cannot stop the sun from pouring in through that large glass window at the top of the ceiling. ROOM TIP: I would not recommend that anyone stay in a garden view room. Those rooms are across the small road and nowhere near the ocean. The property: There are two pools – one on the oceanview side and one by the family activity center. The pool on the seaview side of the property – the pool you see in most pictures – has a beautiful view, but otherwise, it is a very basic pool. The family pool is across the street and tucked away with no view. It looked like a public pool – rectangle stuck in the middle of the grass with no beautiful landscaping or anything to make it feel like you are at a luxury resort. Some beautification is needed! While I may be a mom and may want to take my daughter to a pool where I do not get glares because my daughter just excitedly said how much she likes to swim (yes that happened), I am paying to be at a luxury property and my experience should feel like that no matter what pool I am at. The space where they hold classes such as yoga was nice and the view was beautiful and serene. The staff/service: This is where it ALL goes downhill. These were our experiences; draw your own conclusions: At check in, despite having been informed twice by our travel agent that this was our 20th anniversary and that we needed a rollaway bed in our room, we were not greeted with Happy Anniversary and there was no rollaway bed in our room. During check in, the staff member who was checking us in took a phone call that she said had been on hold and we sat and listened for at least five minutes to her repeatedly apologizing to the person on the line saying, “I am sorry you experienced that, I will leave a note for our manager to call you.� She must have said this at least three times. When she finally turned her attention to us, she just said she was sorry it took so long and told us what room we would be in. She showed us a map of the property and told us our room key would open the gate. That was it. Even putting aside that it was our anniversary and we were not told happy anniversary, there was NOTHING that felt professional or of the standard that this resort should be giving to every guest. We arrived at our room and as I said, there was no rollaway bed, which our agent had told me she had just re-confirmed two days before our arrival. Also, no note wishing us a happy anniversary. In fact, the note that greeted us said “Welcome back! We are so glad you have chosen to stay with us again.� We have NEVER stayed there before. We called about the rollaway bed and went to dinner. When we got back, the rollaway was there, but we needed extra sheets to rollup to create a barrier so our daughter would not roll off the mattress. We called the front desk and nobody answered. It was about 8:30 and we called three times. Nobody ever answered. We finally gave up and put the mattress on the floor. (Later, when I talked to the first manager and mentioned this, she said all late night calls should go to the concierge. I told her it was only 8:30ish and she acknowledged someone at the desk should have been answering then. The next day we decided to go to the pool around 11:00. There was nobody there - no guests, no staff. And no towels. I looked around and couldn’t find any. I looked for staff….anywhere. Nobody around. I walked up the hill, across the road, to the front desk to say we were at the pool, there were no towels, and did they have any. I was told that the towels are by the pool. I repeated that I had just come from there and there are no towels and nobody around to ask. The young woman said the desk usually has some, but they were all out. That was it. No offer to track some down or to call anyone. We decided to take a drive instead, so we stopped by the front desk to ask for directions and when my husband got back into the car, he told me there was a guest at the desk who was visibly angry and was asking to see a manager, but he was told she was not there and he was angry about that as well. So that was the second instance of us overhearing a guest who was not happy - we had been there for about 14 hours. Later that day, we went to activity center to try to find something for our daughter to play with and there was a desk there, but no staff. We had a question about an activity, but there was nobody around to ask. We were there for about 30 minutes and finally someone came and sat at the desk, but did not greet us or ask if there was anything we needed. Again, not the experience expected at such a property. Usually staff at luxury resorts go out of their way to say hello and ask how you are – many even learn your name. At that point, I had had it. We were spending $750 a night and we couldn’t find towels, answers to questions, helpful staff… I went to the front desk to complain and spoke to the manager on duty. It is important to note that when I arrived, she was on the phone and I overheard her saying she was very sorry and she understands it would be upsetting. She was clearly uncomfortable having this conversation with me in earshot, so she asked if she could call back. She again said, “Yes, I am very sorry and I will definitely call back.� And she then confirmed the room number, so it was a current guest she was speaking to. So that was incident number three in less than 24 hours where I or my husband overheard other guests who were having issues/problems. I outlined for the manager the experiences noted above and she said she was sorry. She looked at our bill, saw the $90 we had spent on dinner and said she would comp that. I asked, “And what else?� She replied, “You don’t think that is enough?� Needless to say, I did not think that was enough. I told her that we were thinking about leaving a day early and I asked her to refund the cost of that night. She said she couldn’t because we booked a package – which we had not, just the room. She said the three nights were “packaged� as a whole and she could not refund just one night. This made no sense. She said she would have to check with accounting about this, but she could not make any guarantees. So I asked her what credits she would give me on our bill and she said when I check out I would find out. I walked away frustrated and contacted our travel agent who called the property. The next day, I was contacted by THE MOST lovely woman, Valorey, who was the manager on call. I mean it, she could not have been more gracious, professional and kind. Valorey invited me to her office and said she would send someone to get me if I like. She had been briefed on our experience and my complaints made to the manager the day before. Valorey said how sorry she was and was frank in saying that none of our experience is what “we� are about and that no guest should have any one of these experiences. She was aware of other guests’ complaints as well and said she was planning to have a conversation with the General Manager about these experiences because she was very concerned at the lack of service. She said these are not the standards she has ever seen in her years there. She was understanding and apologetic. Valorey offered to refund our last night’s stay if we chose to leave, but also offered us a Friends and Family rate for the third night if we chose to stay. She gave me a hug when our conversation ended and said again how sorry she was. I spoke with my husband and we chose to go. At checkout, there was a slight problem with working out the final bill, and Valorey came to assist the staff at the desk. She realized who my husband was and actually gave him a hug and an apology as well. You could tell she genuinely cared. SUMMARY: This stay was the most disappointing experience I think we have ever had at any hotel/resort, regardless of stars/price point.