Fairmont Kea Lani Maui

We stayed here for a week. It was truly a 5 star experience, especially after having left the Fairmont Orchid which is NOT a 5 star. Tami at the check in desk is very nice and does her job very well. She knew all about the property. Michael with bell hop service walked us to our room and delivered our luggage. Ian and Bianca with poolside service are amazing and greet you by name sometimes. We stayed here the week The Rams were here and that was the icing on the cake meeting and seeing them around the property. Housekeeping is fantastic at their job and I didn’t find a dirty spot in the room. My only complaint is the that the breakfast buffet is really hard to enjoy with the birds. There should be separate inside and outside seating. Birds fly into the buffet and I’m concerned someone will get sick from this. I cannot speak on the other restaurants, as we ate off property. I also hated that poolside chairs had more towels “reserving” chairs than actual people ever sitting in them. This needs to be enforced. My kids enjoyed the slide there. Overall, a very charming stay and I would return.

Beautiful hotel and great location! Rooms are spacious suites with large lanai’s. Great housekeeping with nightly turndown service. This place is first class! Great service as well as towel service at valet when you go on exploring or excursions. Close to shopping and restaurants although they have great dining on site.

There is much to love about the Fairmont Kea Lani, but constant mistakes and disappointments cause the hotel to fall short of what it should be. Start with the good parts. The hotel itself is beautiful, the rooms spacious, and the beach and pool areas are all wonderful. The buffet breakfast is also outstanding, featuring the standard breakfast fare plus also fantastic upgrades, like steak that can be added to omelets or eggs, fresh shrimp and ahi tuna, and the like. Loved all of that, and it had the makings of a true 5-star experience. But now the disappointments. The hotel advertises that guests can enjoy a complimentary canoe experience where the hotel takes you out on the canoe and also helps you snorkel a bit, but the thing is nearly a fraud: they have maybe 12 seats a day, which is clearly not enough for the several hundred guests. We had three rooms, for eight people, for a full week, and we managed to get only one seat all week. Worse, though, are the ways the hotel handles the financial interactions. Most annoying: the hotel repeatedly put things on our bills that were not in fact our charges. Every time I asked, they quickly looked, agreed with me that this or that was an error, and removed the mistakes, but that is still an unpleasant way to spend my vacation time. Separately, when I went to check out on the last day, the rate actually billed for my rooms did not match the rates quoted (in writing, by email) for my rooms. I had the confirmation emails and, again, the hotel made the adjustment; but once more, this is not what I want to think about on my vacation. And this sort of sloppy financial behavior was not just a rare hiccup. It is a pervasive problem with the hotel. For instance, we had an extremely annoying interaction at the ice cream shop where we ordered single scoops for seven people, all of whom were standing there picking flavors, paid the outrageous $60+ for the seven scoops, and then . . . the person scooped four and insisted that was all we had paid for. Crazy. The cashier was not able to generate a receipt and the whole behind-the-counter team just got flustered. (The cashier finally told the scooper to just scoop the missing ice cream, but, again, not the interaction I want on my vacation.) Overall, then, these sorts of little mistakes make the Fairmont a little disappointing. I’m happy to pay the high rates for a nice vacation, but I don’t want to constantly either get false charged or have to intervene to correct mistakes. This stuff shouldn’t be that hard to get right, especially for a top-dollar hotel.

I can’t say enough wonderful things about this resort and our stay. We arrived early from the airport, and the staff gave us an upgrade to the most beautiful room I've ever seen with a wraparound balcony and a million dollar view. (It was both a milestone birthday and our anniversary, so maybe they felt celebratory!). We were able to check in before the normal time, and they sent up a bottle of Prosecco and a piece of cake to celebrate. The rooms are all suites and are both spacious and luxuriously appointed with beautiful Hawaiian art and comfortable beds and couches. My husband and I frequently keep different hours so I was able to enjoy my morning Nespresso (there was on in the room) on the deck while enjoying the room while he slept in. On one side of the deck was an oversized circular couch facing a garden (and parking lot, but it wasn’t a problem). On the other two sides of the deck were a table with 4 chairs and two chairs to watch the ocean and the birds. We were so exhausted by the lead up to the trip and getting out of town that we were happy to have a place to relax the first few days before we ventured out and tried their complimentary outrigger canoe lesson, ukulele lesson, Hawaiian language lesson, night sky lecture, yoga at sunset, and all the rest that Maui has to offer outside the hotel itself. If you want to save money on food, there's an Island Gourmet store run by the ABC Stores quite close by. We went often for sushi or salad for lunch, and picked up other items to either eat there or microwave in our room. Our breakfast was included at the hotel and it was sumptuous, otherwise Island Gourmet had nice looking options. My one criticism is that I was never able to secure a beach chair at the beach during its open hours (chairs are locked up in late afternoon) and was only able to get one at the pools after 3 or 4pm. There's a one hour sign posted, that if your chair is vacant after that they'll remove your belongings, but I never saw that enforced. Instead, I'd go down and see a sea of chairs with towels on them and not enough people to match the number of towels. Early birds just claim the chairs, leave, and come and go as they choose. It's a real problem, I would have dearly loved being able to settle by the ocean and hear the waves. If they could solve this nuisance issue, the stay would have been a 10+++. As it was, neither the property or the staff could have been more lovely or gracious. The spirit of aloha is definitely present here. Go and enjoy!!

Stayed: 6/1–6/11 Fairmont Kea Lani – Wailea, Maui The resort grounds are absolutely beautiful—stunning beachfront, lush landscaping, and impressive architecture. But sadly, the service was some of the worst we’ve experienced, especially for the premium price point. I spent nearly $20k on this trip, planning it six months in advance to treat my family to a luxury getaway. What we got was a constant stream of disappointing service. From the start, most staff were unfriendly and unhelpful. Many wouldn’t even acknowledge us when we passed by. At the beach, one staff member actually insulted guests while handing us an umbrella—saying we were “horrible people” right to our faces, even though we hadn’t said a word other than politely asking for chairs. My husband stood in front of valet staff for over 10 minutes while they talked among themselves, completely ignoring him. It wasn’t until a new staff member arrived that anyone acknowledged him and finally asked, “Can I help you?” I also made an Instacart order and confirmed with the front desk that it could be delivered while I was out—they assured me they would refrigerate the groceries. I returned a couple hours later to find all my cold food left on a cart, spoiled. Zero care or follow-through. Our room was dusty and poorly cleaned. I have a severe dust mite allergy, and my eyes were swollen shut most of the trip. But I avoided complaining because I didn’t want to deal with the staff’s dismissive attitude. Simple requests went ignored—like asking for hangers, luggage racks, or even K-cups to go with the Keurig we were provided (after requesting one over a Nespresso). We asked multiple times and never received them. They brought four K-cups at the beginning, then told us later they don’t stock them—even though they gave us the Keurig! We had also asked about resort activities before arriving (canoe outings, koi feeding, lei making) and were told we could sign up onsite. But once we got there, we were told everything was fully booked with no effort to accommodate or help us participate. Bottom line: the resort is physically stunning, but the service was cold, careless, and unwelcoming. For what we paid, I would have much rather stayed at a less “luxurious” place with kind, attentive staff. We will not be returning—and I strongly urge others to reconsider if customer service matters to you.