Hawaii review, part 2 -
We moved from Wailea Beach Villas to Hyatt Residence Club in Ka’anapali yesterday, so this is our second night here.
Pros - the view is INSANE. Like picture postcard palm trees waves crashing blue ocean insane. Way better than our view in Wailea, where the ocean was off in the distance a bit. The pool here is also fantastic - lots of nooks and crannies, and shallow ledges to put lounge chairs on. There’s a good pool bar with good drinks. Food too, but we haven’t gotten anything from there.
My kids said the fitness center is really nice and better than the one at Wailea Beach Villas, which I thought was great.
They’ve also got an outdoor basketball hoop and pickleball court, and that use that space for yoga in the mornings. For those into resort-y activities, way more of those than at Wailea Beach Villas (where there really weren’t any).
Our room is REALLY nice. Not Wailea Beach Villas nice, but if that’s a 10, this is a 9. The living/dining/kitchen areas are smaller than WBV, but plenty of space for us. The two bedrooms each have a king bed, which I found to be a weird configuration. The “guest” room also has a pull out twin sleeper chair which my 15-year-old son said was comfortable. Oh! And the master has an ocean view, which was not the case at WBV. The balconies are big, with lots of comfy seats, but not much privacy, as you can see lots of other balconies from yours.
Cons - people, people, PEOPLE. This area is general seems so much more crowded than Wailea. And while the pools were small at WBV, we never saw even 1/3 of the pool loungers filled. Here, every lounger is filled, with lots of “chair hogs” holding spaces they aren’t actively using.
The ocean is beautiful here, but the beach is LAME. Again, we are from NC and are used to big wide beaches. Here, if there’s 10 feet of sand before the water, I’d be surprised, and it’s at a super steep angle. Same is true of the Hyatt and the Marriott, which are on either side of us. Farther north, where the properties look a bit more dated, the beach is MUCH wider. Since there’s so little sand, they have beach loungers set up on grass behind the sand. You have to reserve them and pay for them - no free beach chair and umbrellas like at WBV. I believe the sign said $100 for the uncovered ones and $125 for the covered ones (I assume that’s per day).
Not many food options (one step up from a “grab and go,” but not quite to a Disney QS level). BUT, the Hyatt right next door has several options, including a pool bar restaurant (Umalu), that’s waaaaay better than you’d expect for a pool bar, AND which had no wait for dinner
). Lots of food options close-ish, but juuuust far enough that you may prefer to drive.
Location - the drive to many excursions is a lot farther from Ka’anapali than Wailea. I’d say it’s a good 30 minutes farther to things like the airport, Haleakala Crater, Pa’ia, etc.
I really can’t decide what I prefer between here and WBV. They both have their pros and cons, and I guess I’m glad we did this “split stay” so we could experience both. And THANK YOU to
@WardFam for convincing me to go with Hyatt Residence Club over the regular Hyatt - that was DEFINITELY the right call for our family!
Oh! And data point - I booked this through Chase travel portal using URs, but I was able to add my Hyatt number to the reservation at the front desk. Here’s hoping I get points for the stay, because we’ve had LOTS of room charges!
If you see a woman with her notes out trying to figure out what card to use to make sure we use all of our credits, with a moody teenaged boy, a feisty 9 year old boy, and a husband with an IPA in his hand - that'll be me (I'll also probably have a mai tai in one or both hands).
) - are they letting you use the breakfast credits for anything? I thought I read somewhere that they were a bit restrictive on those but I hope not!
