Introduction
The last time I was here was 3 years ago when it had just opened up. We loved our stay then since it was only something like 30K points for a suite at the time. However, these days, this Hyatt hotel seems to think they are the hottest girl on the block and DGAF about pleasing people who redeem award stays.
Booking
I had used 25K points a night for this hotel. I made the reservation back in late December for a mid July stay. It took numerous random checks before I found the points availability.
Checkin
The checkin process went pretty smooth. When you pull up to the hotel, the bellhops give you flower leis. When you reach the lobby, there are people there to greet you and lead you to a couch to check you in. The complimentary lavender lemonade is way too tart for my tastes. As a Diamond, I chose the beverage amenity – a bottle of wine. The rep then asked, “would you like some truffles as well?” Well of course I would! Who says no to chocolate? Later, I learned others also got fruit with their truffles and wine.
The person also didn’t go over all the amenities that come complimentary with the hotel. It was on a card with the room key, but it’d be nice for them to have gone over it with us.
Lastly, while they still give out water bottles for your stay, apparently the old style was too nice and costly, so they’ve switched to cheap plastic looking ones.
Wifi
Wifi was free and there was no need to log in. I thought it was decent although I know it had intermittent issues, but nothing to complain about.
Room
Of course we weren’t upgraded. Well, maybe a top floor level 7 is an upgrade in their point of view, but as you can see, my view was of the garden, which is the view you want when you are in Hawaii. If you talk to others, they have gotten low floor “suites” where their view is of the top of a building.
The blackout shades were superb. It was also well sound-proofed because we didn’t hear too much noise from people walking by (that could be because we were near the end of the hall.) Housekeeping refilled our toiletries on the 2nd day even though we hadn’t used up the ones from the first day. On turndown service, they’ll give you a carafe of water, which is a nice touch. The complimentary minibar and snacks are replenished every day.
Oh and one of the coolest features I’ve ever seen in a hotel room – there is a motion sensor night light in the bathroom.
I love when hotels think spouses love to see the other person showering
Where my Diamond amenity fruit, yo?
Why I came to Hawaii – to see a garden
Breakfast
Back in the day, they had 2 tiers of breakfast for Diamond members. These days, they got rid of the confusion and only offer 1 buffet. I thought the buffet was delicious. The omelet station was great. The juice bar was delicious. On the 2nd day, I saw someone who had a sliced mango, which I didn’t see on the buffet. Well, it turns out you have to ask for it at one of the buffet stations. Once again, the customer has to ASK; if they didn’t ask, they’d never know. Also on the 2nd day, we saw the waiter bring out some hot sauce for someone’s omelette. While our waiter was good and attentive, shouldn’t he have seen us get an omelette and ask us if we wanted hot sauce (c’mon, Asians love their hot sauce.)
Parking Protip
Valet parking is $30 a night, which is outrageous. Well, if you want to be cheap, you can park at the Keawakapu Beach and walk 10 minutes on the beach to the hotel. This was a great idea until we decided to go to Haleakala the next morning at 3AM and had to walk to the car in the dark. We had to use our cell phone as a flashlight; it was NOT FUN. As you can see in the picture, there’s a car with a cover on it and another car had a lot of leaves on it – meaning they probably hadn’t been moved for days or weeks. I was confident we were going to be okay to park there for a couple of nights.
On the second night, while walking to the car, we noticed the tide was pretty high. Then when we returned to the hotel after dinner, it was already dark out. I didn’t want to risk walking on the beach if the tide was still high, so I just did valet the second day.
Pokemon Go Pokestops
The reason why you’ve read this far – there are 2 Pokestops on campus and 1 gym (that is only accessible from the valet stop.) Since people are usually well off here, they made it rain petals quite a bit while we were here.
Conclusion
Would I stay here again in the future? I’m not sure. There’s really not much to do in the area. After staying at the Hyatt Regency over on the Lahaina side, I kinda like that side better. The Andaz is still great for couples, there are fewer kids, and it’s a beautiful property. Just don’t expect to get any kind of upgrade and you need to know what to ask for.
Photos
Were the restaurants on site pretty overpriced? Sounds like not a lot of options off site.
Outrageously overpriced. That’s why it’s best to take the free car ride to Monkeypod or the shopping center to eat.
I find it really annoying when they don’t explain the diamond benefits. I think that MilesProfessor once said that she always emails the hotel ahead of time and asks what kind of benefits they offer to diamond members. That’s a great idea, because hopefully you’ll get a comprehensive list emailed to you. And if not, at least you get two chances for someone to tell you everything.
Great idea.
our room at the Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall had a motion sensing light in the bathroom
I’d like to see that option everywhere.
I actually didn’t like it too much because I couldn’t sneak into the bathroom in the morning without waking up the wife. But I like the idea, and the room otherwise had really complex lighting controls. +1 to Hyatt for creativity.
Oh the ones here were more subtle. A very yellow light under the counter, so I snuck in at night w/o waking up wife.