Official website: http://www.maui-kaanapali.com/ Dates of stay: 10/24/04 - 10/30/04 Cost: $80 /nt via PL (plus taxes & fees - see fees paragraph) Check-in: Late check-in (around 10:30pm). Very efficient and polite, no mention of PL in the entire stay. Helpful in locating grocery stores nearby. PL doesn't guarantee King size beds so we ended up with a Queen, but later they offered to move us to a room w/ King (we declined). Location and grounds: We'll start with the highlights. I liked this location -- the hotel property is on the Kahekili Beach, north of Ka'anapali Beach (where the Sheraton, Marriott, Whaler Village, and other hotels are). It's less than 10 minutes to Lahaina where all the shops and restaurants are. There's a restaurant onsite (which probably is one of the qualifiers of a 2.5-star) which we did not try. There are a lot of differerent plants and trees growing on the grounds. There are 3 basic pools. The Kahekili Beach is the best part about this hotel - the sand and water is great, and just about 50 yards north there is a large coral field where you can snorkel and scuba. (There wasn't as many fish here on the day we went snorkeling as other locations, but the coral is impressive) There's a free Ka'anapali Trolley which takes you to the different hotels and Whaler Village in Ka'anapali. We took it to go snorkeling at Black Rock behind the Sheraton. (Rent a car - you can stay in this area but why would you want to?) Room and Service: The Aston Villas have hotel rooms in the main building and suites of various sizes in smaller buildings. I can only assume that the hotel rooms were built first because they are pretty old. I've read reviews where people gave positive reviews of the suites but I can only review the hotel room (we were in 314). If I were to review the hotel based only on the room we got, I'd give it a 2 star max, not worthy of the PL 2.5 star rating. :) The room and bathroom are small, and the bathroom is pretty old. It's not dirty, just reminds me of a bathroom in a motel. The corridors are external instead of inside, which also reminded me of motels, but I think this is because of the "open air" nature of Hawaii hotels. The service was adequate - they brought extra amenities when asked, and corrected things when they forgot something (like one time they forgot to take out the trash). There was a medium sized refrigerator, sink, and microwave. Some silverware and plates/bowls. Fees: Parking is an additional $5 per day. This place just nickel & dimes you too much. If you make 1 local call they will charge you like $1.50 phone fee per day. If you use the safe in the room they will charge you. (Luckily we used our cell phones and didn't use the safe) There is a park to access the beach nearby but I doubt you can park there overnight. They should've just included the parking fee, especially since the spaces get full at night and we have to walk a bit back to our rooms anyway. Check-out: We requested late check-out and was given 'til 1pm. (If the hotel isn't busy they may give you 'til 2pm) Check-out was very quick and simple. I think the hotel only has one luggage cart though. Overall: For the price I might stay here again, for the beach and location. If Priceline negotiated the suites only, then I would say this would truly meet the 2.5 star rating. Hope this helps!
