Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Fairmont Kea Lani # 1

Hotel # 1: The Fairmont Kea Lani

Number of Nights:  6

Rate:  $539/night with the 5th night free (winter promotion)- which worked out to somewhere around $489/night

Room: least expensive category, no title, but room description says it "overlooks landscaping and neighbouring side streets"

Loyalty program: Fairmont President's Club

The Fairmont Kea Lani is an all-suite hotel. It is the southern-most resort in Wailea. It has a large property and every room is a two-room suite- a bedroom and a living room.

I chose the Kea Lani because my traveling party consisted of two adults and two 13 year old girls (myself, my partner, our daughter and her best friend). As this was a long anticipated holiday, I loved the idea of a bedroom, with a door that closed- two beds in a small room for 10 nights was not appealing. Every living area at the Kea Lani has a sofa bed, so it seemed like an ideal set up.

I liked the positive reviews that I found for the Kea Lani all over the web. Most reviews were glowing, though several mentioned a lot of wear and a few reviews questioned cleanliness. 

We arrived late- our flight landed at 6:15, around dusk. It was very cloudy and overcast, with low cloud cover and misty rain. This wasn't exactly how I envisioned my first view of Maui- I definitely pictured the sun. By the time we picked up the rental car, it was dark. We made our way to Wailea- about a 30 minute drive from the airport.

It was hard to arrive in the dark- it was like arriving somewhere you had never seen before with a blindfold on.  We drove along a busy road with residential neighbourhoods and business areas, and then we entered Wailea. There are signs when you enter, but you can immediately tell that you have entered a resort area- the landscape goes from dry desert to green, lush and pristine. We passed the other hotels and the shops and turned into the driveway of the Fairmont.

The driveway had several lit torches lining the curb, which was very pretty. We pulled up and were immediately greeted by valet (valet is optional- $25/night, $15 for self park). As we gathered up our things and were discussing luggage, a bell person presented up with purple orchid leis- very pretty.  They asked our name and walked us to the front desk. The woman working was very warm, with a big smile. I felt that she was sincere in her welcome. We got the business part of check in settled, and she offered us all POG (pineapple, orange, guava) juice or water. We all accepted and it was very delicious. She outlined a few restaurant options and drew the path to our room on a map, then called a bell person over to walk us and our bags to our room.



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