For an early winter holiday, we returned back to the Sheraton Maui Resort in Kaanapali, Maui, for a seven day stay. Having previously visited this resort on a family holiday, we would be curious to see how the resort fared over the years. While we didn’t get the same value as in our earlier stay, we were treated fairly well by the property. Given we redeemed Marriott Bonvoy loyalty points for our visit at a terrific rate, we had an almost free stay.

Review: Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, Kannapali, Maui, Hawaii, USA

“A old school Sheraton Resort that doesn’t shine as brightly as in their earlier Starwood Preferred Guest days, but turned out to be excellent value as a result of a terrific Marriott Bonvoy redemption rate”

For this winter’s getaway we decided to return back to the Hawaiian islands. I happenned to discover some excellent Marriott Bonvoy redemption opportunities at the Sheraton Maui Resort and spa.

As a result of some random travel research browsing, I happened upon Marriott Bonvoy point redemptions at the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, for under 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points a night. This represented an excellent value for Hawaii, which typically has Marriott Bonvoy nightly rates between 60,000 and 70,000 a night.

Booking the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa:

When I was researching possible winter getaway opportunities, I started off on the Marriott website. Using an “all of Hawaii” search, I miraculously discovered that the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa had rooms going for 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points a night.

This represented an excellent value as Hawaii is a high demand vacation area. Marriott Bonvoy redemptions offer the fifth night free, which is another way to gain outsized value. We would also get the opportunity to use Marriott Bonvoy free night certificates that come with the American Express Marriott Bonvoy credit card.

Since, I couldn’t get the Marriott website to cooperate with a point redemption with a credit car free night certificate, I ended up booking a back-to-back reservation. I used two Marriott Bonvoy American Express free night award certificates, and a second five night reward redemption using Marriott Bonvoy Rewards points with the fifth night free.

I had to pay a small up charge of 8,200 points on the credit card redemption.

My first reservation looked as follows:

On my second redemption, the room rate had climbed to 41,200 points per night by the time I was ready to book. However, using the fifth night free, it meant my average cost per night was down to 33,280 Marriott Bonvoy Points per night. This represented possibly my best ever redemption for Hawaii, representing an excellent deal.

The points reservation was booked into a basic Resort view King, valued at $542 USD per night.

I booked through the Marriott Bonvoy website, which as a Marriott Titanium Member, entitled me to a complimentary upgrade to the best available room, including select suites, complimentary access to the Marriott Executive Club Lounge (where available), and a complimentary late check out up to 4 PM.

With Marriott Titanium Level status, I was fortunate to be upgraded (in advance) one category into a Ohana Doubles One Bedroom Suite with a separate living space. While it is rarer to get actual suite upgrades these days as an Elite member within the Marriott Bonvoy program, I really appreciated the upgrade. This was valued at $1,128 USD a night; a terrific upgrade from our initial room.

I would chalk this up to my stay occurring during shoulder season with a low amount of elites. I suspect that your experience may be different during busy summer or holiday seasons.

Getting to Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa:

I looked at various options getting to and from the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa.

While I looked at taking a ride share (Uber XL) from the Kahului Maui International Airport, it was pricing at about $110 USD each way.

A shared coach shuttle with many of the major shuttle companies was going to come in at $180 USD round trip.

As a result, after arriving off Alaska Airlines First Class Seattle – Maui, I just decided to rent a car with Hertz Presidents Circle Kahului Maui International Airport, which came out to about $400 USD for the week.

The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa is located in sunny Kaanapali, which is about forty minutes drive from the airport. It’s located right on the beach.

I particularly like the location of the Sheraton, as it’s walkable to several restaurants inside the Whaler’s Village mall complex, including an ABC Convenience store.

Checking into the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa:

We arrived to the property quite late. Our arriving flight on Alaska Airlines First Class Seattle – Kahului Maui International Airport landed at 9:52 PM. By the time we collected luggage, gotten sorted with the rental car, drove from the airport to the Sheraton Maui Resort, it was about 11:30 PM by the time we arrived to the resort.

It was easy to locate the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa. After arriving to the main lobby area, we were offered assistance with the baggage, which we declined. The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa offers an open air lobby, which adds for a breezy arrival process. You can see most of the resort from the elevated lobby, which made for a great first impression.

On arrival, we received a Marriott Bonvoy Suite Upgrade as Titanium level members. Our upgrade was showing the Marriott Bonvoy app before our arrival. It’s rarer and rarer to actually get Suite Upgrades in the Marriott Bonvoy program. I really have to hand it to the resort for offering a proactive suite upgrade.

We were confirmed into an Ohaha Doubles Suite, which was a seven category upgrade from the base level room that we had booked. While some of these categories were minor ones in better buildings, I have to applaud the resort for continuing to offer great upgrades for it’s Marriott Bonvoy Elite members.

For the Marriott Bonvoy welcome benefit, we accepted continental breakfast as the benefit. While we’ve previously enjoyed a full breakfast at the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa in the legacy Starwood Preferred Guest program, the full buffet breakfast benefit has been cut. Instead, we were offered continental breakfast, with an option to upgrade to the buffet for $15 USD per person per day.

We were offered valet or self parking. Rather conveniently, the first day of parking is free. As a result, we ended up valet parking the car ($42 a day). Self Parking is $39 a day. On our last visit, Self Parking was free for Marriott Bonvoy Platinum members. However, like other benfits, this benefit has now been eliminated and you’ll have to be Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador level to qualify for free parking.

The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa also has elevated their resort fee to $40 USD per day + taxes ($47.18 USD). This contained mostly useless items and was not of value add to us. We did get some small hotel branded water bottles that were of poor quality and regularly leaked, along with two “made in china” Shell Lei’s. These did little to add to the experience.

Overall, we had a pleasant check in experience, with efficient staff that made us feel warmly welcomed.

Marriott Vacation Club Timeshare Pitch:

As you might have expected, during our five day stay, we were offered the opportunity to come by the guest services desk, for an “…exclusive Welcome Gift, and an extra 1,000 bonus Bonvoy points, just for saying “Hi.” 

After stopping by, this turned out to be a time share sales pitch, with an ask to come to a ninety minute Marriott Vacation Club presentation in exchange for 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, a sunset catamaran or a $200 USD Duke’s / Hula Grill restaurant gift card.

Knowing that there were there better offers out there, we didn’t end up taking up our vacation time on this opportunity. We did end up getting a reusable “Sheraton Maui” shopping bag out of our short stop by the guest services desk.

My promised 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy points posted about 35 days after the stay. While I had given up on chasing these points, they did eventually arrive as promised.

The Room: Ohana Doubles Suite, 2 Double, Alternate: Murphy/wall bed, Ocean view

The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa offers several buildings. On our back to back stay combining American Express Marriott Bonvoy free night certificates and outright point redemptions, we ended up taking the opportunity to stay in two different room configurations.

The first room we were assigned was the Ohana Doubles Suite. We’ve stayed in this room type on our last stay and it’s a pretty comfortable room.

Immediately after entering the Ohana Doubles Suite room #1202, you’ll find yourself in the living room area. The living room area has a small couch with two occasional chairs.

The room offers a hidden murphy bed in the wall, which is convenient if you happen to be staying in this room with a large family.

The Ohana Doubles offered two double beds. They were slightly smaller than a comfortable queen. Given the assigned room configuration, we ended up separating and not squeezing together in one bed.

The bedroom was separated from the living space by double sliding doors. Given we were travelling on our own, we never ended up needing to separate the space.

The bathroom was exceptionally large and spacious. The bathroom featured a double vanity sink, with a separate bathroom area. There was a combination bath shower space, along with a stand up shower space with a terrific rain shower.

It wouldn’t be a fantastic Hawiian room without an outdoor lanai balcony. The room featured a great lanai, which was perfect for morning coffee.

The Ohana Double Suite offered an ocean view. While I’ll always appreciate an ocean view, this one was a little obstructed by looking through palm trees, the hotel’s luau event space, and overlooking hotel loungers and chairs. It also happened to be on the main cross walk of all guests, resulting in a lot of pedestrian cross traffic – potentially peering into your suite.

While I’ll always appreciate looking out at the ocean, this aspect of the Ohana Doubles Suite was probably my least favorite feature of the room.

In terms of sleep quality, the room was very quiet as can be expected for hotels in Kannapali. There were no sounds at night, other than the sounds of the ocean. Despite the central location of the room, it was pretty quiet on the resort.

The Room: Moana Oceanfront King, Larger Guest room, 1 King, Oceanfront

When we moved from our two night free credit card night certificates stay to our five night Marriott Bonvoy point redemption stay, we were offered the opportunity to continue with the suite upgrade by staying in the Ohana Doubles. Since we’d previously stayed in the Ohana Doubles on our last stay, we opted for trying something new.

For the period of our five night stay, we ended up moving over to an Moana Oceanfront King, Larger Guest Room 1 King, Oceanfront. This was another upgrade courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level status from the base level redemption. This represented a three category upgrade from the basic level Resort View 1 King that we had originally booked.

We were assigned room #6312. The room configuration was a step down in size from our spacious Ohana Doubles Suite, and much closer to a conventional hotel room that happened to have a world class view.

Immediately upon entering the room, we found ourselves in the hall closet space.

A few steps into the room led us into the Larger Guest Room, featuring a king size bed. The Moana King offered an Oceanfront room, with a view that was everything that you could expect from a room right on a cliff; fabulous.

The bedroom featured a small sofabed, for those that were looking for a place to store extra guests.

The room featured a small desk area, with sufficient power ports for charging.

The Moana room offered a smaller bathroom, with a single vanity sink. Along with changing rooms, we also lost the double shower option with a more compact bath and shower combination that you’d find in most regular hotel rooms.

The room featured a comfortable level of amenities that included a microwave, a Cuisinart coffee maker, a mini fridge, proper glassware and robes with slippers.

The room offered locally crafted Malie Hawaiian soaps, which led to a fragrant bathroom experience.

The nicest part of the Moana wing was the ocean front views. The room offered a much nicer Ocean front view that faced north west, that spanned a full 180 degrees. There was nothing that I didn’t like about the ocean front orientation of the room. The view was absolutely spectacular.

The Moana Wing offered spectacular sunsets. I really appreciated the unobstructed view from our Moana Wing Room. Since we were looking towards the back side of the resort property, the views were about as private as you can get at a Hawaiian Resort.

In terms of sleep quality, we had an equally solid sleep in the Moana wing. There seemed to be less children around the Moana wing of the hotel, which made for a little quieter of an experience.

In terms of differences between the two rooms, it was a bit of a trade off. The Ohana Doubles Suite was among the better Marriott Bonvoy suite upgrades I’ve gotten in recent years as an expectionally spacious room. The more private Moana King room offered a much nicer ocean front view. We enjoyed the sunset on several occasions form the comfort of our room with access to our own self catered drinks.

Looking back over time, I think we would have stayed in the Ohaha Doubles for the duration of the stay. The extra space that the Ohana Suite offered was incomparable and exceptionally large in terms of comparison.

Around the Hotel Property:

The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa is a full service hotel property. It has all the features that you might expect from a full service hotel.

Outdoor Pool:

The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa offers an interlinked pool area with a lazy river. As a resort built in the nineteen fifties, the resort is spacious compared to most modern resorts, with lots of surplus room.

We were able to get seats near the pool on a daily basis without much difficulty. The complimentary lounge chairs were in good condition. They were not of a “padded” variety, which made multi day use a little uncomfortable. I ended up in the pool, which had a limited amount of free floaties, as a coping mechanism.

The pool was operating between the hours of 7 AM to 8 PM during our visit.

It might be worth mentioning what it costs for a beach chair that is physically located on the beach at the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa. Despite a $50 USD daily resort fee, all the complimentary beach chairs are located around the pool area.

If you want a beach chair that’s located on the Kannapali Beach, that will be extra. A lot extra. . .

Pricing at the time of our visit was as follows:

• Beach Umbrella / Chairs (includes set up of umbrella and two chairs) $101.82 USD
• Poolside Casabella (side by side padded lounge chairs with shade) $72.25 USD
• Lawn Area Cabana (with seating for up to four persons) $240.84 USD
• VIP Ali Deck (with refrigerator, larve TV, safe and two adjoring pol chair lounge chairs $391.36 USD

In comparison, it seems a little steep to have to pay an extra $101.82 for beach chairs on top of a $50 USD resort fee. My last trip to Hawaii, I had access to completely free beach chairs at the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort on the Big Island. Despite this, my fellow guests at the Sheraton Maui didn’t seem to have much trouble paying these fees based on the amount of beach chairs they were selling. They seemed to be flying on the shelf like $1 hot cakes.

Fitness Center:

The Sheraton Maui Resort property does have a moderately sized fitness centre which is located on the seventh floor of the building. The fitness machines offered a resort view with distant ocean views.

During our stay, the fitness centre was open 24 hours a day, with no reservations required.

There were a few treadmills and free-weights available. During my visit, the gym was pretty quiet with no issues getting a machine.

Sheraton Executive Lounge:

The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, much like other Hawaiian Marriott properties has decided that it’s better off not operating a Sheraton Lounge. As a result, the Sheraton Naku Lounge that used to be on this property has been permanently closed. The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa no longer offers an executive lounge. There was no alternative amenity offered.

Game Room:

Instead, in the space previously occupied by the Sheraton Lounge, the hotel has set up a games room. Unfortunately, the games room was “closed for temporary maintenance” the entire 7 days that we were on the property.

The games room contained a beautiful collection of arcade games just waiting to be played. Regretfully I didn’t get the opportunity to enjoy any of them with the room being “closed” for the duration of our stay.

The closure of the Games Room was an unfortunate transformation of the old Sheraton Executive Lounge. However, I would imagine they will transform this space in the future.

Black Rock Beach:

The Sheraton Maui Resort sits right on the Black Rock Beach. Since we didn’t bring lawn chairs, and we didn’t opt to pay for $100 USD beach chairs, we actually spent less time on the beach than expected.

The Black Rock Beach is a nice wide and sandy space that stretches for miles along Kaanapali’s shores. With a west facing orientation, it’s a great place for sunsets.

I went out for a snorkel a few times since Black Rock is renowned for snorkeling. However, I didn’t get as great a snorkel as I have had in the past as a result of rough waters and a lack of living corals.

Food and Beverage:

The Sheraton Maui Resort and offers a number of restaurants. However, the food an beverage at the resort wasn’t the high point of our stay.

There are many great restaurants just down the road within oceanfront walking distance at the Whaler’s Village. We also ventured off property on several occasions using our rental car.

Coral Reef Restaurant:

Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Breakfast

The Sheraton Maui Resort primary food and beverage option is Coral Reef Restaurant that offers open air dining, along with an interior option that was not open during our visit.

Our Marriott Bonvoy Platinum breakfast welcome amenity covered a generous continental breakfast featuring banana bread, yogurt, fresh fruit with orange juice and coffee. We had some requests in for banana bread swap to bagel & cream cheese which were reluctantly and begrudgingly honoured on some days, and outright declined on other days.

As Marriott elites, we were offered the opportunity to upgrade to a breakfast buffet for $15 USD per person per day. Regretfully in an unfriendly customer posture, this discount did not extend to othering other items off the menu.

The breakfast buffet was the same over our 7 day stay with little variation between the days. There was not much effort in the Coral Reef restaurant to add variety to the breakfast setting.

The Coral Reef restaurant was also open for dinner. I always find it a little strange eating dinner in the breakfast restaurant and space. While I didn’t see too many guests dining here, it’s nice to have an “on resort” option.

Cliff Dive Bar & Grill:

The Sheraton Maui also offered the casual dining Cliff Dive Bar & Grill. This was located in the pool area. While it had a bit of a profile during the day, it ‘s night time use was almost non existent.

The Cliff Dive Bar & Grill offered casual dining items. While we didn’t eat here during our stay, I would have stopped by earlier if I had known more about what they had to offer.

Despite a prominent placement in the resort, it was a sleepy hollow type of restaurant.

Checking Out of The Sheraton Maui Resort:

We had an early morning flight on Alaska Airlines First Class Maui – San Diego. This flight left early in the morning. As a result, we didn’t need to explore getting a late check out.

Everything was “as expected” on our bill, including our resort fees and parking charges, which came to $563.14 USD on an otherwise “free” Marriott Bonvoy redemption stay. While the value wasn’t similar to what it was in the past, it was better than receiving a bill for a cash stay of several thousand dollars.

The Bottom Line: The Sheraton Maui Resort

I had a nice return visit to the Sheraton Maui Resort. While it wasn’t as nice as when it was under the Starwood Preferred Guest program, it was still a pretty enjoyable stay.

The resort remains one of my favorite places to stay in Kannapali. While the resort didn’t offer as much value as it once did in the past, the property remains a great value (at the right time) on Marriott Bonvoy points.

If you’re looking for luxury or a value based holiday, you’re not likely to find that here. Aside from some grumpy and slightly rigid chefs at the Coral restaurant, the experience was mostly pleasant. While it doesn’t match some of my most over the top stays at beach resorts around the world, it’s a basic (and close to North America) holiday experience that is comfortable and enjoyable.

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If you have visited the Sheraton Maui, does it remain among your favorites of Kaanapali Resort Hotels?

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