Grand Wailea A Waldorf Astoria Resort

Customer ratings & reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

8997 reviews

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  Amazing resort with the best pools and location!

  This was our first visit to the Grand Wailea and if you are worried after reading reviews, I am here to tell you that this place is absolutely amazing! We had two connecting deluxe ocean view rooms on the 7th floor on the Molokini wing. First, the rooms were spacious, clean, and nicely appointed. The bathroom alone was fantastic with blindingly bright lights and sparkling clean surfaces. Pro tip: leave the makeup mirror on overnight to give you a path to the bathroom! There is an accessible HDMI port on the back of the TV for your apple tv or other streaming device if you want to watch some Netflix whilst getting ready for bed! Every inch of the grounds was meticulously landscaped with gorgeous greenery, flowers, fountains, and ponds that were stocked with beautiful Koi fish and turtles. We ate the pricy but perfect buffet every morning (it was included with our virtuosity reservation) and we dined there (Humuhumunukunukuapa'a) one night and our food was fantastic. We ate our other meals at the pool and at the shopping area next door. Also, go to the shopping area to get cheap souvenirs/drinks/beer/snacks/spam sushi! The service at the pool/ chairs was a little slow so eating at the dining area pool side worked out best. Pro tip: when ordering at the pool, you can scan a QR code and order food/beverages to your chair. DO NOT order non alcoholic beverages this was because, as a server told me, you will get billed for them but no one ever gets the order as it just "goes into the ether." Apparently, the kitchen gets the food orders, the bar gets the alcohol orders, but no one gets the soda orders, lol! Wish I had known this before waiting for nearly an hour for two sodas! The pools were just beyond cool! There were so many! Several are connected together by easy slides and they end up in the swim up bar grotto pool and then you can slide from there into the lazy river which whisks you away to the main pool which is complete with a little faux beach area for kids. The pool seemed to be heated so it was always gloriously comfy and they allowed/sold floaties in the pool. We were able to find chairs each day but it took some work to find them as they were mostly all full. The staff does a good job of identifying chairs that are abandoned by flipping the top down if they suspect one is not being actually used and then they will confiscate the belongings and move to the pool desk if the chair is not used for over an hour. We would just go back to our chairs from time to time and this worked out fine. We rented a car on two separate days for the day (to keep it overnight, you have to pay valet/parking fee of 60 dollars so easier/cheaper to just rent daily) and that worked out great! The beach was medium sized but great and there is a paved 1.6 mile beach walk that passes between the area resorts and the beaches and that was a really fun/picturesque walk

  Jun 12, 2025
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  Great resort for families- only complaint is lounge chair availability.

  This resort is wonderful! The rooms are spacious and clean. The resort grounds are beautiful. The buffet breakfast was delicious. The beach and pools are awesome. Our only complaint is that pool chairs are hard to come by unless you throw your stuff on them to hold them by 7am. I wish the resort did not allow people to hold chairs like this as it causes a supply issue all day long. They could definitely stand to add more chairs. There are also not enough umbrellas in the pool area. Also, for the cost of the resort along with the resort fee, beach chairs and umbrellas should be included. It costs $75 for half a day to have loungers and an umbrella on the beach. They also don’t provide tubes for the lazy river and instead have them for purchase. Had I known, I would have bought my own before we arrived.

  Jun 11, 2025
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  Fine resort but don’t expect a chair at the pool unless you wake up at 5am.

  Resort was fine but the pool and chair situation is a disaster. The resort pools can only accommodate about 1/2 the hotel guests. People will reserve chairs early in the morning for all day and staff does nothing to combat this issue. We were told that staff will give people an hour and if they see no one there, they will remove their things. Definitely not the case at all. So families, BEWARE!!!

  Jun 09, 2025
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  Overpriced

  Recently came here because two or my friends were getting married here, so we did not pick the venue. TL;DR - Don’t waste your money here. Not nearly worth what they are charging. Some things that I liked were that the grounds were pretty, the room was kept clean and were in good condition. The ability to contact the concierge through text is novel and nice. That being said, I don’t think this place is anywhere near the prices they are charging. Here are the reasons: Rude staff - when we arrived from the airport and were dropped off we were not greeted. No one offered us bell service, no one pointed us to the check-in desk. While we roamed around the entrance, we finally found the check-in desk in a corner. Once we checked in we still were not offered bell service to our 8th floor room on the other end of the hotel. We weren’t given any information on how the hotel works such as how to get towels, that we were expected to have a wrist band for the pool or anything else. When we got to the room, the reusable water bottles that are said to be in the room for us to use, weren’t there. After texting the concierge that these weren’t there, asking how to receive them, I was told 3 times in a row that they were in fact there when they weren’t. It took a pretty extended text saying that the whole reason for this exchange was because they weren’t there before they offered to have someone drop two off to us. Before 9am there is only one bell hop - If you need this service, request it early. Our wait time was usually 15-20 minutes. Once time we waited over 30 minutes before we just moved our luggage ourselves. If you want to scuba dive the local dive site without a guide, don’t expect any help what so ever. No one on site was even willing to give any information or tips on moving gear/tanks to the beach. This includes the people running the try scuba in a pool on site. $65 a day plus tax for parking a car at the hotel. They are already charging a $55/day resort fee already. Ridiculous cash grab. Rooms are extremely loud. Some of the things I was woken up by during my stay: another guest’s iPhone alarm going off from some other room, roosters in a parking lot at another hotel, an employee’s car alarms going off for 4 hours from 4am-8am in the employee parking garage. Again, I was on the 8th floor of the Molokini wing. TV in the room didn’t work more than half the time. Getting the guide to load was the rarity. When trying to just flip through the channels we were usually met with “Service unavailable; Weak signal” error message. Prices of food on resort are ridiculous and it isn’t even high quality. You can get better food cheaper outside of the hotel. This is especially true of the luau food. I would definitely NOT attend the luau, not anywhere near worth the cost. They need more short cuts through the grounds of the hotel. You will easily spend 15 minutes or more walking between points on the hotel grounds.

  Jun 09, 2025
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  Grand Wailea, A Waldorf Astoria Resort: A Disgraceful Failure in Hospitality and Inclusivity

  Our first experience at a Waldorf Astoria resort, the Grand Wailea, has been nothing short of a profound disappointment and a shameful display of substandard hospitality. As loyal Hilton Diamond members, we expected service commensurate with a luxury brand; instead, we encountered consistent disrespect, a shocking lack of understanding, and outright disregard for guest well-being. The only positive interaction was Cathy at check-in, whose room upgrade provided a brief glimpse of hope. From that moment, our stay spiraled into unacceptable encounters. At Humuhumunukunukuapua'a, the host gave a dismissive glare and outright refused to provide directions to the pool, pointing to a coworker instead. At the Grotto, Mike the bartender's rude and aggressive emphasis on closing time was appalling; he declared we had "1 minute to order," then pointed to his watch, stating, "actually we are closed right now." The most deeply upsetting and frankly disrespectful incident occurred at the pool. Lulu, the concierge, was immediately confrontational. Despite my clear attempts to simply obtain adult wristbands, she aggressively demanded names for my children. This was a profound failure of empathy and inclusivity. Navigating new environments is already challenging for my son with autism, and Lulu's behavior, coupled with a subsequent public confrontation by a pool manager demanding payment for wristbands, created an incredibly stressful and humiliating situation for my family. This wasn't about enforcing rules; it was about public shaming and a complete disregard for guest well-being. Another guest overheard our ordeal and confirmed he'd had a similar awful experience. Beyond the abysmal service, the resort's physical infrastructure proved problematic. An elevator door slammed into my daughter's head due to faulty sensors, and a rusted, difficult-to-use wheelchair was provided for our injured guest. The Grand Wailea, a Waldorf Astoria resort, utterly failed to deliver even basic "aloha." The level of service we endured here is not only beneath what we expect from a luxury brand but pales in comparison to the often outstanding hospitality we've received at Doubletrees and Hampton Inns. This entire experience has been a distressing and deeply disappointing reminder that even the most prestigious names can fall catastrophically short in fundamental guest care, especially when it matters most to families like ours. Considering the cumulative and distressing nature of these incidents, particularly the significant negative impact on our family's well-being and the lack of an inclusive environment, we trust management will consider what steps can be taken to appropriately address this substandard experience.

  Jun 08, 2025