Original Message:
Re: Differences between new Marriott Lahaina tower and Original villas (by Gregory B.):
We just returned from a week at Maui Ocean Club during Thanksgiving week. We own 2-bedroom Mountain View in the original building. This is the first time we have visited the resort since construction of the new Lahaina Tower. Some observations ...
First the Good: The new health club facility is great - we love it. It is well used in the early morning hours when sometimes every machine is taken. The rest of the day you can have your pick of the equipment. The locker rooms have showers, sauna and steam room. Spa treatments (facials, massage) are available at normal resort prices ($100 per hour seemed average). Even with all the hotel rooms gone from the resort, there are still hotel services available. Valet parking, bellman service, on-site shops and restaurants are all still available. We are happy to see that.
Now the Bad: There is indeed an overcrowding problem at the central super-pool. With one more tower still to go, pool overcrowding will only get worse. That part is very disappointing. Pool-side lounge chairs get claimed at 7:00am with books and towels. Marriott has a posted sign saying that vacant lounge chairs will be reclaimed after 45 minutes, but there is no enforcement. So we started doing our own enforcement. If we saw a desirable lounge chair go unoccupied for a long time, we simply put the belongings in neat pile and took over the spot. It is unfortunate that we had to take this approach, but the problem is not of our making. Marriott does seem to do a good job of enforcing wrist bands to ensure that non-guests don't crash the pool.
The new Lahaina Tower is very nice indeed, but it has a distinctly different feel from the original building.
Biggest Positives: - Full size kitchen - Washer/dryer in the unit - Beautiful lawn area facing the ocean with palm trees and many lounge chairs - No overcrowding problem at the Lahaina Tower pool
Biggest Negatives: - Expensive (higher purchase price, higher annual maintenance fees) - Feels much more like an apartment complex, less like a resort - Tile floors in the living/dining area (cold/sterile) - Only 2 bathrooms with a 2-bedroom unit - Sleepy, feels detached from the rest of the resort (some may prefer this) - Smallish pool next to Lahaina Tower is under-utilized, boring (some may prefer this) - Towel service but no food service at the Lahaina Tower pool - Very imposing parking garage structure looms over the Lahaina Tower pool
It all boils down to personal taste as to whether the benefits of the Lahaina Tower justify the higher price you will pay. Overall, we still much prefer the hotel conversion units in the main building. We understand if others feel differently. We like the hotel services (valet parking, bellman service) and the resort feel of the main building. We like the feeling of being in the center of activity. We also really like having 3 bathrooms with our 2-bedroom unit. We don't use a kitchen much while on vacation, so the smallish kitchenette is fine for breakfasts and lunches. And using a communal laundry room enables us to do several loads at once to get it all done quickly.
Marriott was offering 100% trade-in value of our original purchase price if you upgrade to the new Lahaina/Napili towers. They were also offering 100% trade-in value of our original purchase price to upgrade your view category within the original building. They are also reselling some weeks in the original building from those who upgrade. Not sure how long the 100% trade-up promotion will last though. Given current elevated pricing, there seems to be plenty of profit for Marriott to offer these upgrade promotions.