remodeling of units in original building

We just returned from a week at Maui Ocean Club during Thanksgiving week. We stayed in the Molokai wing. Our unit had recently been given a face-lift with new paint, carpet, drapes, bedding, and sofas. Hard goods (desks, tables, chairs, dressers) were unchanged.

Only the Molokai wing units are slated for remodeling now because they are the oldest original units. Remodeling of the Lanai and Maui wing units will follow much later.

I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome. The new decorating is tasteful and contemporary with just enough island flavor. The new Marriott luxury beds are especially nice. The sofa beds continue to be uncomfortable for anyone except children to sleep on.

A sales representative told me that the Marriott corporate offices dictate all decisions about decorating based on what they consider to be current design trends and what kind of deals they can get on furnishings.

I was worried because Marriott seemed to go with really cheap furnishings when they remodeled the Kauai Beach Club units in Lihue. Fortunately Maui Ocean Club was spared that fate.

We stayed in the Molokai Tower during Halloween week and the living room sofa was backed by a tastefully designed Murphy bed with a great mattress on it. The new beds were a delight. The new paint scheme seemed very intense. Much less desirable than the soft "tropical fruit" colors originally used. Now looks more like a Brazillian fiesta. But that did not deter from the always wonderful experience of being there!

judym118 wrote:

We stayed in the Molokai Tower during Halloween week and the living room sofa was backed by a tastefully designed Murphy bed with a great mattress on it. The new beds were a delight.

Wow - Murphy bed! Our unit definitely did not have that. The sofa/Murphy bed arrangement sounds just like what Marriott has done at the Kauai Beach Club property. We were staying in a 2-bedroom unit in the Molokai wing. Was yours a 1-bedroom unit? I wonder if only the 1-bedroom units are getting the Murphy beds.

judym118 wrote:

The new paint scheme seemed very intense. Much less desirable than the soft "tropical fruit" colors originally used. Now looks more like a Brazilian fiesta.

I agree that the new paint scheme may be too intense for some folks. Mustard yellow with fuchsia accents (prepare yourselves folks). For us it was not disagreeable however. The new carpet style is a is big improvement in my opinion, and the new drapes seemed tasteful.

Ours was the 9th floor, poolside, 2 bedrom Ocean Front , Molokai Tower. The carpet was lovely - a significant improvement - with nice drapes coordinated. Also, the MBR had a nice chaise lounge replacing the previous chair.

judym118 wrote:

Ours was the 9th floor, poolside, 2 bedrom Ocean Front , Molokai Tower. The carpet was lovely - a significant improvement - with nice drapes coordinated. Also, the MBR had a nice chaise lounge replacing the previous chair.

It would be nice to learn why your unit had the sofa/Murphy bed combo but ours did not. During renovations, I would assume that Marriott would equip all the units similarly, but apparently this is not the case with the Murphy beds.

From reading the Kauai Beach Club discussion forum, it appears that these Murphy beds are not cheap. Those owners paid a special assessment on top of their annual maintenance fees in order to have the Murphy bed upgrade. It is curious that we have seen no mention of the Murphy beds in communications from the Maui Ocean Club. Or did I miss something?

why on earth would Kauai pay a special assessment to get Murphy beds. We already pay our Maintenance fees to do exactly that......maintain and UPGRADE every 5 years. I still hope we could get convection microwaves in the units so that we could at least cook a pizza. That way we are not limited to microwaveable foods. The frigs could also be put at the side and bigger. The lack of real freezer even prevents buying ice cream for later in the day!! That would be work the money.

My maintenance fees for Maui showed no special assessment...which would certainly seem inappropriate to me, also. It is strange that all units wouldn't have received the same upgrade furnishings. Good question to ask.

I communicated with the General Manager at the Maui Ocean Club regarding the Murphy beds. Pending final decisions by the board, it sounds like we can expect to see Murphy beds in all remodelled units, but not until 2010. And it also appears they have already increased yearly maintenance fees enough to cover the cost without a special assessment.

Here is his response:

"We currently have four rooms that we are experimenting with the Murphy Beds. We have received favorable comments in regards to them. The Board has seen them at their last meeting and they have asked us to look at the cost and to see if there is a model that isn't as deep as the samples we have. We will be reporting out our findings at the spring meeting of the board and our goal is to incorporate them into the 2010 renovation schedule. Since this was not included in previous reserves, they increased the amount in this year's maintenance fees to ensure the funds were available."

Interesting discovery! While the murphy bed was deep, it held an extra deep and extremely comfortable mattress. The design did not seem too deep for the room, especially with the clever couch design that doubled as support for it when open. The quality looked very upscale and tasteful...much better than the hot paint colors of the room! Thanks for the informative research.

Interesting response Judy M as my brother just stayed in the same unit this Christmas and we were all surprised to see an ugly dark wood Murphy bed unit sticking out into the room with a sofa in front of it that the unit folds into. A new side table with new lamp was beside it but the overall scene is to take up space with the dark wood units. I stayed in the unit last year when it received a new hideabed to replace the broken one and it was wonderful. The murphy bed is comfortable but if anything is to take up space in the new units how about a small frig with a working FREEZER section. The Mustard/Fuschia colour scheme is UGLY, I too liked the more muted tropical colours previously used. If hideabeds are not being used why the increase since you are replacing them with a murphy bed.....reason we pay maintenance fees are to include replacements every 5 years????

Hi April- The frig w/a decent freezer is a great idea. Guess I liked the comfort of the murphy bed more than the hide-a-bed. Hadn't stayed in this unit w/new hide-a-bed, only the old one. I was trying to be nice about the colors but I wouldn't personally choose them in a million years. The old pictures had beautiful gardeny scenes and the new ones are 50s looking botanical fruit things - also pretty distasteful. i'm hoping you realize that I'm an owner and not the GM or anyone who selected the revised decor. I'd guess the increase for murphy beds would have to do w/upgrade more than just replacement. Sounds like the board responded similarily to you in wanting something less imposing in the room. In spite of all these thoughts, we had another wonderful week in paradise!!

Thanks gblotter for finding out about the murphy beds! Only 4 units as of now, right? I think they sound wonderful instead of the old crik in the back hideabeds. April, you were lucky you had a new hideabed which would probably feel much better! I like all the room the original building has but always felt there weren't enough regular beds (2 kings + 2 terrible hideabeds). The big plus factor is 3 bathrooms (new Lahaina bldg. 2 bedroom only has 2 bathrooms). I'm glad to hear about the murphy beds - yeah! Good idea April for the frig & micro/convection upgrade too! All of these upgrades would be awesome for the original bldg.

Some folks fuss about the TVs, we rarely turn the thing on but for those interested, the sales guy last week told us Marriott has just bought an initial 53,000 flat screen TVs !

We looked at an updated unit in the Molokai wing, 7th floor overlooking the pool area. It was really nice and bright - don't remember what type of TV it had !

paul1616 wrote:

Some folks fuss about the TVs, we rarely turn the thing on but for those interested, the sales guy last week told us Marriott has just bought an initial 53,000 flat screen TVs !

We looked at an updated unit in the Molokai wing, 7th floor overlooking the pool area. It was really nice and bright - don't remember what type of TV it had !

Was the unit you looked at a 2-bedroom? Just wondering if it was one of the updated ones with a murphy bed instead of the sofa sleeper. How was the construction noise while you were there - the Molokai bldg. is a good one I suppose if you're on the pool side of it or oceanfront.

peggyq2 wrote:

paul1616 wrote:

Some folks fuss about the TVs, we rarely turn the thing on but for those interested, the sales guy last week told us Marriott has just bought an initial 53,000 flat screen TVs !

We looked at an updated unit in the Molokai wing, 7th floor overlooking the pool area. It was really nice and bright - don't remember what type of TV it had !

Was the unit you looked at a 2-bedroom? Just wondering if it was one of the updated ones with a murphy bed instead of the sofa sleeper. How was the construction noise while you were there - the Molokai bldg. is a good one I suppose if you're on the pool side of it or oceanfront.

No, it was 1br; never noticed construction noise unless waiting for valet parked car.

Noticed several people talk about the Murphy beds. Just wanted to re-iterate that the Murphy bed was very dark coloured wood, and took up a substantial area of the living room. The new hideaabed we had in the same unit the year before was not only a comfortable bed but a soft green. I don't see the value to taking up living room space with a dark, chunky piece of furniture. Hope everyone continues to comment and ask for convection-microwaves and larger refrigerators with freezers that actually work. Small apartment sized would fit right beside the heat and air intakes.