Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea

I've travelled all over the world staying at top resorts and this is still my favorite spot. Still paradise after all these years. I was here for my honeymoon in 1997 then again in 1999 and it's even better than ever. It was outdated for a while but now much better. The rooms look beautiful. Love the new sushi bar in the lobby, adult pool with swim up bar and lots of complimentary cabanas above the ocean and lower pools-nice touch. The service and staff were as always top notch-love how they call you by name everywhere.-nice touch. The food at the adult pool and Ferraro's was fantastic. Breakfast buffet was just ok. I had AX Platinum so got to check in early and check out late which was appreciated. Loved the keycard wristbands so never had to search for key. Only negative was the gym which was so hot I had to cut my workout short at 8:30 am. The old gym on the ground floor was the best in the world so I know its being renovated and this gym is temporary but not good-has to be a better option. Hopefully it will be done by end of June.

They filmed the first season of The White Lotus here. I knew that going in — figured it'd be a fun little flex, something to drop at dinner. What I did NOT expect was the resort committing to the bit. Because if you've seen the show, the whole premise is beautiful people having a quietly catastrophic time at a stunning resort where management is somehow always the actual problem. Reader: I lived it. On my birthday. The theme song should've been playing the whole time. Let's start there, since this was a birthday trip — the one occasion a year you'd assume a Four Seasons, the brand whose entire religion is "you should never have to ask," would just silently handle the details. Instead: check-in was extremely late. Fine, okay, I'm not going to torch the place over a slow front desk on its own. But THEN they put us in a room overlooking an active construction site. And the construction clocked in at 7am. Every. Single. Morning. Nothing says "happy birthday, valued guest" quite like a complimentary jackhammer alarm clock you didn't order and cannot snooze. I keep picturing whoever runs the room map looking at the one assignment that comes with a live demolition zone outside the window and going, "yeah — the birthday guy, give him that one." And before anyone tells me I'm being dramatic: they already KNEW. They knew about the noise. I know they knew because they apologized for it afterward, in writing, unprompted. So this wasn't a surprise to anyone except the guy paying Four Seasons rates specifically so he wouldn't have to be surprised. Now the gym, which deserves its own paragraph and arguably its own incident report. It is so hot in there it is borderline unusable. Not "a touch warm." Not "they forgot to crank the AC." Genuinely-cannot-train, shirt-stuck-to-your-back hot. And I want to be precise about how damning this is, because it's kind of my thing: I have used Four Seasons gyms all over the world, and this one is — hand on heart — the WORST I have ever set foot in. Dead last. Bottom of a very long list. How a property operating at this altitude lets a core amenity rot to that point and then just… shrugs at it, I will genuinely never understand. Here's my actual problem with the whole thing. The staff were great. Disarmingly great. Warm, switched-on, the kind of people who make you feel like a jerk for being annoyed because you can tell THEY would've fixed every bit of this in a heartbeat if anyone above them had let them. (I'd poach half of them on the spot.) But the people stop being the product the moment management keeps whiffing the basics — where you put a guest, the noise you already apologized for in advance, an amenity that flat-out does not work. That's the front-of-house doing five-star work to cover for a back-of-house that didn't bother to show up. And let me say something directly to my own people — the Lifetime Titaniums, the Ambassadors, anyone who lives and dies by their Marriott number and was eyeing this place as a points-be-damned splurge. Four Seasons doesn't even HAVE a loyalty program. No status to flash, no rewards line, no recognition, nothing — and that's fine, that's their whole model, you're paying for the name. But here's the stat that should stop you cold: I also stayed at the Ritz-Carlton up the coast on this same island, and that property had an actual, literal, lights-out POWER OUTAGE during my stay… and it was still a better experience than this place was on a normal day with the power fully on. Read that again. Four Seasons Wailea lost — to a Ritz in the middle of a blackout. So if you're a Marriott person debating whether to go off-brand for the splurge: don't. You're better off staying at the Ritz on this island, and that's me saying it after I gave the Ritz one star too. At normal-hotel money this is a bad week. At Four Seasons money, on a birthday, in the literal White Lotus hotel, it's not a miss — it's a choice somebody made. Several somebodies. The cast was lovely. The writing was tragic. One star, and I mean it with the full White Lotus theme playing behind me.

The bed and pillows are the stuff dreams are made of. I NEVER rest on vacation, but could have stayed in this bed all day. The rooms are huge. Loved the wrist-band keys. The pool attendants who make up the chairs are a lovely touch, and the set up was super comfortable. The pool servers were amazing. We had Shayne as a server 2 days in a row, and it was an absolute pleasure. His food recommendations and attention were top notch. Casey also made our pool days an absolute joy, and handled our large group with ease. Both remembered us and greeted us by name. Housekeeping was also great. Loved being able to indicate when we were out for the day so that our room could be serviced. Somehow there were never housekeepers or housekeeping carts present in the hallways - yet everything was always clean! That said, it would have been nice if there had been some extra small touch to make turn down service feel a little more special. (We’ve stayed at resorts where they offer a personalized selection of aromatherapy at night, the sound machine turned to a station of choice, etc.) The massage was quite possibly the best of my life. However, the spa is under construction. The massage itself was in a hotel room, as was the changing room and lounge. I changed in one of those pop up closets you see backstage. And I heard clangs and bangs throughout my massage. So while the massage therapist herself was amazing, it wasn’t quite the luxury spa experience I was envisioning, and I wouldn’t recommend until the construction is complete. The hotel food was all tasty and, while prices were high, as anticipated, serving sizes were not skimpy, which we appreciate. Standouts were the meatballs at Ferraro, and both the spicy ahi tuna nachos and the hummus plate poolside. The building itself appears a little dated on the outside, and honestly the rooms feel luxurious yet slightly … vanilla. But all in all - I didn’t want to leave.

In the middle of an eight day stay here. I haven’t been here in 25 years! It feels the same; it is still the same amazing Four Seasons, Maui. My sister and brother-in-law are also staying here, however, even longer. We booked club-level for this stay, which I can’t recommend enough. The morning, afternoon and evening offerings, in addition to the standard, “all the time” offerings, coupled with the absolute next level A-Team staff is worth every extra penny. The food is fantastic, and even my incredibly food-picky spouse was blown away. Special mentioned to all of the club-floor staff members, however JiJi stole our heart, she is a gem. Special mention also to Kathy, who assisted with this reservation prior to us arriving; she is amazing. Also special mentioned to Bellman Ricky, he is incredibly personable and friendly. We had a couple of very strange issues at arrival, I won’t get into detail, and it wasn’t a game changer. But my only other complaint was actually related to that because a couple days later I went down to the front desk, specifically asking to speak with the Rooms Division Manager or the Front Office Manager, (and I was very specific about that) and instead of honoring that request or explaining that one of those folks was not available, they sent a hotel assistant manager out to speak with me. And then, there was no follow-up. This resort is very special, the only issue is once you stay here, there may be no other resort in the world that will meet the overall experience this one offers!

Without a doubt among a handful of hotels worldwide we have stayed at. Absolutely exceptional service from the minute we pulled up at the hotel. The restaurants are fantastic. We thought we would venture out and eat outside of the hotel but could resist how good the food was. One night, we simply ate and had cocktails in the hotel lobby! The rooms are spacious and the bathroom was enormous and well appointed. And although the spa and gym are under construction, the temporary gym is fantastic (we did not use the spa). There was even someone who walked around the pool and cleaned my sunglasses! THAT is outstanding service. A truly memorable 4 nights/days.