Honua Kai Resort & Spa Reviews
130 Kai Malina Parkway, Lahaina, Maui, HI

93%
families recommend
438 family reviews



Absolutely LOVED this resort!!!!!
lagger - Nov 30th, 2011
This was our first time to Maui. We experienced Oahu on one visit. Everyone said to go to Maui for our second. I did lots and lots of online looking at reviews and kept coming to Honua Kai as a great kid friendly resort. It is not too far from the more +airport, and right off the water.

I ended up renting a unit from VRBO. The ownder seemed nice and trustworthy just through our e-mail exchanges.

When we arrived I met the island property manager, but at the wrong building! I didn't realize there were 2 HUGE buildings! After we drove to the correct building, he let us up to our room and showed us around and the amenities. My kids were age 3 1/2 and 7 1/2, both boys. As of yet, we are not able to have them share a room...too wild! So, my husband and I each take a kid to share a bed with us. Have to do anything for sleep! There were 2 very large bedrooms. One had the bathroom right in the bedroom, the other the same size bathroom was just off the bedroom and had an entrance to the main hotel room. This is a newer building and a new resort, so everything is in very good condition. The kitchen had amazing appliances. There was a dining table and a family room. There was a tv in each bedroom and one in the living room. All were turned on to the Hawaii channel with images/sounds of Hawaii....ahh.....

Then, there was the lanai. Sigh....It was so huge! There are these large glass doors off the family room and all of them are on a system to be pulled all the way open. There is the option to then pull a screen all the way across. I didn't notice any bugs, so we barely used it that way. Then there is another door off the kitchen and one off of the bedroom that is considered the master bedroom. Each morning the first thing I did was to open these amazing doors to let in the tropical air of Hawaii. The eating table on the lanai seated about 8. We tried to eat outside as much as we could. Some mornings there was drizzle rain, which gave us those amazing Hawaii rainbows.

When I researched the resort and all the other options in Maui, I really wanted to be right off the beach. I settled with a room with partial ocean view. The resort is right off of the beach. If you're down near the pool, you just walk off the grounds and up over a dune area and you're right there. I love the beach and loved to walk there. HOWEVER...the grounds to this resort is so amazing, we really forgot about the actual beach. There are about 10 black bottom pools each with different sizes, depths. It gave us the creativity to do something different each day down there. The owners of our room left some pool toys, so this helped the 3 year old with floating. There was one small pool that was 1 1/2 feet deep and had sand on the bottom, so he could just stand in there with no floaties. He did go under a couple times, but I was always there! He loved being independent. Everywhere near the pools you hear waterfalls from the pools. The lounge chairs are comfortable, never had a problem finding one. There's also tons of grassy areas. Duke's is right on the premises, so there are servers walking around with drink orders, or else you can just go to the bar and ask for your mai tai "to go" and they'll put it in a plastic cup knowing you're heading out to the pool.

There were 2 nights that we used the barbecues near the pool to cook our food and take up to the room. We had to wait one night, but there was always a tourist to chat with.

Onsite there is a little grocery store. Lots of food options. They have deli food for purchase that looked good, as well as desserts. I do have to say the coffee was not that great. I think it was the servers and not the actual coffee. I had high hopes for yummy Hawaiian coffee, but the people that worked there were a little off putting.

The restaurant Duke's is right behind the resort. When I booked I assumed that anyone could just drive up, but realized there that it's basically all from Honua Kai or else some neighboring resorts. We had one breakfast there. It was so beautiful, but lots of birds flying in the open air restaurant. When our meat dishes came, tons of bugs surrounded our food! The food was very good though! We had one of our last dinners at Duke's. We made a reservation as we wanted to be sitting for sunset. The drinks were great, the food was great, live band, amazing view!!!

There are timeshares at Honua Kai, but never saw them selling or pressuring anyone. Didn't have to deal with that.

We used the poolside rental company for my husband to book a scuba lesson, rented snorkeling gear, and bought sunscreen.

We used the hotel concierge desk to book us a catamaran cruise and our luau. Very helpful.

One thing I do want to point out is that when we travel with our kids, they vacation with us. I don't have any reviews of a drop off kid area because we do all our activities with us. I do know the place has one, never saw it. I saw kids all over the resort. I never felt like we were out of place with kids. We were so happy with Honua Kai. I usually like to try out new places to visit or new hotel. After going to Honua Kai, I could see why people buy a timeshare. It is such a wonderful place.

Date of Stay: 07/30/2011
Children in Party: 2


Kids (3-6)
Kids (7-9)
Accommodations
Dining
Kids Play Area
Money Value
Pool & Water Fun
Staff


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A Stay in Paradise - Maui's Ka'anapali Beach with a Toddler!
rfancher - Nov 6th, 2011
We (four adults; one toddler) traveled to Maui for our daughter's first Hawaiian experience. We had been to Maui once before, but chose the Honua Kai on the northern part of Kaanapali Beach as our stay this time for several reasons: 1) we wanted a more +2-bedroom condo to make things easier for meals, etc with our toddler, plus we were traveling with my parents; 2) the resort is only a few years old and I liked the idea of nearly brand-new facilities; 3) We wanted to stay in Kaanapali, but in a bit quieter location (north of black rock) than our earlier trip (just south of black rock).

We booked our room through VRBO and it was immaculate. A gorgeous 2-bedroom, 2-bath unit with a mountain view. Granite kitchen, gorgeous appliances, flat-screens in each bedroom and the living room, AC, living room ceiling fan and more. As we booked through an owner vs the resort, we were also able to find a room with a packnplay, booster seat, snorkles, sand chairs, coolers, sand toys and more, which allowed us to carry less on the plane.

As the hotel is still new-ish, the property, units, lobby, etc are all gorgeous. The grounds have several pools with fish and at night, the tiki torches lend a nice touch.

Our daughter wasn't old enough to participate in the hotel program for kids, but the indoor room looked like an indoor play gym and had she been older, we would have spent time there. But it's Maui, so there are a million amazing outdoor activities to keep kids and adults busy.

The Honua Kai consists of two towers (we stayed in the Konea) and between the two, there are several pools, which meant none were overwhelmingly busy. We spent a great deal of time in the 1/2 foot pool, just splashing around. Later, we found the kids sand-bottom pool that is just a couple of feet deep and is right next to a splash pad. There is also a lazy river and a slide, as well as other regular pools. The property also has a ton of open grassy space for running, playing soccer, etc. And it's set back nicely from the boardwalk, so people aren't walking right by you as you lay by the pool (which is often the case at the resorts south of Black Rock).

Duke's is the restaurant on site and, while expensive, is a nice restaurant. We stuck to happy hour and lunch specials to keep within our budget. There is also a nice (but expensive) upscale grocery store in the larger tower, where they have a coffee bar, deli items and some grocery items. It's just as easy to cross the street to the grocery store there (regular store) to purchase your items. But the on-site location is nice for a latte, as the grocery store just has regular coffee.

The beach off the hotel is okay and for us (a toddler who didn't want to go in the ocean), it was perfect. We played in the sand in the shade of the palm trees. There is some snorkeling there, but it's pretty rocky so a better bet to drive 4 miles north to Kapalua Bay. Gorgeous beach, snorkeling, boogie boarding, etc. We even saw turtles!

At the hotel, there are a couple of places to rent boogie boards, snorkling items and pool toys, but we didn't use that amenity so I can't review.

I would definitely go back to the Honua Kai. Great location (about 10 minutes from Lahaina), gorgeous property, fun pools - what more do you need? I would also say great for all ages, as we say everyone from little babies to toddlers to teens. There is also a playground a short drive (or longer walk) just north of the hotel at a park across from the farmer's market (Mon-Wed-Fri).

A side note - if you want a spa, it isn't ready yet (although it's in the hotel's name). I don't know the ETA, but I didn't see one anywhere.

We traveled in late October/early November and had gorgeous weather. It did rain a few times, but would then turn to warm sunshine (mid 80s).

Enjoy!

Date of Stay: 10/28/2011
Children in Party: 1


Tots (0-2)
Kids (3-6)
Kids (7-9)
Tweens (10-12)
Tweens (13+)
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Fun and Sun at Easter in Maui
kerrydraper - Apr 29th, 2011
We stayed at the Honau Kai Resort from 4/18/11 through 4/27/11. My family consisted of myself, my DH, my mom and my daugther age 6-1/2. We stayed in a 2 bedroom unit on the 5th floor.

The resort is amazing in terms of the grounds more +and pools. The pools were all only 4 feet deep at most yet they were perfect for my daughter. She went swimming every day as well as met new friends along her travels. The accomodations were spacious and very new. The lanai was beautiful and large. The kids club was nice however not many children seemed to participate in the programs. I'm not sure why. My daugther wanted to attend the kids club regularly and seemed to have fun just playing on her own. We would definitely return to this resort when in Maui!

Date of Stay: 04/18/2011
Children in Party: 1


Kids (3-6)
Accommodations
Dining
Kids Play Area
Money Value
Pool & Water Fun
Staff


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