hotels / rental properties for us and guests

lindsayscottc

Hey everyone.  New to the board, have read some of the threads and you guys really have some great advice.  I'm getting married at Olowalu on 12/1, and need to get moving on researching options for hotels/condos/houses for ourselves and our guests.  I'm thinking it might be easiest to arrange a block of rooms with a hotel for guests, and we were toying with the idea of renting a small house for the two of us (or encouraging one of our families to do it) so we have a place to host pre- and post-wedding day events.

Has anyone done either of these things?  Any thoughts/recommendations (we would be looking in the Lahaina or Kaanapali area I think)?  Thanks in advance!

dianalynm

Congrats on your engagement! I am also getting married at Olowalu in December! We have a room block at the Hyatt in Ka'anapali for our guests. Most of my FI's immediate family will be staying next door at the Marriott. We also booked a couple rooms for some family next to the golf course. I think renting a private house is a great idea, though! HTH and happy planning!

jessj336

All of our guests and us rented condos at the Honua Kai Resort. Most of us rented through VBRO and ended up with an agency called Chase n' Rainbows and we all ended up with a discount since we rented 5 or more condos

SunshinyLees

Like Diana, we also stayed at the Hyatt in Kanapali. I can't say enough amazing things about the property and the hotel management!! I probably called about 10 hotels in Maui and they were the best to work with, in fact they gave us a group rate without signing a minimum room contract. They also upgraded my DH and I to ocean front! About half our guests stayed with us at the Hyatt and the other half in condos at the Whaler.
Good luck!

sparklegirl84

We booked our maui condo through alohacondos.com (napili bay resort). Vrbo was another site we used for browsing too.

kimmykupcakes

We let our guests decided where they wanted to stay, but gave them suggestions. Most rented condos through VRBO.

kaesha

We're condo people rather than resort people (ha! not that the world can be divided up that way), as were the vast majority of our guests. I'm a big fan of the independence that comes with having a kitchen and laundry wherever I'm staying (FWIW, it's how I've travel overseas whenever possible). So, we had the immediate family all staying in one site (Kahana Village), and another big group of guests staying at a condo place about 5 minutes down the street from us (Polynesian Shores). Then there were a few people who opted to do their own thing. Honestly, it was great to be around everyone and it made hosting events really easy. Because there were 12 of us at our site, we were able to reserve the pavillion for hosting our Welcome BBQ and later for the Rehearsal Dinner too.

I like VRBO, but I think it's really, really important in the case of condos to make sure that there's a manager on site who can deal with problems if something goes wrong.

Tanq&Tonic

There are also the Westin Kaanapali Villas which have kitchens, fridges, washers/dryers and gas grills along the edge of the property for BBQs.  We really enjoyed our stay there -- a nice cross of condo and resort.  They also offered us a fantastic group discount rate for a block of rooms.

lindsayscottc

Thanks everyone - much appreciated!  

dianalynm

Like SunshinyLees, we didn't have to sign a contract with Hyatt for a minimum room block. They just set aside a number of rooms based on our expected guest count, and said whatever didn't get booked we wouldn't be charged for. I thought this was a great deal since we don't have to feel pressured to fill the rooms. Plus I am more of a condo person, so I would personally stay at a condo. But for a great rate, I'd stay at a resort!

TacoriLover

We're staying at the Houna Kai Resort as well.  It's a barely three year old condo resort with full size kitchen and laundry on the West side of Maui.  We went through VRBO and got a great deal!

kasero1977

We are a very small wedding of 8.  I am going to be staying at Puamana.   Not sure if you can click on these so you may have to copy and paste..I'm not computer savy!!!  We are staying for 2 weeks and I asked if I could get an extended stay discount and she took $100.00 per night off.  I was able to get it for $495.00 a night. Divide this by and 8 and it is very reasonable.  We are not hotel people either so washer/dryer and fully stocked kitchen were key for us.

This one shows the backyard finished with stairs and flowers.  The other two show it before she finished the backyard.
http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/52309.html

here is her VRBO site:  http://www.vrbo.com/71633

You Tube video. 
http://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.circlepix.com%2FSSKP8Y&session_token=SXOUNxEVYQ2nLFQB3NGujfrkqNt8MTMzNTExMzk4MEAxMzM1MDI3NTgw

It is a gated community and they are townhouses, so all 8 of us are able to stay in one place.  This is the place that I have rented for next Oct 2013.  They are privatley owned.  I wanted something that I could wake up and pretty much be in the water!! I have never been here, but the reviews say that it is a great gated community.  If you google Puamana Map it shows how it is set up. This unit is the very last one close to Puamana Beach.  Just thought I would share this with you. Best of luck with all your planning and Congratulations.

Casey