Luana Kai — Attraction in Maui

Family of 4 (52,52,17 27) stayed in B308 for a week in July. Check in was very easy. Keyless (code) entry was very nice, not having to keep track of our room key all week was great! Plenty of free parking. Garbage and recycle available on-site. Grounds were impeccably maintained. A large variety of lush tropical foliage all over the property, with lit tiki torch lights at night. Nice pool/hot tub, plenty of seating and BBQ grills, full kitchen at the pool...microwave, oven etc.. Easy walk to the beach. Not really a swimmable beach (rocky and not very clear) but still beautiful for early morning walks and sunsets. One of many things we loved at Luana Kai was early mornings. It is so peaceful and serene. The birds sing the most beautiful songs as the sun comes up. It was truly a highlight of every day!||The condo itself was beautiful. Very clean, organized, updated and decorated beautifully. We paid for the AC all week and it performed great, kept the entire until cool at all times. We did keep the curtains pulled closed during the day to keep the sun from heating up the glass doors. We kept the units around 74. We had one incident where the unit in the boys bedroom started leaking onto the bed. We shut it off and called the office. Even tho they were closed they called us right back and brought spare linens for the bed. They said sometimes the unit does that, it wasn't broke. We ran it again and didn't have anymore issues ||Kitchen was FULLY stocked, we made several dinners and breakfasts and never needed for anything. Ice machine inside the fridge worked great. Washer and Dryer worked great. We did several loads of laundry while there, even supplied laundry pods. We did bring our own fabric softener sheets. ||The unit was stocked with multiple fans, luggage racks, spare blankets, beach Towels, beach chairs, umbrella, 2 coolers (we used them every day!), ice packs in the freezer (used them daily as well), trash bags, laundry pods, coffee filters (we brought ours from home), cooking spices, salt, pepper, Tupperware. Lots of thought went into supplying this unit. No elevators at this property. ||The decor was very tasteful and tropical themed. The various "catch all" trays placed throughout the until was a nice touch. Helped us keep track of our sunglasses, rental car key, money and jewelry . Not much counter space in the upstairs bathroom so they added a 3 tiered basket organizer that I got a lot of use out of. ||Beds were not great but comfortable enough. Nice linens, plenty of pillows. Extra power supply by the beds for charging devices was really useful. Plenty of hangers in the closets, plenty of drawer space. ||TV worked great with a huge cable channel offering. Night light in the hallway was nice to have in the evenings. There is a book near the TV for visitors to write in. Enjoyed reading thru that and of course we left an entry on our last day. We left the newest version of "Maui Revealed" behind for others to enjoy. We also left our sunscreen, bug spray and snorkel gear behind for others to enjoy. ||We enjoyed eating meals on the lanai, it was so peaceful and the pool/partial ocean view was breathtaking. A little hot with the AC blowing hot hair right on top of us but nothing you can do about that.||We truly enjoyed our stay at Luana Kai, it was so nice to come back to after a day of exploring the island. It felt lime home. We really have no complaints. The price was amazing for what we got, we will absolutely recommend this property to anyone who asks. Thank you Luana Kai for a magical...

Don't ever stay at this hotel, at any cost!!! I do not recommend to anyone to stay at this property. Dirty room, no A/C, ridiculously bad customer treatment. Read on for all the details.

I booked a stay through Chase Ultimate Rewards at Luana Kai for September 6-10, 2017 (4 nights) and paid $732. Upon afternoon arrival (just after 3pm office closing) I was handed off my keys and assigned room (D-303).

Upon entering the room, I noticed the reasonable homely amenities, the 4 fans blowing, and the lack of A/C (temperature outside was near 90F). Lack of A/C was odd because I'd have noticed something like this when I booked it. After a lot of research to verify I wasn't crazy, turned out Luana Kai property listings are misleading at best, and different at the different providers. From what I discovered, in some listings, they say A/C costs $25 extra. Mine at Chase said nothing of the sort, hence the negative surprise.

After the A/C fiasco, and a 12-hour flight, all I wanted was to drop off my bags and leave for a walk and dinner.

Upon coming back, I started to notice flying ants downstairs. I ignored the nuisance for a while, until it became apparent they bite and they are more than just one or two - room was infested with them. I checked the bedrooms, bathrooms, living room - they were everywhere - on wall, lamp shades, bedsheets, pillows, walls, everywhere.

I tried reaching out staff through a phone number written on a sheet in the envelope, only to reach voicemail. I tried calling Chase only to wait 2 hours for nothing (lines busy due to Hurricane Irma affecting Florida that week). Out of options, tired, pissed off and not wanting to spend a night in Hawaii in my car, I decided to book a hotel I knew it would be good - the Maui Coast in Kihei. I figured the price tag $810 was extremely reasonable given the circumstances and figured both the hotel and Chase would take care of the mess following day and I'll get a refund. Boy, was I wrong!!! I checked into Maui Coast, room was very clean, fresh, pleasant 69F inside and without a flying biting ant in sight.

Long story short, for weeks I had to deal on numerous occasions with extremely rude and unapologetic staff at Luana Kai (mostly Mario).

Not only did I not get a full refund, I was penalized (!!) for not giving them "an opportunity to address it." My logical explanation that I called but reached voicemail, and that if that room was clean and sanitary I woundn't have had to do anything or call anyone. I was penalized 2 out of the 4 nights. Mario said they owe me $0 but because they feel bad they offered me $257. $257 out of $732 is not even half, more like one third. I told him that to me to accept his $257 is equivalent to admitting I'm ok with the situation and its solution when I was not. All-in-all I spent at least 6 hours on the phone to listen to accusation how it is my fault I want full refund for unsanitary room without A/C. Disgusting!!

Comment if you have questions and I'll try to provide you with all details I have. I'm reporting this to the Maui department of health and considering legal options to get...

In July, my family and I rented 2 units: a 1/1 and a 2/2. Our daughter, SIL, and grandson stayed in the 1/1 in building C. They were on the ground floor and for them, they repeatedly said how happy they were with the condo and location. We stayed on the 2nd floor in Building B. ||Accommodation: The condo layout was very nice. Our son and DIL had the one bedroom with two twin beds, and my wife and I had the main bedroom that looked out over the common area, pool, and partial ocean view. The picture attached is from the lanai. One thing I liked about being in Building B was the afternoon sun was not shining on our lanai. I know that sounds weird, but in July, that is a welcome relief. Rooms were roomy, the king bed was comfortable and plenty of pillows for us side sleepers. The only drawback is the A/C system blows directly on you in bed. In order to alleviate some of that, we increased the temp setting at night. My wife is in a wheelchair, and we had adequate room to move around the condo and bedroom. ||As for amenities, there were beach chairs, towels, and even a couple of boogie boards. That is a huge savings for tourists traveling from far away who have packed to the gills luggage already. There was laundry detergent and those rinse beads. Also, previous tenants leaving spices, and other cooking condiments was also a welcome surprise. Too bad they didn't leave Kona coffee. Inside joke. Kona is pretty expensive coffee. ||Pool area and plenty of grills. I think I counted 5 or 6 grills, so there was never an issue of waiting on someone to finish with one grill. They also had an outdoor kitchen with cooktop, fridge, sink, etc. ||Drawbacks: The beach is not much of a beach. There is very little of it, so settling in your chairs and having people walk within feet of you is something you would have to expect. The walk over the lawn is long and given that it is so spongy, we were unable to roll my wife out to that beach in her chair. Knowing that is not the case with everyone, it would be nice to see a 3-4' wide walkway that takes folks from the pool down to the beach area. ||No elevators could be problematic for those needing assistance. We managed with my wife, but it was a challenge, for sure. I don't see them installing elevators, so you just have to understand what you are up against should you travel with someone with needs. Yes, we could have stayed on the first floor, but we agreed we wanted a better view and my wife was ever the trooper of managing those challenges. ||Lastly, the parking lot is challenging because the parking spots are more designed for compact cars. In fact, so many parking lots over there just don't like wide vehicles. With that said, be prepared to get cozy with cars next to you. ||Overall: Would I stay there again? Absolutely. The price was pretty fair, the location was excellent, and the condos were well...