Sensei Lanai, A Four Seasons Resort — Hotel in Lānaʻi

My wife and I just spent 4 nights at Sensei Lanai in the Hawaiian Islands. We had a wonderful stay overall and would certainly return to this property in the future. When we travel we always try our best to seek out quiet, secluded destinations in interesting natural settings and this island and property certainly hit the mark. We made sure to include a balance of activities and relaxation and also made sure that we spent plenty of time on and near the water while being to retreat to the peace and quiet of Sensei up in the mountains. Lanai itself really is special with just the two Four Seasons resorts, one small town with a few shops and restaurants, a cat sanctuary, and otherwise just secluded beaches and untouched areas of lush vegetation and red dirt. For the best of both worlds in the future we would consider doing a split stay between the beach resort and Sensei, however given that we only had 4 nights in total on the island, we maximized our time by staying at Sensei, but doing multiple dinners at the beach resort, going out on a boat for the snorkel cruise, and exploring the island on our own in one of the jeeps to visit some of the more secluded beaches. While the beach resort is nice, we did value the peace and quiet as well as the lush gardens and pool that Sensei had to offer. We were very happy with our choice of coming to Lanai because we were looking for a combination of activities and relaxation and Sensei had exactly what we needed for this particular trip. ||Check in/Arrival|Arriving to Lanai was a seamless process. After landing at HNL and exiting the terminal we were quickly greeted by a Lanai Air representative. From there we grabbed our bags and were transported privately in an SUV to the Lanai Air hangar which was just 5 minutes from the main airport. The Lanai Air lounge was great to relax in for about 30 minutes, they had snacks, drinks, and plenty of seating. The weather during our flight on our way to Lanai was unfortunately a bit cloudy which limited our visibility from above, but once we got closer to landing we were able to have some excellent views of the island from the air. ||Once the plane landed, we gathered our bags and we were immediately greeted by a representative from Four Seasons. We boarded a shared shuttle that took about 15 minutes from the airport. Upon arriving at Sensei we were checked in and given a tour of the grounds and oriented ourselves to where everything was located, namely the pool, the spa hales, onsen garden, exercise pavilion, restaurant, and bar. The main lobby area is quite impressive with tons of paintings and sculptures, high ceilings, and plenty of sitting areas with two fireplaces to sit around as well.||Room|We were booked into a standard king room (#322) that was solid, Four Seasons standard in many aspects, but nothing spectacular. Room was decorated with light tones had a king bed with comfortable Four Seasons bedding that I’ve found at every other North American Four Season I’ve stayed at. The room had a big TV, mini bar area, desk area (oddly with no garbage can next to it, the only one was in the bathroom), and a bathroom with oddly enough just one sink, although there was a Toto toilet which was a plus. The room was comfortable enough, but certainly not the reason you’d visit this resort. We were on the ground floor of a 2 story building of which there was another identical on the other side. There are no standalone units on this property to my knowledge. ||Service|For the most part, we were happy with the service at Sensei. Staff at breakfast, the pool, the Lanai Adventure Park, and on the shuttles all tried their best to deliver friendly and genuine service. They fulfilled every request we might have had with one small exception regarding the timing of a shuttle pickup. We asked to be picked up a bit earlier while dining at Lanai City Grill (approximately 1 mile from Sensei) and they offered us the shared shuttle which was coming about 40 minutes from when we made the request to get picked up. We decided to just walk back to Sensei, but my wife was wearing shoes with a wedge heel which have her some difficulty. When we mentioned this to the staff they quickly rectified the issue and offered us more than sufficient service recovery immediately. This went a long way for us and made us feel that they really wanted to get things right.||The Four Seasons app was extremely easy to use and responses were very prompt on the app. We made fairly simple requests like changing our shuttle time, ordering in room dining, checking on availability of activities, etc. All of our requests were answered and fulfilled within a timely manner. We had no issues overall with the service, but also wouldn’t say that anything the staff did was memorable, over the top, anticipatory, or even overly personal. The friendly Hawaiian spirit was seen through local staff, some of which had lived on the island for their entire lives. Memorable staff members who did a particularly good job looking after us were Kimi, Jarien, and Hazel in their respective opportunities they had to help us at varying points during our stay.||Activities|Sensei itself is extremely quiet and relaxing which was a huge plus for us, but other than getting a spa treatment and relaxing in the onsens or at the pool there’s very little to do on the property, so the activities are an essential part of this property. We picked 1 activity to do on the 3 full days we were there and spent the rest of the day either working out or just relaxing by the pool or in the onsens.||We chose to do: zip lines, rent a jeep and drive ourselves around the island, and the snorkel cruise. The zip lines were pretty tame and short so I wouldn’t really recommend those, especially for the price they charge, but we might try the climbing activities they have available. There’s an extremely impressive ropes course/climbing structure that would be interesting to do. The jeep rental and the snorkel cruise were both highlights of our stay. When we rented the jeep we drove to Shipwreck Beach which is on the west side of the island. It’s a quiet beach which had just 1 or 2 groups of people on it when we made our way there. There is an old ship which I believe was from WW2 if I read correctly and there were amazing views of Molokai and Maui from here. We spent some time swimming in the clear water and just enjoying the solitude on this side of the island. We were warned to avoid this side of the island in the afternoon because there can be intense trade winds. We then drove back east and passed through Lanai City and made our way to the cat sanctuary which was a fun way to spend an hour checking out all of the cats they’ve rescued and learned that maintaining this sanctuary protects the local bird population because the street cats would eradicate them otherwise. We regrettably did not have time to make our way to Garden of the Gods and some of the other secluded beaches, but we coveted a good amount of ground for a couple of hours of having the jeep rental. Lastly, we enjoyed the snorkel crew a lot. Martin was a great host on the boat that took us and a couple of groups out to a secluded location to snorkel. This outing departed from the harbor next to the beach resort where the Lanai-Maui Ferry can also be caught. The visibility of the ocean was excellent and the snorkeling was very good (the only other place we’ve done a similar snorkeling outing was at Azura Benguerra in Mozambique which had absolutely excellent snorkeling), but that being said there more than enough colorful fish to enjoy getting to view and enjoy and hour or two in the way. I also was able to spot an eel which was a highlight. On our way back we got views of humpback whales, as well as a massive pod of spinner dolphins that we got a great view of with them coming extremely close to the boat.||Dining|At Sensei there is one restaurant, Sensei by Nobu that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On the property you can also get food at the bar for all 3 meals. At the beach resort there is Nobu Lanai and Malibu Farm (which becomes One Forty for dinner). In town there is the Lanai City Bar and Grill. Aside from a few smaller options in town, to my knowledge, these are all of the dining options on the island. We tried all of them over the course of our 4 night stay.||After arriving in the late afternoon we had our first dinner at Sensei by Nobu which was offering a Valentine’s Day dinner special omakase menu which we declined in favor for the a la carte menu. We started off with the gem salad and the hamachi Crudo which were both solid dishes, while I ordered my own bowl of miso soup. We got the tofu preparation of the sukiyaki which was a new dish for us, but we enjoyed it. For entrees we had the rack of lamb and the Thai yellow curry served with seafood. Overall, we were happy with the food served at Sensei, but definitely not blown away. Our second dinner took place at the Lanai Bar and Grill in Lanai City. It’s a part of a small hotel in town called Hotel Lanai. We loved going here for a change of pace, as the atmosphere was a bit more lively than at Sensei with live music being played. The dishes that stood out for us were the Parker rolls, Sensei farms salad, the axis deer (found on Lanai) ragu, and the seared ahi tuna with bok choy. Our third dinner was at One Forty. This is the Malibu Farm restaurant during the day, but at night it converts into One Forty. Our favorite dishes from this meal were the goat cheese salad and the mahi mahi served with rice and mashed potatoes. This was probably the dinner that we cared for the least. Our fourth and final dinner on this trip took place at Nobu Lanai at the beach resort. This meal was excellent stand out dishes were the rock shrimp tempura, the new preparation of both salmon and whitefish (local to Hawaii), the short rib, and the mango shaved ice with coconut sorbet. We loved this meal.||We had lunches either at the pool or bar at Sensei. We tried the salmon burger, regular burger, chicken wrap, chicken sandwich, shrimp tacos, ahi tun sticks, chips, salsa, and guacamole, among other dishes. Overall, the lunches served at Sensei were a weak point for us.||The dishes we tried for breakfast were mostly excellent. We tried the French omelette, Lanai breakfast, mushroom and feta toast, avocado toast, blueberry pancakes, coconut yogurt bowl, açaí bowl, banana bread, chocolate croissant, monkey bread, as well as a couple of the smoothies and juices. We ate 3 of our breakfasts outside at Sensei by Nobu and 1 of them in our room via in room dining.||Overall the dining experience at Sensei and on Lanai was solid. The food is certainly not outstanding and leaves something to be desired, not nonetheless overall we enjoyed it. There are really only 4 main dining options on the entire island, although you can get food at the bar at Sensei as well as at The Break down at the beach resort, so the dining could definitely become repetitive after 4-5 nights.||Location/Facilities|The thought of going to Hawaii and not staying on the beach was a little confusing at first, but once you step foot on Sensei’s property and understand that you can take advantage of the hourly shuttles that run between the beach resort to Sensei all day long, then the appeal becomes much stronger. Sensei is situated 20 minutes up from the Manele beach resort, just above the one town on the island, Lanai City. Lanai City was a cute town that had a small gift shop, art gallery, movie theater, amongst a few other small shops. We drove around the town to check out the high school and a few other aspects of the daily life on Lanai.||Getting to stay in the lush gardens up in the mountains was a privilege, but also having access to the beach resort and the water in general was the perfect combination. The gardens that make up Sensei’s property include plants imported from literally all around the world (Mexico, Philippines, Polynesia, Brazil, etc.) and make up the most fascinating, lush gardens. There are also sculptures are over the property that are fascinating to look at including the tree huggers, but highlighted by Talaia which is the massive head sculpture that is at the top of the resort property. The property also features a large lake, excellent pool with 3 hot tubs, and a spacious exercise pavilion with all the equipment one would need to get a great workout in (plenty of woodway treadmills too). One of the other highlights of the property for us was the onsen gardens. These are private hot tubs that are available on a first come first serve basis set amongst thick lush gardens towards the back of the property. They are available 24/7 and each one is completely private from the others so that even if others are using a separate hot tub, you will feel completely alone. Lastly, we received a couples massage in our own private spa hale which was a truly special experience. The massages were lovely and afternoon treatment we had 30 minutes (which we could have extended but elected not to) to enjoy the amenities in the hale which included a hot tub, cold tub, steam room, and sauna. Getting a treatment and spending time in one of the hales is a “must do” experience when staying at Sensei.||Overall|We had a great trip to Lanai and we are happy that we chose to stay at Sensei. The balance of spending time up in the mountains with being able to take the complimentary shuttle to the Manele beach resort made this the perfect trip for us. If we are to return and have more time on the island, we would consider a split stay, although I am not completely convinced that we would enjoy the beach resort as much as we enjoyed our...

My wife and I recently spent five nights and six days at the Sensei Lanai. If you are seeking a non-touristy, more authentic Hawaiian visit with maximum peace, quiet, and privacy -- Sensei Lanai is for you. I only have really gripe about the trip which I will detail below.||Travel to Lanai is a bit involved, especially if you do not have direct flights to Honolulu -- Austin no longer does. When you land in Honolulu, you are greeted at baggage claim by a gentleman who takes your luggage to a luxury SUV where a driver meets you and takes you to the Lanai Air hanger nearby. This is all included in your room rate and was a seamless transaction. It was first class service. Then, you take a roughly 20-min flight on a Pilatus PC-12 to Lanai. Sit on the left side on the way there for views of Waikiki, Diamondhead, and later Maui (and maybe Molokai). The resort then picks you up from the airport and transports you the 15min to the hotel; we had a private Tesla SUV with a friendly locally raised driver.||My only gripe regarding the entire trip came next. The greeting at the hotel was very nice with leis given to myself and my wife and a welcome drink (kombucha). Our luggage was taken up to our room. But, I had tried for weeks beforehand unsuccessfully to hammer out all the details for our activities and spa treatments for our five day visit. Our dinners and most activities were set, but I still didn't feel that the spa treatments had been properly nailed down. I had done all this via email with the Sensei Experiences staff. On other vacations at Rosewoods, St. Regis, One & Only, etc., I have typically had rather responsive concierge services that quickly set up meals and activities with minimal back and forth. For this trip, I felt there were often delays of several days before I would hear back and for the spa treatments, we had a lot of back and forth due to duration of treatment or gender of therapist not being readily available. Anyway, we had to spend nearly an hour after arriving setting all of this up and moving around some other meals and activities. Our Experiences concierge was friendly and knowledgeable, but I just wish all of this had been taken care of ahead of time so you can arrive and immediately enjoy the resort. Due to the time difference between Texas and Hawaii and the fact that they use staff both locally and on the West Coast to manage these reservations, attempting to communicate with and arrange these activities beforehand felt a bit clumsy and cumbersome. It was really my only complaint of the trip.||We had a Deluxe Room. I think it's a tad bigger and maybe on an upper floor. I thought this was afford a better view, but the resort is so densely vegetated that it didn't really matter. The extra space was nice, but I think the base room would be perfect, too. The room decor was classic Four Seasons. Classy and modern, but fairly nondescript. I would have loved some more local Hawaiian charm. The photos online accurately represent the rooms, but they don't feel very Hawaiian to me. Our bed was very comfortable, and we slept well. The Japanese toilet was amazing and appreciated. The bath goods were great. I could have done with a nicer shower head, and it seemed like we only had hot water. The rooms were kept very clean and housekeeping did a great job, although I wish they were able to time their visits a bit better when we were away for activities, etc. There were times we got back to the room and were surprised no one had visited in the interim. The TV has all sorts of streaming apps and we enjoyed watching a few shows in the evenings when we chose to relax in the room.||The grounds of the hotel are phenomenal and 10 out of 10. The landscaping is lush and beautiful. You will take lots of photos, but none of them do it justice. There are 1000's of plants and countless trails through the immaculate landscaping. There are impressive trees, flowers, and modern art throughout the grounds. It is the type of place you could never leave and be happy. In addition, there is an enormous pool which blends perfectly into the landscape. The neatest part about the pool is that there are several places around it where you can sit on lounge chairs that are on very private little platforms basically in the jungle landscape. You have a view of the pool, but do not really see your neighbors. It's very private. Also, even when in the pool, you are never typically closer than 100' to another visitor. The service staff at the pool set you up in loungers with towels and seat covers. They were very friendly and generally responsive. There is a little bit of an "island time" sensibility compared to some other resorts, but I was fine with that. ||In addition, the grounds have yoga studio, a gym (very nice gym, but mostly machines, dumbbells, and cardio machines -- difficult to do any barbell work, but this is typical for hotels), a collection of onsens (natural hot tubs), and spa hales (smaller buildings for your spa treatments). We visited the onsens one night and they are very nice and do not seem to be used that often by guests. Again, privacy at a premium. We also visited a hale during our spa visit. They are very nice and include a full bath, a steam shower, an infrared sauna, a soaking tub, a seating area, tables for your treatments, an outdoor rain shower, an outdoor hot tub, and an outdoor cold plunge. You receive 20-30min in the hale after your massages, which is a bit rushed. You can reserve more I believe for roughly $220/hr/person. We originally planned to get a second massage and add some "hale time," but later cancelled it. The massages and hale time were both very nice, albeit very expensive. A massage for two will basically cost the same as a room for the night.||We ate breakfast every day at Sensei by Nobu and had 2-3 dinners there. The food was fantastic. We ate at the traditional Nobu at the beach resort one night and greatly preferred the Sensei location. Again, even when there were other guests, you are spaced out so nicely and the general ambiance is silence and privacy. You are always relaxed at Sensei. Our dinner at the beach resort was much louder and felt more like a traditional restaurant. We were anxious to get back to Sensei afterwards. We also ate once at the Garden Bar, which is basically the bar restaurant and is a similar to what's offered poolside and in-room. This food was fine, but we didn't like it nearly as much as the nicer Sensei restaurant.||For activities, we did horseback riding, a full-day Jeep rental, hiked the Koiliki Ridge, and went and spent a morning at the beach by the beach resort. We also went into town a few times for lunches.||Horseback riding was OK and mostly for my wife. It was a fairly slow trail ride. The scenery outside the resort can be unremarkable at times, but there was a great payoff at the highest point where we had a beautful view of Maui. There were also some interesting pine groves we went through during the ride. If you are pinched for time, I would skip it. If you have a longer trip, go for it.||The hike was very nice. We are big hikers. I would say it's a moderate hike and requires some base fitness level and familiarity with hiking. There are some decent inclines and declines and your HR will get up a bit. It's mostly shaded and the viewpoint at the very end was amazing. It was just under 2 hours for us, but I would budget 2.5 for most people. You can also do this with a guide.||The jeep rental was my favorite activity. You can also do a guided Jeep tour. I don't know how long that is or where they take you, but I wanted the flexibility to go wherever I wanted and to move along at my own pace. It allowed us to basically see the whole island. We basically took all of the allowed and recommended roadways on the island. Each of these little excursions takes 2-3 hours each because the roads can get rather rough and require you to drive slowly and deliberately. If you can only take one of these journeys, I would do the Kaunolu Fishing Village. You need to have some comfort driving a Jeep on a very rough, rocky road with some steep climbs and descents. The view as you descend is gorgeous and the sites down at the end are fabulous. There is also a little historical hike you can take. We finished that trip with a quick stop at the Lanai Cat Sanctuary which is a neat, quirky cat refuge with over 700 cats. My second recommendation would be going down to Shipwreck Beach. If you're short on time or uncomfortable driving rough roads, this should probably be your first and maybe only excursion. Almost the entire road down is paved and the road along the coast is fairly flat and straightforward. We also went down to Keomuku where you can see some historical sites from an old village and sugar plantation. Further down, there is a pretty little beach at Lopa that we had all to ourselves. It's nice, but it's a looong drive to get down there. I wouldn't say it was worth the drive necessarily, unless you're just committed to seeing the whole island like we were. The last excursion we took was to the Garden of the Gods, which was neat, and then we started driving down to Polihua Beach. This was our first excursion of the three, and we were still a little unsure with the Jeep's capabilities, etc. We got about halfway down to the beach to find another Jeep turning around. This made us a bit nervous, and the driver had a different map that prohibited driving all the way down to the beach. We ended up turning around, too. I later found out that they had rented their Jeep from a private owner who didn't want his clients driving down there. I don't think it was any harder than the drive we later did to the Fishing Village. I wish we could have gone back and done it again. Based on photos, the beach at the end is one of the better beaches on the island (although I'm not sure how safe it is to swim), and you likely have it to yourself. ||In town, we ate a lunch at Ganotisi's (recommended by most locals). We loved their iced tea and the Korean Chicken was pretty good (although it's pretty heavy). We also ate twice at the gas station deli. Their italian sandwich is one of the best I've had. It was nice to take a break from eating at the hotel and support some local businesses. We also stopped briefly in the Lanai Heritage Center which was pretty cool, free, and informative.||Our last day, we went down to the other Four Seasons at the beach. We got chairs and spent a few hours down there. The waves are pretty intense. It was a beautiful setting, and we finally gained enough courage to fight past the shorebreak and swim a bit. The water felt great, but you have to be pretty focused and engaged the whole time you're swimming. The waves are no joke! Food and service at the beach was fantastic. There is a free hourly shuttle running between the hotels, which we used. ||I would wholeheartedly recommend Sensei Lanai to anyone looking for a wellness vacation where you are prioritizing peace, quiet, calm, privacy, and relaxation. Every day spent there honestly felt like two full days, and we did not want to leave even after almost a whole week there. I hope you have found this...

I research before trips to a fault. My wife and I were looking to prioritize rest and regeneration, which drew us to Lanai. I almost went crazy trying to choose between the beach resort and Sensei. We were SO glad we chose Sensei. It was simply next level and the shuttles made getting to the beach convenient (if you get motion sick, it is a windy road.) Also, I saw some folks complaining about not having pool access at the beach FS. Why would you go down there for the pool? When you a.) have a 10/10 pool at Sensei and b.) have an amazing beach to go to where they set up your chair and umbrella for you?

The Rooms: Updated and clean! Starting the days watching the sunrise over the grounds with breakfast on the patio and coffee was our favorite. The ONLY negative was if you have a heavy footed neighbor you will hear it, which surprised me. They have very comfy slippers which helped us feel considerate we were not being too loud.

The Service: Everyone was so nice and helpful from front desk, shuttle drivers, concierge to spa therapists. The app and booking things was however clunky. More of a system issue than a service issue. You will have an initial phone call leading up to the trip. I felt really good after the phone call and when they sent me the itinerary (via email) it was about 50% correct, almost as if we did not have the phone call. The communication via email, then phone call then app then paper itineraries became a bit confusing. I recommend going all in on one form of communication. As a guest, just go off of the paper itineraries that are hand delivered to your room each night. The app was often incorrect, especially if you made a change.

The Spa: Unbelievable! I had no idea that it was not a traditional spa. You get the entire “Hale,” which is one of the 12 or so huts on site that contain a steam, sauna, cold plunge (cool plunge really), hot tub and outdoor shower. It was second to none, I recommend booking extra “Hale time” after the massage to enjoy the amenities. The 30 included minutes is really not enough. Only feedback here is figure out a better billing system for the spa services. We booked the guided Sensei package, so ours were included, but at the end of our services there was a bill each time. There was no notation or anything stating the rate was included, it was good to know how much the services are for gratuity, but there needs to be better billing communication when you have an included package. Each service ended up with me at the front desk and they did not seem so sure either. A small inconvenience but not how you want to end your spa time.

The Food: Breakfast menu was a bit limited in room, there were some more options at Nobu and the bar. Lunch at Nobu was a bit fancy for us, we enjoyed the bar more-so for this. Heads up, the tacos are laughably small but that was our only shock, the rest were good portions. Dinner was great, but I would only recommend eating on site for 2 nights, 3 nights max as the menu is not large and there is no sushi unless you get lucky enough for the sushi chef to be there and willing to make it (we never were able to get any, thought this was odd). LANAI CITY BAR & GRILL WAS AMAZING! And the shuttle makes a stop there every hour. You could eat every meal there and you would be completely satisfied.

Tips: Take at least a day, maybe two just to enjoy the grounds and the pool. Rent a jeep and drive down to shipwreck beach or one of the other two they recommend. If it is season, go on the whale watching trip. The Beach FS is very persnickety about snorkeling, they close at like 4 and if there are dolphins in the bay, they will not give you gear. Go down early if you want to snorkel, the rocky area to the left has some amazing snorkeling. Lastly, there are several hot tubs at the end of the Sensei property that are all private and up in the forest, do not miss out on these!

We are not your traditional “Wellness Retreat” types, but my wife and I both truly enjoyed our 1:1s. We don’t say this often about resorts but we...