Kamaole Sands — Hotel in Maui

Unit 7-410. ||My family (Two Adults, two girls 19 & 17) spent a beautiful week in Maui staying at Kamaole Sands. It’s a fantastic location within minutes walk to the beach and many other restaurants and shops. Easy access to the highway for day exploring too. Many families around enjoying the pool, and family style BBQ areas and just walking the pathways. Quiet at night and also during the day. ||We had no problem finding chairs at the pool, there is staff going around tidying up and keeping things in order all day. Bathroom facilities were your typical pool restrooms. The two separate family/adult only hot tubs were also a nice option. We really enjoyed the Wednesday hula dancing and live music. A very easy complex to get around, not too big! The pool is cool, but very refreshing. Lots of sun and also many shade options available. There is also a small kids wading pool in a shady area. There is a spot at the pool to rent beach toys, chairs etc.||7-410 condo is on the 4th floor in building 7 facing the gardens and with a very slight ocean view, easily accessible by the elevator and directly next to the stairs. Parking stall was included and very close to our room. The grounds are beautifully maintained and very clean. The views of the grounds and the mountains in the distance while sitting out on the lanai either early morning or later in the evening are just gorgeous. Watching the sky change at sunset and the stars come out was one of the best parts of the day. Minutes walk to the beach. Zero bugs, we barely saw even a mosquito the whole time we were there. The morning wake up call by the resident Mr. Rooster kept us laughing, but wasn't anything crazy! ||This particular condo is wonderful for a family of 4, or even 6 if people don’t mind sharing a bed! The upper loft bedroom with King bed and bathroom, lower level room with two double beds and bathroom. Beds were very comfortable, the AC was glorious to come into on a hot day, but the option to open the front door and screened lanai door to let the tropical breeze flow through was equally as nice. Lots of space to spread out and relax. Small lanai with a table and 4 chairs. We did read in previous reviews that the heat from the AC unit in the outdoor closet does make the lanai quite warm, but we just turned it off, opened the doors and let the breeze keep the place cool. ||The kitchen was fairly well equipped and had everything you would need for your stay. They do provide you with some basics of toilet paper, paper towel, laundry pods, bathroom towels, hand towels, face cloths, etc. There were 4 big beach towels and 4 beach chairs provided. No umbrella, no boogie boards, no cooler. As these units are rented privately, each one provides different things to their renters. These were the few things we wish we didn't have to purchase when we arrived. There were also cards, books, games available. 3 televisions and wifi was included. We would have liked to have double the beach towels and more beach items available for our stay. In suite laundry is fantastic. ||We walked to the beach across the road daily and there are many options for walks! A great beach walk along the shore with turtles just to the left towards Wailea. Easy access to some whale watching tours and crater snorkelling tours within walking distance.||10 mins down Kihei road are some great little cafes to pick up a coffee and some baked goods on the way back from our morning walk. We did have a rental car, but could easily get food close by. If you did want to drive there are tons of great restaurants very close by. We loved Threes Kitchen.||The BBQ areas were full nightly with families, strangers making new friends and just a wonderful atmosphere, it was nice to hear the laughter and chatter coming from there in the evenings. ||We would highly recommend this complex and really enjoyed our stay. It is obviously very well loved by the owners and everyone that stays there. We met many people that stay there long term, or keep coming back! We booked through Coldwell Banker Island Vacations and when we arrived there was a very nice basket with chips, chocolates and coffee waiting for us. Check in was simple at the front desk and the friendly staff provided us with some information and a discount coupon for the nearby Foodland. There are also tennis courts on the property with daily tennis lessons and pickle ball. We didn't take advantage of this, but there seems to be quite a few people that play regularly.||We booked through Coldwell Banker Island Vacations and when we arrived there was a very nice basket with chips, chocolates and coffee waiting for us. ||Overall a great stay and we would absolutely stay at this property again. My whole family agreed it's a solid 9/10. The only thing missing were the...

Summary (definitive review below) Location 5/5 Territory 5/5 Service 1/5 (I wish I could put 0) Cleanliness 1/5 Unit 3/5

Average 3/5

This complex is technically a ton of privately owned condos, that are managed by a set of companies (with primary one located on the property itself). Which is the main pros and cons of the place - some units are brand new, some are 20 years dated. Some have fancy furniture and efficient AC, some are just falling apart.

Our unit had fresh floors and cabinets, quality furniture, but AC unit was literally falling apart, and the noise from it was like sitting next to a jet engine. Cleaning (provided by Castle Resorts) was horrible, we had to clean the room on our own to get it an OK shape.

Few words regarding service (and the property management) - while everyone is super nice and friendly, they mostly pretend helping, not actually helping. While waiting on the lobby for ~15 minutes I've seen at least four other residents with complaints, like multiple issues with the room (that were not fixed within 5 days), room swap, double charges for booking and something else. Management team knows about the issues, but they are not trying to address those, they just room swap you until you are ok with what you get (picking the best from the worst). Cleaning team knocked our room at 8:30am (while checkout is 11am). When checking out - noone even bothered to ask me about my stay. They just charge apartment owners a service fee and don't care about guests. Period.

There is a huge ant problem in this place. Our unit had ants everywhere, and when trying to swap our unit I've visited 4 other units - all had the very same ant problem (ants running in kitchen/bathrooms in the freshly cleaned units). Same for the BBQ areas and pools. No pest control.

Kitchenware (like pans) were scratched (and not safe to cook with), so we had to buy a couple of our own.

Washer is a joke, as it's small and basically rinses not washes. Dryer was tiny as well.

Elevators were working fine. Reserved parking spot provided for each unit.

Rentals (beach gear, tennis gear, paddle boards) are rather overpriced.

Most of rooms have chairs, body boards, umbrellas and sand toys.

Safe in the room is 2$ per night and is a joke, it's a light box (that an average person can lift, put into a beach bag and leave). It's using tiny key, which I guess can be picked by a pro in less than 30 seconds. Basically, it's not giving you any sense of protection at all, and when you try to cancel the safe "service", they won't give your money back.

The location and territory of the complex were both amazing. One of the best beaches in the area (if not whole island).

Lots of lizards and birds, no mosquitos, just ants.

To summarize - perfect location with perfect beach in less than 5 minute walk time, just be prepared for mediocre service for a...

Just returned from another fantastic stay at Kamaole Sands. We enjoyed a lovely view of the ocean, fountains and gardens from the unit we rented in building 1. We’ve stayed in building 5 & 10 and those views have been great too! The unit we rented was clean, upgraded, had ac (without a timer) and was well cared for. We appreciated having a washer and dryer in our unit as well as a full kitchen to save on dining out every meal. There are nice BBQ’s for guests to use in the central courtyard. My favorite bonus of staying at Kamaole Sands is the free live music and hula on Wednesday afternoons. Hawaiian musician, Anthony Pfluke, is outstanding! Other property amenities include: pool, hot tub, tennis courts, pickleball courts, and gym. Parking is ample & free.||Each condo is privately owned, so furnishings & ac (or lack thereof) varies. Condos can be rented through a variety of property managers as well as Airbnb, VRBO, etc. Over the years we have used PMI Maui, VRBO & vacation-Maui.net and have been happy with each of our experiences! Family that we traveled with rented through Castle and had an unfortunate experiences with damaged appliances and a refrigerator that quit working (per staff, Castle knew the fridge was having problems and rented the unit anyway!) Having been in 5 different units over the years that Castle managed, I probably won’t ever book through them.||Overall, Kamaole Sands is a beautifully landscaped complex that is well taken care of & undergoing more upgrades! The tennis & pickleball courts have been resurfaced and new BBQs installed . Beautiful new security gates were being put in during our stay. ||Kamaole Sands is across the street from the Kamaole 3 park & beach, staffed by lifeguards. There’s a fantastic beach walk across the street along the coastline that leads south to Wailea. Restaurants are within walking distance, though a car is handy for staying in Kihei. ||TIPS FOR BOOKING: I prefer to select the individual unit we rent. Things I look for: view, location (I prefer the inner courtyard buildings 1,2,3,5,6, and 10, air conditioning in both the living area and bedroom(s) without timers (some owners install timers due to the high power cost), upgrades and reviews. I also look at cancellation policies. If a unit is listed on VRBO or Airbnb and shows a property manager, by booking directly through the property manager’s website often there...