Fairmont Kea Lani, Maui, Hawaii - Madeline Lu

Activities:

Watch sunrise or sunset at Haleakalā National Park - Reservation is required for sunrise!!!
Visit Iao Valley and Sunflower Field
Helicopter trip to Moloka'i Island with Maverick Helicopters

After three wonderful days in Hana, we continued our journey south-west to Wailea. Compared to Hana, the western part is more tourist-friendly. There are many hotels, restaurants as well as activity centers (diving, helicopter rides, whale watching, etc). For the rest of our stay on Maui, we stayed at the beautiful Fairmont Kea Lani. For those who have followed me for a while, you probably have seen our stay in Fairmont San Francisco. We are a huge fan of Fairmont hotels, not only because the location of the hotel is excellent, the rooms are so beautifully decorated, but also because of their friendly staff, delicious food and their attention to details in every aspect of services they provide. We have this impression that we don't need to worry about anything during our stay, everything is being taken care of. All we need to do is sit back and relax.

We booked our stay at Fairmont Kea Lani through Kiwi Collection, which is a curated website that recommends some of the world's hotels and resorts. Whenever I plan our holidays, I would first go to Kiwi Collection to check out the of hotels and resorts listed in my desired destination. I really trust their recommendations. That's how I found Fairmont Kea Lani on Maui. It really saved me a lot of time during my travel research.

There are five things we look like when we choose a hotel for us as a family:

1. Location: Fairmont Kea Lani is located in the Wailea area, right at the beach. It has a soft sand beach with an amazing ocean view. It is about 40 mins from the airport and close to many tourists attractions. About 5-7 mins drive, you can reach Big Beach (one of the best beaches on Maui!). Pretty much all the rooms at the hotel have an ocean view, which you can watch amazing sunset every day.

2. Service: I read tons of reviews on TripAdvisor as well as another rating websites before deciding on Fairmont Kea Lani. People raved about their customer services and guest experiences. And for us, it was exactly the same. Every staff was super friendly and helpful. They try to make us feel as welcomed and comfortable as possible. Super nice to the kids, too, which made them very happy --> happy parents!

3. Food: This is probably one of my favorite things about Fairmont Kea Lani. Their restaurants are just amazing! We dined in the Ko Restaurant on our first night and it was one of the best meals we ever had. Everything was locally soured and very fresh. The menu have a mix dishes with Hawaiian, Korean, Chinese and European influences. The dishes we tried were not only delicious and flavorful, but also very healthy (they have many vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options). The breakfasts were also excellent with tons of choices at the buffet bar. Our favorites were banana bread, waffles, pancakes, and fresh tropical fruits!!!

4. Activities for Adults and Kids: I like the fact that Fairmont Kea Lani has separated pool areas for kids and adults. So the kids can have a lot of fun at the pool without worrying about disturbing other guests. They also offer many fun cultural activities for the guests, such as flower necklace making, Easter Egg decoration, Easter Egg hunt, kayaking, board paddling and etc. Outside the hotels, there are so many fun activities you can do. Whale watching, helicopter ride, hiking, and etc. We did many day trips during our stay, such as watching sunset at the Haleakala national park, swimming at Big Beach, visit Iao Valley, and etc. I will do another blogpost about the activities you can do there.

5. Something extra: This is not really a deciding factor when it comes to choosing a hotel. But some little details like this make me really happy. For me, I just love the vanity set from all Fairmont hotels because they are from Le Labo. Le Labo is one of my favorite perfume producers and I love all their skincare products.

Below are some snaps from our stay and hope you like it.