The hotel property is very nice, but not very well planned. If you stay in an ocean front view room in building 6 or farther, plan on a ~15 minute walk to get to the lobby, restaurants, pool. The buildings on the property are not connected by one consistent floor. From the 5th floor on building 6, you have to take the elevator down to the 3rd floor, walk through the breezeway connecting to the next building, take an elevator up to the 8th floor, walk down a long hallway, take another elevator to the 1st or 2nd floor, then walk through another long hallway and breezeway, just to get to the lobby area. It's really ridiculous and should have been planned better. The view from building 6 is great if you want an ocean front view. If you book an ocean front room, be sure to not be placed in building 4......those rooms seem more like pool view than ocean front, though you can see a bit of the ocean beyond the pool area. Also, I did see a mouse in the hallway when returning to my building one night. The luau held on the property is very nice, better than expected and worth seeing. The concierge desk stayed pretty busy, so prepare to wait a bit. The spa was closed for renovations, so I went down the street to the spa at the Westin, which I highly recommend! The Westin looks really nice, maybe consider staying there. The Sheraton was OK, but there are other hotels along the same street, and if I were returning to the area, I'd try a different hotel.

From the time we arrived in our room at the Sheraton Maui Resort, we felt like we were in paradise. The staff was wonderful, making us feel very special. The blue water was breathtaking. We could not imagine a more magnificent setting and plan to return as soon as we possibly can. We can't stop talking about our dream vacation!

First, let me say that the Sheraton Maui is a beautiful resort,...very clean and well maintained, the staff was friendly and polite, our room was immaculate and the beds were some of the most comfortable of any we have ever slept in. The grounds are gorgeous, the pool is beautiful, and the ocean view is breathtaking. My wife and I booked a garden view room to keep costs down, but like many who have posted reviews we were upgraded to a deluxe ocean front room in Building 6. What a surprise! So what if the room had two double beds rather than the king size!? (One sometimes has to make sacrifices!) Our room was quite, clean, not at all noisy, sunsets were fantastic, and our back patio walked right out onto the lawn overlooking the cliffs. Our thanks to the staff and management for the upgraded room and for running a dynamite operation!

Now for the downside. This may be a great option for many people depending on your budget and priorities. I've been to Maui several times before, and we selected the Sheraton this time partially to "scope it out" for a future family trip which will include Mom, who doesn't deal well with walking long distances. We were hoping for a resort where the walking from the room to the restaurants to the beach would be fairly minimal. Granted our room was as far from the action as you can get, but even the closest room would be too much of a trek for her compared to other resorts.

As to the resort food, we had one dinner at one of the beachfront grills and breakfast one morning. Quite good, but unreasonably expensive, so we ate off-property most of the time at much better prices and comparable or better quality.

The beach: very, very crowded, wall-to-wall people in and out of the water and you really have to be careful not to get hit by all the kids diving off the rocks. Black Rock has the reputation as one of the better snorkeling beaches on Maui and this was my second major reason for selecting the Sheraton. Was very disappointed. Polo Beach down south of Kihei, and Kapalua Bay near Napili are far superior. The reef was small compared to other locations, made smaller by the huge number of people. We did see several Spotted Eagle Rays up close and in-person, however, which was a first for us and really cool. As to the beach itself, it is far less crowded and much nicer on the north side of Black Rock (and a much closer walk from our room than the hotel's main beach). Wide, sandy entry, great for just swimming in the afternoons when the winds and surf are up and the water too cloudy for good snorkeling, and you can easily swim around Black Rock to the hotel's beach if you want.

Just a minor gripe, but it would be nice if the hotel had a guest laundry room. It's a bit ridiculous to pay $3.50 per item to have the hotel launder a t-shirt or pair of panties. Sure, you can do it yourself in the bathtub if you don't mind waiting two days for stuff to dry in the humidity!

Again this was a beautiful, great resort which will probably appeal to most people, but it was just not what I had intended. I do want to pass on a few kudos and tips:

1. Mauiscape Helicopters. Do the circle-island tour if you can swing it. The flight was absolutely awesome! If you can, ask for Thomas as your pilot...he's supposedly the only German pilot on Maui, and my wife loved his accent! Great pilot too, and funny! Mauiscape and Thomas get high marks and two big thumbs up!!!

2. Snorkel Bob's. Great place, the best gear, and renting gear for a week is the cheapest and best form of entertainment you can find. Besides the snorkel gear, we got a deal on two beach chairs, an umbrella, and an ice chest for only $30 for the week! Quite a bargain when you consider that most resorts charge you $10 per day to use their beach chairs. I highly recommend Snorkel Bob's. (Bob, I want some free stuff next time in return for the plug...)

3. Costco. Just 2 blocks from the airport in Kahului. Stock up on bottled water, wine, beer, etc before heading to the resort areas. And as many others have said, the best prices for gifts, macadamia nuts, etc. are here, at ABC Stores, and Long's.

4. Restaurants. Bubba Gumps delivers consistent quality and quantity at reasonable prices, as always, plus it's a fun place to go. We also give high marks to the Lahaina Fish Company and Cheeseburger in Paradise for great food, great atmosphere and reasonable prices.

All in all a great trip but we probably won't stay at the Sheriton again due to no fault of their's.

Aloha

My family and my brother's family just completed a week long stay at the Sheraton Maui Resort. Overall, it was excellent and we had a great time. I am a half full rather than half empty person and roll with the punches but even so, we like to stay in nice places and this was definitely a nice place. The rooms were fine, the grounds and pool were great, the snorkeling was excellent, the people were nice and competent. There were a few minor issues, like there was some construction going on in a neighboring building, a gift basket didn't get delivered on time, a local flipped me off for waiting a minute for a parking space (which happens anywhere in our country) but what the hey, we were on vacation in a beautiful place. Why spend your time whining about little things when you are in paradise ;-) I have no hesitancy wanting to go back and strongly recommend the resort. We ate one meal there, it was ok, nothing to write home about, as we preferred to eat elsewhere. The only thing I would probably do is not go there during a peak period, just because I heard it can be crowded then.