Really? This hotel gets the top Conde Nast readers award for hotels in Hawaii? Either the hotel stacked the dec, or the readers were hypnotized by the beauty of Hana.
Let me start by saying this hotel is probably at one of the most idyllic spots in the country. Hana is a
gorgeous location, and the Hotel Hana Maui's Sea Cottages have to be one of the most beautiful places to situate a hotel. However, a great location does not a great hotel make, and on many other elements the hotel falls far short of expectations.
We live on the island of Maui and travel extensively, so our perspective is both steeled by understanding the island culture and shaded by experiencing many of the great hotels around the world. If we start with the rooms (this is just a perspective on the Sea Cottage rooms), their location is picturesque, however, the rooms are a bit threadbare. The fabric on the sofa and the chairs is stained and extremely well worn (not at all what one would expect at a four or five star resort). The room is nicely appointed, but definitely dated and in need of renovation. We understand the hotel is under new ownership, and the new owner has been refurbishing some of the cottages. The ocean is hard on wood and metal, and indeed there were rotting floor boards on our Lanai (making standing out on the Lanai somewhat perilous), windows with rotted frames and shutters, and a refrigerator with shelves that the salt sir had rusted to scrap status (again, living on the island we understand this, but it can be combatted). These are only a handful of observations regarding the fatigued condition of these cottages, and comes with the side bar that our bellman told us our cottage had been in the group that had been refurbished-he can't be serious. The only noted improvement (and believe me, we were looking) was the partial replacement of the steps leading up to our cottage, with a more durable wood replacement product. Not exactly our idea of a facelift or refurbishment-this seems more like a repair.
The pool is pretty, and the policy change to the ranch cottages being an adult's only area (except for limited times of the year) is great (despite the fact that we saw people at the adults only pool with babies). The pool area however is populated by aged teak lounge chairs (several broken) with filthy cushions (again not what you would expect at a five, four or even three star resort). The small private hot tub located on the lanai of some cottage units is wonderful, and emptied and cleaned between guests; thank you . . .
Since there is little to do in Hana except enjoy the location and local sight-seeing, the hotel has an activity center staffed with knowledgable long-time Hana residents. They are a delight to talk with, and can teach island crafts such as Lei making or Ukelele playing, and offer other activities such as a nature walk. There is also a "library" stocked with games, but alas, many of these reside in broken down boxes and having missing pieces, used up score cards etc. It is not such a long journey to the island Walmart or Kmart, that would prevent these from being replaced from time to time, and at a minimal monetary investment.
Now let's talk about the restaurant - horrible, horrible, horrible! When the hotel was taken over by the current owner they decided they did not want to run the food side of the business, and contracted all of the food service at the hotel with Longhi's - a long term island restaurant firm. Unfortunately, Longhi's is known by most on the island for overpriced, poor quality, unimaginative food and lack-luster service - basically a tourist trap (look up the reviews for either their Lahaina or Wailea restaurants). In Hana, they have taken it to a new low. Their are basically two "real restaurants" in Hana, one at the hotel, and one at the ranch across the street. Both are run by Longhi's and are equally sub-par and overpriced. They also have a bar/lounge at the hotel called Paniolo Lounge (that serves exactly the same sub-par uninspired menu). Don't expect many choices - every day they offer the same five or six entree's (and only one fish item - on an island in the Pacific where fish is plentiful).
Let me start with our breakfast on the first day. We paid extra for their breakfast package, and if you are going - pass. The first thing the waiter told us was what was not included with our package. One of these items was French Press coffee, but we ordered a pot anyway ($15). The first French Press was delivered to our table cool-and this is where the lack luster service piece comes in-the manager took the pot away and we thought she was going to have the coffee remade. Ten minutes later the waiter appeared and said "the manager told me there was an issue with the coffee." We explained it was cold and would like another (something we wrongly assumed the manager was handling). Ten minutes later our waiter arrived with another pot. This time the plunger had not worked, and the strong Hawaiian coffee we were hoping for was basically brown water. One would think if French Press was offered on the menu, someone on the staff would understand how it is prepared-not so. My wife ordered soft-boiled eggs, and two eggs were delivered in their shell, in a bowl (they claim on the menu they were "Maui-Fresh eggs" - they were not, they were mainland eggs stamped by a mainland producer...don't lie on the menu). However, the eggs were hard-boiled, and when we told the waiter he responded "All I do is put in the order, I don't make them." We asked that they be remade offering the suggestion that five minutes should be all that is required to prepare them properly. Our waiter returned with two more eggs - hard boiled eggs. We gave up on soft-boiled eggs from that point forward (but this gave new meaning in our mind to a chef that cannot boil an egg).
On the second day I ordered the island pancakes (sans banana's - as they told my wife - "we are out of bananas"). We could not understand how a hotel in Hana could be out of bananas. Literally there are probably 25 banana trees on the property, and another dozen at every turn of the twisty road to the hotel. They also had two lugs hanging in the lobby for anyone (including the chef) to enjoy. Apparently no one on the staff, chef and manager included, thought there might be banana nearby in Hana, including their own lobby! My pancakes were delivered with batter still on the inside and the french toast my wife ordered arrived cool and only partially cooked; raw egg still evident,m as well as bacon that was cold (not cool). At this point I sought out the manager and complained to him. He had our food remade, but it came without a hint of an apology and he never checked on us - just bad service. On the third (and final) day when we ordered our breakfast we explained to our waitress exactly what we wanted (we made it simple; eggs over easy and toast), and that we wanted her to ensure that everything was hot - she did, and our final breakfast was good. What became clear to us was they had no food runners or method of informing the staff that an order was ready to be delivered. While this explains why all of our meals (and we do mean ALL, as our dinners were delivered cool or cold as well) it does not explain all of the other lapses from ill-prepared food, to poor service, especially from management. One of our evening meals was spent in the Paniolo Lounge where the bartender provided drink service to both restaurants (the lounge and the main restaurant) but also handled food service within the lounge. While it was quite obvious she was working her tail off, what she could not be was attentive. How could she be with having to handle so much on her own. We very much understood her predicament and made no complaints or demands of her other than placing and delivering our drinks and food. What was really unfortunate though was when she brought our check she said "I could have provided you better service had I not been so busy!". Too bad she felt she needed to say this and more to the point, where was her help? Oh, we know, it was the manager (different than we had seen before) who popped up to ask "how's everything?" but was literally turing away from us as we responded "fine"-clearly just going through the motions. W have been at many busy or understaffed restaurants where the manager is doing ANYTHING to ensure good service is carried out, from cleaning and setting up tables to taking orders, making drinks and running food. Apparently this manager did not think any of those things were important.
Our experience at the ranch restaurant across the street was similar. We had one good lunch there, but returned on another day for drinks. We ordered their homemade lemon and limeade (delicious) with two shots of vodka. We received two badly watered drinks, and when I went to talk to the bartender, he menacingly said "are you questioning my pours?." When I said I was, he said, I don't know where you drink, but said he would add another shot if we paid for it. If you are counting, this would seem like we each had three shots of Vodka, which we did not. Fifty dollars later we left, each having one drink and feeling abused for the privilege of having a drink at the ranch restaurant.
We would return to the hotel again, only because it is definitely one of the most beautiful places on earth and the ability to relax and do nothing is hard to top. However, we will not return until we hear that Longhi's has been replaced with a chef that at the very least knows how to boil an egg and service at these restaurants is vastly improved. A side note that the hotel staff is employed by the Hotel Travaasa itself (unlike the food and beverage staff who are employed by Longhi"s) and were very friendly and attentive.
Room Tip: Ask for a refurbished one - or don't go.
See more room tips
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
