Looking for Aulani feedback vs. other HI resorts

[Kwaschitz]

My DH has to travel out of the country for a month. Because he'll be losing *so* many hours on the return (we live on the east coast, he will be in the south pacific) and will be gone over both his 40th birthday and our 16th wedding anniversary, he just turned to me and said "What if you and T [our 10yo] meet me in Hawaii?"

He has a TON of Marriott points "thanks" to all his work travel (it could be much worse, but it's still not pleasant to be apart so often). So how does Aulani stack up with say Marriott Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa or Marriott Ko Olina Beach Club? All 3 are options if we choose to do this.

Other possibilities would be to fly into LAX and spend some time in LA/Disneyland *or* San Francisco (SF could also be a 1-2 day stop on the way home from Hawaii b/c the airline that he had enough miles to have one ticket free has a layover there on the way to our home airport).

 

[AulaniNutz]

Think about Marriott in Maui.. Then spend four nights in Aulani. Though I could easily spend eight nights at Aulani as when I'm on vacation I just want to relax and read books.

Alumni rocks compared to what I've experienced in Hawaii. Though on Kauai I do like the Hyatt. I like to just relax, with some sightseeing.

 

[Dean]

My thoughts would depend on how long you'd be there and whether you've been before. I'll answer assuming you haven't been and will be no more than a week given the specific question. If you don't plan on a car or aren't comfortable driving in large city traffic, I'd do the Waikiki Beach Marriott. Otherwise, I'd likely do the Ko Olina timeshare in a 1 BR, esp if you have a bunch of points. I wouldn't do Maui for the first trip as the only item.

 

[JoeA]

OP - I am a "Marriott guy" myself and know a little about this; in fact, we stayed at both the Marriott Waikiki and Aulani this past June. But let me first say...ditto about the Marriott on Maui! Wonderful hotel.

It's really hard to compare the Marriott Waikiki and Aulani - they both have a much different vibe. You have to figure Waikiki is very crowded whereas Aulani is very relaxed and has the lazy river and much better pool bars. We traveled with a large party (adult kids and boyfriends, mom and MiL) and stayed 2 nights at Waikiki so everyone could see the area but then transferred for 7 days at Aulani so we could really get into the Hawaiian vacation swing!

Here is a quick summary: Marriot Waikiki is staying at a crowded hotel and Aulani is staying at a resort.

 

[frank808]

Have stayed at both marriott koolina and aulani. I would book a couple of days at aulani for the son to enjoy and for you to enjoy disney. Then book the rest of the time at marriott koolina next door.
Aulani is wonderful and well done. The only problem i have is that it is very crowded compared to marriott next door. The theme and decor at aulani is second to none and it is my second favorite ts on oahu.
Marriott koolina is a less crowded resort. Yes the pool area at aulani is better but you donot have so many people trying to look for a seat on a lounger and such. Also you donot get that "disney" vibe but the workers are all friendly and very helpful at marriott koolina.
If you like the big city vibe and into dining out and shopping you would want to stay in waikiki. If you want to relax and unwind with more limited selection of restaurants then koolina would be more your cup of tea.

 

[JCerniglow]

With all do respect to Frank, we did the same thing and I really did not like Marriott Ko Olina. Children there were an unsupervised nightmare. running around the pool knocking old people over. Pool service for food and drink was spotty at best. We booked and paid for ocean view. We looked at a building. When I complained I was told that it was ocean view because before they built the restaurant, you could see water. Hawaii deeded as an ocean front so, we got the honor of paying a premium to look at the roof of a building. aulani is the winner heads and tails.

 

[Dean]

With all do respect to Frank, we did the same thing and I really did not like Marriott Ko Olina. Children there were an unsupervised nightmare. running around the pool knocking old people over. Pool service for food and drink was spotty at best. We booked and paid for ocean view. We looked at a building. When I complained I was told that it was ocean view because before they built the restaurant, you could see water. Hawaii deeded as an ocean front so, we got the honor of paying a premium to look at the roof of a building. aulani is the winner heads and tails.

The two resorts have a different feel but in general I agree with Frank. I've stayed at Ko Olina and been on property at Aulani plus extensive timeshare experience with both DVC and Marriott. In this case essentially free Ko Olina vs using DVC points is a no brainer between the 2. Any investigation of Ko Olina, or timeshares in general, would reveal that one needs to have reasonable expectations on view, the same is true of Aulani and DVC in general as well. There have been many reports to that effect for Ko Olina over the years and a look at the resort layout should suggest one have reasonable expectations on view type. Marriott will almost always assign the view type reserved, rarely will they upgrade (that's another discussion altogether). For Ko Olina they have 2 views only, OV and Mountain View plus the penthouses for each view. Marriott assigns villas by priority. The order is Owner staying in owned villa (Multiple weeks higher priority than single for all categories), cash guests, Marriott exchangers and non Marriott exchangers but within the view type reserved. The other component is that Marriott's view types are Ocean Front, Ocean Side, Ocean View, Garden/Island/Mountain view. Some will also move Marriott owners above cash even if not staying in an owned villa. So within this hierarchy Ko Olina has the lower 2 only which should unto itself set expectations as not too high. Plus a significant portion of the guests there there are owners or at least Marriott owners.

The reality is that there have been the same complaints about Aulani that you had for Ko Olina, rowdy kids and less than ideal views compared to expectations. There was just a recent thread on that very subject for Aulani for someone who received points back for this issue though I'm not sure they should have.

 

[southerngirl528]

I own at DVC & own a few weeks at the Marriott Maui Ocean Club. I have been to Aulani 4 times and have spent almost 4 months total at the Maui Ocean Club. I have not stayed at the Ko'Olina Marriott. JMHO, but though I know the Marriott Ko'Olina is a very nice resort, I think Aulani brings a lot more "Hawaii" to the vacation table, so to speak. Again, not sure how long you and your child would be staying, but I think a few nights at Aulani if you can swing it and several days on Maui would be a delicious taste of Hawaii. If you want to just use those Marriott points, I don't think you would be disappointed staying at any of the Hawaii Marriotts.

There was just a recent thread on that very subject for Aulani for someone who received points back for this issue though I'm not sure they should have.

There must a LOT more to that story. I've been a member virtually since the beginning of DVC, and one can point to almost any Disney hotel and one could have a lot of pool noise depending on where their room was located. I worked MS for a few years and can never recall someone getting points back for such a reason.

 

[Dean]

There must a LOT more to that story. I've been a member virtually since the beginning of DVC, and one can point to almost any Disney hotel and one could have a lot of pool noise depending on where their room was located. I worked MS for a few years and can never recall someone getting points back for such a reason.

Here's a link to the first post on the subject in a recent thread, you can judge for yourself. http://www.disboards.com/threads/polynesian-dvc-disappointment.3462653/page-6#post-54770022

 

[southerngirl528]

Hey Dean, first Merry Christmas! And thanks for the link. I did take a look at it. It appears one point per night was refunded because of view complaints, not pool noise? Unless I missed something. Also, in reading the person's post that got that 1 pt/night refund, they booked a mountain view but got a glimpse of the ocean too? Even though they apparently could see the parking garage too, it actually sounds to me like they got a pretty good view if they only paid for mountain view but got some sort of small or peekaboo ocean view too. If they were in the Waianae Tower facing north, those views are pretty awesome even if they could see the parking garage to some extent.

I'll never forget (wish I had the link) a review on the Marriott Maui Ocean Club on Trip Advisor. The poster was whining about the view she got, but she made the mistake of posting a photo. She said she had booked "ocean view" but "all we could see was the Napili tower next to our building" (I think she must have been in the Moloka'i tower facing north). In her picture you COULD see the Napili tower but she had a spectacular ocean view of the Au'au Channel between Maui and Lana'i with some lovely views of Moloka'i to boot! It was a laughable complaint.

 

[jekjones1558]

Hey Dean, first Merry Christmas! And thanks for the link. I did take a look at it. It appears one point per night was refunded because of view complaints, not pool noise? Unless I missed something. Also, in reading the person's post that got that 1 pt/night refund, they booked a mountain view but got a glimpse of the ocean too? Even though they apparently could see the parking garage too, it actually sounds to me like they got a pretty good view if they only paid for mountain view but got some sort of small or peekaboo ocean view too. If they were in the Waianae Tower facing north, those views are pretty awesome even if they could see the parking garage to some extent.

I'll never forget (wish I had the link) a review on the Marriott Maui Ocean Club on Trip Advisor. The poster was whining about the view she got, but she made the mistake of posting a photo. She said she had booked "ocean view" but "all we could see was the Napili tower next to our building" (I think she must have been in the Moloka'i tower facing north). In her picture you COULD see the Napili tower but she had a spectacular ocean view of the Au'au Channel between Maui and Lana'i with some lovely views of Moloka'i to boot! It was a laughable complaint.

I think some people do not realize there is a difference between "oceanfront" and "ocean view."

 

[Dean]

Hey Dean, first Merry Christmas! And thanks for the link. I did take a look at it. It appears one point per night was refunded because of view complaints, not pool noise? Unless I missed something. Also, in reading the person's post that got that 1 pt/night refund, they booked a mountain view but got a glimpse of the ocean too? Even though they apparently could see the parking garage too, it actually sounds to me like they got a pretty good view if they only paid for mountain view but got some sort of small or peekaboo ocean view too. If they were in the Waianae Tower facing north, those views are pretty awesome even if they could see the parking garage to some extent.

I'll never forget (wish I had the link) a review on the Marriott Maui Ocean Club on Trip Advisor. The poster was whining about the view she got, but she made the mistake of posting a photo. She said she had booked "ocean view" but "all we could see was the Napili tower next to our building" (I think she must have been in the Moloka'i tower facing north). In her picture you COULD see the Napili tower but she had a spectacular ocean view of the Au'au Channel between Maui and Lana'i with some lovely views of Moloka'i to boot! It was a laughable complaint.

Correct, view issues. The post I had responded to had both view issues and the kid issues. I wasn't there so I can't say what they did and didn't have nor how they actually interacted with DVC on the subject. However, I do feel that a refund of any points was unreasonable in that situation. One thing I see with DVC is they are very inconsistent in these type situations and from what I've seen, far too quick and easy to give out things and return points. Sometimes they're justified, other times they're not and sometimes they don't when they should. The AKV concierge refurbishment debacle comes to mind (along with another AKV refurbishment and the BWV BW view issue) where we saw reports of return of the points difference and free dining for some and just return of points for others with just a shrug even though they wanted more with many variations. What they should do, and obviously don't consistently, is establish parameters for such issues where it can be planned and anticipated. That would allow them to be far more consistent from one member to another. They are far too reactive and not nearly as proactive as they should be.

 

[southerngirl528]

Agree totally with your last post, Dean. It is rather willy-nilly sometimes in how a GSR is done. Or not done. In my observation it often has more to do with whom one is dealing with. Some MS CM's are hardliners, others go out of their way to help if possible in less than perfect situations.

 

[Dean]

Agree totally with your last post, Dean. It is rather willy-nilly sometimes in how a GSR is done. Or not done. In my observation it often has more to do with whom one is dealing with. Some MS CM's are hardliners, others go out of their way to help if possible in less than perfect situations.

It certainly appears that way on this side though I realize we get only a sliver of the overall interactions. IMO this is a leadership issue both in terms of lack of planning that creates much of the issue and in how it's handled. As an example, if there's some issue that could be anticipated to cause an uproar (like the ones I referenced plus the valet parking change), you have that discussion up front, plan both what's reasonable and how to be fair in implementation then plan how things are handled when the predictable complaints come. It is my belief that if they are consistent they will get less complaints and less calls long term plus they can avoid many of the complaints altogether with the advanced planning. With the valet parking they should have announced it in some way including email, put it on the website, gave advanced warning (say 2-4 weeks) and ate the costs during that time rather than have some people check in with free valet and have an unexpected bill on departure or be surprised mid stay. With the Poly, standard and preferred (over Lakeview) would have removed most of the room for view complaints and given them the ability to word a good response when there were complaints. If you're inconsistent, you get taken advantage of and just create more work as a whole. How many times have we seen posts here about getting one answer from MS recommending just calling back and getting a different person. I realize that one can't take the human element away completely nor would we want to but structure is far better for both sides.

It seems like MS (? DVC in general) is so concerned about a given complaint that they forget to have a backbone often times. I think we've seen some improvement in this area (sticking to the rules) over the past 2-3 years but the inconsistency is still there. The customer is always right approach doesn't work in this situation if it's outside the rules or framework because some people will take advantage. There are professional complainers, there are emotional people and there are unreasonable people who you can't satisfy with approach responses, sometimes you just have to cut your losses. However, that approach means you stick to the rules. For example, you don't then give someone back points just because they have a personal situation and not give the next person back points just because they got a more hard line CM or weren't as good at telling their sob story. You can't go to a resort in a slower time and be upset that the pool is being refurbished or there is some other project, esp if you knew about it in advance.