Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club Timeshare

Let me preface this by saying that I’m a Titanium Elite Marriott member and own two vacation club properties through Marriott. So we are definitely committed members.

Today, we just got our room at the Maui Ocean club and it was very disappointing. The room was old, dingy and dated. We were told that we would have an Oceanview with amenities like that of our timeshare at Ko Olina. We ended up getting a full view of the parking lot. We spoke with the front desk and was told that there are no other rooms. We just spoke with the manager and best she can offer is a cabana for one day. The other disappointments were there was no full kitchen and no washer and dryer. We addressed that with front desk/marketing and all they can say was those full size and updated rooms are given to the owners and the renters and preview guests gets the leftovers.

We have a friend that had their preview package at the Hyatt Vacation Club and theirs was more modern and they actually got a full ocean view with all the amenities.

The purpose of our visit was to preview the property, now it’s unlikely we would buy from Marriott. I think I would seriously consider the Hyatt. This was a waste of our time. If I’d known this, I would have passed on spending the money here and stayed home.

Stayed here for ONE night back in May. We were actually on our honeymoon after getting married on Oahu. We were only in Maui for 4 nights & after an exhausting wedding in Oahu, all we wanted to do was relax.

We check in, the air vents were off the walls & the room feels musty. Bell service called front desk to notify them & assured us they’ll be placed back. Ok, no big deal, we’ll have AC soon. About 10-20 min later, we get a call telling us we need to be moved – the AC actually doesn’t work. Ok, no big deal.

We sleep early to leave for Mt Haleakala at 2am! We get back around 8am & we’re exhausted! So we plan to take a nap & enjoy the island after. Not even 20 minutes later, my husband wakes up yelling, “What is that?” CONSTRUCTION!!!! We heard drilling, hammering, stomping, etc. We call the front desk & of course, they can move us AGAIN. This means this would be the 3rd room in only ONE NIGHT.

We’re told to make another reservation for a different room type & they’ll keep the same rate – Ok, we do that. But while looking at the available rooms, we see an oceanfront room & book it – it’s around the same rate. If we need to pay more, ok, no big deal.

We go to the front desk & they inform us that we’ll need to check out EVERYDAY for the oceanfront room. The system does not recognize that it will be a different room # but same type of room. REALLY??

It came down to the fact that they would not move a timeshare owner over someone who has a friends & family rate. OK, I understand, I’ve been in the hotel industry for 10yrs myself. BUT you don’t tell that to your guest no matter what rate they’re paying! In fact, we are timeshare owners too, but we’re just not staying on Maui for a whole week, which is how they handle their reservations. It basically came down to $$.

It was very disappointing! The 1st issue was checking us into a room without working AC, the 2nd was not informing us of construction going on at this property (you inform every guest, even if they’re not near it), the 3rd was an unapologetic MANAGER. He didn’t care that this was the 3rd room in only ONE night. He didn’t apologize once.

Moving rooms wasn’t even going to guarantee we wouldn’t be under construction again.

Honestly, the manager’s attitude was the tipping point. We would never stay here again, even with timeshare or friends & family rates. We ended up staying at the Westin at a higher rate w/construction, BUT they informed us & we were not right below the noise! We also basically wasted a day on our HONEYMOON from checking out of Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club to checking into The Westin.

OH! And the Westing gave us complimentary champagne because we were on our honeymoon. BIG difference in hotels! Horrible experience at this one.

We found the Marriott Maui Ocean Resort to be a let-down. We have been staying at various hotels in the Kaanapali area over the years. We decided to end our vacation this year with a few nights at the Marriott Ocean Club on the advice of a neighbor. If you are a Marriott Vacation Club “owner” you may find that this property will meet the lower end of your expectations. We are average hotel guests who booked nights like here like any ordinary hotel and we found the Marriott Maui Ocean Resort to be an average to lower-end Marriott property in a phenomenal world-class location.

My subjective assessment is that it is stuck between two models: a condo and a hotel. Unfortunately that left me with some negative experiences.

Overall, this is a lower mid-range hotel showing its age. When you arrive, there is a decidedly industrial feel with lots of long monochromatic walls and floors with small gardens here and there. Our room had a hollow-core bathroom door, a very narrow entrance, and although the room was repainted, the corners and trim were chipped like totem poles from years of heavy use.

The rooms are functionally in generally good repair; although the humid, salty air is taking its toll like it does on all buildings in Hawaii. Our room met what I would consider “Marriott standard cleanliness”: the surfaces were clean, the linens were fresh and white, but the light colored grout in the bathroom floor is dark in traffic areas from heavy use.

The room had a king bed with a very good pull out sofa bed. I asked if we could get a room with two beds and the agent who checked us in said there are no rooms with two beds on the property. I realized after we got into our room that the design of the property is probably like other Marriott Vacation Club properties that have a common family room and kitchen space between two single bedrooms. Again, the condo thing.

The hotel features a pretty nice pool area with multiple pools and a water slide. There is not nearly enough seating. There were many kids activities, of which we only participated in a couple. The staff were very outgoing and friendly and inviting. Bar service in the pool area was reasonably prompt. Prices were Maui standard sky-high.

There is valet service, but they do not allow you to call down in advance. You have to present your ticket at the valet station. I think it is due to very limited space. They were generally pretty fast, but when it got busy it was backed up and quite crowded.

Our main gripe was with housekeeping which we had to consistently work around in order to receive service. Sadly, it is not the hard working housekeeping staff’s fault. Again, I think it is a failure of the hybrid condo/hotel business model. We spoke with both the housekeeping manager the first time and another general property manager the second time who provided an earnest apology. But as a person who relies on TripAdvisor for this kind of insight I wanted to provide an honest review.

There are lots of wonderful properties throughout Kaanapali and Maui I could recommend. I would recommend this one for Marriott condo owners. Guests looking for a true 4 star hotel experience should consider the bountiful alternatives throughout Maui.

If you plan to become part of Marriott Vacation Club, DO NOT go to their Maui location.
I’ve been a Marriott Rewards member (now Bonvoy) for almost 10 years – platinum for the past 6 if I recall right.
We have been to other Marriott Vacation Club presentations and have always thought about becoming part of it. We always said that the Hawaiian Marriott Vacation Club could determine our decision of buying it or not. I’m afraid we may never be part of it. I’ve never experienced such a terrible treatment on a Marriott property, and I’ve spent 100s of nights with them in the past decade.
We stayed at another Marriott in Maui (Wailea Resort) and I got a message offering me 30000 points to go to their Vacation Club and watch the presentation. Both myself and my wife were excited about it, it’s the perfect fit. We are in Hawaii, so we can check the property, see if it would fulfill our expectations. I proceed to the lobby at our hotel, they refer me to DAVID, in the Vacation Club Desk. He goes over the details, tell us we can go in the morning and that while we watch the presentation (90 minutes) my kids and mother in law could spend some time at the facility, enjoying the pool and the property itself.
With that in mind, we figured that everyone should go, since it is a good hour drive between the hotels.
And off we went to the Marriott Vacation Club in Lahaina, Maui. As we arrived, we handled the keys to the valet service, they point us where to go.
Once at the right location EMILY greeted us. She pointed a table with my name on it, then I ask where should my kids and mother in law go. She then changes her expression (which wasn’t the most receptive already, probably because of the large group, or just because she’s not the right person for such job?) and said “well I don’t know, they can’t use our property since you are not guests here. Also, they cannot be at the same table. If you want they can sit on a table close by, it will only take 90 minutes”. My wife then tells her that our younger son is only 6 and keeping him at a table is something we don’t think it would work, especially during Vacation. She replied again, same indifference: “he is not the youngest that has been here and not the first, I’m sure he can handle the time”.
By her looks and answers I’m already thrown off. I look at my wife and tell her: we wasted our morning here, let’s get out so it doesn’t get worse (it’s never too much to keep in mind that this is a long planned, desired and very expensive vacation, time is precious and we wanted to relax and enjoy Hawaii). Emily left, never showed her face again. She sent over JOSEF, the sales person that after such a disastrous start suppose to convince us to spend around 30 grand with them.
When Josef came in he could see our frustration. At that point, I was still hoping for some sort of fix, a way to settle my family so I could finally see the Maui Vacation Club and perhaps move forward. We explain to him what was going on and how rude his coworker was. He came in her defense, also said that no one could go to any pool area due to “liability” (I’m unaware of signing waivers to use hotel pools, maybe he knows a lot or just took us for idiots). My wife then told him, perhaps Emily has no kids, he answers back, a less than friendly tone, “oh yes she does”.
I handled my parking ticket, asked for validation and said we were leaving. He asked me to wait, he was going to bring the manager…
Manager (never identified himself or greeted us, or showed any signs that would like to resolve anything) came to our table. His only words to me were “I’m not going to hold you here”. I then said definitely you won’t. I left the chair and walked away.
I felt it would be pointless any sort of argumentation with them. It was my family vacation, we were just trying to relax and enjoy Hawaii. Besides, I wasn’t there to convince them to sell me timeshare, it was the other way around. I left quite upset, still shocked and surprised with such unprofessional staff, their terrible attitude and wondering how such people could convince anyone to invest quite a substantial amount of money on Marriott Vacation Club. I for sure wouldn’t do it after dealing with them, probably never will if this is what we get.

Do not come on timeshare special. Much better timeshare experiences at other resorts

Family enjoys staying on timeshares. In Maui we have done time share sales/deals at Hyatt, Westin Kaanapali North Towers, Westin Ka’anapali normal tower(?), and now the Mariott Maui Ocean Club.

This has been by far the worst experience we have had on Maui and by far the most run down property of all the main time shares on Kaanapali beach.

First off your room barely meets TimeShare standards. You will get a sink and a dishwasher for the “Kitchen”. Pots and pans are also provided but there is no way to use those in your room. Those are for the bbq area. I guess they expect people to go down and cook some eggs on the BBQ grill? Room is appropriately sized but dated. Weird stains on the walls in the bathroom. Cheap furnishings. NO WASHER AND DRYER in room. Their is plenty of space to put one in the rooms so not sure why the hotel has neglected to add one.

View on time share “experience” was for island view and was not expecting any upgrade but the hotel layout i means alli island view hotel rooms overlook the delivery dock/parking lot. Deliveries start before 5am sand it’s sounds like carts are being dragged around every morning before 5am. The cheap windows do not block any of the parking lot sounds.

The grounds are set up for their clientele. If you are more senior then this resort would be great. Lots of folks in your demographics. Grounds support use of mobility scooters/walkers quiet well. What it wasn’t setup well was for young familes. The pool was taken over by the water aerobics folks for big chunks of the morning. The kid pirate ship was lacking. The water was definitely cooler then other resort pools.

Overall, wasn’t impressed with this resort vs the Hyatt and Westin on kaanapali beach.

I highly recommend the Hyatt vacation club on Ka’anapali beach. It is by far the best. Westin is also very nice. It is on the “other side” of black rock but their expansive grounds gives families a bit more room to spread out. It is also a great walk from the Westin time share to the busy portion of kaanapali beach