Where To Stay In Maui: The Fairmont Kea Lani Review

November 8, 2017 / By Rachel Ritlop

This post contains affiliate links and is in partnership with The Fairmont Kea Lani. All experiences, thoughts, and opinions are my own.

It's finally here! Bringing back a little mix of Wedding Wednesday AND Wanderlust Wednesday for you guys with this first post from our Hawaiian Honeymoon!! I am so excited to start this off on a high note with a review of our stay in Maui at The Fairmont Kea Lani!

While we loved Kauai, where we stayed was pretty terrible (more on that later). We also had terrible flights from Cali to Kauai then Kauai to Maui. So by the time we got to Maui, I was definitely needing some serious pampering to destress from the bad hospitality experiences… and let me tell you, The Fairmont Kea Lani was exactly what I needed!

Arrival

We pulled up to the resort and were immediately greeted with valet, taking our bags, welcome leis and fresh guava and fruit juice. All of the staff was so welcoming and warm, it honestly felt like a different universe after our last hotel. This is what I envisioned Hawaii to be.

Next Deb gave us a golf cart tour of the grounds and took us to our room. I have to shout Deb out here, she was beyondddd amazing, both in her warmth and hospitality but also in her knowledge of the island. She immediately started asking us what we wanted to do and eat while on the island and took the time to write down all of her recommendations. She saved us some serious time and mistakes!

Swimming With Sea Turtles

For instance, I had gotten recommendations to grab a charter boat to Molokini to snorkel with sea turtles – but she said not to waste our time and just go to the beach that our hotel was on. She said that Molokini had become such a tourist spot, and so many people don't use reef safe sunscreen, that the reef is actually dying and thus the fishes are becoming fewer and further between. Plus daily snorkel rentals are included in the resort fee of the hotel and there are plenty of sea turtle right there!

This little guy was coming right at me, and even though sea turtles are nice, I was totally scared when I found myself face to face haha!

The Villa:

We stayed in a beautiful two story villa. The top floor was a master bedroom, bathroom and closet. The bottom floor was a similar layout for the bedroom and bathroom, but with a smaller closet to leave room for a laundry room and kitchen. Downstairs also had a dining area and living room that led out to a little patio with a pool. We decided to stay in the top floor room since we could see the ocean from bed.

The bathrooms were an absolute dream. A deep and extra large tub, an open showers= with amazing water pressure, and Supergoop products!

The Back Yard:

Was complete with a little table, lounge chairs with an umbrella, and a little dipping pool.

When going out the back door we were only steps from the beach and lounge chairs.

Dress

This spot is where we posted up most days. I love the beach and being on the sand, but I also am weirdly obsessed with grass and the ocean in the same view. It's a big reason why we chose our wedding venue even! Something about the garden meeting the sea just really melts my heart. This spot was also rarely crowded and I never felt like I was “on top” of anyone. It was also a great spot to people watch since the path up from the beach forks around this little slice of heaven:

Quick heads up for people looking to stay here: they haven't upgraded the TV's in the rooms (at least not in ours) to internet TVs yet. Which isn't a big deal, just pack your apple tv or roku and you're all set! Even if you forget it, there's a Target on the way from the airport to the hotel where you can pick up a Roku Express for $35.

Activities:

Truthfully, we had a hard time leaving the resort most days to explore the island, because they really do have everything on site that you could want/need for a wonderful vacation!

Like I mentioned, you get daily snorkel gear included in your resort fee.

Bikini Top

They also have several workouts classes each day included in the resort fee and a full gym.

The resort has three pools. One adult pool, one pool with a swim up bar and water slide, which feeds into a pool below. Honestly, this waterslide is SO fun! We started each morning with a slide down before hitting the beach!

Bikini Top

Around the pools are plenty of umbrellas, which you can ask attendants to reserve for you. Or you can rent a poolside cabana for more space and privacy.

There is a little walking trail along the ocean from The Fairmont Kea Lani down through a bunch of the other resorts in Wailea. While it was fun seeing some other beaches and the backside of other resorts, we didn't walk the entire thing because we quickly realized we had the best view of the sunset at The Fairmont and we liked how quiet our little Polo Beach was compared to the others we saw.

Along Polo Beach you can also rent paddle boards or that's where you'll grab your canoe experience (reservations through the resort, but fee is included in your resort fee). There are tons of other things happening at the hotel, like hula or ukulele lessons, a nightly torch lighting ceremony and so much more. Check out all the activities here.

The Spa

Alright, so you guys know I am a bit of a spa junkie and believe in managing expectations. So if you are looking for a heavy therapeutic spa experience that leaves your brain feeling like mush and body limp like a wet noodle, then skip this one. But if you are looking to really relax and totally zen out, then definitely have a visit!

How to get the most out of the spa:

Before I jump in, I should note the men and women's areas are not identical here. The following is based solely on the women's lounge offerings, to see what the men's lounge is comprised of, click here.

Start with the complimentary Pālolo (mud) treatment. They have a little station with lavender or eucalyptus based mud. You put in on, let it sit for 20 minutes, then rinse. They have a warm sitting area you can sit on while the mud does it's thing. Make sure to hit the relaxation room before sitting on the bench, grab yourself a cup of lavender tea, and some delicious protein bites!

You can also sit in the steam room with the mud treatment on, which is what I did. I use a three towel method when I go to steam rooms. I lay one down flat, keep one around me, then have one rolled up for under my neck and then just lay down and relax. This is a great place to do some stretches too if you're up for it!

Once your done with the mud and steam, you can enjoy the showers! They have three showers here: the first shower was Ua Noe Morning Mist, the middle shower is the Ua Nāulu Afternoon Rain, and the far shower is Ua Hekili Evening Storm. All three were cool, but my favorite was the last “evening storm”. You can do the pre-set themes or you can switch over to manual mode and turn on the jets you like the most.

My biggest suggestion to people in these showers is MOVE! Seriously! It's a large private room (you can totally go in with friends – but no stranger would dare go in with you, at least no sane stranger lol), with a fogged glass door that you close. The showers were relaxing, but like I mentioned, I typically go for more therapeutic deep penetrating relief. So I decided to get into the hard to reach areas by doing some yoga poses and stretching, and thats when the shower jets started to really melt some of the tension away! I recommend doing some standing modified cat-cows and eagle arms while you're in there!

The Hawaiian Pa‘akai Treatment:

After the showers, I went to the relaxation room to wait for my therapist. Honestly, I was so blissed out from the showers by this point that I don't even remember her name, but she was amazing! She was really sweet and walked me through what to expect for the Hawaiian Pa‘akai treatment. You see, I had developed a gnarly heart rash on my upper arm and she offered to switch treatments since the one I was getting was a lot of warm water and steam and exfoliating. We talked about the pros and cons and what to expect and ultimately I decided to leave my treatment, but skip the exfoliation on the rash, and it was absolutely blissful!

This was my first ever experience on a Vichy table. It was SO cool! You are basically on a water bed, with a shower above you. She exfoliated the skin, used the shower to rinse it, then created a tent of steam I was in!

It was such a cool experience and definitely worth doing! My skin has never felt so good and I felt so relaxed afterward! Like I was floating on a cloud! It was exactly what I needed to slow down and just unwind.

The Food

While I've heard amazing reviews about all of the restaurants on site, we actually only ate breakfast here each day, which was delicious! But by the time the evening rolled around we were usually out for dinner already or were so tired that we just ate leftovers from the night before.

We also picked up some of the most delicious kombucha I've ever had at the market on the property. If you ever find Valley Isle Kombucha BUY IT! I am praying they will ship to FL some day!

Honestly, I couldn't imagine a better place to enjoy our honeymoon or bring our future family to for years to come! It's the perfect getaway on a beautiful island.