By: Connie Smith

When you arrive at the Fairmont Kea Lani in the Wailea area of Maui on Polo Beach, you may think that it is designed to resemble a Mosque.  The 22 acre resort was actually designed with the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and the Iolani Palace in mind.  Kea Lani means in Hawaiian “The Heavenly White”.  When you walk into the lobby , you notice the arches that frame the ocean beautifully.   After checking in, we were taken to our suite (there are 413 1-bedroom suites) by our bellman who has been working at the resort since it opened in 1991.  As you pass the heavy front door, you walk into the wet bar area with a granite counter top where the refrigerator, microwave oven and the coffee maker (complimentary coffee & tea daily) are located.  Then we step into the living area with bamboo furniture and a sea mist green sofa and a desk area (with internet service for a fee unless you are member of the Fairmont President’s Club).   From there you walk out on to your lanai with a patio set for 4 and a chaise lounge.    We have a view of the ocean and the adult pool below.  This is a great place to have evening drinks or morning coffee.   We then go into the bedroom with 2 closets and a door into the bathroom (also a door from the entry area).  The bathroom is beautiful with 2 pedestal sinks, a wall of mirror, and a soaker tub along with a walk in shower.  It is beautiful marble.    

You can live here easily.  The suites include 2 TV’s (one in the bedroom), a CD & a DVD player.  In the bedroom (which you can get with 2 doubles or 1 king bed) you have an IPod docking station. It is large as most are 840 sq. ft. and the Signature Suites are 1100 sq. ft. with a wrap around lanai.   Many of the packages include daily buffet breakfast at the Kea Lani Restaurant.  My favorite is to be down at the pool area. 

There are 3 pools, the adult pool that we looked down on,  the upper pool where the Polo Grille is located along with the swim up bar along with the entrance to the slide.  Young and old love to play on the 140 ft. slide.  They have someone watch to make sure all are safe as they use the slide.  The slide ends in the main pool where most families hang out during the day.   You can have lunch served to you along with drinks throughout the day.  You can also reserve (up to a year in advance) a cabana poolside which comes with fruits, juices & water replenished throughout the day.   While sitting and enjoying the great weather alongside the pool, we are brought glasses of water and fresh pineapple.  Yum!  If you want, you can do a complimentary scuba lesson 2 times a day, at 9:30am and at 2:00pm in the pool.  This is where it all started with me over 10 years ago.  Once I did the lesson, I was hooked.  My husband & I then did the resort dive, a short walk to the beach from the pool with a dive master.  Two days later, we did another resort dive.  The next time we visited the Kea Lani, we did the Padi dive certification.  If diving is not of interest to you, maybe a poolside massage would be more for your liking.  They have a full service spa available or a 24-hour fitness center.  

One morning early (7 a.m. is early on vacation) we went down to the beach for the complimentary Hawaiian Cultural Canoe Experience.  It is about 45 minutes long where we learned about Hawaiian heritage and examples of native chants used when navigating the ocean.  We tried to get near to some whales, but they went out to sea.  We had many opportunities to enjoy watching whales.  Some times during the morning walk along the almost 2 mile Wailea Path that stretches through 5 different beaches we were able to watch the baby whales jumping out of the water for quite a while.  If as a parent, you would like to spend some time without the kids, they offer the Keiki Lani Kid’s Camp which just had a $1.2 million renovation.  The hours are from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily at a rate of $75 for the 1st child and $55 for the 2nd child and includes lunch.  You can reserve space up to a year in advance.   As with most resorts, they welcomed some local artisans to display their wares for sale throughout the week.  

For lunch, you have a choice of the Polo Grille by the pool, or something from Caffé Ciao Deli, where you can have them prepare lunch baskets to go also.  Great salads, sandwiches, baked goods along with wines, coffee & teas.  At night you can eat at Ko which offers plantation style cuisine.  The chef grew up on a sugarcane plantation and realized the various cultural inspired foods that were cooked there.  He has brought these to his restaurant.  You may also want eat at Nick’s Fishmarket which is one of Maui’s premier seafood restaurant offering fresh, local fish.  If you want to go into Kihei, there is a great restaurant called Café O’ Lei where many of the locals eat with great food for lunch or dinner, reasonably priced.  I had 3 pieces of Mahi Mahi cooked in butter, parmesan & garlic over a bed of rice and a Caesar salad for $10 at lunch.  It was more than enough.

Using the Kea Lani as your base, you can go golfing at the nearby 3 championship golf courses, shop at the Upscale Shops at Wailea, or play tennis at the Tennis Club.  Or with just a short walk to the beach, you might want to swim and snorkel around the rocks to see turtles and many various colored fish.  Don’t pack too much, as they offer free washer & dryer use for each floor from the 3rd floor up.  If you have too many people to stay in one of the suites, the Fairmont Kea Lani also offers 2 & 3-bedroom villas (1800 sq ft. & 2200 sq. ft., respectively).  In the villas, they have full kitchen, full size washer & dryers, 2 bathrooms, a plunge pool & bar-b-queue.     An option is have them do the shopping ahead of time to stock your refrigerator (for a slight fee), or to hire a chef come in and cook for you ($75 an hour).  A car is complimentary (almost any type & size) with a villa.  Whether you go to Hawaii for business or pleasure, the Kea Lani is a perfect place to stay and enjoy.  You can do as much or as little as you want.