You’re thinking of heading over to Maui and you heard Hilton Grand Vacations has a new property that just opened. You’re looking at the photos and it looks great, but then you realize the photos you’re looking at are actually “artist’s renderings.” Still, it’s part of the Hilton Grand Vacation family, it’s new and on the island of Maui. You see it just opened in September yet can’t find much information on the property. Not to worry. I’ve been and I’m going to tell you all about it.
THE PROPERTY
Building 1 of Maui Bay Villas by Hilton Grand Vacations in Kihei. The first building has the models with views of either construction or a parking lot.
Maui Bay Villas by Hilton Grand Vacations is its 10th timeshare property in Hawaii and its first on the island. Located on 27 acres on the side of Maui in Kihei, HGVC purchased this beachfront property with plans to make a mark on the island. With incredible properties on both Oahu and Kona, HGVC has yet to make its mark on Kauai and Maui. HGVC is in the first phase of this five-year construction project along the southwestern coast of the island. Upon completion, the luxurious timeshare property is slated to have 388 units, three pools, one being a super pool with short water slide, a fitness center and market, along with a restaurant that sits across the street right on the beach. The property currently has three buildings, including the main lobby and 31 units available and ready for use. The model units are house in the same building, so expect timeshare sales tours to be conducted with people going in and out of the complex during your stay.
GETTING AROUND
As of now, the resort does not operate a shuttle service of any kind. Maui does have Uber, but the most reliable form of transportation is renting a car. Car rates on the island can be expensive, but sometimes, you can find yourself a fortunate enough to get a great deal. At the last minute, I found a Jeep through Budget Car Rental for $60 a day including taxes the last couple of days in September, so you never know. I always recommend reserving early and checking a week out and/or a few days before you leave to see if the price has gone down from your original booking. The new Hilton Grand Vacation Maui Bay Villas are about a 20-25 minute drive from the airport and, compared to other HGVC properties, sits by itself in the middle of nowhere. Currently, if you want something to eat or drink (water, soda, and /or alcohol) you’ll need to drive off the property as there isn’t anything within walking distance. Everything is about a 15–20 minute drive so renting a car is ideal. There are a few strip malls approximately 10 minutes away that have good food. I recommend Coconut’s Fish Café which has two locations in Kihei. The chicken tacos topped with pineapple are a favorite of mine along with the coconut shrimp.
For those of you staying long enough to stock up, there’s a Costco located minutes from the airport. I highly recommend you stop for both goodies and necessities as soon as possible because you’re going to need it at this property. There is no food, water, etc. available on the property until 2022.
CONSTRUCTION
The super pool is the only pool “open” and ready to go according to the management and staff at Maui Bay Villas. You can see they are hard at work on the frame of Building 2. Directly under Building 2 you can see the Stop-&-Go Market. It’ll be up and running in 2022.
Construction on the property is in full-swing and goes all day from 8:30am-5pm. Upon checking-in, we were told not to worry, that the rooms were “pretty quiet” as he had “been in the rooms during the day and you could barely hear the construction outside.” According to employees on the property, construction on the project was amped up in May to “help with the bookings on the island.” My personal translation of that statement is: HGVC wanted to cash in on the upswing of tourism while they had the chance. Be prepared for construction everywhere. There are construction workers, construction materials and machines, tarps for walls and partially constructed buildings on the property. Maui Bay Villas is a resort under construction. I can’t emphasize this enough.
BUILDINGS AND UNITS
As of the beginning of October 2021, Maui Bay Villas has only three buildings completed. The main building that houses the main lobby for checking-in and the first building that houses the models that will be used to show during the timeshare tours and what looks like a few additional units for owners & rental use. Every unit is going to be either a one, two or three-bedroom suite. My stay was for 3 nights in a 2 bedroom plus. The unit was nicely decorated in greys with lots of light yet appeared rather small. The master had a king bed and its own bathroom. The second room had two beds and a separate bathroom. The living room was also nice, but overall, the unit felt small. The balcony, also small, faced a parking lot. I noted that any unit in the first building didn’t seem like it would have a great view. Currently, if facing the building, the views being either major construction in the front, construction on the left side, grass and buildings in the back or a parking lot on the right side. They say the new property is beachfront, but I didn’t see where any of the units will see the beach at any time. They are building a restaurant which is across the street and that restaurant does sit on the tiny strip of beach, but from what I can see, that building will be blocking any sight of the beach from all points of the property unless you’re at the restaurant.
This is the front lawn of the Maui Bay Villas. Across the street to the left is the beach where the oceanfront restaurant is being built. The view of the beach is obstructed by the black tarp wall the contractors have in place. Straight ahead is the super pool & to the right is the main lobby.
THE BEACH
This is the view of the beach from the Maui Bay Villas by Hilton Grand Vacations super pool. You can see construction is heavy on the beach and workers are busy preparing the grounds of the property.
The strip of beach I saw that sits across the street from the hotel is small & currently under heavy construction. As it looks right now, I don’t find the beach very appealing. Hopefully, they’ll be able to clean it up to make it more appealing, but it’s a small strip like that of a large sidewalk that goes down the side of the coast. This is where HGVC is constructing the restaurant along with a second building. It also looks like they are making a street crossing to assist with safety. I’m super excited to see the final product. From what I can see, you can’t see the beach from any angle while on the property itself. On the Hilton website, they are currently selling rooms with photos showing water in the background. First, the view isn’t that close. Second, you can see that view from a distance outside on the deck, but I can’t figure out which unit’s window their looking out of to get that photo. I’m especially curious to know how they managed to shoot it without all the construction in the foreground. You can see the same rock & beach in the background above. I’ll let you come to your own conclusions on that one. In fact, I’d love to hear your thoughts below as I barely saw the beach from where I stood.
POOLS, PATIO AND LOUNGE AREA
HGVC’s Maui Bay Villa’s is planned to have three pools and at least two hot tubs. The main pool is their super pool that sits next to the main lobby in the front of the property. The resort’s patio has a lovely bar area with chairs, tables and couches set up for relaxing, eating and cocktails. Unfortunately, we were told by management there wouldn’t be any food available on-site until 2022.
The pool area has plenty of chairs and umbrellas for sunbathing and lounging. We did notice the water looked green as if it wasn’t yet balanced. We also found it freezing. Hopefully, they’ll decide to heat the pool a little to make it bearable for those of us that go to Hawaii to sit in the pool all day yet can’t handle an ice bath every time you get in. The super pool is rather super and has palm trees throughout, I didn’t notice any shady spots which is always nice when the sun is at its hottest. The upper part of the pool is greener than green right now, closed and blocked off by with yellow hazardous tape. We saw a couple of workers that appeared to be cleaning the pool while we wandered the super pool. The pool area itself is gorgeous, but like everything else, it’s not finished. Not to mention, there’s construction all day. Construction is taking place all around the pool area all day long. You can’t help but hear it and see it no matter where you go. You just can’t hide from it. Or, should I say, HGVC just can’t hide it from you?
The Maui Bay Villas by Hilton Grand Vacations super pool deck & lounge area with outside bar sits next to the main lobby.
ADDITIONAL ON-SITE AMENITIES
The new Maui Bay Villa’s boast an onsite stop and go for basic items such as water and soda, a fitness center, poolside bar and restaurant. However, none of these amenities are expected to be open and available until next year. What does this mean should you decide to stay there in the meantime? It means you’re on your own. Don’t expect to order a drink or snack as you sit by the pool. Not even a water. You can’t get anything on property. You may even want to consider bringing your own packable cooler if you can. Otherwise, you can expect to go back and forth to your room to refill your glass or water bottle. In fact, you may want to bring your refillable water bottle to help keep your drink colder even longer! You also may want to invest in some of Apple’s Airpod Pros to block out the construction while poolside. You’ll thank me for these tips later.
THE BOTTOM LINE
As an owner of three HGVC properties and a huge traveler, in my opinion, Hilton Grand Vacations has opened this property prematurely. The decision to open this property was a mistake. It’s just not ready. We showed up excited and were terribly disappointed. We were shocked Hilton Grand Vacations had the audacity to rent out rooms at normal point and cash prices without any warnings about what to expect. To me, vacations are about relaxing. We were expecting to sit by the pool at a beautiful new beachfront property while drinking cocktails and eating snacks between naps. We understood there was probably some construction going on but had no idea to what extent. Instead, we found ourselves trying to find two rooms under $800 a night for immediate occupancy. We were left hanging while the staff at HGVC just smiled and apologized. The manager-on-duty attempted to call a few other resorts to assist us with obtaining a discounted rate. Two hours later, we found ourselves on a beautiful island without a place to stay. The Maui Bay Villa staff smiled, apologized and recited the statement we were told was provided by management: “We opened early to help assist with the demand of bookings on the island.” Funny thing, the demand has been over for more than a month. Governor Ige asked tourists to stop coming on August 23rd, 2021, so the excuse HGVC is giving makes no sense. Our trip was ruined. I’m still in a state of disbelief HGVC has no contingency plan in place for those feeling the resort isn’t ready for visitors. Part of me looks forward to the completion of this resort while the other part never wants to return. We ended up finding rooms at a competitor’s property.