It was my family's first time to Hawaii and it was such a perfect experience, I'm sure it will ruin future vacations for us, haha!
Michelle was so helpful finding my family a good property for this trip--the one we were trying to book got taken, but she was on it and found us an amazing spot!
When we arrived and entered the Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas at sunset, the whole group was pretty much in awe of the view looking out over the grounds from the lobby-- and it only got better. When the sun rose the next morning we had the most spectacular view of the coast from our lanai (if you can possibly manage it, get an Ocean-Front room!). It was so nice, it was actually hard leaving our room and the resort to go do stuff on the island.
We had a 2-bedroom lock-off suite, which had more than enough room for our party of 8. The fold-out beds were plenty comfortable for my husband and me, and the King beds were super nice (and huge!). All of the fold-outs and beds are nice and reasonably firm (good news for people with back problems). There were 2 dishwashers 2 washing machines (I think) and two kitchens. The only thing a group of 8 might fight over is the two showers and two toilets. All that ocean swimming and sunscreen makes people shower a lot.
The amenities of the resort are so nice! We especially took advantage of the happy hour at the Pailolo Bar and grill. Great mai tais and excelent food! The water slide was awesome. The koi pond was lovely. We also took the shuttle down to Lahaina a few times, which was super convenient. We did the walk to Whalers Village, which takes about 30 minutes and might be a little far for tired or low-mobility people, especially if the weather is hot. Whalers village has nice mall-like shopping and has the amazing restaurant/bar MonkeyPod!
We did snorkeling just along the beach outside of the Westin almost every day, which was a highlight for me! Many beautiful fish and even some turtles swimming around out there, just a few feet from the shore!
I can go on forever but we had a fantastic room in a great spot along the beach, and couldn't ask for more. It was very difficult to leave.
My sincerest thanks to Michelle from the whole family! We had a magical experience and feel very lucky!