Papakea Resort is above Kaanapali near resort row. DT Fleming Beach is to the North and Kaanapali Beach is to the South. Resort / Hotel is very easy to find off the main Highway 30.
When checking into the resort, park in front and go to the main lobby hostess area and check in to your room first. Leave your luggage in the car. After getting your room keys then park in front of your building so you don’t have to lug your luggage around finding your room. The resort has 7 buildings and each one is number after a letter A-G.
The good:
There are 2 pools with BBQ propane grills set around pool area with tables. Recommend to maybe hang out and eat dinner by pool area at night... no shade area at pools :(
The room we booked had an upstairs bedroom and bathroom and a downstairs bedroom and bathroom. The room was awesome and spacious for a family of 2 adults and 2 children. Recommed using the upstairs bedroom area, it’s a lot cooler on top, then the downstairs bedroom. There is a small window ac unit and fan in the living area that circulates air well into upstairs area. Downstairs was really stuffy and I had a hard time sleeping. There was a ceiling fan in our room but it just circulates warm humid air. Next time if we stay there, definitely going to have the kids stay downstairs and me and wifey will be upstairs :)
The room itself had everything you need for hanging out. It felt more like a condo/ home instead of a hotel room. Bedrooms and bathrooms were very clean and had a Spartan/ spacious feel. There is even a laundry unit with washer and dryer inside closet area, detergent was also included. The room had all the essentials for a day out, beach towels were included with bogey board. And bathrooms were all appointed with soap, body wash, hand soap, shampoo, hairdryer and extra towels.
Pro-Tip, this room B407 has all the essentials for home cooked meals, such as plates, bowls, silverware, utensils, fridge and paper towels. The kitchen is well stocked with everything you need, even down to dishwasher, Ajax Soap and scrubber. If staying longer than 4 days, go get groceries first before checking into hotel. Right next to the Airport is Costco or Target. Go there first before driving 30 miles to resort. Costco or Target will be the cheapest, or go to Safeway in Lahaina and get a membership card. Food is very expensive in Hawaii in general about 50% more than the mainland, so even if you just cook one meal in instead of eating out you’ll save money. We ended up eating breakfast in our room and ate out for lunch and dinner. Average was about $100 per meal for family of 4.
A very nice touch when checking into the room was a box of chocolate and bag of coffee on the counter. That was a nice surprise.
The Bad:
After buying food at Safeway we left our Hawaiian rolls and pita bread and bananas on the counter. Be forewarned, there are tiny bugs that were on the counter top and along the walls in the kitchen. Totally gross and disgusting. They were on the bananas and inside the bread and pita. We had to throw that stuff away. No matter how many times we cleaned the counter and walls with Ajax Soap before and after we ate breakfast, the next we’ll see the bugs again. Luckily they are only in the kitchen area. After seeing those bugs, we made sure we washed the dishes before we ate and after we ate, definitely didn’t want any bugs on our silverware crawling around at night.
This place was recommended by 2 coworkers that used VRBO and stayed here before.... they stayed in a “G” room building. We only stayed for 4 days, but had an awesome time in Maui. I would give this place 5 STARS because we had such a great time in Maui. This was the last getaway for the kids before they started school in 2 days.
However, due to the bugs I would give it only 3 STARS, talk about Roach Motel!! Me and wifey killed over 100 little bugs o...