Dawn Tower

Review of Hyatt Regency Maui

My husband and I stayed here for four nights. The ...

My husband and I stayed here for four nights. The resort grounds were a lot of fun, and provided interesting cuisine and recreation. The pools were great, open 24 hours, and well maintained. We enjoyed wandering around the shops, and found the little convenience store helpful.

The room, however, was dated. At the very least the carpet needs to go, it brought the look of the entire room down. Our balcony and view were pleasant. We were concerned by the moldy smell in our room, and honestly the entire floor. It decreased as we stayed and the room aired out, but it was always present. I have allergies, and we were also worried that the mold was a dangerous variety.

Housekeeping was friendly and did a great job.

I'm not a fan of their billing practices. At check in they asked for a card to put on file for incidentals. They did not tell me that they were going to put a $546 hold on it. They held an additional $276 after the first night, because we had a nice dinner out at the sushi place and went over the $100 expected expenses. I had used my debit card, and was a bit annoyed to see over $800 on hold (especially since I'd forgotten to deposit my pay check before leaving for vacation). The front desk was able to take the hold off and switch my debit card for a credit card when I asked, but this sort of thing is important to tell customers up front.

The "swim up" pool bar closes at 5pm, which is disappointing. I believe the latest you can find service elsewhere is 11 PM. Specialty drinks were $15-$17 each, and not very strong (or top shelf). Memorize the happy hours.

Everything at the sushi place tasted amazing, but our rolls fell apart and had to be eaten with a fork.

Lastly, I hate the idea of resort fees. They should be lumped into the advertised rate. I knew this resort charged them before I booked, but held my nose because the pools just looked so amazing online. We plan to visit Maui again in a couple months, but will either stay at a resort that doesn't charge extra fees, or at an airbnb (which is at least transparent, despite its other flaws).