Aston at Papakea Resort Condo

I always take bad reviews with a grain of salt...you never know the full situation, how particular the person is, or why they felt they had a negative experience. With that said, my husband and I have traveled a lot, both all inclusive and not. We’re apart of two different time share companies, so we understand the random variances from locations & rooms, fees, rules, and “catches” that sometimes come along with hotels/resorts/locations. I knew when booking this trip that each room was individually owned, however, I was under the impression that it would still be like a resort with amenities and services like they claim on their website. We were part of a big wedding group, with about 12+ rooms being reserved on the property. About half of the group was happy with their rooms and the other half had major issues. I can only speak for our experience, which was not positive. Check in was easy & totally fine until I was asked for a CC to be charged $300 for cleaning services (we weren’t given a heads up about this and thought we paid in full already). I’ve heard of daily resort fees before, but they’ve always been minimal, and we’ve never been charged cleaning fees on top of the cost of the rooms. This room cleaning fee ONLY covers for when you check out...NOT for any cleaning services during your stay except for trash removal. You want fresh towels, clean bedding, or anything else? You have to pay a min of $11 each time (varies on what you need and the size of your room). Good luck getting housekeeping to actually come to you though. We called housekeeping several times and they never actually came to our room. Don’t bother calling the front desk for it, they just tell you to call housekeeping. Our reservation was for an ocean front room with a king size bed. The view was AMAZING. LOVED being ocean front. We had a full bed. Not a queen. And the room hadn’t been updated from the 80’s/early 90’s. It was clean, but not CLEAN clean. TV sucked- huge delay (not that we watched tv much at all but on the rainy nights it would of been nice) AC was NOISY & rattled. Ice maker was NOISY... would wake us up throughout each night. We don’t spend much time in our room on vacation, but we do sleep there, and we both slept like crap all 7 nights. I called the front desk after seeing our room and asked for a better room. They did actually let us view another available room but it was almost exactly the same... when I asked about anything better, (because I know they had updated rooms as others in our party got upgraded just because) the front desk was slightly rude & not helpful...the girl literally just shrugged her shoulders & gave me a blank stare. Didn’t apologize at all for the mix up or inconvenience. Some of the group members got room upgrades or dining credits (without having any issues at all) for no reason at all, but we did not even after I requested a room change..... We did have friends in our group that did get a room change for an ant infestation....and I’m talking ants everywhere....in between the plates in the cupboards, all over the bathroom & kitchen counters, etc. but they were first asked if they’d like the exterminator to come. Uh, yeah, no sh*t. They had to wait a day & a half to change rooms. So our situation could of been worse lol We also tried to rent equipment early (8am) for a beach day but concierge wasn’t available for 2+ hours. Just as an FYI, “Fully equipped kitchen” doesn’t come with salt/pepper/coffee filters/etc... I packed salt & oil spray just in case & I’m glad I did. We’re apart of a time share that has fully equipped kitchens that provides these basics & assumes this condo would as well. No storage containers with lids or foil/zip locks/plastic wrap...just an FYI! They do provide dishwasher soap (for multiple loads) & laundry detergent (for 1 load), but I did bring several Tide 3 in 1 detergent pods! Also, they want you to recycle but no recycling bin in room, and you have to drive it to the ABC store recycling disposal area. Our room did not have chairs, mats, coolers, umbrellas, or anything helpful in it, but some of our friends rooms did. We did bring a collapsible cooler I got off amazon which was amazing to have! You can rent those things at different places (or concierge if you can get ahold of them) but it’s obviously cheaper if it’s already in your room! Positives? The grounds were very well kept, two nice pools & hot tubs, and two nice gazebo areas. Overall, we HATED our stay here & would not recommend it.

The is our second stay at the Aston. Our condo the first time was amazing, clean , updated and modern, so we were really disappointed when we saw our room this time. Mold on the pictures, ripped carpet, missing mouldings and the kitchen cabinets were a mess. I am shocked that a unit in this condition could even be rented. Be very careful on which unit you rent, this was unit F202

We stayed here for 10 days while in Maui. The front desk receptionists are helpful. The room was clean and stocked with usual necessities. The grounds are beautiful. The pool looks clean. There is a hot tub as well as a 12 hole putting green. Be sure to look in closet for tennis racket and balls, golf clubs and balls and coolers. We bought a cooler before we had looked in there so we left it. Our room had a partial view of the ocean and grounds. But we really didn’t stay in our room that much as there is so much to see and do in Maui. There was ample parking near our condo plus restaurants and shops within walking distance of the condo. Great place to stay.

We visited Maui on Nov, 2018 for a family vacation. Initially we booked Aston @ Kaanapali, but that got over booked, and we are transferred to Aston at Papakea Resort. Initially we ware worried about the rooms that we would be getting, but we realized that these rooms are better compared to Aston @ Kaanapali. With full view of ocean it was really a refreshing experience.

Stayed inL404 overlooking the ocean. Condo had a great view of the water and much quieter than all of the big resorts along the board walk. If you are looking for peace and quiet only a quarter of a mile of all of the big resorts this is it. Price is only 2/3 of the big resorts but is very nice even though it’s a little older.