Sitting on an eight-foot surfboard just off Kaanapali Beach and looking back toward West Maui, the view before me was pretty much the same as the last time I rode waves there a few years earlier.
The sandy shoreline was busy with sunbathers and a cast of grinning children, who screeched occasionally while wading and jumping at the water’s edge. Nearby, a beginner surfer stood up on her first wave, cheered on excitedly by her instructor and the other first-timers in her small surf class.
In short, folks were doing what they usually do on Kaanapali Beach: enjoying the splendor of a Maui vacation.
During my Kaanapali visit in late May this year, the Westin Maui Resort & Spa, Kaanapali was bustling with all sorts of happy guests, and the property’s warm welcome and easygoing hospitality felt much like it did on any of my handful of previous stays at the hotel over the years.
While that familiar sense of aloha didn’t surprise me, it was certainly wonderful to witness firsthand, after all the difficulties West Maui has navigated since the devastating wildfire that destroyed much of nearby Lahaina last August.
Officials at the Westin Maui Resort & Spa hope more visitors will return to Kaanapali and West Maui in the near future.
Credit: 2024 The Westin Maui Resort & Spa A lot of businesses and activities for local people were lost in the fire, so to have a great space for families to come and have some activities for the keiki [children] and local gatherings — it's going to be a fun space for everybody.
In another positive sign for the property and area, work on a $160 million upgrade to the resort wrapped up in March this year, including a substantial overhaul to each of the 552 guestrooms in the hotel’s Kukahi Tower. Improvements included new furniture, carpets, lighting and televisions, as well as work in the bathrooms.
The resort also opened its oceanfront Ulu Kitchen — a new open-air restaurant experience from celebrated Hawaii chef Peter Merriman — and unveiled the 10,000-square-foot Westin Maui Social Space, which features its own bar, two Topgolf swing suites, four lanes of duckpin bowling and more than 50 arcade games.
“We're actually really proud of that,” Josh Hargove, general manager of the Westin Maui Resort, said of the new Social Space. “A lot of businesses and activities for local people were lost in the fire, so to have a great space for families to come and have some activities for the keiki [children] and local gatherings — it's going to be a fun space for everybody.”
