westin k'anapali ocean resort

Is it on the windy side of the island? What time of year has the best weather?

I have been to Maui several times, and wind has never been a factor in the Ka'anapali area. You may be thinking of the northern part of the island, in Kahului near the airport, where the wind is strong enough for some serious high-speed windsurfing.

Maui pretty much has nice weather year-round. It's pretty temperate - the summers are just slightly hotter. I personally prefer winter & spring, which are especially nice if you're fleeing colder weather during those seasons. And, January - March is whale season, which is not to be missed. You can usually see them right from the shore in Ka'anapali.

janes152 wrote:

Is it on the windy side of the island? What time of year has the best weather?

We were at this resort in Sept 05 and the wind would blow all your stuff around at the pool. Beautiful place even with the wind. AND the wind was strong

janes152 wrote:

Is it on the windy side of the island? What time of year has the best weather?

I was curious about the tradewinds and when they are worst and found this article - http://starbulletin.com/2006/06/07/news/story05.html

Based on this and what I have heard, summer has more wind (which can be nice because it cools things off). Winter gets less wind but a little more rain. There is very little difference in weather though, and Maui is basically nice all year long.

The futher north you go, the more affected by the tradewinds. The areas on West Maui from north to south are Kapalua, Kaanapali, then Lahaina. North of Kapalua is always windy, Kapalua more windy than Kaanapali, and Kaanapali is more windy than Lahaina. At the resort, the stength of the trade winds and the direction of the tradewinds make a big difference. If the tradewinds are coming more from the west, then the mountains block them, if they are coming from the north, then they affect the resort. The Westin villas are futher north than the Westin hotel so they are more affected. I have been been there and there on days with little wind and on days with a lot of wind. If you are looking forward to a quiet beach day and it is windy at the villas, take the shuttle down to the Westin hotel or Shearton and you will probably get less wind. I have also noticed less wind in the morning and at sunset.

Sorry I posted a bunch of stuff all in one day. Everyone everwhere keeps trying to talk us into taking a presentation. All I wanted to do was go parasailing! We are going to come back to Maui but its our first time here. I am thinking about touring the Westin and the Marriott. What is the difference? I keep seeing ads for the Ritz Carlton Club--what is that? Are fractional and timeshare the same? I don't want to be pressured into buying anything. How are the salespeople here? What about at other places? I did a presentation in Lake Tahoe and the "closer" wouldn't let up. I just want to make my own decision. Should I just buy resale? Why/Why not?

The presentations not so bad. Sometimes I have had the closers be very pushy, but my husband and I just sit back and say no. It also depends if taking 2 hours out of your vacation is worth it for a $100.00 voucher or other. The ritz is fractional ownership. You get 21 days or 25 days not sure for 350,000(yes the zeros are right) The prices go up from there depending on the view and size of the unit. Plus you do pay a maintance fee. not sure what it is The location is amazing, and I am sure the units are too.

larryw139 wrote:

Sorry I posted a bunch of stuff all in one day. Everyone everwhere keeps trying to talk us into taking a presentation. All I wanted to do was go parasailing! We are going to come back to Maui but its our first time here. I am thinking about touring the Westin and the Marriott. What is the difference? I keep seeing ads for the Ritz Carlton Club--what is that? Are fractional and timeshare the same? I don't want to be pressured into buying anything. How are the salespeople here? What about at other places? I did a presentation in Lake Tahoe and the "closer" wouldn't let up. I just want to make my own decision. Should I just buy resale? Why/Why not?

I think the only time to buy from the developer is pre-construction. Because most of the time you can get resale units for 30 to 50% off. but usually not able to use the point system. you can use staroptions or one of the exchange companies

I bought at the Westin K'anapali last July on the resale market. But, because I had never seen the resort itself, I dropped in to talk with the sales department. I was direct about what I needed to know and what time I was willing to give them. I told them I wanted to see a one bedroom unit and wanted the bottom line $$$. No fluff!! They did it in about 25 minutes and I was gone. No pressure at all, he did ask if he could call me back later in the week to dscuss, I agreed. At that time, I told him I bought on the resale. He was o.k. with that! He did call me a couple of months later to see if everything went well and wanted to know if Westin did a ROF to buy it back. They didn't and its been a done deal. Going to enjoy my investment in a couple of weeks.

Just got back from vacation at the Westin Villa's. It really is a wonderful resort. I bought on the resale market but thought since I was there that I would do a owners preview tour since they asked me if I wanted to! I said o.k. It was interesting, once they found out I bought resale. I didn't get a tour of the new buildings. I thought thats what I was going to get. I guess I was wrong. He basically told me that I could sell my current one bedroom / one week a year for more money than I payed for it and wanted me to buy a two bedroom lockout in Kaui (not sure I spelled that correctly) that is being built to open in 2009. He tried to play up the points factor which isn't bad and pointed out the lack of flexibility I have with my current purchase. Needless to say, the tour didn't last long and we didn't agree on what he was trying to sell. I also asked him what inventory they had in the current building A and B (orginal buildings) that they may of purchased back or gotten on trade in. Didn't get much of a response. But I must say, the new building look great from the outside. Kids pools and another pool have been added. It will be a good size resort when they are done. Had a great room on the 6th floor facing the pool and ocean. :)