Ka’anapali Beach Club 2 Bedroom

[TJALB]

I’m thinking about purchasing a 2 Bedroom at KBC. I currently own 2 one bedroom deeded weeks. Does anyone know how difficult it is to book into the 2 bedrooms? I know the majority of units at KBC are 1 bedroom. Also, the person I’m looking to purchase from doesn’t seem to really know if I would be able to choose from any of the 2 bedroom units, or if the deed I would be purchasing only allows me to reserve a 2 bedroom unit on specific floors. Is anyone familiar with how the 2 bedroom deeds work? I was also told that the deed is not specific to the type of view. They say the deed says Ocean/Scenic??
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[DaveNV]

I can't speak to 2br units specifically, but when I stayed in a 1br at KBC last month, the discussion was held with the Front Desk about what floor I wanted to stay on. The unit I had a reservation for was Ocean View, and they said that was all I could get. The reservation was made through the Club, so they said I was treated as if I was an owner. The choice I did get was which side of the building, and how high up. I got the impression that I could have chosen any available ocean view 1br, if I'd had a unit preference. But that was kind of all there was. I'd expect something similar would happen with the 2br's for an owner. YMMV.

Dave

 

[TJALB]

Thanks Dave for your reply. KBC is comprised of probably 85% one bedrooms and 15% two bedrooms. The person I’m speaking with is not sure but believes that her deed specifys that she must pick from 2 specific floors when she makes reservations. I however, think that she can probably choose from any 2 bedroom regardless of the floor. My other question is how the 2 bedroom deeds are written. Currently, I own 2 (1 bedroom) weeks annually that say “Ocean View”. I’m told the two bedroom deeds read “Ocean/Scenic” View. Which would lead me to think that the two bedrooms are not assigned or sold by View; possibly because there are so few of them. I’m hoping that a TUG member might own a 2 bedroom deed and would be able to clarify this for me.
Thanks!

 

[jhac007]

Thanks Dave for your reply. KBC is comprised of probably 85% one bedrooms and 15% two bedrooms. The person I’m speaking with is not sure but believes that her deed specifys that she must pick from 2 specific floors when she makes reservations. I however, think that she can probably choose from any 2 bedroom regardless of the floor. My other question is how the 2 bedroom deeds are written. Currently, I own 2 (1 bedroom) weeks annually that say “Ocean View”. I’m told the two bedroom deeds read “Ocean/Scenic” View. Which would lead me to think that the two bedrooms are not assigned or sold by View; possibly because there are so few of them. I’m hoping that a TUG member might own a 2 bedroom deed and would be able to clarify this for me.
Thanks!

Why not have the existing owner send you a file of the deed. Then you could at least ask the resort about the description. Just a thought!

 

[DaveNV]

Are the two bedroom units the ones on the sides of the towers, that sort of stick out? If so, from the lanai you'd have both ocean view AND scenic view. So maybe the view is both, rather than one or the other?

Dave

 

[artringwald]

There are 16 2 bedroom units, 4 on each of the 3rd, 4th, 8th, and 9th floors. They are all on the corners of the tower that's closest to the mountains and they all have wrap around lanais. The seller should provide you an estoppel letter that will tell you exactly what the resort will let you book. You have to pay the resort a small fee to get the estoppel letter, but only the owner can request it. If you have an estoppel letter, anybody can use the info to go to the county's web site and get a copy of the deed for a small fee.

 

[Dean]

Thanks Dave for your reply. KBC is comprised of probably 85% one bedrooms and 15% two bedrooms. The person I’m speaking with is not sure but believes that her deed specifys that she must pick from 2 specific floors when she makes reservations. I however, think that she can probably choose from any 2 bedroom regardless of the floor. My other question is how the 2 bedroom deeds are written. Currently, I own 2 (1 bedroom) weeks annually that say “Ocean View”. I’m told the two bedroom deeds read “Ocean/Scenic” View. Which would lead me to think that the two bedrooms are not assigned or sold by View; possibly because there are so few of them. I’m hoping that a TUG member might own a 2 bedroom deed and would be able to clarify this for me.
Thanks!

I'd call the resort, they can likely provide you with additional information. It sounds like it shouldn't be a deal breaker either way. If they have online access, maybe they'll provide you with the sign on so you can look at that info as well.

 

[TJALB]

Are the two bedroom units the ones on the sides of the towers, that sort of stick out? If so, from the lanai you'd have both ocean view AND scenic view. So maybe the view is both, rather than one or the other?

Dave

That’s definitely a possibility that I didn’t consider. Thanks so much for bringing that to my attention.

 

[TJALB]

There are 16 2 bedroom units, 4 on each of the 3rd, 4th, 8th, and 9th floors. They are all on the corners of the tower that's closest to the mountains and they all have wrap around lanais. The seller should provide you an estoppel letter that will tell you exactly what the resort will let you book. You have to pay the resort a small fee to get the estoppel letter, but only the owner can request it. If you have an estoppel letter, anybody can use the info to go to the county's web site and get a copy of the deed for a small fee.

Thank you so much. Very good idea!

 

[JIMinNC]

We used to own a 2BR at KBC - from January 1999 through fall 2014. We sold our KBC after we bought into the Marriott system.

Unless there has been a change, the eight 2BR units on floors 3 and 4 are in a different category than the eight 2BR units on floors 8 and 9. The eight units on floors 8 and 9 were the first 2BR units to be sold as timeshare. That's what we owned, and after they converted the eight units on the two lower floors, we could still only book units on floors 8/9. I'm pretty sure the floor 3/4 owners were restricted to only booking other floor 3/4 2BR units.

You need to find out which category you are buying - floor 3/4 or 8/9 - because unless they have changed something, you will be restricted to booking on those floors. Floor 8/9 units tend to sell for more than floor 3/4 units.

All of the 2BR units on floors 8/9 were sold with the same Ocean/Scenic view category, but all are corner units with at least some view of the ocean from the lanai. The lanais are wraparound, "L shaped" lanais with a short side and a long side. See the attached diagram below of floor 8. The rooms on floor 9 are identical, with the only difference being the short section of lanai on the end of each unit. That section of the lanai is bigger on floor 8 than floor 9, so we always requested floor 8.

Unit 839 - the long side of the lanai overlooks the pool and ocean, looking toward the island of Lanai. The shorter side looks south toward the Honoa Kai condos, the ocean, Lanai, and the Kaanapali resort. We stayed in this unit once, and it was our favorite.

Unit 834 - the long side of the lanai overlooks the Star Market grocery with the West Maui mountains as a backdrop. The shorter side looks south toward the Honoa Kai condos, the ocean, Lanai, and the Kaanapali resort (in a similar view to the end section of unit 839). We stayed in this unit the most.

Unit 824 - the long side of the lanai overlooks the miniature golf area (if that is still there) and the ocean, looking more toward the island of Molokai. The shorter side looks north toward Kahana, the ocean, and Molokai. We stayed in this unit once.

Unit 829 - the long side of the lanai looks toward the West Maui mountains and north toward Kapalua. The shorter side looks north toward Kahana and Kapalua with a view of the ocean and Molokai. We never stayed in this unit, so my view description is based on what I think it would be. Not sure if you can see the grocery store from it.

Units 939, 934, 924, and 929 should have identical view descriptions as their corresponding units on floor 8. The units on 3/4 are in the same basic locations on the corners of the back section of the tower, but they are obviously lower with less expansive views.

 

[JIMinNC]

These are four shots of the view from units 839/939 in 2005:

These shots were all taken in 2005, so this next view was before Honoa Kai blocked part/much of this view of the Sheraton at Black Rock. This is also with a long lens, so it's not as close as it looks.

This next shot shows the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort and the open field where WKORV-North, Westin Nanea, and Honoa Kai are now.

 

[JIMinNC]

These next shots are from room 834, but would also be what you would see from 934:

First, looking toward the West Maui mountains from the long side of the lanai:

Now looking from the shorter side of the lanai that faces south:

The building on the left is the Honoa Kai.

 

[TJALB]

JIMinNC Thank you so much! You certainly have provided some excellent detailed information. And with pictures! Thanks to the information you’ve provided I now have a much better understanding of how the deeds work in terms of reserving the 2 bedroom units. Sounds like the deed I’m looking at would only allow me to choose from 8 units on 3rd & 4th floor. Only having 8 units sounds a bit limited to me. I’m concerned that it may be very difficult to reserve one of the 8 two bedrooms, especially if I need to reserve during prime summer season; which is usually the case.
Thank you so much for taking the time to provide so much detailed information. I have a lot to think about.
Have a wonderful summer!

 

[JIMinNC]

JIMinNC Thank you so much! You certainly have provided some excellent detailed information. And with pictures! Thanks to the information you’ve provided I now have a much better understanding of how the deeds work in terms of reserving the 2 bedroom units. Sounds like the deed I’m looking at would only allow me to choose from 8 units on 3rd & 4th floor. Only having 8 units sounds a bit limited to me. I’m concerned that it may be very difficult to reserve one of the 8 two bedrooms, especially if I need to reserve during prime summer season; which is usually the case.
Thank you so much for taking the time to provide so much detailed information. I have a lot to think about.
Have a wonderful summer!

We sold our KBC in 2014, and the last time we stayed there was in 2011, so my information is not all that current, but from 1999-2011 we stayed there six times. We never had an issue making our reservation, and we were also limited to eight 2BR units, but on floors 8/9. We were usually requesting higher-demand weeks since we had kids in school back then, and we generally requested the booking 9-12 months out (back then it was a paper-based fax/email request). I even found some of our old reservations in a file, so for example:

1999 - We were there week 52 for the Millennium (reserved exactly 12 months out)
2001 - Not sure when we went, but I think it was in March
2003 - We reserved week 51 and were there for Christmas (reserved exactly 12 months out)
2005 - Reservation was for June 19 (reserved in October 2004)
2008 - Reservation was for June 15 (reserved in September 2007)
2011 - Reservation was for June 12 (reserved in late November 2010)

Not only did we always get our first choice check-in date (back then they required that we provide three dates, ranked by preference), but we also always received our request of a room on floor 8 (requested due to the larger lanais). We always listed our room assignment preference as 1) 839, 2) 834, and 3) 824. We always got our first or second room choice except for the first time in 1999 when I'm not even sure if we made a specific request. Usually we got 834, but in 2005 we lucked into 839.

Remember, while there are only eight units in each 2BR category, that means there are also fewer owners competing for those units. But you are correct to question it, since whenever there are a small number of units and a long, 52-week season (as is the case in Hawaii), it can create competition for the best weeks. I obviously have no idea if the reservations are tougher to get now than in the past, but back then it wasn't an issue. The wild card now might be how Diamond allocates inventory between deeded weeks and their points system. Not sure how that impacts availability of 2BR units.