At Maui Ocean Club

[ondeadlin]

No phone call, no fax, no e-mail e-mail to the GM, just incredibly lucky enough to be assigned an oceanfront 2BR at Maui Ocean Club. Fantastic location - middle floor, overlooking the beach and the new building.

Corner unit, so it doesn't fit the standard floor plan. Living room and master face the ocean, while the studio is tucked behind (just fine considering it's occupied by our small children). The living area and master are absolutely huge, already renovated and, as such, beautifully decorated.

Coming to you live from the lanai, where the waves are crashing in the background and the breeze is wonderful. Fantastic Hawaii vibe.

All Marriott owners were invited to the owners' reception, even if they traded in, and we got to meet some nice folks. Vast majority were Maui owners, as you'd expect given reports that most owners here use their units. Everyone we spoke to (besides ourselves) were multiple-week owners, almost all developer purchase. They put your ownership on the name tags, so another guy who owned at Streamside gravitated to me and asked if I'd bought resale or developer. I told him resale and he smiled, nodded and said, "I can't believe the prices people are paying." I asked him if he posted on TUG, he said he did, but didn't offer a screen name, so I didn't pry.

Have yet to meet anyone who traded in with a non-Marriott.

Milk is $5 a gallon at the Costco! $5 a half gallon at the ABC Store!

Will tour the new building later this week and report back.

Very, very obvious to see why this is the most requested II trade. Tremendous property. Outgoing staff. Great amenities. But all that seems almost secondary when you're sitting on the lanai with islands in the distance as the waves roll in and the plams sway ...

 

[Palguy]

We will be arriving next Sunday. Ready to go now, but have to wait. The feeling I now have is the same one I use to get as a kid the nearer Christmas got. Such excitement!!

 

[GregT]

I'm jealous --- I miss that place and can't wait until next year!!!

A question -- can you tell from your unit if they've trimmed (or removed) any of the trees in front of Lahaina Villas? I was disappointed by the number of trees (way more than needed), and have sent an email to the BOD asking them to remove some.

Anyone else stayed in Lahaina Villas and noticed the number of trees? I may start a campaign.....

Thanks, and enjoy your time there!

 

[smithde]

GregT,

You are right about the trees. We were on the 4th floor OF of the new Lanai Tower in early July. You can barely see the ocean as you are looking right into the tree tops. They really need to remove quite a few of them.

 

[ondeadlin]

A question -- can you tell from your unit if they've trimmed (or removed) any of the trees in front of Lahaina Villas? I was disappointed by the number of trees (way more than needed), and have sent an email to the BOD asking them to remove some.

My unit actually has a really great view of that entire area. No sign the trees have been trimmed or removed.

I'd actually have to respectfully disagree with you, in that I think they look great and really like the trees in front of our unit (even though some of them block the view). But maybe I'd feel differently from inside, hard to tell.

Might be simpler just to request a high floor. I'm sure they'd give you one if you explained the trees bother you.

 

[frankhi]

................

 

[smithde]

Requesting a higher floor only works if they have one. There are relatively few OF floating 2BR units in Lahaina tower. We requested a high floor when we made our reservation and we were assigned the 4th floor.

ondeadlin, you don't say what floor your unit was on. Based on our recent visit, the fourth floor is by far the worst. You can barely see the ocean. I'm not really happy about having paid a premium price for OF and getting a limited ocean view. From what I could tell, any floor above the fourth would look over top the trees and below the fourth, you'd have decent view as the tree trunks are the only thing in the way.

Don't get me wrong, we love the villas in the new tower, but they really screwed up with all of the trees.

 

[ondeadlin]

Well, did the tour of the new building and it was hard not to be impressed. The three bedroom unit is stunningly decorated - as nice as the Ritz-Carlton Club units I've stayed in at Bachelor Gulch - and very, very large. Steam shower, fantastic kitchen, large lanai(s).

All the 3BRs are sold as fixed units, with the prices varying widely depending on season and floor. The first floor units, all ADA specs, are radically cheaper than the top floor units -- in the 40s for first floor, above $115,000 for some high floor fixed weeks. Average prices for the 3BRs were around 100k.

I took a price sheet for the 2BRs, but have since misplaced it. I believe the oceanfront were in the 70s, mountainside in the 40s.

Our salesperson was very informed - an owner herself - and very low-pressure. We were in and out in just over an hour.

Smith, I'm actually on the fourth floor in the old building, with a view that perfectly illustrates your point. Yes, fourth and down is going to have some obstructed views. I asked someone at the resort today about it, though, and he said they have no plans to trim or remove the trees. He said they hear very few complaints (but admitted there were some).

 

[smithde]

Can't speak for the old building. Those units don't overlook the same tree area, so maybe it's not as bad. From the new buidling 4th floor, the view is essentially totally obstructed by trees.

 

[GregT]

Ondeadln,

I'm sorry to hear that someone at the resort told you there were no plans to move or trim the trees -- I've been hoping for some relief. Was the person who said it a sales person, or someone more authoritative?

Thanks!

 

[ondeadlin]

Greg,

It was someone in management. He said there are discussions about trimming, but no discussion about removing the trees.

 

[rubycat33]

Lots of trees

Don't you think the number and possibly even the location of landscaping (trees) is part of the approved master plan. Typically planting trees, especially if others were removed is a given.

Does anyone have pictures of the new tower outside the old Molakai Tower. When we were last there, they were just clearing the valet parking lot in preparation for construction. I am curious how construction is going and how it looks from up and down the beach.

 

[rubycat33]

Impact of Airfare?

Also, Ondeadlin, what is your impression on the cost of air fare and occupancy. I read that bookings are sinking fast in general on the Islands. Does it look like it is impacting the Maui Marriott, or have you heard anyone, including staff, make comments re occupancy?

 

[taffy19]

Don't you think the number and possibly even the location of landscaping (trees) is part of the approved master plan. Typically planting trees, especially if others were removed is a given.

Does anyone have pictures of the new tower outside the old Molakai Tower. When we were last there, they were just clearing the valet parking lot in preparation for construction. I am curious how construction is going and how it looks from up and down the beach.

I took quite a few pictures of the trees in front of the Lahaina tower from the sixth and eighth floor. Here is an older picture of a few big trees in front of the corner of the new Lahaina tower next to the proposed Hyatt timeshare resort before they were trimmed and here is one after. These trees will definitely block ocean view from the first few floors if they are not trimmed but they are beautiful trees.

Here is a view from the grounds to the other corner of the new Lahaina tower and since they are palm trees, I didn't think they would block too much view but they do, I read here. These palm trees will grow higher so then the blocked view will be on a higher floor. They told us that they would stop around the sixth floor so that's why we bought higher. Click next to see some more pictures.

Here are some views from the eighth floor and you can see that there are less palm trees when you look towards the Hyatt property than there are on the Marriott property but these trees give people shade when they are sitting on the lounge chairs on the lawn which is a big plus. We would always find a shady spot when sitting on the lawn. It's so hard to please everyone but why not remove or trim the big trees right against the property?

 

[GregT]

The trees are an interesting issue -- obviously I knew the trees were there when I made the decision to purchase, but what's personally frustrated as I was very concerned about the view, and tried to get access to the then-completed facility (but not yet opened) to see the view. I even offered a few bucks to one of the workers, but he rebuffed my efforts.

I have a video clip that shows the view from my balcony, and a picture (video?) speaks a thousand words -- can anyone advise on how to upload it? It's 25MB.

However, if this is my greatest complaint in life, then I am a very fortunate man!!!

 

[ondeadlin]

The hotel was at full capacity. I expect that will always be the case, at least in the summer, given demand within II.

Airfare and air capacity were topics of discussion several times on our trip, and the subject of at least one local radio report I heard.

Bottom line is this: Tourism is soft right now and even with ATA and Aloha folding, air traffic to and from the mainland is well below capacity. Supposedly Hawaii has already slowed down plans to add planes made after Aloha and ATA went bust.

In addition, nearly everyone expects Go!/Mesa to declare bankruptcy in the short term and is very skeptical of their ability to emerge from it as a viable entity in the islands. None of the locals I spoke to flies Go!, but they said it acts as a check on Hawaiian jacking up fares. All of them expected major inter-island fare increases if Go! disappears.

Real estate is at least 20 percent off peak on Maui (not that you'd know it from talking to the folks at the Marriott of course, lol) and sliding.

The economy overall seems to be hurting. Maui Land and Pineapple had big, big layoffs last week and on the Big Island, where we are now, they just announced sizeable layoffs at the Kona Medical Center.

 

[taffy19]

The trees are an interesting issue -- obviously I knew the trees were there when I made the decision to purchase, but what's personally frustrated as I was very concerned about the view, and tried to get access to the then-completed facility (but not yet opened) to see the view. I even offered a few bucks to one of the workers, but he rebuffed my efforts.

I have a video clip that shows the view from my balcony, and a picture (video?) speaks a thousand words -- can anyone advise on how to upload it? It's 25MB.

However, if this is my greatest complaint in life, then I am a very fortunate man!!!

Greg, you can upload movie or video clips at http://video.google.com/ or at http://www.youtube.com/ and then simply link to it. I don't know how you do it here. I use www.smugmug.com as I can make them private. You can do this with video.google.com too but you need to give your family or friends a password to see them.

 

[GregT]

Video file

Thank you for the link!

I've uploaded it, and I was able to view it, I'll be curious to see if others can too.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5102501876388362692&hl=en

I am hopeful (but not optimistic) that the Board of Directors will decide to relocate some of the trees over to Napili Villas -- because the Napili Villas has a pool between them and the beach, they will definitely have less tree noise.

Oh well....we'll see if anything comes from it...

 

[sdtugger]

Interesting

The video worked great. The problem seems to be less the number of trees as it is the proximity of the trees to your lanai. Surely someone thought this through when they designed the landscaping?? I wonder if they were required to install a certain number of trees to obtain permits, etc. But, even if that were the case, they don't need to put the trees so close to the building that they obscure the view. Frankly, I've had several ocean view rooms in the original building with far less obstructed views of the beach.

I wonder what is motivating the placement of trees. I don't understand why they would hype their ocean front views and then obscure them with tree placements. As I said before in this thread, there is a similar issue on the north side of the original north tower. Those trees were very thick from the bottom up and blocked a stunning view. They've been trimmed down to stumps during construction. But, that makes me fear that they are planned for inclusion in the final landscaping plan.

 

[sandesurf]

Movie worked great! Our new son in law got down on his knee and proposed to our daughter right there under those trees, one year ago yesterday! We were standing on our 6th floor OF lanai, in the Lanai tower, and couldn't see a thing!
Aren't some of those Lahaina OF units "fixed"?
Good luck!

 

[taffy19]

Thank you for the link!

I've uploaded it, and I was able to view it, I'll be curious to see if others can too.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5102501876388362692&hl=en

I am hopeful (but not optimistic) that the Board of Directors will decide to relocate some of the trees over to Napili Villas -- because the Napili Villas has a pool between them and the beach, they will definitely have less tree noise.

Oh well....we'll see if anything comes from it...

Greg, your ocean view is severely blocked with so many trees in front of you and that is awful when you paid so much for a fixed oceanfront unit. Why would they have them grow so close to the lanai as that doesn't make any sense.

The noise in the movie clip may be from the wind rather than from the swaying palm trees and I have noticed this often with movie clips when there is even a little bit of wind in the microphone as they are so sensitive.

These palm trees will grow higher but then they bother the owners of that floor too. I believe that only the top two floors may not have an issue here but all other floors will too so more complaints will follow. I can hardly believe that they have received so few complaints yet.

We should take it up with the HOA Board and other people of the Lahaina tower will chime in too, I am sure. The shade trees are nice for the lounge chairs but then they shouldn't have sold our units as an oceanfront condo. The view is far from ocean view except the top floors. Period.

When we bought, they told us that none of the Napili tower condos would be called "oceanfront" condos but they would call them "ocean view deluxe" or "ocean deluxe view" condos (I don't remember which it was of the two) but they told us that we were buying the last oceanfront units this resort was going to build. Later I heard that the Napili tower got the designation of "oceanfront condos" anyway while they told us that they couldn't get it because they were too far back from the ocean.

I'll bet you this is a big selling point today that there will be less palm trees here to block your view because the Napili tower will have the pool in the front of the building so no room for trees. It's amazing how they can market their product to their advantage and then make changes so easily. They also told us that all ocean front units were going to be fixed only and even that changed too when time went on.

I sent you an email about that push button feature they have now that wasn't there in the beginning. If the trees are not shown in that view then this feature would absolutely have no value. It would just be a marketing gimmick. JMHO. I don't know if it shows the trees or not as it wasn't available when we bought. If the building was that far along, they should have shown it to you since it is a fixed unit.

I can see why you are upset but more owners will join you and ask Management or the HOA board to have some trees moved over to the other side so the palm trees will not be lost.