We never booked a room before landing in Maui for a stay of 19 days. Took a room in Kihea for 3 nites on arrival but on a day trip up the coast we spotted the Pioneer Inn. We've been here 3 nites now...yesterday rebooked for rest of week...tonite ,sitting on the deck facing Front St. we are going to book for rest of oour remaining time on Maui.

I've stayed at the Venetian in Vegas down to motels in the Baja where the bathrooms are a communal hole in the ground...the Pioneer is now my favorite.

Unless you wear spandex or wear sweaters laid loose on your back,you will fall in love with this place...I don't want to leave.

This hotel didn't work out for us. It was clean, well maintained, front desk was helpful and the location is terrific, even though it is not walking distance to a beach.

The problems we had were with the air conditioner and with folks in the next room sleeping out on the lanai.

In most of Hawaii, we often don't need airconditioning where the trade winds are cooling. However, if you've ever been to Lahaina, you realize quickly that it gets very hot. Being located in the heart of the city doesn't make this location cooler. So you will use the window unit. That's would be ok, except that it works by cooling for about 3-5 minutes then clanking off extremely loudly. Kept us awake most of the night. Also, like a reviewer wrote a while back, it has a motion detector feature where it gets very hot in the room while you are asleep (at least it stops clanking), so you wake up sweating, get up and move around, and then the cooling, clanking begins again.

In the room next to ours, they moved a roll-away bed out to the lanai and slept there. We thought maybe the hotel didn't know about it...no, the next morning we sat out on our lanai, the rollaway bed sitting unmade next to our lanai. During the day, the maids made up the bed--outside ready for the next night.

The roll-away thing might have been ok if we'd paid hostel prices, but at $150 we're not expecting bunking outside!

The air conditioner is a deal breaker for us no matter what, because if we can't sleep, there's no point period.

We really wanted to like this hotel, it's got so much going for it.

Dont even think about staying anywhere else. I agree with everything people have said above. My friend and I stayed in a standard $145 room for 2 nights. Lovely well resostored historic inn,carefully preserved with great taste. room is a litlte on the small side, but they had to work within limitations considering that it is over 100 years old. all appliances, the deck, bathroom, cortyear was perfect. free parking around the corner. several very nice beaches and diving near buy. great atmosphere and location. would go back there anytime. we loved it.

My wife and I stayed in the Pioneer Inn for two nights in July. We had stayed there two years ago, and we liked the turn of the century architecture, the free parking, and the historic central location. We had no need for a big pool, but we wanted to walk frequently between the restaurants/shops and the hotel’s shade to avoid “the cruel sun.” It feels as if, from the time Lahaina was Hawaii's capital, the rest of the city radiated outward from the boat landing and the Pioneer Hotel site. We were sad to see that the sailing ship, The Carthaginian (see photo taken July 2005), had been removed permanently from its mooring in front of the hotel and scuttled as an artificial reef, but it still can be found on the hotel's T-shirt photo. The combination of the historic light tower, wharf, the Carthaginian, and the century-old giant banyan tree and red-and-white
hotel building protected by palm trees and a tall green volcanic ridge appear in many paintings and on postcards. They capture Maui's modern history in a single scene. When we booked through the Best Western website, we said that we were willing to pay for a room with a refrigerator, so we were booked in room no. 50, a larger room on the second floor with a king-sized bed. It faced the courtyard and the public library, well worth the extra cost with a bigger porch, as well. The card-key lock on the door was tricky, and sometimes it took 5-10 attempts to open it. We tried the discount coupon at the hotel's popular restaurant for breakfast, but we got a reluctant server, and they were out of English muffins. A minor quibble: macadamia nut pancakes cost $2.50+ more than regular ones, but tourists wanting to try a "local dish" will find just one or two crushed macadamia nuts on top of a regular pancake, which seemed a bit much considering you could make your own and have lots left over from a small tetrapak of macadamia nuts that sells everywhere for 69 cents. The staff at the front desk were relaxed, friendly, and casual, and the housekeeping staff were friendly and helpful--especially when we had trouble opening the door to room 50. Wireless
Internet access was provided free in room 50, which is important to us when we travel. Because the hotel has the problems of an old building, we rated it above average, but we will return to the Pioneer Hotel for its excellent economic and aesthetic value; we'll skip the restaurant and go to others such as BJ's Pizza instead.