I had read previous reviews and was very concerned regarding room size, misc hotel charges and food issues but I have to say our experience was GREAT. We traveled with a 4 and 8 year old and stayed in the beach tower in an ocean facing room. The room was nice size, not too small. Ours had two queen beds with a small sofa. This is a great hotel for kids. The kids program is awesome with different things to do each day so you can pick which day you put your kids in the program depending on what activities their are interested in. There are no words to describe the pool. My kids would have been happy to have spent all 6 days poolside by the waterslide. The food was spendy but it is Hawaii. Meals were slightly cheaper down the path at the Whaler's village restaurants. At times, it was more convenient to just 'bite the bullet' and pay the $25 breakfast buffet at the westin. Kids under 5 do get their meal free per paying adult and kids under 12 pay half the adult price, so this does take the 'edge' off :) !! The staff were very accomodating with everything from concierge questions to having to have engineering come to re-set our safe after our 4-yr old messed up the code. The spa was outstanding. I found the facility to be very clean and accomodating. Overall, we would definitely go back to the Westin.

I would highly recommend a stay at the Westin Resort in Maui.
The grounds were beautiful with waterfalls, black and white swans, pink pelicans and lush tropical plants. The hotel staff were very friendly and knowledgeable and helped us plan our stay with very pertinent information. The location of this resort is excellent where you can snorkel at Black Rock, walk on the beach, run on nearby trails or golf not far from the hotel. The rooms have been updated and are very clean and well kept. The food at the restaurants on location is good if you choose to eat there and are convenient if pressed for time. We loved this hotel and would not hesitate to stay there again!!

this wasn’t a 5 star luxury experience, but it was a 5 star satisfaction experience. we stayed here at the beginning of may on a starwood promotion and were put into a 2nd floor room with 2 double beds, overlooking the valet parking lot to the right of the entrance as you drive into the resort. the front desk clerk would only upgrade us to ocean view for double our room rate. we stayed at the princeville resort last year on a similar promotion and were upgraded to a beautiful ocean view room at our request free of charge. so at check-in we were already preparing to write a poor trip advisor review. but the resort won us over. as the pix show, the room was very nice, and we had a view of the golf course across the street and the mountains beyond.

there were signs of age, such as a missing marble baseboard panel under the bathroom sink and worn flooring under the mini-fridge. the door to the toilet/tub room also opened into the toilet, making access a bit difficult, and the lighting in there was much too dim. the empty mini-fridge was a nice touch, and we were able to load it with snacks and champagne from the star market 2 miles up the road or with takeout or doggie bags from restaurants. the room was right next to a hospitality suite and almost directly across from the 2nd floor promenade that provides access to conference rooms and ends in a stairway leading down to the pool area. however, the hospitality suite was vacant during our stay, and the only noise we heard in the hallway was the occasional sound of staff rolling carts on the service elevator. also, access to the pool area and to our car from our room was very easy by stairs instead of waiting for elevators.

the grounds are lovely, the pool is like a disney fantasy, and the resort has a prime location on ka’anapali beach, right next to whalers village. the public areas, including lobby, meeting room area, and restaurants are all part of that disney fantasy. the workout center is also amazingly good for a tropical resort hotel, where working out is likely a low priority. the $20 daily resort fee covered self-parking, in-room internet access, local calls, and bottled water every day. The self-parking lot fills up quickly, and regularly results in the valets having to double park cars when it gets full, which can be inconvenient if your car is blocked.

the only meal we had at the westin was breakfast at the ono bar and grill poolside, which was good, although almost double the price of the same breakfast we had at the plantation house in kapalua two days later. however, starwood picked up the tab, the setting was beautiful, and the restaurant was very conveniently located at the bottom of the stairs at the end of the promenade outside our room. we also had great happy hour drinks and chips and guac at tropica, with our shaded table facing the ka’anapali beachwalk and the ocean. service was very slow, however. for our restaurant choices see reviews here ( http://www.chowhound.com/topics/516516 ).

gotta give special recognition to our concierge, sara, who is an endurance athlete with seemingly boundless energy and boundless enthusiasm for maui. she made several very helpful itinerary and restaurant suggestions, which really enhanced our stay. overall, we enjoyed the westin maui a lot, its location at ka’anapali and its well-crafted resort experience being the highlights. we’d definitely consider staying here again, but only in an ocean view room.

We just returned back from a 10 night stay at the Westin Maui with our two sons, ages 4 and 1. Great time was had by all. We were upgraded to an ocean-front suite upon check-in (we are Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum, so that might be why) and the room on the 11th floor was great. Life saver having a suite with a little one. (FYI, found out via their website before our trip that we could request a diaper pail and a highchair for our room--had always requested cribs but never occured to me that many hotels also offer these items as well. Was fantastic to have them, especially the diaper pail!)
Kids LOVED the slides at the pool, my 4 yr old went on the big slide by himself and was able to have Dad or Mom wait for him at the bottom as he's not a great swimmer. 1 yr old loved going on the kiddie slide w/Mom or Dad, but also w/his brother (w/one putting him at the top and other catching him at the bottom!) Pools were all around fantastic, only wish they had some part of the pool that was shallower for the kids (shallowest was 4'.)We never had any problems finding seats at the pool, tho' most the shade covered lounges were taken by 8:30-9AM. This was no different than any other resort hotel we've stayed at, where people save their seats then go for breakfast. Never bothered us.
Read some previous reviews before we left about the adult poool being un-monitored. This was not the case while we were there, as I mistakenly took my older son there (wasn't paying attention and really thought the pool adjencent to it was the adult pool, realized after that the "adults only" sign was for the walkway UP to the adult pool, not the lower pool nearby) Anyway, we swam quietly for a bit, did get a few looks (Kid-haters! LOL, jk) and a pool waitress politely told us that it was designated for adults. My one beef with the pools is that the kiddie slide needs some refurbishing, both my husband and I got little fiberglass burns/splinters every other time we went down. OUCH! Doesn't bother the kids, but adults have trouble sliding fast (not a lot of water to move you, as is designed for kids) and then you get the splinters. Needs to be re-varnished or something. You do not have this problem on the big slide.
Nice being right next to Whaler's Village, went to eat at Hula Grill and Rusty Harpoon, both are nice. Shopping is decent, you konw its a bit pricier, but is so convenient. Went into Lahaina multiple times, ate at Moose McGuillicuddy's (sp?) which was great, the Hard Rock & Bubba Gumps (predictable, but also good), BJ's Chicago Pizza - great!, Kimo's - great! and our FAVORITE (sans kids while they stayed at the hotel w/a babysitter from Happy Kids Maui nanny service) was Ma La. It's on the ocean, on the other side of the Cannery Mall (off Front Street.) People did have kids there, but was definitely better for us to go w/out. I had the ribs which were absolutely delicious. We were also very pleased with the Ono Bar & Grill at the Westin. The food there was pretty good, and bonus for us, the kids meals there were both free (as they were under 5) so it actually was cheaper for us to eat lunch at the hotel.
My 4yr old son did the Westin Kids Club one day and he loved it (he's almost 5, which is their age minimum, so we shamefully had him lie about his age. Well worth it.) We did not do the breakfast brunch, but did eat from the Colonnade, where they had cereal, croissants, hot brkfst sandwhiches, etc. We drove to the near by Safeway and got some supplies (milk, oatmeal, snacks, etc.--our suite had a mini fridge) so that helped a bit with the food costs.
Hotel room walls are a bit thin, only a problem if you have inconsiderate neighbors who don't follow hotel ettiquette (like ours, who ordered room service, via speaker phone, at 11:30 at night, and shouted to ea other at 5:30 in the AM about who was taking longer to get ready.) For most, it won't be a problem I don't think.
Loved Maui, was there about 8 yrs ago pre-kids. Next time I'd love to spend some more time shopping in Pa'ai (start of the road to Hana) a cool little hippy town with very cool shopping and eateries. (w/the kids, we made it 1/2 way to Hana, yay!)

Overall we had a wonderful time at the Westin, and Maui in general. Would stay there again!