The Ritz-Carlton Maui Kapalua

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

4549 reviews

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  Hotel/Resort Heaven

  This is the absolute heaven regarding hotels/resorts. The location and the setup sure is hard to beat. The friendliness of the whole staff shall be the rolemodel for all such businesses. The best of the best!!

  Jan 25, 2026
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  Underwhelming

  Absolutely stunning location. However the unwelcoming ,Ho- hum, mundane service was a real disappointment. My husband and I have traveled and I’ve stayed at many of Ritz Carlton‘s locations and this by far has been the most disappointing. When you come to a five star luxury hotel you do expect an elevated experience in feeling that your business is appreciated. This was a very underwhelming experience to say the least. The vibe here is different.

  Jan 18, 2026
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  Underwhelming

  If you’re wanting the normal experience when you come to a Ritz-Carlton location, unfortunately Kapalua has fallen short. My husband and I have traveled and have stayed in many Ritz-Carlton‘s around the world. The location is absolutely stunning. The rooms are OK. they could use an upgrade but it’s the staff that was just sub par not inviting not endearing as I’ve come to experience other Ritz Carlton’s. Not sure why the vibe is what it is here, but it didn’t make our stay here very memorable.

  Jan 18, 2026
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  Great resort option even for solo travel

  First thing first - absolutely top class service across concierge, front desk, house keeping, restaurant (breakfast and banyan tree) Though my favourite is the concierge team who I was in touch before arriving to book all my tours. Super helpful and professional team. Front desk as expected delivered a great service with a smile. Whenever and wherever you are in the resort you will always meet somebody greeting you with a smile and genuine politeness. I had a great experience at Banyan Tree which I have posted separately but still my favourite is the team at breakfast service. Great breakfast buffet (my favourite fresh juice and omelette). Room service though had limited option atleast the day I ordered. The restaurant/bar at the lobby level is packed all the evenings and they don’t book table if you are solo. It’s crowded noisy so I would say check out some of the great restaurants within walking distance outside the hotel. Ofcourse Banyan Tree in the hotel is a great choice for dinner one of the days. As it’s a resort there are tons of activities for family with kids but I went for the tales of Kapa Moe (includes dinner) one evening and spa. Tales of Kapa Moe was bit disappointing because of sitting and even average food, inspite of the resort having one of the best restaurant on the island. Spa was 10/10 and they probably have some of the best therapist!!! The resort is located on the north west part of the island which means it’s 45-60 mins drive from the airport, totally on the opposite side of Hana ( south east) or turtle beach (east coast). So this is more like away from the touristy places. But the resort has its own beach which is quite nice too. Also one of the factor what made this a great stay was booking through Fine hotel & resort - AMEX which adds lot of extra benefits like breakfast upgrade late check out etc. I got a great partial sea view room. Lastly super nice Fitness centre.

  Jan 18, 2026
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  Jaw-droppingly awful service

  To call this stay disappointing would be an understatement. The property itself is beautifully landscaped and well maintained and situated behind a fabulous beach (especially for those, like us, who enjoy a more energetic beach with fun waves, bodyboarding etc.), but all this is completely destroyed by the service experience. We stayed over the new year - and while this might be an excuse for poor service, the caliber of the staff was so far off from “ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen” to be almost comical. Unless you really don’t know better or have had your service expectations completely beaten down by big chain cost cutting, I guarantee you will be appalled by the standards here. A standout was on this same (lovely) beach, sitting in front of the two “gentlemen” managing the loungers and listening to the one (in Ritz Carlton attire - not Chris btw, who was one of the few professional staff members we encountered) tell the other how he had vomited all over a girl, including in her hair, the night before. And there is more 1. We twice waited over an hour to be served in the lobby restaurant (the only evening option outside of the fine dining restaurant) despite devoting ourselves almost entirely to flagging down servers; we were told on three separate occasions that “this is not my section”. 2 Dirty towels everywhere including two wet towels left on an end table in the corridor outside our room from about 6pm through to the next morning. 3. Zero management of loungers at the pool, it became a ‘Hunger Games” situation with (presumably otherwise reasonable) guests going down at 7am to book loungers despite there being signs that servers would allocate these and set them up - plenty to go around but, unsupervised, more than half the loungers ended up unoccupied but “booked” by guests who sauntered in after lunch, leaving us to sit on towels on the ground on the day we arrived. 4. Staff generally at the end of their tether - we overheard servers twice complain to each other loudly about poor management and how overloaded they were - everyone looked frazzled and unhappy and completely brought the vibe down. If anyone is listening from Ritz Carlton or Marriott/Bonvoy in general - if you’re going to jack your prices up to highs of $1000pn+ for the seasonal rush, please staff up accordingly and perhaps send the Ritz Carlton “ladies and gentlemen” at this establishment back to “ladies and gentleman” school.

  Jan 17, 2026