Sands of Kahana

We have stayed here twice and our experience has been great! From what I understand the experience can really depend on who is managing the unit. We stayed both times in units managed by Sullivan Properties. Both times the u it’s had everything we needed. The rooms are a tad outdated but the pros exceed the cons.
Pros
Beach access is great! Never crowded and it’s beautiful!
Pool and hot tub both clean and a refreshing break from the ocean.
Sand volleyball! We loved that some of the locals either work at the restaurant or ate there and came to play volleyball with us.
The kitchen and grills are so nice. We got tired of eating out and so we grilled some steaks one night and it seemed like a lot of people do that. The grills are well maintained.
The price is a pro and it’s much less expensive than some of the other resorts down the road.
Cons
A tad outdated depending on what unit you stay in.
The elevator is super slow, but that’s not the end of the world to me. I’m not in a rush to get anywhere in Hawaii.
All in all we have had great experiences both tins we stayed there and we will probably stay there going forward!

Just a follow-​up review to lower it to 1 star, since Unilocal doesn’t have zero.
The lack of maintenance to the elevator finally resulted in «Out of Service». Pretty crappy in an 8 story building. With only one elevator that means taking the stairs — in other words, don’t bring anyone with mobility issues. I hope it’s repaired before we leave. I sure don’t want to carry luggage down the stairs.

I am currently staying at the Sands of Kahana, this is my second time here the first time was great. This time I have seen at least one rat a day in our unit and I am talking about a rat the size of a small cat!!! I would never bring my family to this infested S@#$ hole again. I called the front desk and their response was what do you want us to do about it. So if you want to sleep with the rats this is the place for you.

We privately own a unit at the Sands (SOK) and I wanted to post a review to clarify and provide some insights so that you –as the majority of our guests and we do – have a wonderful stay on Maui if you choose this resort. We loved it enough to buy there!
Many of the complaints you are reading are from timeshare owners or guests. I really can’t speak to how they are run or the quality of the stay in those units, but the privately owned homes are a great value!
OWNERS/​QUALITY OF STAY: I, along, with many other private owners manage our property at SOK. We handle all the reservations and have on-​island staff who handle cleaning, maintenance, and caretaking. We take a lot of pride in our homes, love Maui, and want you to as well while you are there! I can’t say that I’d recommend private units that are managed by just a property manager as they aren’t always as invested in caring for the property.
AIR CONDITIONING: Many of the privately owned units DO HAVE CENTRAL A/​C. That said, you rarely need it on Maui as the tradewinds do a great job of providing natural a/​c. But, when they aren’t blowing it’s nice to have.
UPDATED/​MODERN: We’ve invested a lot in our home to modernize it and update it. New beds/​bedding/​furnishings/​appliances/​flooring/​paint, etc. That said, we consider ourselves a «budget luxury» option on Maui– so if you want all new everything, very high end and all the amenities of a fancy resort, there’s a price that goes along with that and it’s about triple what we charge. But in terms of value for your dollar, I’m pretty confident that most of us private owners offer a lot.
NOISE: You’re not staying in a single-​family home. There are a lot of other people there on the resort and they all have different ideas of what a vacation is (not unlike a hotel) – some aren’t always so considerate when coming home late at night from a good time out, little kids can be rowdy and loud, and sometimes folks are just not used to being in a highrise and the courtesies of closer quarters. That said, the building is concrete construction so there isn’t a lot of noise above you or next door (at least in our corner unit) and security is very responsive if you ask them to respond to a noise complaint. My biggest frustration usually comes from folks on their lanais not being aware that their voices carry. Usually, if you nicely let them know, it gets resolved.
SANDY BEACH: SOK is on one of the few remaining sandy beaches in this area. But, it is a beach and the conditions are weather-​dependent. We had three near misses of hurricanes in 2015 which made conditions abnormally choppy and caused a lot of erosion. However, when I was back in early December, things were pretty calm and the sand was back. There is also an active effort underway to proactively ensure that erosion doesn’t take the beach by the County and owners on Kahana Beach. We have a lot of good pics of the beach on our listing and website.
RESTAURANT: Dollie’s Pub took over the ownership of the restaurant and has made a lot of improvements and continues to do so. It’s now the «Beach House» with a fully revamped kitchen and menu. I miss the cheap breakfasts and all-​you-​can-​eat crab nights, but overall, it’s a big improvement. Last I heard, they are working on adding cabanas around the pool with drink service.
I don’t want to put up any advertising for our particular unit here – but you can find us on HomeAway/​VRBO and «budget luxury» is a good indicator to find us, or «Hawaiian Haven». I hope this is helpful if you are considering a stay at the Sands! Mahalo and aloha!

This is the only place we stay when vacationing on Maui. Rooms are big, beautiful and the views are incredible. We stayed in a 2 bedroom corner ocean front the last time we went and could not have been happier. The staff is excellent, the restaurant has breakfast specials that we had every morning. We are going back for two weeks and are very much looking forward to the trip. I would highly recommend this place to everyone.

This place is kind of a dump. Sorry to be harsh, but it’s pretty outdated– circa 80s, early 90s. The units are huge and if you plan to spend a minimal amount of time in the unit, prefer to have a full kitchen, and don’t care about a fancy pool, than it may be worth taking a look at this place, if it’s cheaper than a hotel. I personally love spending all day exploring and than heading back around 3 to enjoy a Mai tai (or two) while lounging by a fancy pool so I wasn’t thrilled about this place. Here’s some pros and cons:
Pros: easy access to main road, large units, nice ocean view from our balcony, no AC (this was a plus for me as I love sleeping with a fan and some trade winds but it may be miserable in the summer), easy parking, large well stocked kitchen, snorkel and paddle board rentals right there with super easy beach access. Didn’t try the outdoor restaurant so can’t speak to that.
Cons: outdated, kind of dumpy (i.e. we had vertical blinds in our shower (gross), the rooms were only cleaned once while we were there for 6 days, no fancy pool (big bummer for me).
Honestly how much time do you spend in your room while in paradise (and if you do that’s a shame). I missed the fancy pool, but other than that this place could work for you depending on what you like.

We stayed at a 3 bedroom condo with a partial ocean view. We stayed for 7 says in October. The condo was very spacious and clean. There were lots of storage space. Although it didn’t have air conditioning we found it quite comfortable with the fans on and the windows open. The kitchen was fully stocked with appliances and utensils.
The grounds were well maintained. Having the beach just behind the condo was great and convenient as well.
We really enjoyed our stay.

We are timeshare owners since 1998. We love the condo, and know what to expect. No air conditioning is very typical for a beachfront condo in maui. Biggest complaints we have always surround guests who are not owners and who refuse to follow the posted rules, and have total disregard for others at the complex. Pool hours, pool rules and just common courtesy seem to be ignored by «guests».
Sometimes adults would like to enjoy the one and only jacuzzi on the property, but have to fight with small children using the spa as their personal swimming pool, with rafts and pool floats.
If you don’t mind sharing a nice relaxing soak in the hot tub with 10 screaming 5 yr Olds jumping in and our with their rafts, then this is the place to be.
The beach itself while right outside, has eroded away to almost nothing left, making the few spots available for tanning prime real estate and extremely hard to come by. This problem is further compounded by guests getting out to snatch up these few spots, earlier and earlier, and it’s not unusual to have screaming kids on the beach outside your window at 530 am till1230am .
We love maui, and our timeshare property, however will be looking for a different property more suited to adults who have some commen sense and consideration for othets, or a facility that enforces the rules

My family of 6 stayed here for a week. The place is beautiful and right off the beach. Our place came with a full equipped kitchen where we were able to cook every day. The reason why I gave it four stars is because there is NO AIR CONDITION at this Resort and they were using the guests elevator as the service elevator! There is only 1 elevator in each building! this means the elevator was use for garbage dispense workers to ride. You could smell it on the elevator sometimes.

The resort I’d beautiful and seemed to be well maintained. We had a corner unit bldg 2 second floor with ocean front and awesome views. Note the elevator is very slow and there is no a/​c. Very hot and humid the week we stayed with no trade winds. Staff is friendly and helpful. It was disappointing the bar closed at 9 pm. There are two pools but it seemed all the kids were in the adult pool and not in the kids pool where they belonged. Lots of close restaurants and stores nearby. The windows do not open all the way which would have helped with the heat.

Great view, large rooms (a little dated), great access to the pool and the ocean. I really wish that we had asked if they had air conditioning. It was unusually hot the week we came so sleeping was difficult. It is pretty noisy since all the windows are open all the time. The staff was very friendly. WiFi signal is weak unless you sit in the living room.

Update:
The next morning without contacting them again housekeeping came on their own and brought my clothes to my room…
#1 if you thought it was garbage, why did you still have them?
#2 if you didn’t know whether it was garbage or not… why would you take them?!
Moving forward, me and a friend went to rent a paddle board around 930AM on Sunday morning, the kid at the front laughed and called over his coworker and she said oh. They’re all rented right now… we have boards but no paddles… uh what?!
So we asked to rent it once it was returned…& she said the currents gonna get stronger you don’t wanna do it.
It sounded like a bunch of excuses for her not to rent to us. On top of that she gave attitude the whole time… the boy asked us where we were from and we said the Bay Area… he replies with oh I hate you I’m from Southern California… like is that supposed to be funny?!
I’ve come to terms that the entire staff of this resort is unprofessional and down right rude.

My family and I have stayed here several times. Overall, it is a great location. A great place for families to stay as there is a great view, nice beach, pool, grills and it is close to lahina and napili.
The elevators are slow and parking spaces small-​but these aren’t things that make or break most vacations. There is a new, far too expensive restaurant on site, but many great places nearby.
The variances between the rooms are due largely to different owners. Some are privately owned, some are time shares… you need to look at your agreement to learn about how often/​what services housekeeping will be doing and for what you are responsible. Also, different owners update their units more often than others and have nicer/​bigger/​more tv’s.

My family stayed at Sands of Kahana for a week through our timeshare and we were all very happy with trip. The kids pool is awesome. Our 1 bedroom unit was huge, clean, well equipped, and a sizeable lanai. Air conditioning would have been good but we had an end unit right near the putting green and the breeze was amazing. We were impressed that they clean
the grills EVERY DAY.
The beach was a quick walk and was nice. A few large rocks to look out for but pretty calm waves.
Highly recommend booking excursions through the Expedia desk onsite.
We didn’t do any of the activities or eat in the restaurant and still thought it was an awesome facility.

My wife, daughter and I were more than impressed when we stepped foot into the 2 bedroom condo with floor to ceiling windows. The place was HUGE. Could easily house 6 people comfortably. Beautiful grounds, fun people. Strip mall w liquor store, boutique and one of the many legendary Boss Frogs, where u can set up any activity, rent snorkel and SUP gear, score the latest Reef sandals and even rent your clubs for golfing, only $ 15. We had a blast. Definitely be back next year. Only problem is that cleaning only comes a couple times a week so plan accordingly.

Beds were a bit hard but view and accommodations very nice. There’s wifi in each room, bluray/​dvd player, a tv in each room and they provide an assortment of cooking utensils, silverware etc. Didn’t go swimming at the nearby beach or pool but I’m sure it’s nice as well. I spent more time at the gym, there 6 cardio machines and weight lifting machines, 2 water coolers with cups provided and a yoga mat.
**If you have kids**
Daily koi feeding near the front desk at 4pm, except on Thursdays. It’s the same time as check in so kill some time waiting there.

The reason for two stars, our room was dirty on arrival, I had to wash our sheets because of the musty old smell and when I took the mattress cover off the mattress to wash the mattress was old, stained and just nasty. The waitresses and bartenders were rude. Found out from management they will be replacing all restaurant staff due to mismanagement, that was a positive.
The condo that we are staying in, building 2, level 8, Needs updating, fresh paint would really be nice or just wash down the walls and doors so you are not touching somebody else dirt.
Would I come back, probably not here. There are many other places to stay, nicer, friendlier and «Cleaner». Rented this unit from the «SULLIVAN PROPERTIES» this is not part of a time-​share so we paid a lot for what we got. The views where awesome however, everything else was mediocre.

Came here 29 years ago for our honeymoon.
Been back many times since and now own two weeks.
Hasn’t really changed. … which means some challenges… but love mostly that it is just
Simple condo with one of largest sq feet rooms and lanai in Maui. All 3 bedrooms have beautiful ocean views. It is basically just a layed back and semi private resort.
Quaint beach, simple pool and restaurant .
Bbq at night watching sunsets and meeting new people is my favorite part.
If you need viking appliances, people everywhere… a/​c vs ocean breezes, and limited views go somewhere else. Leave the rooms open for me and our friends.

Sooooo I’ve stayed at a couple resorts and hotels. I’m not hotel snob by any stretch of the imagination but I will say that I know a dump when I’m in one and this place is that.
This place is a dump.
–We had the penthouse on the 8^th floor and the elevator was out the first 2days when we arrived. That’s a lot of stairs.
–Their key maker was broken so they couldn’t provide us with keys on the first night.
–The toilet backed up and leaked toilet water all over the floor and backed up into the shower drain! On the second night. I’ve never backed up any toilet! Ever!
–When I tried to open blinds the whole fixture came crashing down. It seems like all that was holding it was some kind of weak adhesive.
–No AC… I’m not from a place that has this type of humidity so this fact made it super fantastic. The main windows wouldn’t even open all the way so couldn’t get a cross breeze to compensate for not having central air! They were bolted shut BTW.
–The furniture is (as other reviews have stated) really bad. Like 1980s I’m at my grandparents house, whoa they have plastic furniture bad.
Basically I was not impressed. I’m easily impressed too. Doesn’t take much. However, this was essentially a free trip so I went along for the ride. But had it been up to me and had I researched other hotels I would’ve stayed elsewhere with some semblance of luxury.
If you don’t want to have the hotel be the mediocre part of your vacay, I recommend staying in nicer digs.

July 2013 — back again.
My feelings on this property remain similar to my last review;
pros;
— Dig the chill vibe, this does not feel like a crazy tourist place
— They do a nice job to keep the property clean and well maintained, you always see people working to maintain the buildings and grounds.
— Still amazed that they clean the BBQ grills to perfection every morning
— Lots of little things for my girls to do (lei making, hula dancing, coconut painting)
— New workout facility in building #2 — all new equipment, BRAVO!
— Wireless throughout the condo
— Newer flat screen televisions
— My room had a great view #383
cons:
— Room décor is outdated, but could be seen as part of the charm — I don’t know?
— Elevator is SUPER slow — but you need to switch your brain into vacation mode and get over the wait — better yet, take the stairs!
— How slow is the elevator? We stayed on the 8^th floor, for the most part I would take the stairs while my kids took the elevator, I was 22 – 5 against the elevator, and I was not hustling up the stairs, normal pace.
— They could do sooo much more with the Sands of Kahana Terrace Restaurant, disappointed that this remains consistent.
The longer you stay at the Sands of Kahana, the more the chill vibe and accommodations sneak up on you. At one point I was thinking I’d give my review 3 start, but I ended up at 4 stars. We had a great time and look forward to our next trip.