My wife and I stayed at Papakea Jan22 to Jan. 29th., 2013. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there and this is the third time we have stayed at Papakea--twice before thru our timeshare and this trip we rented thru Aston. All our experience's have been great and we are alraedy making plans to return in 2014.
It's unfortunate some experience's were not pleasant however Aston(Papakea) can't control the timeshares if the timeshare people don't contract the services. The units are individually owned and a large number of owners use Aston services for rental--others rent thru a timeshare or on their own--Aston isn't responsible for those units.
As for lack of beach--great--alot less traffic buy the resort and a beach is 200 yards away and you can walk for miles. Staff does a great job every day and night looking after the grounds, pools and chaisse lounges. Great resort all around for all ages. Very friendly people.

The room we rented was a timeshare which was a bit unexpected. It was clean but lived in as if we were staying at a friend's house instead of a fancy hotel room in paradise. The conditions were fine but the hotel staff were less than impressive with the exception of the concierge who seemed to actually like his job and gave us great tips regarding our road trip to Hana.

We had a family reunion here because one of our relatives had a timeshare on the property. Because this "resort" is actually a collection of timeshares, you can't expect the usual amenities of a resort - fresh sheets or towels or daily housekeeping. Housekeeping comes weekly and does not do a good job. The floors were sticky and a cousin found roaches in her room. The check-in process was a nightmare. They couldn't find our reservation initially and it took them an hour and a half to locate it. The AC unit was old and very loud - it was difficult to hold a conversation or watch a TV show at a comfortable level with the AC on.

Because we had 2 couples staying in a two-bedroom unit, and one room was much nicer than the other, we asked housekeeping to change the sheets halfway through our stay so that we could switch rooms. They grumbled about this all the way...and later, when we called asking if they could take out the trash...complained to each other "they asked us to change the sheets and now they want us to take out the trash" before telling us we could take the garbage out ourselves. I recognize that I may not have understood how time shares work, but the staff here operated at a level of rude that I don't find acceptable in the hospitality industry. Another word of warning - this place is oceanfront but not beachfront. Stay away if you want something beach front, romantic, or clean. I will not be back.

We found a great package deal with flight and lodging in early December. When we checked in, we were upgraded from a studio to a one-bedroom. Our room was on the first floor and was clean and neat. There are grocery stores nearby, a coffee shop and Subway and other little eateries, shops across the street. We either went out to eat or grilled steaks by the pool. No restaurant or servers at the pool, but that was ok since we saved a few bucks by just making our own drinks to bring to the pool. No real beach to lay on, instead you can pull a lounge chair right next to the ocean. When we did want to go lay on the beach or snorkel, we took a car for a quick drive up to the Sheraton and hung out there for the day. The people at the front desk were very nice and easy to talk to. One day my room key wouldn't work and they figured out that the battery in the lock was burned out. They had it fixed for me quickly. I would hope if you go to Maui you are going to explore and enjoy the beauty of the island, so who needs a super fancy room? The TV was pretty small...and the fact that our room was at the corner of a building, you could hear people walking past/talking after we went to bed because the windows above the bed don't shut. Other than that, I'd go back!