This was the greatest vacation, since my honeymoon!! In Florida. The ASTON MAHANA is very accommodating. We had a nice room 404, more like a condo, on the ocean. At night we could open the blinds and see the waves from the ocean, and also hear them. The kitchen is a full kitchen, with dishes, pots & pans, & utensils, dishcloth, and towels. There is also a dishwasher, with detergent. We went on a submarine, that was a lot of fun, to look at life deep in the ocean. The Royal Lahaina luau was great!! Hawaii is so beautiful. We are already trying to plan our next trip. There was childcare available at Kaanapali shores next door, that helped a lot, so my husband and I could have some alone time.

Totally loved the Mahana. Awesome views, awesome room, friendly staff. Room deco is a bit dated, but rooms were clean and well equipped. Family of four stayed in a one bedroom (#1018), had a pullout so it worked great. Pool on the smaller side, but never seemed to be crowded. At night, you can find a family of wild cats (not supposed to be fed by guests, but they're just so dang cute) and toads everywhere.

The Mahana was a great value in Maui, and we were very pleased with the property. After reading so many reviews of so many condo properties before booking, I was nervous about what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised. The room was a large one bedroom, fully equipped kitchen, lots of space and well kept. While it did have seafoam green carpet and some dated looking florals for decor, all was in great condition. The appliances were newer, we had everything we needed right there.
The other thing you cannot beat is that all rooms are ocean front. You can sit on your patio every morning, have a cup of coffee, and enjoy the ocean. Since there is a coral reef directly in front of the hotel, you have to go down the beach a little to play in the ocean (not very far). This keeps it very quiet outside your patio door.
I would stay here again, without a doubt.
The pool is small (as mentioned), BUT, we never got crowded out. We always found a patio chair and there was always room to swim and play in the pool. We noticed at the large resorts (Hyatt, etc) that the pools were very crowded with people and that the patio chairs were three deep around the pool. That was not a problem here.
The trade winds are nice right in this area of the beach as well, as soon as you go south to Lahaina they are almost non-existent. The breeze keeps things very nice.
The location is good, it's only about ten minutes to the main beach activities near The Whaler and a bit further to Lahaina. There is a market, an ABC Market (this is your best value for anything) and some small eating establishments right at the hotel driveway entrance. Eat at Java Jazz, the food is wonderful, and very reasonable. The service is questionable, but that seems to be consistent in Maui unless you are in a chain restaurant. The pizza place is also good (Pizza Paradiso I think), you can buy a slice or a whole pizza.
Loved the Mahana though. Don't expect luxary and high end amenities, but well worth the money. Also, the Embassy Suites is right up the beach, you can eat there, get sodas, etc there for your time on the beach, and also rent boogie boards, etc.
One comment, the tourists are not too friendly, at least not when we were there. The hotel staff was very friendly though, so just ignore the not so nice tourists!!!:)
Enjoy!

We just got back from our vacation today (08-24-04). Awesome place to stay. We read all the reviews on the surrounding hotels in the Kanaapali area. We saw that Napili Bay had a better rating and tried to book that but Pleasant Holidays doesn't offer Napili Bay. So we stayed with Mahana and we were not disappointed. Beautiful views and nice room, with kitchen! We checked out Napili Bay and it's not what it's cracked up to be. The Mahana blew it away with accomidations, views and the beach area. Definitely a great time, we will stay here in Maui on all our future trips. There is no restaurant in the hotel but you can walk over to Embassy suites or Kanaapali shores next store.