#3 in Top 20 Maui for A Family Holiday · ★★★★★
Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort
Mokapu Beach, four-pool tier, the design-led family pick.
Mokapu Beach, four-pool tier, the design-led family pick.
"Mokapu Beach, a stepped run of ocean-facing pools, and Rockwell-designed rooms: the aesthetic family pick in Wailea."
Andaz Maui at Wailea is the design-led family choice on Maui's south shore. Opened in 2013 with interiors by New York's Rockwell Group, it pairs direct access to calm Mokapu Beach with a series of ocean-facing pools, roomy residential villas and two destination restaurants. Choose it for style and quiet over a waterslide megaresort.
Because it swaps the mascot-and-waterslide formula for calm, contemporary design and a beach families can actually swim. Andaz Maui opened in the autumn of 2013 as Hyatt's first Andaz in a beach-resort setting, with interiors by the Rockwell Group, and it spreads across roughly 15 acres above Mokapu Beach in Wailea. The front-of-house drama is the pool run that steps down toward the ocean: three ocean-facing infinity pools, a lagoon pool that suits younger children, and a quieter adults-only tranquility pool lower down. Below them, Mokapu is a gentle, crescent stretch with an Andaz beach crew handing out loungers, towels and umbrellas, and water calm enough for first snorkels.
For a family, the trade-off is clear and worth naming up front. This is a polished, grown-up resort where the appeal is aesthetic and the pace is slow, not a water-park property with slides and character breakfasts. If your children measure a holiday in waterslides, the Grand Wailea is a short walk up the coast and does that job better. If your family enjoys a good beach, a well-run pool, strong food and a room that feels considered, Andaz is the more rewarding stay. Two on-site restaurants anchor the dining: Morimoto Maui, the Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto restaurant, and Ka'ana Kitchen, a farm-to-table room with infinity-pool and ocean views.
Book a residential-style villa for a multi-generational trip and a one-bedroom suite for a family of four. The resort's collection of two- to four-bedroom villas comes with full kitchens, generous lanais and enough separation for grandparents, parents and children to share a base without living on top of each other. There are a limited number, and they are the first thing to sell out in high season, so reserve eight to twelve weeks ahead. For a smaller group, a one-bedroom suite or a partial-ocean-view room keeps you close to the pools and beach without the villa premium. Ask for a higher floor on the Wailea side for the widest ocean outlook.
If you want a multi-bedroom villa for a multi-generational trip, book it early; there are only a handful and they go first. Build one day around a Hawaiian cultural activity and reserve Morimoto or Ka'ana Kitchen well ahead, since both fill up and neither is cheap.
Andaz is the style-and-calm option in a cluster that also holds the two biggest names in family Maui. The Four Seasons is the polished all-rounder, the Grand Wailea is the water-park giant, and the Fairmont Kea Lani is the all-suite value play. The table below is our editorial read of where each earns its place; every hotel named links to its full entry on our Maui family list.
| Resort | Best for | Water | Our score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andaz Maui at Wailea | Design, calm, good food | Ocean-facing infinity pools + lagoon | 9.7 |
| Four Seasons Maui | Polished all-rounder, service | Adult + family pools, no slides | 9.8 |
| Grand Wailea | Waterslide-and-mascot families | Nine-pool water canyon, slides | 9.5 |
| Fairmont Kea Lani | All-suite space and value | Three pools + kids' slide | 9.4 |
The praise clusters on the setting and the service, and the complaints cluster on cost. Across recent verified guest reviews on Tripadvisor and the major booking platforms, the beach and pools draw the most consistent enthusiasm, along with the Andaz beach and pool crews, whom guests repeatedly single out by name for attentiveness with children. Morimoto and Ka'ana Kitchen are widely rated as genuinely good rather than captive-audience hotel dining. The recurring grievance is price: guests flag the cost of food and drink, the resort fee and paid parking, and note that a family can run up a large daily total on incidentals alone. A smaller thread of reviews mentions that the main infinity pools get busy at midday in peak season. None of this is unusual for five-star Wailea, but it is worth budgeting for honestly.
The biggest one is expectations: this is not a water-park resort. Families whose children want slides, a lazy river and a games arcade will find Andaz too grown-up and should book the Grand Wailea instead. The second is cost, and not just the room rate: the resort fee, paid parking and premium food pricing add up quickly for a family, so build a realistic daily budget before you commit. Third, the design-forward rooms prize a clean, minimalist look, which a few guests find cooler and less cushioned than the plush traditional style of the Four Seasons next door. And because Wailea sits on the leeward south shore, it is reliably sunny but a 30 to 40 minute drive from Kahului Airport and further still from the road-to-Hana side of the island, so plan day trips accordingly.
Is Andaz Maui good for young kids? Yes, thanks to the calm Mokapu Beach and a family-friendly lagoon pool, though it is not a waterslide resort.
How many pools are there? A stepped set: three ocean-facing infinity pools, a lagoon pool and an adults-only tranquility pool.
What is the best family room? A residential-style two- to four-bedroom villa for multi-generational groups; a one-bedroom suite for a family of four.
How far is the airport? About 30 to 40 minutes by car from Kahului (OGG), the island's main airport.
Andaz Maui at Wailea sits within our broader Top 20 Hotels in Maui for a Family Holiday list, where it earned an aggregate 9.7 out of 10 across our Room and Design, Service and Location criteria. It ranks third overall, behind the Four Seasons and Grand Wailea, because it wins decisively on design and food but concedes the water-park families to its neighbours. If your dates are fixed, aim to book roughly twelve weeks ahead; the residential villas and ocean-view categories that justify this ranking are routinely the first to sell out in the summer and winter-holiday peaks.
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