Aston Wailea Resort ------------------- Location: Kihei, Maui, Hawaii, USA Prices: $119/day (Run of House) => $139.91/day with fee and tax $133/day (Ocean View) => $155.33/day with fee and tax $148/day (Ocean Front) => $171.86/day with fee and tax $173/day (Lowrise Junior Suite) => $199.40/day with fee and tax (all + $8/day resort services fee and subject to 10.166% tax) - a third person in a guest room is $30/day => $33.05 with tax Reservations: (800) 367-2960 or (808) 879-1922; FAX: (808) 875-4878 reservations should be made by June 23, 1997 with a one night's deposit required; after this date, rooms will be provided on a space available basis only; deposits are forfeited if cancellation occurs within 10 days prior to arrival Resort services: complimentary shuttle service within the Wailea area unlimited local/800/credit card/collect telephone calls self-service guest room coffee and tea newspaper delivery Monday-Friday overnight parking daily "Aloha Maui Activities Center" briefing with complimentary coffee Hawaiian activities and cultural workshops one hour snorkel equipment rental per day golf and tennis shuttle service aerobics and aquacise classes children's activities program---special two for one offer A 25% discount will be available at 32 Aston properties on four separate Hawaiian islands for pre- and post-convention stays Comments by Bruce Char, general chair of ISSAC'97: HOTEL ROOMS The Aston Wailea has over 500 rooms, divided between a seven story high rise and about six or seven low-rise (three story) buildings. I was put into an ocean-front room, about 25 yards from the shore. The view from the room was quite nice, an unobstructed view of the ocean, the west Maui mountains, and the islands of Lanai, Kahoolawe, and Molokini, which are about five-ten miles away. This was of course a particularly nice room. The "ordinary price" rooms have a view of the mountain (Haleakala) instead, but are probably no further than 200 yards from the shore. I saw a standard room and it had the usual features: air conditioning/sliding door to the outdoor air, two double beds or one king, TV, dresser, closet, lamps, bath, iron, phone, clothesline. Each room has a small refrigerator without minibar an important feature. Ice and vending machines in each building. Being used to hotels in cities, the quietness of the location and of the rooms was welcome. Of course, if you open the window, you get to hear the ocean. HOTEL GROUNDS Overall, quiet pleasant. The grounds are spacious and well-maintained: grass, coconut trees, bird of paradise and other flowering plants, etc. At night there are spotlights illuminating parts of the ocean, although when I was there the moon did a reasonable job of illumination all by itself. Other than the hotel restaurant and lounge (rock music/dancing nightly), there are a number of good places for quiet conversation: the open air hotel lobby, the beach chairs along the shore, and the "luau pool". The main swimming pool (overlooks the ocean itself) has an adjacent bar and casual restaurant. There is Hawaiian music at the main pool at sunset. The hotel, 25 years old, is in reasonable shape with recent and on-going renovations of its grounds and rooms. It has a casual, open, architecture. The hotel's shoreline is rocky with coral reefs. People go out during low tide to walk on the reef and look at the marine life, or go scuba diving or snorkeling during high tide. The hotel grounds are immediately adjacent to two beaches, which are public as are all other beaches under Hawaiian state law. Both have excellent swimming. It was great to walk two minutes along the shoreline path to the beach for a quick dip. The shoreline path connects the hotel to the beaches, as well as to the other resorts and condos in the Wailea development. Following the path, one can walk in a few minutes to additional beaches, the Grand Wailea Resort, the Renaissance Hotel, the Four Seasons Hotel, and the Kea Lani Hotel. GROUND TRANSPORTATION Within walking distance: are the Wailea shopping village (which has a bank, a pricey convenience store, a restaurant, a sub/ice cream shop, and many gift shops) four other resort hotels, and two additional restaurants (the Chart House, and Lobster Cove/Harry's Sushi Bar). there is a shuttle bus running every half an hour between the various hotels in the resort complex By car, in five minutes: you can get to the other sites within the resort complex: another hotel, several other restaurants, the golf and tennis club in ten minutes: the town of Kihei, with numerous restaurants, supermarkets, gift shops, equipment rental, gift shops, gasoline, more condos and hotels, etc. in 30-45 minutes, depending on traffic: Kahului airport GETTING TO/FROM the airport They recommend car rental, although there is a shuttle bus ("Speedy Shuttle" I think it's called, but this needs to be checked out) which costs $17/person OW. FOOD, RESTAURANTS The hotel food was decent but on the pricey side. I had lunch at the poolside restaurant, and breakfast in the main dining room. Breakfast would run $10-$20. Lunch about the same. Dinner would be $20 and up. Within walking distance are: The fifteen restaurants of the nearby hotels (Renaissance Wailea Beach, Grand Wailea, Four Seasons, Kea Lani), Four more dinner/lunch restaurants A sub shop In addition to those restaurants, there are five more, plus the various bars at the hotels and golf and tennis clubs. These you need to drive to. I ate dinner at the Seawatch, which is upslope enough from the shore to have a dramatic view from its balcony to the ocean and the islands offshore. In short, people with cash will find no shortage of interesting restaurants of great variety. (There is a cash machine in the hotel lobby for people with a cash shortage.) For people with a modest budget, the sub shop and the Sandcastle are probably the most reasonably priced places nearby. The ten minute drive into Kihei will allow one to dine much more cheaply if one wishes: Pizza Hut, McDonalds, IHOP, Thai, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Pacific Rim, Italian, Ribs, various sandwich cafes, and a few pricier restaurants with good reputations. There is a coffee house with an internet connection (I read my email there) where one can get a croissant and a cafe au lait for $5. There are at least two large supermarkets in Kihei. TOURISM Each morning at around 8:15 the hotel has a briefing of the day's activities. The hotel would be happy to arrange a group briefing for attendees and/or their families at the start of the conferences. There is of course no shortage of tours you can go on. Beach equipment (snorkel, sailboard, scuba) is also easy to rent. It is possible to rent a car at two of the nearby hotels: Budget at the Grand Wailea, and Avis at the Renaissance. There are also sessions on Hawaiian arts and crafts. OFF-SITE ACCOMMODATIONS There's no apparent shortage of hotel/condo accommodations in Kihei. These would probably be cheaper than staying at the hotel. I believe local arrangements already has the phone numbers of several condo brokers and I believe the tourism magazines I brought back have the names of some more.