Hyatt Regency Maui with kids

We spent the second half of our trip to Maui staying at the Hyatt Regency.

This was a great resort, and we were so thankful to stay here for free on points. But, I have to be honest.

Staying here after staying at the Grand Wailea was a bit of a let down. It's just a different class of resort and I felt it in almost every element. The pool was more basic, the grounds less lush and all encompassing, and the rooms more like a classic hotel room that could be anywhere USA.

I say that not to be ungrateful but just to be realistic. Obviously, we enjoyed the stay, but if I had to re-do our itinerary, I'd start here and then do Hana and end at the Grand Wailea. I think if we came here first we would have thought it was amazing!

Hyatt Regency Maui with kids

The Hyatt Regency is located on the west coast of Maui, with a beachfront location and large, sprawling grounds. This resort has a lot of kid-friendly elements that make it a great stay for families.

The Resort Grounds

The Hyatt Regency has very pretty grounds with lush foliage and lots of colorful plants.

There are several ponds with bridges that are fun to walk through and explore.

The property also has beautiful views of the mountains and various other outlying islands across the ocean. It has stunning views!

Animals on Property

My kids favorite part of this resort is all of the exotic animals in the lobby area!

The most eye catching is the waddle of penguins (yes, that is the correct term!) We were lucky enough to be at the hotel right when they first released a new baby penguin - who still had his fluffy feathers - to the group.

In addition to the penguins, there are several parrots and macaws. They rotate daily and are only out in the morning, so check back each day to see which birds are out and where!

Also, there are some beautiful koi fish in the ponds. My kids loved looking at the big orange fish, and these animals made the hotel very memorable.

Finally, there are swans throughout the property. They are NOT in the lobby but in various bodies of water around - keep an eye out!

The Pools

This resort has a few pools to choose from - Including a great one that you might not expect!

Main Pool

First of all, there is a large main pool. It's sort of blob shaped, with depths from 4 to 9 (!) feet.

This pool was basic and fine, without any extras going on. It's a good place to swim, but without any landscaping or waterfalls, it did get hot and felt crowded because it was just so open.

Apparantly, there used to be a large waterfall leading to a grotto here, but that was renovated away and now it is more of a simple pool.

Keiki Lagoon

The kids pool is really the highlight of the area, especially if you have small kids.

This area is really pretty with the rope bridge hanging over it. The pool itself has a gravel bottom (which is a bit painful underfoot) and a beach entry.

The kids area includes large floating animals that kids can climb on, a very shallow area for babies, a sand box (once again - gravel - I never saw any babies in here), squirters on the shore, and a small kids sized slide.

This slide was VERY popular with the 6 and under crowd!

Overall, this kids pool is GREAT for preschool to early elementary kids. If they like a splash pad, they will like this pool! Older kids will be less entertained versus resort complexes like at the Grand Wailea.

On the other side of the rope is a deeper swimming area - and watch out, it gets deep quickly. It maxed out at 9' deep which I found surprisingly deep for right next to a small kids play area.

There is also a large, tube water slide. You need to be 48" and get a wristband certifying your height to ride. Be sure kids can swim - they get dumped out in the 9' deep zone and no floaties are allowed on the slides.

Waterfall Hot Tub

Right around the corner from the kids pool there is an often overlooked pool - the hot tub! This was the first time I had ever been in a hot tub with a waterfall and my I loved the hot water raining down!

I think if this hot tub was next to the main pool, it would be slammed. But, being tucked away like this, there was hardly ever anyone in it!

Hyatt Vacation Club Pool Access

My favorite fun fact about the pools here is that, as a Hyatt guest, you are able to use the pool at the Hyatt Vacation Club next door. You have to leave the kids pool, walk down the sidewalk along the beach, and walk up to the next hotel.

This pool was GREAT - a series of small pools connected by waterfalls and stairs, and had a small slide my kids loved! This was a really fun place to visit and combined the swimability of a normal pool with the excitement of waterfalls nicely!

Cabanas

We rented a cabana our first full day at the resort. I reserved the cabana well in advance - luckily, as they were all booked up once we checked in.

The cabana was MUCH simpler than what we got at the Grand Wailea and was basically a double lounge chair with a roof.

It's worth noting that the cabanas are all along the main pool (or the beach) and so if your kids want to play at the kids pool - you will not be able to watch them. This is obviously problematic for people with small kids.

It was nice to have the cabana and not have to fight for chairs, but I don't know that it was worth the cost, just because it was so simple and not in the area we ultimately spent most of our time.

The Beach

Unfortunately, there was zero beach at this resort when we visited. The sand had eroded away, the dunes were being held up with burlap tarps, and the beach entrances were chained off and closed.

It was a bit sad, since a selling point of this hotel was "beachfront". But, what can you do!

You could access the beach by walking 2 hotels down and entering the beach there. We walked on the beach down there and found the waves rough. It felt like mother nature was coming to take her beach back!

If beachfront or a nice beach is important to you, I would not book this hotel.

Employees of the resort gave us some great suggestions for beaches nearby, like Baby Beach, but they were a drive away.

Other Activities at the Resort

One of my favorite parts of staying at this resort was the extra activities they had available. There is a full slate of free and paid family-friendly activities.

My kids were able to do lei making and beaded bracelt making - both for free.

I will say that the activities (even if free) do require advanced reservations. Everything was booked up for the first two days of our trip, so if you can book in advance, definitely do!

My daughter also did the mermaid class at the pool. This was a paid activity - and it wasn't cheap - but it was a highlight for her. She got to have a mermaid photo shoot and swim in the pool playing games. It was an upgrade - but a magical memory for her.

The Rooms

The rooms in this resort were pretty standard rooms, coming in either 1 king or 2 queens, in three towers (Atrium, Napili, and Lahaina).

We booked the cheapest room on points, and were upgraded to a pool view because of my Hyatt status.

Booking the Hyatt Regency Maui on Points

Since this hotel is a Hyatt, you can obviously book it with Hyatt points! Hyatt points are super popular to book trips with because Hyatt tends to have lower point cost for their hotel rooms compared to other popular chains like Hilton or Marriott.

Currently the Hyatt Regency Maui is a category six Hyatt property. You will need to look up the table to see the points cost, but it is very reasonable, especially for Hawaii.

You can earn Hyatt points directly with a Hyatt credit card or you can earn Chase points and transfer them to Hyatt. The transfer ratio will depend on which Chase card you have but if you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve (personal or business) card you can transfer one to one.

Chase has a lot of very lucrative sign-up bonuses of 100,000 or more points for new credit cards. If a category six Hyatt averages 25,000 points a night and you can get 100,000 points from one sign-up offer, you can get four free nights for one credit card sign up.

If you and a spouse or partner both do it that would be eight nights.

You could see how easy it is to earn these miles and book these trips!

I will say that the resort seems to book up on points rooms very early so I would be ready 12 months out to book if it all possible.

Globalist Benefits

I do currently have globalist status with Hyatt, which is their highest level of loyalty status. I earned this through a mixture of credit card to spend and staying nights at the hotel.

Assuming you do not have global status, you can get a guest of honor award from someone who has earned them on their Hyatt account and it will give you the equivalent of globalist status for your stay.

This gave us free parking with the valet and club lounge access.

The club lounge provided free breakfast as well as snack snacks during the day and appetizers at dinner time.

I've heard that people turned the appetizers into dinner, but in our experience, they were not child friendly whatsoever.

We did go to the club lounge every day for breakfast, came by at lunchtime and grabbed a bag of chips or a piece of fruit, which was the snack option, and then came by after dinner to get a piece of cheesecake or similar dessert.

There's also soda fountain and juice and coffee machines that you can access all day if you have club access.

Having access to the club lounge was convenient and I did love the breakfast, but I was not blown away. I feel like people really hype it up and it's fine and can't hate on a free breakfast, but it's not fancy.

Additionally, Globalist status allowed us to get happy hour prices on certain drinks and food items at the pool restaurant all day long. We didn't use this much, but the time that we did we saved big on our drinks!

Tips for Staying at the Hyatt Regency Maui with kids

If you plan to stay here, here are my top tips:

• Plan in advance some alternative beaches to visit and set aside a day or morning to do so. Know you will need to drive!
• If you want to do activities like lei making or hula lessons, book them online in advance before you arrive.
• If your kids are shorter than 48" or are uncomfortable in water 48" deep, plan to pack floats. I like packing these simple cheap walmart inner tubes.

Final Thoughts

The Hyatt Regency Maui is a great hotel to stay at if you have small kids. The pools and slides are perfect for the lower elementary aged crowd, and the Vacation Club pool next door adds a much needed element to the water activities. There are great activities like lei-making, and the birds in the lobby are so unique and memorable!

We really enjoyed our stay here, and would definitely recomend it to those with small kids - especially if you are using Hyatt points!