Guide to the Hyatt Regency Maui With Kids

Categories: Redeeming Points, Trip Reports, Where to Stay with PointsBy Last Updated: January 25, 2024

The Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa is on our list of top hotels to stay with points in Hawaii. With a room rate that often exceeds $700 a night, this family friendly resort offers a great redemption with nights ranging from 21,000-29,000 World of Hyatt points per night.

Hyatt Maui
Photo from Hyatt.com

Considering that standard room rates at the Hyatt Regency Maui often exceed $700 per night, your redemption rate at this resort is likely to be more than 3 cents per point!

Are you thinking about redeeming some of your hard earned points for a stay at this beautiful resort? My family recently spent 4 nights, so here’s the scoop on staying at the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa with little ones!

Read through to the end to find out card offers that can give your family 4+ nights here on points for free!

Location

The Hyatt Regency Maui is located about 40 minutes from Kahului airport. It is on the west side of Maui, on a 3 mile stretch of beach called Ka’anapali Beach. Ka’anapali Beach is home to some of the best resorts on Maui, including the Hyatt Regency and the next door Hyatt Residency Club, the Aston, the Westin, and the Sheraton.

Hyatt Maui

Photo from Hyatt.com

While you could take a shuttle or ride share from the airport to the resort and enjoy your stay at the Hyatt and environs, having a car gives you the flexibility to visit some of the other beautiful spots on the island and get a better feel for the Hawaiian culture.

The resorts along Ka’anapali are connected by a stroller friendly beach path. Walking down this path, you’ll have the beach on one side and the resorts on the other side.

Ka'anapali beach path

Ka’anapali beach walk (photo from https://mauihawaii.ca/kaanapali/beachwalk.html)

Whaler’s Village, an outdoor mall with shops and restaurants is less than a mile away from the Hyatt Regency. It’s walkable or you can take the free Ka’anapali trolley.

Resort Map

You can access the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa map here.

I find this map hard to read, so I’ve labeled the map below with the most important spots if you’re traveling with kids!

Hyatt resort Maui map

Parking

Parking at the Hyatt Regency Maui is either self or valet parking. At the time of our stay, self parking cost $25 and valet parking cost $40 per night. Parking fees are not included in the resort fee and will be due even if you make your booking with points.

We chose to self park our car during our stay. I had read reviews about the long walk to self park and the tiny parking spots. We neither found the walk too far (even our walking averse children didn’t complain) nor the spots too small (we were driving a mid size SUV).

There are 2 self parking lots. One is across from the Hyatt Residency and one is by the Lahaina Tower on the south side of the resort. The one by Lahaina Tower seemed to be less full, but the best lot to use is largely determined by where your room is located.

Check In

When you arrive, there will be bell hops that with luggage carts to assist you in moving your luggage to your room. You can also transport your own belongings, but you will not have use of luggage carts.

Immediately to the right upon entering the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa you will find the front desk. I found the staff to be friendly and helpful. After you check in, you’ll receive fresh leis as an island greeting.

Continuing past the front desk is the Atrium Tower, where you’ll find rooms on the upper levels, and the resident birds, penguins, and fish on the lower level.

Atrium (photo from https://www.redefined.media/featured/hyattmaui)

Rooms

The Hyatt Regency Maui consists of more than 800 rooms spread across three towers (Atrium, Napili, and Lahaina).

Occupancy limits on rooms and most suites are 4 people. They do offer connecting rooms but call for availability. Occupancy doesn’t seem to be strictly enforced as we have heard many reports of families of 5-6 staying here without issue, but those are the official occupancy limits.

Hotel Rooms

All the hotel rooms include either one king bed or two queen beds and a lanai with a sliding glass door. Hotel rooms are located throughout the property in all three towers.

Photos from Hyatt.com

While the rooms are all the same, there are varying room types (ie different views). Rooms with nice views are not considered “standard” rooms and, if these are the only rooms remaining, there may not be availability for a booking with points.

All rooms include a lounge sofa (not a pull out sofa, but large enough for a child to sleep on), flat screen TV, coffee maker, tea kettle, minifridge, iron and ironing board, and in-room safe. A microwave is available upon request.

The rooms have been recently updated and feel quite modern, including sensor activated night lights built into the beds and a clock in the bathroom mirror.

All rooms have a balcony, and the more expensive rooms are higher up with an ocean view. We spent the first two nights in a beautiful room with an amazing view in the Atrium. We preferred the location and the open feeling of the Atrium to the Lahaina Tower, where we moved midway through our stay.

Want a room with a view like this?

Hyatt Maui

View from our room

Don’t forget to send an email beforehand, let the property know why you’re coming and graciously request an upgrade. I wrote an email to the General Manger. I never received a response, but I did have a note with goodies in our room when we arrived!

Hyatt Maui

Not sure how to write a note requesting an update? Sign up below to download our tips and template e-mail.

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Suites

We were staying at the Hyatt Regency Maui under a Guest of Honor booking, which meant we were eligible for free suite upgrades, as available.

When we inquired about suite availability at check in, they let us know that there would be a suite available for the second half of our stay and made arrangements for us to transfer rooms.

Except for the Palace Suite (with a price of about $3,000 per night), all suites have a maximum occupancy of 4. While you won’t be able to officially accommodate more people in a suite, they do allow for more privacy with a separate bedroom and living area (with a pull out sofa bed). Suites also include a walk in shower and stand alone bathtub.

Hyatt Maui

Suite photos from Hyatt.com

Hyatt Maui

Housekeeping Credits

In each room there is a door hang tag that you can hang on the exterior of your door in the evening. This hang tag indicates if you want to decline housekeeping the next day. As an incentive for declining housekeeping, you have the option of a $10 credit towards hotel food and drinks, or 500 World of Hyatt points.

We appreciated this perk since we don’t usually like having housekeeping come in every day! Be forewarned though, a $10 credit will buy you half of a drink by the pool.

Resort Fees

The daily resort fee at the Hyatt Regency Maui is $40 plus tax per day, at time of writing. However, if you book with points, the resort fee is waived!

You can read all about what the resort fee includes here.

It was fun to be greeted with a fresh lei when we arrived, and we loved that it included cultural classes like coconut weaving, lei making, and hula dancing for the kids! You can also check out foldable beach chairs and sports equipment (tennis racquets and basketballs), take a shuttle to the nearby shopping center, or take advantage of daily yoga and fitness classes.

Pools

The Hyatt Regency Maui has either one large pool, or multiple smaller pools, depending on how you look at it. There are three distinct pool areas (the main pool, the grotto, and the kids area), but they are all connected.

Main pool (photo from Hyatt.com)

Going down the stairs from the atrium is the main pool area. Around the main pool area, you’ll find the hotel’s restaurants and bars.

If your kids are still on mainland time and are up at 4 am and ready to hit the pool by 7 am, you’ll have no problem finding a lounge chair. However, by late morning this section of the resort is abuzz with activity.

If you take the beach walk north (to the right), you will pass the main pool and the grotto and will arrive at the kids swim area. We never had a problem finding chairs in this area, which was good because our kids kept coming back for more time on the slides and dolphins!

The kids area includes a large area that is 18” deep with sea turtles and dolphins to climb on and a smaller slide. This area is loosely enclosed with netting and rocks. The water features, including a splash pad and all the pool’s waterfalls, turn on at 9 am.

Hyatt Maui

Children’s Pool Play Area

Just on the other side, the pool ranges from 4.5 to 9 feet deep and includes the long “lava tube” slide. The slide is accessible from the steps on the opposite side of the pool, and is open to those over 48 inches tall from 10 am – 5 pm.

Note that there are no lifeguards at any of the pools. There is a staff member at the top of the lava tube telling people when they can go down the slide.

If you keep going past the kids area, there is a small hot tub.

The Hyatt Regency Maui is next door to the Hyatt Residence Club. My understanding is that the pool at the Hyatt Residence Club is also available for use by guests of the Hyatt Regency, but we did not use it.

Beaches

Ka’anapali beach is a 3 mile stretch of beach, with the Hyatt Regency Maui being on the southernmost portion of the beach.

Ka’anapali Beach, in front of Hyatt

The beach is accessible at various points along the beach walk, including just beyond the main pool. The beach area in front of the resort is not large. During high tide, the water comes within feet of the hedges at some parts.

That said, the beach was more than adequate for our little ones to play in the sand and chase the ocean waves. Though the water was a bit rough for snorkeling while we were there, my kids did manage to spot a sea turtle in the water, and I saw one come up onto the beach!

For a calm beach with some coral and fish and more sea turtles, we thought Baby Beach, about 10 minutes away in Lāhainā, was perfect for little ones.

Baby Beach in Lāhainā

Towels

Throughout the property, there are kiosks with pool/beach towels. Scan your wristband, remove your towels, and close the door afterwards. Return your towels to any kiosk when you’re done.

Apparently, the towels have RFID chips in them that link the guest with the towels removed. If the towels are not returned, they will cost you $25 at checkout.

Kid’s Programs

I believe that prior to Covid-19 there was a paid drop-off kid’s club option. That has not resumed and – as of November 2022 – there are no drop off kid’s programs at the Hyatt Regency Maui.

However, there are kid’s programs. The Hyatt Regency Maui has a schedule of daily classes for keiki (kids). These include a daily Penguin Presentation (there are 8 resident penguins in the hotel atrium!), Wildlife Tour (meet the resort’s birds), and a variety of cultural classes.

See the current schedule here.

When we were in Maui, the available activities and cultural classes included in the resort fee were:

    • Kukui nut bracelet making

    • Lei making

    • Hula lessons

    • Ukulele lessons

    • Coconut weaving

    • Coconut husking

    • Penguin presentation

    • Wildlife tour

    • Meet a real life mermaid

We enjoyed going to several of the cultural classes (coconut weaving, coconut husking, kukui nut bracelet making, and hula lessons) during our four night stay. Some of the classes were taught by hotel staff and some were instructors that taught at several of the hotels.

Despite the hotel being busy, of the four classes we attended, we were the only guests every time!

Coconut weaving calss

coconut husking

Coconut husking class

kukui nut bracelets

Kukui nut bracelet making class

All of the instructors were very good, but we especially loved Uncle Ron, who taught coconut weaving and ukulele at the time of our visit. He had us all laughing and even gifted us with a lovely basket he had made!

Regency Club

If you are traveling to the Hyatt Regency Maui on points, the resort does have a Regency Club that is sometimes available for 8,000 additional points per night. If you have Globalist status or are a Guest of Honor, access to the Regency Club is included in your stay.

The Regency Club at the Hyatt Regency Maui is located past the shops on the ground floor of the resort, just before the Lahaina Tower. It includes a comfortable lounge area and a pleasant patio (just stay close to your food or the birds will nibble on it when you get up).

Regency Club

Regency Club Entrance

More importantly, access to the Regency Club gets you access to food throughout the day. A HUGE win when traveling with kids. Especially considering how expensive food in Hawaii is!

Regency Club Hyatt Maui hours+++-9

Regency Club Hours

Accessing the Regency Club

You enter the Regency Club with your hotel wristband. After entering the Club and going through the lounge area, there is a sign in sheet where you write your room number and how many guests before going through the line.

At the time of writing, food at the Regency Club is not self-serve – the food is behind a glass screen and you let the staff know what you want and they serve you.

Regency Club

Regency Club Lounge

Regency Club

Regency Club Patio

Food Options

The Regency Club provided breakfast, grab & go snacks, appetizers, and dessert. The menus changed daily, but were consistent. There was always coffee, soda, fruit juices, and milk available.

In addition to the food that was out, there were additional food and alcoholic beverages that were available for purchase.

Breakfast

I think the breakfast menu consistently had enough variety that even pickier kids could find something to fill their bellies. If your kids insist on cereal, however, they will be out of luck. There was no toast or bagels out, but I did hear people request and receive them.

Regency Club

Regency Club Breakfast

Regency Club

Each morning of our stay the breakfast menu included:

    • Danishes

    • Muffins

    • Croissants

    • Fresh cut fruit

    • Hard boiled eggs

    • Deli meat and smoked salmon

    • Scrambled eggs

    • Bacon

    • Sausage (changed daily)

    • 1 rotating main dish (ie, cheese blintzes, ham and cheese roll, roasted potatoes, etc)

    • Yogurt

Grab and Go Snack

Grab and go snacks are available from 11 am – 3 pm daily. This is the lightest option of the day and the only one that we felt we needed to supplement (although I’m sure our kids would have been perfectly happy just eating snacks!).

    • Cookies (2 types)

    • Granola bars (Nature’s Valley

    • Whole fruit (apples, oranges, bananas)

    • Maui potato chips

Regency Club

Appetizers

We were pleasantly surprised by the array of food available as “appetizers.” This was enough to constitute dinner for our family.

Regency Club

The food items changed daily but followed a consistent pattern:

    • Chips and dip

    • Salad

    • Seafood poke

    • One appetizer (egg rolls, dumplings, empanadas, etc)

    • One main dish (macaroni and cheese, coconut shrimp, etc)

    • 2 desserts (fudge, cakes, haupia, malasadas, etc)

Dessert

From 7-8 pm dessert only was available.

Dining options

The Hyatt Regency Maui has room service and 5 restaurants and bars on site. You can view the menus here. There is also a lu’au on site, on the Lahaina side. Currently prices are $105 for children and $210 for adults.

In addition, there are several non-Hyatt food and beverage options on the property.

I can’t speak to any of the Hyatt’s restaurants since we don’t enjoy spending oodles of money to eat out with small children. We made do with sandwich supplies from the grocery store and food served at the Regency Club.

We did, however, have Ululani’s shave ice, which is a must!

Other Amenities

Fitness

I cannot speak to the gym or fitness classes, or the tennis or basketball courts, since we didn’t utilize these amenities. You can view the fitness and yoga class schedule here.

Spa

We did not utilize the spa, but here is the spa website.

Pool and Recreation Desk

If you want to sign up for any of the classes or activities, you can do that at the recreation and pool desk. Backpack beach chairs are available to checkout at no cost.

Cabanas and daybeds are available for rent here.

If you forgot your sunscreen or want to purchase any pool toys, you can also do that at the recreation desk.

Hyatt Maui

Items for purchase

Hyatt Maui

Cabana and daybed rentals

Animals

Take the wildlife tour and penguin presentation to learn more about the animals on the property, including various parakeets, swans, penguins, and koi fish. During the penguin presentation, kids also have a chance to feed the fish.

Earning Hyatt Points to Stay For Free

Of course, our favorite way to stay at a Hyatt property is by using points!

The fastest way to accrue Hyatt points is by earning Chase Ultimate Rewards® and transferring them to the Hyatt. Earning enough points for a few nights at a Hyatt resort like this is as easy as opening a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, and earning a welcome bonuses!

Read more about the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card.

If you can meet the spending requirements, the Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card and Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card offer great sign up bonuses and no annual fee. Don’t discount these cards just because you don’t have an actual business! Even if you just have a small side hustle, you probably qualify for business cards!

Learn how to open a business card, even if you don’t have a real business, below.

Note that you will need a Chase Sapphire or Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card in order to transfer points to the Hyatt.

Current Bonus:

60,000 points

Earn 60,000 Ultimate Rewards® points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

 

Annual Fee:

$550

  • No foreign transaction fees
  • $300 annual travel credit
  • $15 per month statement credit for Instacart
  • Great transfer options to Hyatt, United, Southwest, and more
  • TSA Precheck or Global Entry credit
  • Priority Pass lounge and restaurant access

This card stands out over other premium cards for two main reasons. First, it is one of the few cards that still gives you access to Priority Pass restaurants. Most other cards just give access to the lounges but if you frequent an airport with a Priority pass restaurant, this benefit can be worth a lot to you! The travel credit is very easy to use and if you use Instacart, the annual fee is easily made up. I also like to use this card to book via Chase’s travel portal. When you use 10,000 points, you’ll get $150 worth of travel.

A publicly available online offer for 80,000 points ran in December 2022.

An offer for 100,000 points ended in 2019.

welcome offer:

100,000 points

Earn 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening

Annual Fee:

$95

  • Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services
  • Travel Benefits: Unlimited 5% total cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, No Foreign Transaction Fees and Trip Cancellation/Trip Interruption Insurance.
  • No foreign transaction fees

Chase Ink cards are our favorite option when we have larger expenses coming that help us to meet the higher minimum spend. This card will allow you to transfer its points to all of Chase’s travel partners like Hyatt, United, Southwest, and more.

This card bonus has required a $15,000 spend for over two years — great to see the bonus remain but spending requirements drop!

This card used to offer 100k points but required a $15,000 spend.

welcome offer

up to $750

Earn $350 when you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months and an additional $400 when you spend a total of $6,000 on purchases in the first six months after account opening.

Annual Fee:

$0

  • If you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, you can transfer the Ink points to the Sapphire card to get all the airline and hotel transfer benefits!
  • Earn 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services eacInh account anniversary year.

Chase Ink cards are our favorite option when we have larger expenses coming that help us to meet the higher minimum spend. The bonus for this card is listed as cash back. But if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, you can actually combine the “cash back” points with your Sapphire card. (If you have a Chase Ink Business Premier℠ Credit Card you cannot combine the points.)

For many years, the bonus on this card offered $500 after you spent $3000 in 3 months. The offer changed to $750 after spending $7500 in 3 months during the pandemic. In fall 2022, the offer went to $900 after spending $6,000 in 3 months and ended in March 2023. From September 2023-January 2024, the $900 offer returned.

The tiered offer which gives you a total of 6 months to spend the $6000 needed to earn $750 debuted in March 2024.

welcome offer:

$750

Earn $750 (can be worth 75,000 points) after you spend $6,000 in 3 months

Annual Fee:

$0

  • If you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, you can transfer the Ink points to the Sapphire card to get all the airline and hotel transfer benefits!
  • Earn unlimited 1.5% Cash Back rewards on every purchase

Chase Ink cards are our favorite option when we have larger expenses coming that help us to meet the higher minimum spend. The bonus for this card is listed as cash back.But if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, you can actually combine the “cash back” points with your Sapphire card. (If you have a Chase Ink Business Premier℠ Credit Card you cannot combine the points.)

You can get a Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card and Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card . You can also get multiple if you have multiple businesses. Don’t forget to refer your spouse to this one!

For many years, the bonus on this card offered $500 after you spent $3000 in 3 months. The offer changed to $750 after spending $7500 in 3 months during the pandemic. In fall 2022, the offer went to $900 after spending $6,000 in 3 months. In fall 2023, we saw the $900 offer return from September to mid-January 2024.

You can also open a Hyatt card to get Hyatt points, but you’ll get more points from a Chase Ultimate Rewards® earning card.

credit card

welcome offer:

35,000 points

Earn 30,000 Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. Plus, up to 30,000 More Bonus Points by earning 2 Bonus Points total per $1 spent in the first 6 months from account opening on purchases that normally earn 1 Bonus Point, on up to $15,000 spent.

 

Annual Fee:

$95

  • Provides 1 free night certificate every year on account anniversary (up to a category 4 hotel)
  • If you spend $15,000 per year on the card you will earn an additional free night certificate

This offer is not very exciting but this is also the highest offer we have seen in years. I love keeping this card for the annual hotel night certificate. Personally, I’d only plan to complete the first half of this offer and not spend the full $18,000 — just the first $3,000. I keep it on my best offer page because I still think the card is worth getting.

We haven’t seen a better offer since 2019 when it offered 40K after $3K in 3 months + 20K after $6K total in 6 months. From 2019-January 2024, the offer was 30k. This offer is just 5,000 points higher.

welcome offer:

60,000 points

60,000 Bonus Points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.

Annual Fee:

$199

  • 5 Tier-Qualifying night credits toward status and Milestone rewards for every $10,000 you spend in a calendar year
  • Earn 2 Bonus Points total per $1 spent in your top three spend categories each quarter through 12/31/24
  • Spend $50 or more at any Hyatt property and earn $50 statement credits up to two times each anniversary year.
  • Spend $50,000 in a calendar year and get 10% of your redeemed points back for the rest of the year, on up to 200,000 points redeemed.

For us, this is a card we looked at primarily for the bonus. I don’t like that it has a higher annual fee and doesn’t come with an annual free night. This card is a great option for high spenders on a business card – you can earn Globalist status just through spending — IF you are a business that spends $10,000 a month.

When this card was released, it had an offer for 75k points that required $10,000 spend. In fall 2021 and 2022, it also offered double elite night credits. The standard offer is 60,000 points after spending $5,000. In fall 2023, there was an offer that added another 15k points for spending $12,000 total. This matches that fall 2023 offer.

Redeeming Hyatt Points

If you are planning to use your Hyatt points for a Hawaiian vacation, this article walks you through how to find availability and book through Hyatt.

Hawaii Hotels with points

If you are using Chase Ultimate Rewards® for your Hyatt stay, you’ll need to transfer your points to Hyatt.

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If you are using Chase Ultimate Rewards® for your Hyatt stay, you’ll need to transfer your points to Hyatt.

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Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

One Comment
  1. Amanda April 26, 2023 at 8:42 pm - Reply

    This was a very well written post. It answered many of my questions about this resort for our upcoming family trip. This will be our first big trip on points and we will also have club regency access. Thank you!

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