[Nine17]

We usually rent houses in Hawaii but last August we stayed at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Waimea. As a rule I'm not into resorts (other than the Hotel Hana Maui in Hana which is WAY too off the beaten track for most) but this place was really nice; huge room (on the back side with a semi-private garden and lawn with a view of Molokai), enormous bathroom with lots of towels and custom products that smell nice, awesome comped breakfast buffet, really good island fusion food and cocktails for dinner at Ko restaurant, kids loved the pools and slide where the servers remember your name, snorkel with sea turtles right off the beach, low-key gracious service that made people like us who don't like hotels forget that we were staying in one. I generally think Maui's over (-built, -crowded, -rated, -done), but the Kea Lani's cool...