Bridgett P.
Yelp
So here's the deal: The Mana Kai has a great grassy area just a step from the beach and it's a cool place to chill. I've never stayed at the resort, this review is solely based on an experience we had last night (7/18/18) on the front lawn just before sunset. A group of about 10 local mothers made plans to have a little sunset picnic at the beach. We've been here plenty of times before: the parking is awesome, the grass is nice and the views are beautiful. The kiddos can run and play on the grass or the sand.
So we met and set up our chairs and threw down blankets and laid out our light snackage. It was so awesome. The kids were having a blast playing with my 16 year old daughter who was keeping an eye on them along side of us. The place was pretty quiet when we got there and more people trickled out as the sun dropped.
There was a security guard: older gentleman with grayish hair and a very not friendly demeanor who kept crusing by and giving us the stink eye. It was so weird. We weren't doing anything wrong. A few minutes later he approached my daughter and told her to keep the kids off the dirt spots on the grass as they had recently put down grass seed. Okay fine. We told the kids to stay off.
A few minutes later he came back over and tried telling one of the moms that our kids were the ones who had torn up these 2 ft by 2 ft dirt spots. Wait what? He again mentioned keeping the kids off the dirt and one mom said "Maybe you could rope it off?" with which he retorted: "well maybe you should just keep an eye on your kids." RUDE. We were all watching the kids. They were being kids and doing what kids tend to do, you know, run, cartwheel, jump, laugh, roll, run, spin, roll, wrestle and laugh.
He came by more times to just look at us and what we were doing, and then broke out his iPhone and started taking photos of these dirt spots. Then I saw him talking to another guest and it was clearly about us. So crazy. I should have gotten his name, but I think I was busy shaking my head so many times due to his cranky, crabby mean attitude.
Listen, I'm not heartless. I've put down grass seed in my own yard in the past and I know what a big job it is to wait for those little sprouts of grass. Yes, the kids should stay out. But maybe, you have something around it, as a signal that it's NOT to be touched? It would be helpful for everyone is all I'm saying. (Yes I did see ADULTS walk right through the dirt patch because, this is a resort in Hawaii. People don't really aren't in the mind frame that: the resort is working on patching the grass. Yeah? Yeah.)
It was just really rude and I decided I needed to say something. There are many other places to go for a sunset sesh and I'm guessing we will stick to those and not recommend the Mana Kai to others.
Hey Mr. Security guard, you are working outside, with many people in Maui Hawaii. Please oh please, work on those smiling skills! MAHALO :)
The view was spectacular. Everything else was lovely.