Expect understated luxury, a gracious staff, and exceptional food and drink. The hotel's tropical plantation-style architecture, decor, and pace attract an international clientele for whom relaxation, not business, is the rule.

Influenced by landmark resorts, The Fairmont Kea Lani is a dazzling white display of bold resort architecture set on deep-green grounds and bordered by the blue Pacific. Suitable to this luxury, gracious hospitality in the form of a fresh lei, a chilled face towel, and a glass of iced juice greets guests as they arrive in a magnificent, two-story lobby distinguished by five domed vaults, an open-air fountain courtyard, and marble mosaics inlaid in the floor. Nothing is meager here, and that generosity is reflected in the contentment of pampered adult guests and joyful children.

• Open-air design on Maui’s sunny south shore with an extensive spa and grounds that roll down to one of Hawaii’s best beaches.
• 380 spacious rooms and suites with marble baths. Private lanais offer views of gardens, ocean, or Mt. Haleakala.
• Guests dine alfresco at Ferraro’s or Spago, receive oceanfront massages, enjoy yoga on the beach, and golf at five nearby courses.

Opened in 1947, this 66-acre coastal resort was fully renovated in 2002. Isolated on the eastern side of Maui's Haleakala mountain, it's accessed by a 3-hour drive on a winding, two-lane coast highway, with one-lane bridges over waterfalls. The hotel is set in a working ranch, and horses graze on a bluff overlooking Hana Bay. Celebrating couples, eco-adventurers, and vacationing businesspeople come for Hawaiian history, culture, and entertainment, and the many on-site recreational and spa services.

Unusual for a condominium resort, a grand 1.5-story, light-and-air-filled lobby with several comfortable seating areas greets guests and promises families will have fun, honeymooners will take home memories, and independent travelers will find all the services and facilities they desire.

Opened in the early 1980s, this mature but smaller-scale resort offers warm, personalized hospitality exemplified by heartfelt annual reunions of long-time staff and returning guests. Devoid of glitz, the resort appeals to guests seeking luxurious ease, comfort, and value, and the true Hawaiian spirit. From the gorgeous gardens and grounds, to the popular restaurants, to the front desk and concierge, the resort exhibits mastery of detail and unobtrusive service.

Wailea Grand Champions Maui consists of 188 units in 20 two- and three-story buildings. Dense, lush tropical plants and flowers surround the buildings, which are arrayed on a natural hillside. These gardens create privacy screens so guests enjoy peace and quiet without any sense of the community's size. With no hotel services, no manager, and no front desk, Grand Champions is focused on home-away-from-home living, rather than resort living.

From the moment they approach through a tree-shaded drive and pass a large waterfall, guests recognize the 40-acre Grand Wailea Resort is something grand—in scale and in luxury. The resort features five themes: water (pools, hot tubs, a reflecting pool, waterfalls, koi ponds); flowers and trees (the world's largest resort landscaping project); sound (splashing water, music); light (the sun, tiki torches); and art (a collection that includes works by Picasso, Legar, Bolero, and Warhol). Families, honeymooners, and vacationing couples gravitate to the pools, but sunning lawns and the beach remain uncrowded.

Built on a natural hillside, this resort comprises 150 units in two-story Mediterranean-style buildings designed with pale-gray stucco, turquoise canopies, and red-tile accents.

The "vision" in the Kapalua Bay Resort's "visionary" objective is rest and relaxation for families and honeymooners. It could also apply to the views of sculpted grounds, ocean, sunsets, and neighboring Molokai and Lanai. Just beyond the butterfly-shaped pool, the Pacific froths against a lava-rock point.