The welcome
We get a real Hawaiian “aloha”: the cheery valets drape fragrant leis around our necks and seat us in the open-air lobby, which has a Zen sandpit and a sweeping view of Mokapu Beach at the foot of three tiers of infinity pools. We’re served lemonade while being checked in via iPad.
The neighbourhood
Hyatt’s Andaz brand opened this as its first resort in 2013, giving the old Renaissance a South-Beach style facelift. The first in Wailea’s strip of big-name five-star resorts, you could spend all your time resort-hopping in this exclusive enclave, but you’ll want a car to explore the rest of Maui. By day, the hotel offers watersports on its private beach; at night, the grounds are lit by tiki torches and there’s live music in the Lehua Lounge.
The room
With simple, Crate & Barrel-style decor, our room feels more like a stylish beach cottage; the highlight is the ocean view, framed by floor-to-ceiling glass doors opening onto a patio that runs the full length of the room. The bed is solidly comfortable, although you have to tilt the TV out from the wall to watch it. The bathroom’s wood-slat countertops are impractical, but the shower makes up for it – it’s also almost as long as the room – and if you open the wood shutters on the glass wall behind the bed, you can shower while watching the sunset.
The scene
Among the gorgeous honeymooners and preppy young American families we spot a celebrity couple: Jason Sudeikis and Olivia Wilde. Admittedly, we spend most of our breakfast making goo-goo faces at their baby, before noticing who his parents are.
The food
For breakfast at Ka’ana Kitchen, the mini buffet (US$28/Dh102) features an ample spread of pastries, meats and cheeses, fruits and eggs, plus a hot side; the full brunch ($45/Dh165) includes the buffet, plus a main from the menu which is delivered to us along with “limited growth” Maui coffee and “hand-extracted” juices from the mixologist ($45/Dh165). For lunch at Bumbye Beach Bar, I have a yummy lobster grilled cheese sandwich ($24/Dh88) and a coconut-ice-cream sandwich with ginger cookies ($11/Dh40). Iron Chef fans will want to book a spot at Morimoto Maui; order sushi à la carte or splash out on the creatively presented omakase tasting menu ($140/Dh514).
The service
Dressed in casual beachwear, most of the staff are attentive and down-to-earth, particularly the valets, who actually sprint to fetch our car, and in Ka’ana Kitchen, where everyone seemed delighted to delight us (the chef made extra of my favourite grilled pineapple for me to take away). However, some of the pool staff weren’t as attentive, and at sunset, one of them started stacking loungers so noisily it harshed my mellow.
Loved
The complimentary mini-bar of gourmet snacks and juices; free Wi-Fi, even by the pool; clever amenities such as refillable water bottles and eye make-up remover towelettes; activities such as ukulele and yoga lessons; and the Mokapu Market, open 24/7, which is stocked with gourmet snacks and stylish gifts.
Hated
An intense garbage smell lingered for hours in the hallway outside our room, which was close to the carpark stairwell.
The verdict
The Andaz lives up to its name, which is Urdu for “unique style”.
The bottom line
Rooms start at $550 (Dh2,020) a night including taxes (maui.andaz.hyatt.com; 3550 Wailea Alanui Drive; 001 808 573 1234).
mgannon@thenational.ae
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
'How To Build A Boat'
Jonathan Gornall, Simon & Schuster
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
THE APPRENTICE
Director: Ali Abbasi
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Maria Bakalova, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 3/5
