Four Seasons Resort Lanai in Hawaii [In-depth Review]

The Four Seasons Resort Lanai is one of the most luxurious resorts in the U.S. It also takes the cake as one of the most remote, too.

The island of Lānaʻi is a secluded paradise home to very few locals. On this small piece of land, you’ll find an absolute gem of a hotel that will set you back quite a few dollars if you decide to visit.

Hotel Location

The island of Lānaʻi is located in Hawaiʻi, a couple of miles off the shore of the more well-known island of Maui. Lānaʻi is part of Maui County, but it’s hard to associate the 2 since Lānaʻi is a separate island.

Getting to Lānaʻi can be very difficult. Hawaiian Airlines stopped service to Lānaʻi a few years ago. Now, the only scheduled commercial service is on Mokulele Airlines, which flies only smaller aircraft from Honolulu and Maui a couple of times a day. Mokulele’s planes are small and only accommodate a few people, and a separate transfer is required if you’re coming into the islands from the mainland.

But you might not need to rely on Mokulele, as the Four Seasons Resort Lanai sometimes offers promotions for complimentary air transportation to the resort on a private aircraft to and from Honolulu. This is included in your room rate, no matter how long you stay. Utilizing this option allows you to get to the island without purchasing separate flights, but you’ll need to check with the resort to see if this promotion is available for your stay.

The island is very remote. Only a couple thousand people live on the island, and there’s minimal infrastructure. With only 1 police station, 1 fire station, 1 post office, and just a handful of small restaurants and shops, the island relies on tourism as its main economic source. Much of that tourism centers on the 2 Four Seasons resorts on the island.

Booking

There’s no question the Four Seasons Resort Lanai is one of the most expensive hotels I’ve booked in my entire life. Most rates at this hotel, even for the most basic of rooms, are north of $1,000, even during the slow season.

It’s an astronomically high price to pay for a single night, but this hotel is so unique and so remote I wanted to try it out for a night. I’ve visited Lānaʻi several times, but only for day trips. Staying on this island for a night has been a dream of mine for a few years, and I wanted to experience the remoteness for myself.

At the time of my stay, American Express offered a $200 statement credit for booking through AmexTravel.com, so I reserved a 1-night stay in a traditional king room for $1,275, which also incurred an additional $222.07 in taxes, for a grand total of $1,497.07 before rebates for the room. 

I booked this stay through the Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts program, a perk of The Platinum Card^® from American Express I used to pay for the stay. While I would have preferred to book using another card that earns more points for hotel stays, the Fine Hotels + Resorts program is only bookable with certain American Express cards. I earned 5x Membership Rewards per dollar spent for booking directly through American Express since I hadn’t reached the spending cap for 5x earnings.

Because I booked through Fine Hotels + Resorts, I received several benefits during my stay:

• Complimentary upgrade to an ocean-view king room
• Complimentary breakfast for 2 in the restaurant
• Complimentary Wi-Fi
• Early check-in at 12 p.m.
• Late checkout at 4 p.m.
• A $100 credit to be used on-site for anything chargeable to the room

Bottom Line: It was certainly nice to have these extra perks on such an exorbitantly priced stay. Yet the $200 credit for booking the room and the $100 on-site property credit were only a drop in the bucket. I still paid a lot to stay at this resort, no matter the discounts and credits.

Checking In

My hotel arrival first started upon my departure from Honolulu. I had arrived in Honolulu several days before heading to Lānaʻi and spent the time in Waikiki and a few other spots.

Air travel from Honolulu to Lānaʻi was included in my Four Seasons Resort Lanai stay, so I started my journey in Honolulu for this reason. On my departure day, I headed to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), where the hotel had arranged a private car to take me to the private air terminal for Lanai Air, the company flying me to the island.

Everything was incredibly efficient. The car pulled up to the pickup point almost exactly on schedule, and I was quickly whisked away to a private lounge where I was offered some refreshments before my journey.

After sitting in the lounge for a few minutes, we were told boarding would commence. Within about 10 minutes, I was seated on the plane, ready to go. Everything was seamless. Onboard the private flight, there were a few other passengers. Seats were in a 1×1 configuration allowing everyone a window view. The flight to Lānaʻi took about 30 minutes and was uneventful.

After landing on Lānaʻi, a private car awaited to take me to the Four Seasons Resort Lanai. Several passengers on my flight were staying at the nearby Sensai Lanai, A Four Seasons Resort on the island, and a car arrived to take them to their hotel. My transportation, more like a luxury bus, quickly departed for the 25-minute drive to the hotel located on the shoreline.

The Four Seasons Resort Lanai is located about a 25-minute drive from Lānaʻi City, the “hub” of the island. It’s about 2 minutes from the ferry terminal, where the ferry departs several times daily to Lahaina on the island of Maui.

That said, the Four Seasons Resort Lanai is on a secluded part of the island and away from where most people live in Lānaʻi City.

Upon arriving at the hotel, I was greeted with a welcome iced tea and a lei and escorted to the front desk where check-in formalities began. The associate at the desk recognized my booking through American Express and informed me that I had been upgraded to an ocean-view king room with prime ocean views. This was a very welcome upgrade.

Hot Tip: When you book through Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts, you’re entitled to an upgraded room 1 category beyond what you booked, so keep this in mind depending on which room or view you’d ultimately like to be in for your stay.

It was explained to me that the $100 on-site credit, usually listed for use at the spa, could be used at any restaurant, shop, or venue on the property. That was fantastic since I didn’t have aspirations of visiting the spa. That said, be warned that the credit won’t go far, as prices at the hotel are high.

I was escorted to my room by the front desk agent, who showed me how to navigate the hotel’s exterior corridors. I appreciated this touch. Soon we arrived at my room, where she showed me all of the light switches and features and explained a little more about my stay.

Lobby

As I walked into the hotel, the front desk was situated to the right and the concierge desk to the left.

In addition, a few hotel shops were located down to the left, as well as a wing of guest rooms.

Right in front of me, there was a grand staircase leading down into a large lobby with tons of seating, flanked by the hotel’s 2 restaurants, One Forty, a steak and seafood restaurant, and Nobu Lana’i. This large lobby was also home to a nightly ceremony with dancing and cultural education.

Seating options were plentiful across the lobby.

Amenities

Because Four Seasons Resort Lanai is so remote, and there are no other options around, the amenities on-site are much more important than most other hotels.

Lanai Air

During my stay, round-trip air transportation was included to and from Honolulu, and this offer still exists today. Visit the Four Seasons Resort Lanai website for more information.

On-island Adventures

There are several on-island adventures you can purchase that aren’t affiliated with the hotel but can be organized by the concierge:

On-island Transportation

There are very limited transportation options on the island. The hotel operates a shuttle bus once an hour to Lānaʻi City, as well as complimentary transportation to and from the airport.

When you travel into town, you’ll be directed to a return shuttle bus stop, and the bus will depart from there back to the hotel in approximately 1 hour. You can reserve the shuttle during peak times.

If you don’t want to use the shuttle or want to go somewhere outside of Lānaʻi City, you can rent a Jeep through the hotel at around $200 a day. Renting a Jeep is good if you want to go somewhere a little more remote or somewhere only accessible via a 4×4 vehicle.

Hot Tip: If you want to head into Lānaʻi City to walk around, plan for about a 3-hour trip, including the shuttle bus transport time. The town is very small, but there are a few cute restaurants and shops to explore.

Spa

There is an on-site spa near the pool that you can visit for massages, facials, and other treatments. You can use your $100 on-site property credit here.

Tennis

There are on-site tennis courts you can reserve, and you can rent rackets through the hotel.

Golf

Manele Golf Course, an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus-designed course, is attached to the hotel, and it’s a perfect place to golf if you’re into it.

Fitness Center

An on-site gym is open 24 hours a day.

Included with your stay are:

Parking

Self-parking and valet parking are included at the hotel. However, it’s likely you won’t utilize this unless you rent a car from the airport for the duration of your stay, which, in most cases, is entirely unnecessary.

Concierge

The concierge during my stay was very helpful, as they made some dining reservations and explained the timing of the shuttles.

Cultural Activities

Included in your stay are several cultural activities. All are free unless the hotel notes a special price:

• Coconut frond weaving demonstration
• Hawaiian language workshop
• Ho’Olauna Lei Haku lei making demonstration
• Holoholo Island Tour, featuring an all-day tour of the island with a private guide (additional cost)
• Hoohana Lei Momi shell jewelry demonstration
• Hula dance and chant workshop
• Kids for All Seasons program, geared toward providing cultural activities to children
• Net weaving demonstration
• Resort Cultural Tour, talking about the history of the resort and island
• Talk Story, talking about the Lanai culture
• Traditional Hawaiian herbal healing workshop

Pools

This hotel has 2 pools with whirlpools just under the main lobby, extending to the ocean. It’s a lush landscape, with plenty of areas to sit in the shade and swim. One of the pools is an adults-only area, and this is the perfect place to escape noisy children (though, to be honest, I never saw any on the property).

There are “Sanctuary” spots scattered throughout the pool area that have private couches and sitting areas, perfect to reserve for a semi-private place to relax, order food, swim, and spread out.

This area seemed quiet during my stay, and unlike popular resorts in Hawaiʻi, it didn’t seem overly busy or crowded. Because not many children visit the island, there weren’t the usual crowds you’d expect at a pool like this.

The Room

For my stay, I was upgraded to a Prime Oceanfront Accessible Room with 1 king bed. This room, according to the Four Seasons Resort Lanai website, is 663 to 734 square feet. While I did not need an accessible room for my stay, this was the best view out of the available rooms that the hotel had, so this was the category they placed me in.

The room was about a 2- to 3-minute walk from the central lobby, and I had to go down an elevator and walk outside to get there. Before going over the room itself, it’s worth explaining the various room types at Four Seasons Resort Lanai:

• Gardenview Rooms overlook an interior courtyard or lush landscape but do not have any ocean views.
• Oceanfront Rooms are rooms that overlook the ocean in some fashion but have landscape or other features as well. I wouldn’t consider this a partial view but would describe this as a farther away or less desirable ocean view type room.
• Prime Oceanfront Rooms directly face the ocean with no obstructions. These are the rooms you want if you’re looking to upgrade.

Entering my Prime Oceanfront Room, there was a closet to the right with plenty of storage space and the usual iron, laundry supplies, and slippers. There was also a duffel bag here to use during my stay that was available for purchase, though, of course, it was quite pricy.

All lights and shades in the room were controlled by a central panel.

Moving further into the room, there was a long counter space under the television that housed a small refrigerator, Nespresso coffee machine, and remote controls.

Just past the counter was a desk area with 2 chairs. It had plenty of outlets and a telephone.

As a welcome amenity, the hotel left a few sweets and 2 high-quality YETI reusable water bottles. I thought that was a nice touch, as these bottles would ordinarily retail for a pricey sum.

Off to the one side of the room was a day lounger chair, a perfect place to relax just near the large window facing outside.

Outside, there was an enormous patio space featuring several seating options with stunning views of the Pacific Ocean. This is what you pay for in one of the Prime Oceanfront Rooms, and it’s nice to see the hotel make this part of the room so beautiful.

Returning to the room, the room featured 1 king bed flanked by 2 nightstands, with electronic controls to adjust the thermostat, lighting, and shades.

In the bathroom, there were 2 vanity spaces, a large wall of storage options, and extra towels. Further back was a large room housing the toilet and shower, which is likely much larger in the accessible room I had than the bathrooms in a traditional room. I appreciated the larger space.

The shower area was roomy, and the Aina toiletries were very high quality. It was nice that the toilet and shower area was separate from the vanity area. If you were traveling with someone else, each person could get ready separately.

Food and Beverage

There are 5 restaurants on-site, and this is where you’ll enjoy the majority of your meals as there are a limited amount of restaurants on the island:

• The Break, a cafe just off of the lobby
• Malibu Farm, a locally-sourced cuisine poolside restaurant
• Nobu Lana’i, an Asian-inspired restaurant of the famous Nobu chain
• One Forty, the main steak and seafood restaurant on-site, and where breakfast is offered in the mornings
• Views, a restaurant on top of the golf course with stunning views over the resort and bay

I experienced 2 of these restaurants:

• One Forty had a wonderful dinner menu, though it was very pricey. Including a drink, appetizer, entree, and dessert, it was about $150 per person. Breakfast at this location was wonderful in the morning. I ordered a yogurt bowl, as well as a bagel with cream cheese, and everything was fresh and a great start to the day.
• Views was my favorite dining spot for my trip, perched atop the golf course. It’s a golf club-type atmosphere, and plenty of sandwiches, salads, and entrees are on the menu. I got a terrific seafood salad and combined it with a tropical iced tea overlooking the resort. It was my favorite meal I had there.

Hot Tip: If you’re utilizing the $100 on-site credit at the hotel, it will go very quickly. You should plan on a couple of hundred dollars a day in spending on food since there are very limited dining options on the island.

Service

Service at this hotel was impeccable but still reflected a laid-back island vibe. There are a few especially helpful teams:

• The front desk was efficient in trying to find an upgraded room and assisted extensively with someone else’s flight delay on the trip.
• The bell staff, who also served as shuttle drivers, were very helpful in providing transportation on the island and friendly. They also served as drivers in the house Tesla cars up to the golf course.

I had no issues throughout my stay and thought the service reflected the hotel’s nightly price.

Final Thoughts

This was by far the most expensive hotel I’ve ever paid for. While I limited my stay to just 1 night due to the expense, I maximized my stay as much as possible, availing myself of the transportation options and several dining experiences. I’d highly recommend visiting the Four Seasons Resort Lanai, or, at the very least, experiencing the island of Lānaʻi for the day if you can.