Review: Four Seasons Lanai (Hawaii’s Most Special Resort)

Four Seasons is known for its incredible hotels and resorts around the globe, though I’d argue that the Four Seasons Lanai might be among the brand’s most special properties. Not only is the Four Seasons as such an amazing resort, but it also gives you access to a really special island that’s otherwise hard to access. If you love Hawaii and can swing a stay here, I can’t recommend it enough.

Booking the Four Seasons Lanai

If you’re booking a stay at the Four Seasons Lanai (or any Four Seasons property in the world), the best option is always to book through the Four Seasons Preferred Partner program. You pay the same rate you’ll find directly on Four Seasons’ website, but you’ll receive extra perks, including the following:

• A room upgrade, subject to availability
• Complimentary daily breakfast, either in the restaurant or via in-room dining
• A hotel credit to use during your stay

Four Seasons Preferred Partner is generally combinable with promotions being offered directly through Four Seasons, like a third or fourth night free offer. You can’t beat getting all of these extra perks just for booking through an eligible travel advisor. Ford and his team are more than happy to help anyone book Four Seasons properties through Preferred Partner, and can be reached at [email protected].

Note that booking Four Seasons properties through Preferred Partner is better than booking through programs like Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts®. Why?

• With Preferred Partner you have the option of room service breakfast in place of restaurant breakfast (that’s something a lot of people value)
• Upgrades are prioritized for Preferred Partner bookings, given that it’s Four Seasons’ own proprietary program (and the value of an upgrade at a hotel like this can be significant)
• You can combine Preferred Partner perks with virtually any rate on Four Seasons’ website (other programs don’t allow you to stack promotions in the same way)

Four Seasons Lanai review & guide

After picking up a rental car in Lanai City we drove to the hotel, which was about a 20 minute drive away. Driving around Lanai is such a treat. The island only has a few thousands residents, and you see almost no cars on the road. The roads are winding and have views at every corner.

Four Seasons Lanai entrance

As soon as we arrived at the Four Seasons we pulled up and were addressed by name (or more accurately, Ford was addressed by name — the reservation was in his name). The hotel offers complimentary valet parking and doesn’t charge a resort fee. For most other luxury hotels in Hawaii, those two things alone would cost you close to $100 per night.

Four Seasons Lanai exterior

Once inside the lobby we could skip the check-in desk completely, and were escorted to our room, given that we had checked in at the Four Seasons Lounge at Honolulu Airport. However, before going to our room we had a look around the lobby.

Four Seasons Lanai lobby

Reception is inside the lobby and to the right.

Four Seasons Lanai reception

Immediately ahead of the entrance are two staircases leading down a level to the hotel’s restaurants, as well as the pools, beach, etc. I loved that all of this was open air, and had a nice breeze. Personally the dark wood finishes weren’t my preferred aesthetic for a Hawaii resort, but people often tell me I have bad taste, so I’ll assume that’s on me. 😉

Four Seasons Lanai lobby

Four Seasons Lanai lobby

To get to our room we were escorted past reception and turned right.

Four Seasons Lanai hallway

After walking through a short indoor hallway we were outside, surrounded by ponds and tropical gardens.

Four Seasons Lanai walkway to room

Four Seasons Lanai property

Also along the walk were the hotel’s three resident birds, one of which talked.

Four Seasons Lanai birds

There were several beautiful outdoor seating areas that I never saw anyone use.

Four Seasons Lanai sitting area

The lobby was on the third floor while our room was on the second floor, so we took the elevator down a level, until we arrived at room 1214 (which I guess is really room 214 in building 1).

Four Seasons Lanai room exterior

Rather than having traditional room keys, the hotel uses waterproof wristbands for that purpose.

Four Seasons Lanai room keys

The Four Seasons was renovated just a couple of years ago, so as you’d expect, the rooms were modern. Our room featured an entryway with the bathroom to the left and a mirror to the right.

Four Seasons Lanai room entryway

Further into the room was the bed, loveseat, and desk.

Four Seasons Lanai ocean view room

Four Seasons Lanai ocean view room

Our room had a king size bed with a soft mattress and amazing bedding.

Four Seasons Lanai ocean view room

Next to it was a side table that I guess could double as a desk.

Four Seasons Lanai ocean view room

On the opposite side of the room was a desk with two chairs (that could also double as a dining table), as well as a wall mounted TV.

Four Seasons Lanai ocean view room

At the foot of the bed was the loveseat.

Four Seasons Lanai ocean view room couch

Next to the bed was a closet, as well as the in-room safe and a bag that you can use for the duration of your stay at the resort.

Four Seasons Lanai in-room safe

Four Seasons Lanai room closet

Back towards the entrance was the refreshment center, which also had a Nespresso machine and some complimentary bottled water.

Four Seasons Lanai room refreshment center

Four Seasons Lanai room minibar drinks

The bathroom featured double sinks, a soaking tub, a partitioned off toilet with a fancy Japanese toilet (the kind that catches you off guard and scares the hell out of you by opening automatically), and a walk-in shower which had a floor made of stones.

Four Seasons Lanai bathroom

Four Seasons Lanai bathroom

Four Seasons Lanai bathtub

Four Seasons Lanai toilet

Four Seasons Lanai shower

Toiletries were from a local Hawaiian company, and I quite liked them.

Four Seasons Lanai toiletries

The highlight of the room was the ocean view, though. I think this was an entry level ocean view room, rather than an oceanfront room, but the view was still beautiful.

Four Seasons Lanai ocean view room balcony

The balcony had two chairs and a dining table, as well as a more comfortable chair for lounging.

Four Seasons Lanai ocean view room balcony

I’ve had worse sunset views!

Four Seasons Lanai ocean view room

So it was a lovely room overall. Not only was it stylish, but it was also practically designed. There were outlets everywhere they needed to be, and not just 110v outlets, but also USB outlets.

Four Seasons Lanai plentiful outlets

Wifi was complimentary for all guests, though you could pay $20 per day for premium Wi-Fi. I just used the standard Wi-Fi, and it worked well.

Now let’s take a look at the public areas. The hotel has two pools — there’s the main pool, and then a pool for adults. Both are located in the direction of the ocean.

Four Seasons Lanai pools

The main pool also had a couple of hot tubs.

Four Seasons Lanai pool & hot tub

Four Seasons Lanai adult pool

The adult pool was just 50 feet further, and had a gate around it. The pool was similar, though was even quieter than the main pool. This is a reasonably large resort given that it has 200+ rooms, though none of the facilities were ever full. I’m not sure how full the hotel was, but I suspect it wasn’t anywhere close to capacity.

Four Seasons Lanai adult pool

There was tons of seating around both of the pools, and even some just facing the ocean.

Four Seasons Lanai adult pool

Four Seasons Lanai lounge chairs

Even though there were lots of chairs, at most maybe 20% of them were ever occupied, so this isn’t a resort where you have to put your towels on chairs at 7:30AM if you want a chance of snagging a decent seat. It could be that it’s different around the holidays, though.

Four Seasons Lanai lounge chairs

The staff at this hotel were simply incredible, and that included at the pool. As you approached they’d set up your lounge chairs for you, bring you a cooler with ice water, sunscreen, and of course check on you constantly if you wanted to order any food or drinks.

Four Seasons Lanai complimentary water & sunscreen

The beach was just a short walk from the pools, and I never saw more than a dozen people on it.

Four Seasons Lanai path to beach

Four Seasons Lanai beach

Four Seasons Lanai beach

Now let’s talk a bit about the food, starting with breakfast. Breakfast at the Four Seasons Lanai was one of the best hotel breakfasts I’ve had anywhere. It was served in the restaurant off the lobby, and there was both indoor and outdoor seating.

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast restaurant

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast restaurant

Every morning we sat outside with this incredible view while enjoying our coffee and breakfast. Personally there’s nothing I enjoy more while on vacation at a resort than sitting with a view of the ocean at breakfast and enjoying that first cup of coffee. Ahhh….

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast restaurant view

At breakfast there was both a menu and buffet. Here are the details:

The buffet at the Four Seasons wasn’t the biggest I’ve ever seen, but it was one of the best. The buffet only has cold items (well, except miso soup) that are prepared fresh daily, and then you order hot things off the menu to complement it.

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast buffet

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast buffet

From fresh fruit to sashimi to freshly baked bread to fresh juices to custom made smoothies to mini-acai bowls, this buffet was outstanding. I’ll let the pictures mostly speak for themselves.

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast buffet

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast buffet

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast buffet

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast buffet

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast buffet

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast buffet

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast buffet

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast buffet

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast buffet

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast buffet

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast buffet

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast buffet

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast buffet

Yum!

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast

Then there were the menu items, which were equally good. The tofu scramble was my favorite.

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast — scrambled tofu

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast — salmon sandwich

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast — pancake & waffle

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast — steel cut oatmeal

Four Seasons Lanai breakfast — omelet

The go-to restaurant for lunch was Malibu Farm, located just off the pool.

Four Seasons Lanai Malibu Farm Restaurant

The lunch menu read as follows:

The drink list read as follows:

We had lunch here every day (while there’s lots of exploring to be done in Lanai, there aren’t many restaurants). I’ll let the pictures of some of our dishes speak for themselves.

Four Seasons Lanai lunch — cauliflower lavash pizza

Four Seasons Lanai lunch — grilled local fish

Four Seasons Lanai lunch — vegan coconut curry

Four Seasons Lanai lunch — pokeviche

Four Seasons Lanai lunch — vegan chop with fish

Four Seasons Lanai lunch — chicken broccoli quesadilla 

Then there was the sport’s bar, which is the most casual dining option for dinner. One night we had dinner here.

Four Seasons Lanai bar

I had a lobster roll while Ford had a burger.

Four Seasons Lanai bar dinner — lobster roll

Four Seasons Lanai bar dinner — burger

The sport’s bar had nice views of the ocean, and also had pool and shuffleboard tables.

Four Seasons Lanai pool tables

Four Seasons Lanai shuffleboard tables

The Four Seasons also has its own Nobu, where we had dinner on Ford’s birthday. It was every bit as good as the other Nobus we’ve been to.

Four Seasons Lanai Nobu

In terms of other activities, the hotel has a 24 hour gym with modern equipment and views of the pool, which we visited three times during our stay.

Four Seasons Lanai gym

Four Seasons Lanai gym

Four Seasons Lanai gym

There are also three hiking trails from the hotel, all with different but equally beautiful views. They’re not too challenging, and can all be done in an hour or so. One has you going down to the beach and then turning left towards Sweetheart Rock, as it’s called.

Four Seasons Lanai — Sweetheart Rock

Four Seasons Lanai hiking

Another has you going down to the beach and then turning right, and walking along the rocks.

Four Seasons Lanai hiking

The third trail has you exiting the hotel and walking up into the hills. Here’s a map that shows the basic details of all of the hikes:

Four Seasons Lanai resort map

There are a few more things I want to cover when it comes to our stay.

Service at the Four Seasons Lanai

This is what impressed me most. Service at the Four Seasons Lanai was the best I’ve had at any hotel in North America. Period. Every single employee we interacted with went above and beyond. It’s not just that they were friendly and well intentioned, but they were all also really good at their jobs.

For a bit of backstory, Lanai has about 3,000 residents, and about half of them are of Filipino descent. So in many ways I felt like I was in the Philippines based on how friendly everyone was.

For example, when it came to the restaurants, at both breakfast and lunch they addressed us by name by the second day without having to provide our room number, and they also remembered our drink orders and preferred tables. .

But there was also some really impressive attention to detail in the most minor ways. For example, I had some sunglasses sitting on the table in our room while it was being serviced, and when we returned there was a cleaning wipe next to them.

Four Seasons Lanai service

So this property has by far the best service — both in terms of professionalism and friendliness — of any hotel I’ve stayed at in North America.

Lanai is a pretty cool & unique island

We visited three different islands in Hawaii, and enjoyed all of them. Lanai was by far the quietest. Most of it is technically private and owned by Larry Ellison, and given that there are only 3,000 residents, it’s a sleepy island.

The nature on the island is breathtaking, and it’s even cooler that you can explore so many great sites without coming across a single other tourist (well, at least that’s great until your car gets stuck).

Garden of the Gods, Lanai

Shipwreck Beach, Lanai

Bottom line

I wasn’t expecting to be impressed by this hotel (given my experience with other “luxury” resorts in the US), but I was wrong. The resort is physically beautiful with a lovely setting on the ocean, but that’s what impressed me least. What really impressed me was how friendly every single employee we interacted with was. This hotel has outstanding service. Furthermore, Lanai is a special island, so it’s worth a visit, even if just taking the ferry for the day from Maui.

The food was also incredible, though I was expecting that given how much I love fresh fish. From the amazing breakfast to lunch at Malibu Farm to dinner at Nobu, this hotel has an impressive food & beverage selection.

Lastly, I appreciate that the hotel doesn’t nickel & dime. There’s no resort fee, no cost for valet parking, etc.

So, what’s the catch? The price, of course. The Four Seasons isn’t cheap, and often costs $1,000 or more per night. This certainly isn’t for everyone, and for many of us (myself included), staying at a points property in Asia is a better value.

However, for those visiting Hawaii and looking to splurge, the Four Seasons Lanai is well worth considering, in my opinion.

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