Sensei Lanai, A Four Seasons Resort

Sensei lanai is truly one of a kind. There are no pictures that can do justice to the grounds; every plant is purposefully placed. The hotel itself is what you would expect from a Four Seasons - very tasteful and elegant, spotless, arranged for convenience, with impeccable service. Every member of the staff knew my name and the intentions of my stay; I’ve never experienced customer service that exceeded so much at making me feel like I was the only guest there. It goes without saying that with all food by Nobu, food was amazing and really not as expensive as I expected. The fitness center and class offerings were plentiful. I took advantage of the clay shooting, observatory, and spa, all which I would highly recommend. The spa experience in the hale was extraordinary - my lomi lomi massage was well worth the cost both due to the quality of the massage itself and the facilities. The real uniqueness of this property is that you are also staying at a beach resort - you use the inter-resort shuttle to go down to the non-Sensei Four Seasons resort, which is stunning. The beach side of the resort seems busier, with more families, and it’s also hotter since its sea level. If you are looking for relaxing, breezier, less-peopley well-being and preservation, I would stay at Sensei and just shuttle down to the beach/golf when you want. The stay at Sensei is not cheap, however when you consider everything you get, including lanai air transfers from Honolulu, it is truly a bargain. I should add that I had a bump in the road upon arrival. Hawaiian airlines lost my luggage, and didn’t “find it” until the end of my stay. This situation is always challenging when you’re on vacation, but it was especially challenging here as you cannot buy much on Lanai (which is one of the reasons it is such a great place!). My golf shoes, active swimwear and goggles, and running shoes were all important to my stay but were unfortunately in my lost bag. Four Seasons, while having no responsibility for the lost bag, bent over backwards to try to track down the bag as well as make my stay more comfortable. Every single staff member at the resort knew my situation and tried to help. I would like to specifically call out Jewel Romero, guest experience manager, for taking this off my shoulders and forcing me out to enjoy the resort while she took on the task of finding my bag. If it were not for her, I do not think the bag ever would have showed up. She and staff also coordinated toiletries and provided a few free meals to help ease the pain - really not necessary but it really did turn the trip around for me. I previously did not have a staple luxury hotel chain I stick with, but moving forward I will always look for Four Seasons based on this customer service experience. In a time where no one seemed to want to help or be kind, the Sensei Lanai staff excelled at both. I will absolutely be back and happily spend my money at Four Seasons Lanai as it was well worth it. Just make su

I had the most incredible and spiritual experience at Sensei for my babymoon in Sept 2022. The grounds were tranquil and luxurious, the staff was friendly and welcoming, the culinary experience was unique and delicious and the activities were restorative and idyllic. To this day, when I think of my happy place, I think of Sensei. Some of my favorite activities were "Freeing Yourself from Stories" which took a more psychological approach, forest bathing/meditation which helped with gratitude and presence, and daily stretch which kicked off the day with gentle restorative movement. My favorite of all though was the spa services. The hale's were amazing with their private sauna, steam room, pools, locker room, etc and the services were incredible, particularly aquatic bodywork. The aquatic bodywork treatment with Liran was fantastic and really helped me achieve some of my goals with this wellness getaway which had a focus on getting reconnected with myself, my baby and my husband. Unaware of the full scope of the treatment, I had originally booked only one aquatic bodywork session but ended up squeezing in a second last minute because the first was that impactful and I really wanted to try an underwater session! I was excited but nervous about going underwater since I believed I couldn’t hold my breath for very long underwater. Liran was able to sync his breath with mine which provided such a safe environment. Not only was he very in tune with my breathing needs, he also seemed very aware of any bodily cues of discomfort and adjusted accordingly. Being asked to release all my muscles and become like “seaweed in the ocean” really required a practice of relinquishing control which was necessary to experience the freedom provided by this practice. It was also a great exercise in noticing when I was uncomfortable and what caused me to feel so uneasy. I realized many times when I thought I needed air, I really just was seeking control. This treatment helped me see what comes up when I try to take the control back and practice releasing it whenever I feel ready to feel the positive effects of the release again. Through the treatment I learned to lean into the discomfort and not judge myself when I went back into control seat mode. Part of the way through the treatment, I began to amaze myself by exhaling first instead of grasping for air when I resurfaced and that helped me notice what I thought I needed was less about oxygen and more about control. Also, knowing that I could always pull myself up if needed, helped me trust the process and literally test the waters beyond a self-identified limitation. Overall, the aquatic bodywork felt so embryonic. Being in the water which is the same temperature as one’s body and cradled in the arms of the aquatic therapist with no control over my muscles, I felt very connected with my baby. In this treatment, I was at the mercy of Liran’s care just like my baby will be at the mercy of my care. I was able to

The property is absolutely gorgeous. Everything from the gardens, to the architecture and private spa hales are designed for ultimate peace and relaxation. Expert instructors lead a wide selection of free health classes every day. Make sure to book time in the spa hales which are truly special. However, we did run into service issues during our stay: 1. Avoid using the in-room iPad for service requests. We would regularly have to wait 30min+ for a response for requests made via the iPad chat function. 2. We were told by the front desk that third party taxi services were the best way to get to the Cat Sanctuary. We asked for help setting that up and they gave us a sticky note with a phone number to call. That number went to voicemail, so they gave us another sticky note with a number to call. We were eventually able to coordinate a ride ourselves, but the whole process left us disappointed. The Four Seasons is supposed to be synonymous with excellent service and we were given two phone numbers and told to essentially figure it out ourselves. 3. We scheduled a $90 smores experience to take place after our dinner on Saturday night at Sensei by Nobu. The dining experience team told us they would let the restaurant staff know so that we could go straight from dinner to smores. Dinner came and went and no one mentioned anything to us, so we walked to the front desk after dinner to see what was going on. Front desk called the dining experience team who said they had been calling our room and asked why we weren’t picking up. We weren’t picking up because we were at dinner…odd because they knew we would be at dinner when we booked the experience. After a delay, they were eventually able to get it set up for us. This really is a beautiful resort retreat. However, cannot wholeheartedly recommend to friends/family because of the service issues we faced. Hopefully our experience was an exception and not the norm.

My husband and I recently spent a week at the Sensei. The resort is beautiful, the spa hale is a must and the food was great…The one thing we had an issue with is the front desk staff. I did not find them to be friendly or helpful. In general they were slow to even acknowledge your presence. Sadly one of the last interactions with the Sensei staff was with Lavenda. She seemed bothered by my presence as if I was interrupting her. She is not knowledgeable, as she had to defer to others regarding several of my questions.

My wife and I just spent 4 nights at Sensei Lanai in the Hawaiian Islands. We had a wonderful stay overall and would certainly return to this property in the future. When we travel we always try our best to seek out quiet, secluded destinations in interesting natural settings and this island and property certainly hit the mark. We made sure to include a balance of activities and relaxation and also made sure that we spent plenty of time on and near the water while being to retreat to the peace and quiet of Sensei up in the mountains. Lanai itself really is special with just the two Four Seasons resorts, one small town with a few shops and restaurants, a cat sanctuary, and otherwise just secluded beaches and untouched areas of lush vegetation and red dirt. For the best of both worlds in the future we would consider doing a split stay between the beach resort and Sensei, however given that we only had 4 nights in total on the island, we maximized our time by staying at Sensei, but doing multiple dinners at the beach resort, going out on a boat for the snorkel cruise, and exploring the island on our own in one of the jeeps to visit some of the more secluded beaches. While the beach resort is nice, we did value the peace and quiet as well as the lush gardens and pool that Sensei had to offer. We were very happy with our choice of coming to Lanai because we were looking for a combination of activities and relaxation and Sensei had exactly what we needed for this particular trip. Check in/Arrival Arriving to Lanai was a seamless process. After landing at HNL and exiting the terminal we were quickly greeted by a Lanai Air representative. From there we grabbed our bags and were transported privately in an SUV to the Lanai Air hangar which was just 5 minutes from the main airport. The Lanai Air lounge was great to relax in for about 30 minutes, they had snacks, drinks, and plenty of seating. The weather during our flight on our way to Lanai was unfortunately a bit cloudy which limited our visibility from above, but once we got closer to landing we were able to have some excellent views of the island from the air. Once the plane landed, we gathered our bags and we were immediately greeted by a representative from Four Seasons. We boarded a shared shuttle that took about 15 minutes from the airport. Upon arriving at Sensei we were checked in and given a tour of the grounds and oriented ourselves to where everything was located, namely the pool, the spa hales, onsen garden, exercise pavilion, restaurant, and bar. The main lobby area is quite impressive with tons of paintings and sculptures, high ceilings, and plenty of sitting areas with two fireplaces to sit around as well. Room We were booked into a standard king room (#322) that was solid, Four Seasons standard in many aspects, but nothing spectacular. Room was decorated with light tones had a king bed with comfortable Four Seasons bedding that I’ve found at every other North American Four Season I’

The rooms are tastefully furnished, but i wish the bathrooms had 2 sinks and a soaking tubs. The flora on the grounds was gorgeous, and there was a nice pool and spa, although, the massages were frightfully expensive. i loved the gym and the classes and it was nice to be in the mountains and see a different part of Hawaii. Food was over priced and could have been better. Excellent service, though.