They say that the worst day of vacation still beats the best day of work, but I think the characters in the recent HBO series “The White Lotus” would beg to disagree. The dark drama, which wrapped up its six-episode run this past Sunday night, circles around three wealthy parties who check into the fictional The White Lotus Resort & Spa for a week-long Hawaiian getaway, one of whom, as viewers are told at the beginning of the first episode, will be killed by the series’ end.
Created by director/screenwriter Mike White of “The Good Girl” fame, the show reads like a “Big Little Lies” set at an ultra-luxe tropical resort, though production designer Laura Fox likens it more to “‘The Shining’ at the beach,” telling Town & Country magazine that the “perfect retreat” at the story’s center “seems sprawling but it’s so contained once you’re inside – that adds to the suspense but also the comedy.”
Along with heightening the drama, being “so contained” inside a hotel was also a creative solution to the many unique challenges that came with shooting a series in the midst of a global pandemic. Setting the entire series at a fictional resort allowed the production to completely take over one of the many lodgings that had been shuttered due to Covid-19 and utilize it not only for filming but to quarantine and house the large cast and crew for the duration of the shoot, as well. (As it turns out, even the show’s jewelry selection was bolstered by the sequestration.)
And what better place to set up shop for the three-month project than the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea? Situated on a lush 15 acres at 3900 Wailea Alanui Dr. in Kihei, the hotel, which is a AAA Five Diamond and Forbes Five-Star-rated property, is known for both its luxury and privacy.
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Image Credit: Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea Commissioned by developers Christopher Hemmeter and Takeshi Sekiguchi in 1990, no expense was spared in the construction of the site. The bucolic lodging, which towers eight stories over the pristine Wailea Beach below, is nothing if not massive, with 307 rooms and 76 suites ranging in size from 600 to 7,200 square feet.
The Four Seasons name has long been synonymous with the ultimate in luxury and, as such, the Maui property, which underwent extensive renovations in both 2007 and 2016, is teeming with exclusive amenities. Just a few of the deluxe creature comforts you’ll find on the premises include three pools, indoor and outdoor fitness rooms, a game room, three golf courses, a 21,000-square-foot spa, a lobby lounge and three eateries, including the much-celebrated Spago Maui by Wolfgang Puck. The resort also boasts an incredible two-to-one employee to room ratio, according to PR Newswire, ensuring that every guest’s whim is easily met.
As expected, celebrities have long flocked to the place. Just a few of the notables who have reportedly stayed on the premises include Kanye West, Meg Ryan, John Stamos, Oprah Winfrey, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Pamela Anderson and New York Giants’ owner Steve Tisch.
Basking in such splendor doesn’t come cheap, though! Per a 1990 Sydney Morning Herald article, room rates started at an incredible $325 a night when the hotel first opened three decades ago! And they’ve only skyrocketed from there. Today, a basic mountain-side room will run you $1,700 a night during the off-season, while larger suites demand $7,700 and up. Considering the exorbitant pricing, the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea is a fitting setting for White’s bleak tale of the haves vs. the have-nots.
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Image Credit: Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea The Sydney Morning Herald notes that the property’s “guest rooms are built around a main courtyard which even Hollywood might be hard-pressed to emulate.” Indeed, as chronicled by Architectural Digest, most areas of the idyllic hotel were “camera-ready” long before “The White Lotus” team arrived. The series wound up making use of virtually every square inch of the place, including the resort’s main entrance, the three restaurants, the lobby and two of the three pools.
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Image Credit: Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea Most pool sequences were shot at the Serenity Pool, an adults-only space so extravagant that music is pumped through underwater speakers to ensure that guests who are swimming don’t lack harmonic accompaniment! The site also boasts a swim-up bar, ocean views and a set of lavish cabanas which newlyweds Shane (Jake Lacy) and Rachel Patton (Alexandra Daddario) are typically seen lounging in front of on the show. Equipped with flat-screen TVs, couches and fridges stocked with champagne, the bungalows can be leased for upwards of $500 a day in real life.
The property’s Fountain Pool, situated at the center of the resort, is where Mark Mossbacher (Steve Zahn) and his son, Quinn (Fred Hechinger), take scuba lessons throughout the six episodes.
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Image Credit: Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea A significant portion of the story also takes place at the hotel’s award-winning spa, where the kind-hearted Belinda Lindsey (Natasha Rothwell) works her holistic magic on despondent guest Tanya McQuoid (a brilliantly unhinged Jennifer Coolidge).
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Image Credit: Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea But it is the characters’ stunning rooms that exude the biggest wow factor. Redesigning the various suites utilized was not without its challenges being that, according to AD, “Per hotel restrictions, production designer Laura Fox could not paint or otherwise alter their pale wallpaper or move the headboards. Still, she managed to redecorate the rooms to celebrate the natural flora of the island and reflect the personalities of the eccentric characters.”
The scenes involving the Tradewinds Suite, where search engine magnate Nicole Mossbacher (Connie Britton) stays with her family, were lensed in the Maile Presidential Suite, which Fox outfitted with hues of blue and other ocean-centric furnishings for the shoot. As noted on the Four Seasons’ website, the room is the hotel’s “finest suite” (just don’t tell Shane!) and “delivers an unparalleled Maui experience for families and groups – with 180-degree ocean views and an outdoor lanai fronting the entire north wing.” The grand space, which currently runs a whopping $26,000 a night during the off-season, was made to appear much smaller onscreen than it is in real life. At 4,000 square feet, it is actually the second-largest suite in all of Hawaii, with four bathrooms, a full-size sauna and an entertainment center with Apple TV and Sonos. There are also three bedrooms on the premises which means that, even when accomodating a party of five, no one need be relegated to sleep in the kitchen!
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Image Credit: HBO For Tanya’s Hibiscus Suite, Fox and her team transformed one of the hotel’s Oceanfront Prime Suites into a haven of blush décor and pink prints. In real life, the 1,400-square-foot rooms feature a much more understated aesthetic along with large living areas, spacious bedrooms with sitting nooks, two bathrooms and sprawling lanais.
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Image Credit: Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea One of the property’s Elite Oceanfront Suites masked as the stunning (but sub-par in Shane’s mind) Palm Suite, where Shane and Rachel honeymooned. For the shoot, Fox swapped out out the curtains and furnishings with banana leaf-patterned versions and the hanging lights with table lamps, creating an overall tranquil retreat that became one of the spaces most loved by audiences and the production team alike. Laura told Town & Country, “We’d even find the crew hanging out in that room between takes because it was such a nice place to be.”
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Image Credit: Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea But, alas, it is not the Pineapple Suite, much to Shane’s chagrin. To create that space, Fox and her team descended upon the resort’s biggest room (as well as the largest suite in all of Hawaii), the Lokelani Presidential Suite. The massive 4,500-square-foot chamber was, again, entirely overhauled for the shoot and given an overtly pineapple theme. In real life, the suite features three bedrooms, five bathrooms and two living rooms and dining areas. And while it does boast a private patio – to the tune of 2,700 square feet! – there is no plunge pool to be found on the premises, which I imagine would elicit a very strongly worded letter to the management from Shane! Rates for the space start at a cool $26,000.
The moral of the story? You can vacation like a “White Lotus” character, but it’s gonna cost you!
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Image Credit: 20th Television The Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea is no stranger to the screen. Gloria Delgado-Pritchett (Sofía Vergara) booked a trip there for her entire family as a birthday surprise for her husband, Jay (Ed O’Neill), in the season one episode of “Modern Family” titled “Hawaii.” The show made use of several of the resort’s rooms as well as the Oceanfront Lawn, where Claire (Julie Bowen) and Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell) memorably renewed their wedding vows.
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Image Credit: NBCUniversal And the hotel popped up very briefly at the end of the season four finale of “Parenthood” titled “Because You’re My Sister” as the spot where Adam (Peter Krause) and Kristina Braverman (Monica Potter) vacation after finding out that Kristina is finally cancer-free.