If you live in Kapalua, you already know the resort you drive past every morning is called something different now. The Montage sign came down in March, the Hideaway is open again with a bar you can actually walk into, and the First Friday concert at Alaloa Lounge has quietly become the most reliable evening plan on the north end of the coast. It looks like a lot of change at once. It is actually the opposite.
Here is the thesis, and the reason this rundown is worth your time: the resort corridor between Ritz-Carlton Drive and Kapalua Bay has, in the last six months, consolidated into a predictable weekly and monthly rhythm that residents can plan around without checking a single ticketing site. The names on the buildings are in flux. The calendar underneath them is more legible than it has been in years.
The rebrand you'll keep hearing about
The property most people still call the Montage is, as of March 14, 2026, operating under Marriott management as The Resort at Kapalua Bay, with a full conversion to St. Regis Kapalua Bay planned for 2027. Ownership did not change. Kemmons Wilson Hospitality Partners bought the property in late 2023 and still holds it; what changed on March 14 is the management agreement, with Montage out and Marriott in.
For residents this matters in one practical way. Both of Kapalua's luxury hotels now sit under the Marriott umbrella, which means the concierge, event and dining calendars at the Ritz-Carlton and at the Resort at Kapalua Bay are increasingly synced. When you see a promotion for a wine dinner or a lei-making workshop this summer, it is likely coming out of the same corporate marketing engine, and it is likely open to the public with a walk-in or a small fee.
First Fridays at Alaloa Lounge
The single easiest recurring plan in Kapalua right now is the Kapalua Concert Series at Alaloa Lounge inside The Ritz-Carlton. It runs every First Friday, 6 to 9 p.m., where live music meets handcrafted cocktails and an island atmosphere. What is new is that the lounge itself was reimagined and the series is being programmed with real names, not filler.
The dates residents should have on the fridge:
- Friday, August 7, 6–9 p.m. — Marty Dread. Known as Hawai'i's Reggae Ambassador, the Maui-based singer-songwriter has a career spanning more than 32 years, with 21 albums and performances throughout Hawai'i, the mainland US, and around the world.
- Summer Songwriter series carryover. The Ritz has also been running the Maui Songwriters Festival Summer Series, curated showcases where award-winning artists share the stories behind their biggest hits in an unplugged, intimate setting, on top of the First Friday concerts.
Access is the underrated part. Admission is complimentary for resort guests, and $10 per person for non-hotel guests. Ten dollars, no cover charge theater, no reservation. That is the price of a decent drip coffee on this coast, and it buys a three-hour set inside a lounge overlooking Honokahua Bay.
The Hideaway, back and worth relearning
The Hideaway at the Resort at Kapalua Bay reopened on February 27, 2026 as an indoor-outdoor cocktail lounge with a fully rebuilt program. What matters for residents is not that it exists again, it is what it now does every night.
Every night, local musicians play from 7 to 9 p.m. in a Hawaiian-inspired cultural mix and modern classics, and the menu is anchored on signature cocktails crafted with local spirits and seasonal ingredients, plus shared plates that let guests linger. The Mai Tai program is the piece that repays a second visit. The Ultimate Mai Tai leans on spirits from Ocean Organic Farm & Distillery, a farm-to-bottle producer that grows its own sugar cane and distills on-island, and is served in a custom keepsake tiki glass hand-blown by Ryan Staub of Moana Glass.
Two lounges, two miles apart, both open to the public, both programmed with live music inside the same three-hour window. That is a neighborhood evening plan, not a resort amenity.
Late August turns into a festival week
Block off the last week of August. The Maui Jazz and Blues Festival returns to Kapalua from Aug. 31 through Sept. 6 at The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua, with a lineup of Grammy-winning legends including trumpet virtuoso Eddie Henderson, saxophonist Javon Jackson, trombonist Steve Turre, Grammy-winning accordionist Bruce Sunpie Barnes, saxophonist Jason Mingledorff, Chicago-based blues musician Joanna Connor and the New Orleans band The Iguanas.
This is the festival's second year back on the west side after Lahaina. Founder and director Kenneth K. Martinez Burgmaier has said the return celebrates a decade-long tradition, and more than 200 tickets are being donated to Lahaina fire victims as part of the festival's commitment to the community. Watch the Alaloa Lounge nights in particular; last year those were the sub-$50, complimentary-for-guests nights where the touring artists warmed up before the ticketed pavilion show.
The daytime anchors that did not change
Between the events, the daily map is short and consistent. Honolua Store is still the plantation-era counter most residents route through in the morning. A landmark since the days of pineapple farming, it offers a full-service espresso bar and fresh deli service in a historic plantation setting, with traditional Hawaiian-style plate lunches such as loco moco, gourmet sandwiches, salads and pizzas, fried chicken and the Honolua Burger. The deli operates until mid-afternoon, so it is a lunch stop, not a dinner one.
Taverna is worth a re-read for anyone who has not been in a few months. At the 45th Kapalua Wine & Food Festival in June, Chef Edgar Ortiz of Taverna took home "Best of the Fest" honors for 2026. That award is voted on by chefs and festivalgoers walking between booths at the Grand Tasting, which means it reflects the plate that stopped a room full of people who had already tasted everything else. If you have been treating Taverna as your reliable neighborhood pasta place, it just got a serious credential.
A sample First Friday evening
If you have out-of-town friends visiting the first weekend of August and you want a plan that does not require a car past 6 p.m., this is the sequence the calendar hands you:
- 5:30 p.m. — Sunset walk on the Kapalua Coastal Trail from D.T. Fleming to Namalu Bay.
- 6:00 p.m. — Marty Dread opens at Alaloa Lounge. Ten-dollar cover for non-guests, complimentary for anyone staying at the Ritz.
- 7:30 p.m. — Walk or drive down to the Hideaway. Live music runs 7 to 9 p.m. and the Ultimate Mai Tai program overlaps with the last hour of the Alaloa set.
- 9:00 p.m. — Shared plates on the Hideaway lanai, sunset already behind you, no reservations required.
The point is not the itinerary. The point is that a Kapalua resident can now build a First Friday evening entirely from two venues that publish their programming in advance and cost less than a mainland concert ticket combined.
What the summer actually adds up to
Read the changes in order and a pattern emerges. The resort at Kapalua Bay changed managers but kept its restaurants running. The Hideaway reopened with a nightly music window that starts exactly when the Alaloa show is halfway through. The Wine & Food Festival minted a new best-in-show name at a Kapalua restaurant. And a week-long jazz festival returns to the same lounge on the same drive at the end of August. None of these events happened in isolation. Taken together they mean the Kapalua resort spine is now programmed like a neighborhood main street, with a First Friday, a nightly anchor, and a marquee week to end the summer.
For residents this is the argument for staying local on Friday nights rather than driving to Lahaina or Wailea. The programming came to you.
If you're a Kapalua homeowner thinking about how the neighborhood's shifting shape affects your property, or just want a knowledgeable local to talk through what these changes mean for the corridor, the team at Chaston Marcos lives and works this coast every day. Let's Connect.
