Maui Calls

Menlo Park, United States

4.8

Open now

14 reviews

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 650-325-2441
Website:
www.MauiCalls.com
Address:
832 14th Ave, Menlo Park, CA, 94025
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
1 miAtherton
1.6 miMenlo Park
1.7 miMenlo Park Caltrain
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Today

Today 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Open now
Local time (Menlo Park) 9:52 AM Thursday, June 26, 2025

Business hours

Monday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Tuesday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Wednesday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Thursday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Friday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Saturday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sunday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Description

Specialties

Aloha! My name is Donna Bender. I was born and raised in Hawaii and have been a travel agent for 34 years. I am a certified Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau Destination Specialist. I book lodging and air-​land-​car vacation packages not just for Maui but for all the Hawaiian islands. I am an Aston and Outrigger /​Ohana Hotels certified Hospitality Specialist. I will help you find accommodations at a property that best fits your needs and budget. After I book your trip, I’ll email you the travel guides I’ve written for each island you’re visiting. I book all properties in Hawaii. I look forward to helping you!

History

Established in 1977.

I was born and raised on Oahu and in 1977 I decided to share my love and aloha for Hawaii and become a travel agent specializing in Hawaii. I know all the properties in Hawaii and love helping people find lodging that best fits their needs and budget.

In 2001, I wrote my Local Girl’s Guide to Maui and Local Girl’s Guide to Oahu, which started as lists of my favorite restaurants on Maui and in Honolulu and Waikiki on Oahu.

Each guide is a PDF file containing short descriptions and reviews I’ve written about restaurants, local foods, farmers markets, beaches, snorkeling spots, activities and shopping that I’ve personally experienced and enjoyed. The guides include Top 10 Things to Do and Eat.

If you’re a foodie who likes eating in local, family-​owned restaurants instead of corporate, tourist restaurants, these guides are for you.

The guides include a few of my favorite tourist restaurants, but the emphasis is on local mom-​and-​pop restaurants with great food for inexpensive prices.

Meet the Business Owner

Donna B.

Business Owner

I was born and raised on Oahu and am currently residing part-​time in Maui. For the last 34 years, I taught at SJSU and was a part-​time travel agent specializing in Hawaii. Now I am a full-​time travel agent who wants to share my love and aloha for Hawaii with the rest of the world. I know all properties on Hawaii will help you find accommodations that best fits your needs and budget.

Local Girl’s Guide to Maui and Local Girl’s Guide to Oahu were born out of my passion for promoting locally owned, family-​run establishments. My love of the slow food movement and its growth in Hawaii has prompted me to share my aloha and write these guides for local people and foodies visiting Hawaii.

Maui Calls also recommends

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Donna B. says,

«They have a stellar service that I’ve used for several years.»

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14 reviews of Maui Calls

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Menlo Park, CA
Donna helped us plan a crazy last minute trip to Maui just two weeks before Christmas. She was so helpful — with tips on the best places to stay and detailed knowledge of the pros and cons of each property, cool new /​hidden restaurants and great local knowledge.
We were so lucky to find her!
Place rating: 5
Mountain View, CA
I have had the pleasure of working with Donna and Maui Calls about a zillion times over the years. Whenever I am dreaming about Hawaiian vacation, she is the person to call! Our latest trip included 2 teenagers and again, Donna did an outstanding job with every aspect of our trip!
Donna is incredibly organized, efficient, thorough and easy to work with. Everything seems so simple when Donna takes over! I hope to be able to use Donna, her outstanding services and her great Guides for many more trips to beautiful Hawaii. Thanks, Donna, for making everything so easy!
Place rating: 4
Fairbanks, AK
We booked our fabulous stay at Aston Mahana through Donna Bender who is an Aston Specialist, plus Donna gave us her Local Girl’s Guide to Maui to take with us to Maui. Everyone at the hotel was very nice! Our room was a simple studio, right on the ocean, very clean and quiet (although a little dated), and for my husband and I it was perfect! We used Donna’s Maui Guide for selecting dining, shopping, and destination options and found it very informative and useful. Loved having a kitchen to save money on dining out. Dinner on the lanai, fresh fish and veggies (from the nearby markets of course), while watching the sun set over Lanai and Molokai; priceless!
(We did not use the fitness room or restaurant.)
Place rating: 5
San Mateo, CA
I was planning our summer vacation with the family to Maui and didn’t know where to start. I then came across MauiCalls and thought I’d give Donna a try, after all it doesn’t cost us a thing to use a travel agent. Donna was fantastic, she helped me figure out where I wanted to stay, what was nearby, activities, she would send me reminders, insider tips, guides and confirm our hotel stay for us too! What a professional! I highly recommend Donna and would have her help us for all our future Hawaii trips.
Place rating: 5
Burlingame, CA
My wife and I went on our honeymoon to Kauai last month. We had never worked with a travel agency before and really had no idea what to expect.
We found Donna and Maui calls on the web and gave her a call. After a couple of quick email exchanges and phone calls, we had a trip booked and were all set. It was effortless, so much so that as our travel date approached I began to worry that I had overlooked something because it was the first time I hadn’t booked something myself. But then an email appeared in my inbox from Maui calls, confirming all the trip details and letting me know when things were being charged, what to expect of the rooms, and kept these emails coming up to and even during the trip, just to make sure everything was satisfactory.
My wife and I were blown away. The hotels treated us like rockstars and we knew Maui Calls was behind it. Sure enough, the trip went without a hitch. We had a blast and owe a huge thanks to Donna and Maui calls. We will certainly call Donna again for our next trip and absolutely recommend you do the same!
Place rating: 5
Seattle, WA
I was trying to find a place to stay on Maui. Of course, it was peak season (Jan 1 – 5) and I was booking less than 2 months out, so everything on VRBO or FlipKey was either booked or utterly exorbitantly priced.
I found Donna and Maui Calls and boy, was I ever lucky I did! She worked very hard to understand my location preference and price range and found a number of units that I hadn’t that were great possibilities. We ended up renting a great 1br condo with a private beach near Kaanapali for much less $/​night than a marginal 2 star hotel in a less desirable location.
I highly recommend Donna and her service for your next trip to the Hawaiian Islands. I look forward to working with her again when we plan our next trip.
Place rating: 5
San Diego, CA
I was searching for a condo on Maui last February, I got a reply from Donna and she was more than helpful with suggestions. I tried to rent a condo on my own but went to back to Donna as I felt she was a very professional and reputable person to deal with.
Donna provided wonderful service with arranging the booking of my condo at the Hale Kamaole condos in Kihei. She handled all the paper work and all I had to do was provide my credit card information.
I had to change my booking three weeks before we went and she worked with the condo rental company to facilitate this change. She was able to get the dates changed with no hassle or penalties (which I expected).
Donna also provided additional information on activities on the island and also provided her «Local Girl’s Guide to Maui» which was very informative and it provided us with lots of options restaurants, music, sightseeing etc.
I have recommended Donna to a number of colleagues and I would use her services the next time I go to Maui.
Place rating: 5
Menlo Park, CA
I have used Donna for many years. She is thorough and easy to work with. The properties have been stellar and her book, «Local Girl’s Guie to Maui» is a big help iin regards to places to see, restaurants, etc. I highly recomend her services.
Place rating: 4
San Marcos, CA
I bought Donna’s Local Girl’s Guide to Maui for my recent trip to Maui. The guide was most helpful for us to find where to eat; we had 3 vegetarians traveling with us so the guide provided us with some options to accommodate their needs. This was much appreciated! Overall, the guide was great because it helped to familiarize us with different areas we traveled to and helped give us a better understanding of what each town offered. Donna is awesome!
Place rating: 5
Syracuse, NY
Donna helped us book a condo on Maui and gave us her Local Girl’s Guide to Maui for our trip. This guide will save you much more time and money than it will cost. We only had 5 days in Maui and this guide helped us make the most of it… it did not ever steer us wrong and showed us some hidden gems we would have overlooked. So much more valuable than any Fodor’s or Frommer’s book could be!
I have to say the only mistake I made in Maui was leaving the guide in the condo one of the days… since I didn’t have it to refer to, I tried a nearby restaurant that turned out to have terrible food. Sure enough, I looked at the book when we returned to the condo, and it was listed as a restaurant that was not recommended. So if you buy this, keep it on you at all times so you don’t waste time and money on something that is not worthwhile.
Place rating: 5
Boulder, CO
I bought Donna’s «Local Girl’s Guide to Maui» for my recent trip to Maui. Can you call a guide «delicious»? Local Girl led us around the island as if we had a local cuz in the car with us. We traveled with seasoned visitors to Maui who couldn’t believe all the dishes, restaurants, & sites we newcomers led them to. Donna updates her material frequently and even dialed me in by personal email in one case. As she states, if you’re happy with corporate food and chains, you’ll be fine without her well researched guide supporting local Maui businesses and artisans. I’m giving her SIX out of five stars. The journey is the goal. Local Girl is The Road Less Traveled and I like it that way.
Place rating: 4
Menlo Park, CA
We’d been to Maui three times, and before a recent fourth trip, purchased the inexpensive Local Girl’s Guide to Maui on the recommendation of a colleague. Donna’s recommendations are spot on. They are right in line with what we would recommend to friends, and it’s useful to have these in a concise form. There were also some restaurants recommended that we weren’t familiar with, which made the purchase worthwhile. The guide is somewhat food-​focused, and although the things to do and other recommendations are useful, I’d have given it five stars if there were a few more off-​beat non-​food recommendations too.
Place rating: 5
Menlo Park, CA
I received as a gift Local Girl’s Guide to Oahu for my trip to Oahu. It was a real asset to making our stay as enjoyable as ever. We especially liked our day on the north shore and finding a wonderful shrimp food truck for dinner.
Place rating: 5
Freedom, CA
Donna’s Local Girl’s Guide and her travel services were incredibly helpful to us. She recommended excellent restaurants and gently reminded us to make reservations for whale watching and snorkeling. We had a wonderful trip thanks to Maui Calls.