Hawai'i Hotels

While in Hawaii we stayed in two resorts. The Princeville Hotel was our primary choice and we added the Grand Hyatt Kaua'i later during the trip planning.

The Princeville has been probably the dominant higher end hotel on Kaua'i until fairly recently. Originally built in 1985, according to a conversation I overheard at the pool one day, the hotel is in fairly good shape for it's age. The interior public spaces are well kept while the grounds and the exteriors are showing their little wear. The overall décor is Italianate for some reason which pretty much escapes me. The lobby and main floor public areas are mainly marble and off-white painted wood with lots of gold leaf. It's not unpleasant but it's certainly not what we think of when we think the Tropics. Maybe they were going for something different than what everyone else was doing. Or maybe the designer was deranged.

The décor largely extends into the guest rooms. The walls and floors in the rooms are in good shape though the furniture is showing a fair amount of wear. The bathrooms were done up in dark marble, I'm guessing because it was the Eighties and maybe there was a world wide glut of dark green Italian marble. One of the more unusual touches is that there is a window or screen in the wall over the tub looking into the main room. The opacity of the screen can be controlled by a wall switch. Why one would want to set it to clear escapes me, I'm pretty sure Mary really doesn't want to watch my morning ablutions - that's why we have doors on the bathrooms at home. Being on vacation doesn't seem to encourage any desire to change this stance.

The bed is one item of furniture that obviously has been replaced relatively recently and it was quite good. Other accoutrements in the room were a CRT television and a minibar with coffee maker and quite good coffee packets. We were upgraded to an ocean view room, primarily we think because it was off-season and the resort wasn't very crowded. Otherwise we probably would have gotten one of the ubiquitous 'Garden View' rooms that usually come with a free stay on Starwood points. As one might expect, the ocean view was very nice and we enjoyed it at all times of the day.

The on-site restaurants were pretty unremarkable though prices were stratospheric. This seemed to be a common theme in Kaua'i hotels. It's a little worse for the Princeville since most off-site eating establishments required a somewhat substantial drive, often on dark roads including one or more one lane bridges. So I imagine a lot of people probably eat many of their meals at the resort. We did have a few meals there and the food was good in some cases, verging on excellent, so although prices are high you do get some value for it. We especially liked the sushi served in the main bar in the evenings and on a couple of days where we ate substantial lunches we settled for a sushi sampler and in my case a couple of beers for the evening repast.

Service in all respects was very good and we had no complaints about that aspect whatsoever.

The second resort we stayed at was the Grand Hyatt on the south end of Kaua'i. This is a very large facility, indeed much larger than we first suspected. I think in the case of this hotel we didn't do much research other than looking for recommendations and so the extent of the offerings caught us a little by surprise.

We did get a 'Garden View' room this time since we were only staying two days and the Hyatt seemed a little busier. The room was also a bit smaller than the one in the Princeville but quite comfortable. All furnishings and the room itself was in quite good condition. Interestingly enough the television here was also a CRT which surprised us considering how up to date everything else in the hotel seemed. The bathroom was not terribly big but then it also didn't have any windows for others to observe through so it was pretty much a wash there. Get it- wash? We'll be here through Sunday folks!

The overall décor was white painted walls and lots of mahogany stained wood. The overall effect was quite pleasing and did evoke the tropics. The lobby is open air and it surrounds a central courtyard which is planted with many of the plant species for which the islands are known. There are also a number of parrots and macaws on perches in the courtyard. There are extensive shopping venues in the hotel and enough restaurants to satisfy everyone's needs.

The pool is really quite spectacular and is clearly designed for children. Very rarely does it get much deeper than 3-4 feet and it winds and wends its way through a very large section of the grounds. There are all sorts of semi-isolated grottos and pockets where one can settle and catch some rays, read a book, and drink a few beers. I wanted to do all three of these things but settled for the last two as the sun played hide and seek during the two days we were at the Hyatt. The rest of the grounds are attractively landscaped and very well maintained. Like the Princeville, the Hyatt is located adjacent to a golf course. Unlike the Princeville the Hyatt's course also includes a couple of pretty interesting restaurants in the club house. We were a little pressed for time so we didn't get a chance to try them.

Two other fairly strange similarities existed between the two hotels. Both had a main bar called the Library. Maybe it's an island thing. And both hotels also had a high end Italian restaurant. Why Italian? I don't know. It certainly is not what I think of when I'm in the tropics and I want a good meal.

After careful consideration we both concluded that the Hyatt was by far the better of the two properties. The Princeville is looking and feeling a little worn around the edges. The breadth of the Hyatt's offerings, both in dining and entertainment (if one considers lying in the sun and drinking cold frosty beers entertaining, and I certainly do) are considerably better, while the Princeville definitely wins on the scenery side of the equation. It's possible that the overall dominance of the Hyatt will decline in the near future as there are apparently plans to convert the Princeville to a St. Regis property and one would assume that this would includes extensive renovations.