# Who are these guys connected to the Kauai Marriott?



## KauaiMark (Jul 30, 2011)

Saw this ad for one of condos on the bluff above the Kauai Marriott:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g60623-d1544441-Pali_Kai_Cottage_17_A-Lihue_Kauai_Hawaii.html#amenities

"Located on the grounds of the Kauai Marriott Hotel (and includes) Pool & Fitness Center/Spa privileges" 

How are these guys connected to Marriott and who is paying for their "Pool & Fitness Center/Spa privileges"??

...Mark


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## DeniseM (Jul 30, 2011)

They are most likely private condo owners whose ownership includes access to all the resort amenities - I believe this property was sold as full-ownership condos and fractionals first.  They converted some of the units to timeshares when they couldn't sell them.


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## SueDonJ (Jul 30, 2011)

I'd guess that this is a deal between the Marriott Resort hotel that shares the grounds/amenities of Kauai Beach Club, and the condos along the road up on the bluff to the left (if you're standing on Kalapaki Beach in front of the Beach Club.)  Here's a pic found on the web showing all the properties up there.

The hotel probably has some type of arrangement with all the condos up there, like a few gated communities off of Hilton Head Island that have arrangements to use the facilities at some of the hotels on-island.  The one I know of, the owners can pay an annual fee and use the Westin property (next to Barony) anytime except the big summer holidays - Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day.  I don't know the details of any others but I know there are other HH-area gated communities and hotels with similar arrangements.


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## DeniseM (Jul 30, 2011)

I thought it was the Marriott Kauai Lagoons - http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/lihkn-marriotts-kauai-lagoons/

But after taking a 2nd look - it isn't.


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## KauaiMark (Jul 30, 2011)

*Not Kauai Lagoons*



DeniseM said:


> They are most likely private condo owners whose ownership includes access to all the resort amenities - I believe this property was sold as full-ownership condos and fractionals first.  They converted some of the units to timeshares when they couldn't sell them.



I think you are describing Marriott Kauai Lagoons which I believe does have that arrangement. The photos in the ad look like they were taken from one of the large condos that you can see on the bluff's on the left from Kalapaki Beach.

Marriott some connection with them?


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## SueDonJ (Jul 30, 2011)

I think you're right, too, Denise, that the folks who bought fractionals at Kauai Lagoons may also have privileges at the Marriott Resort hotel down the road.


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## kjd (Jul 30, 2011)

I thought that way back around 1990 the Kauai Lagoons was a Weston Hotel project that eventually failed leaving some owners in a mess.  I remember they had a Jack Nicklas golf course there also.  Is this the same place you are talking about?  If so, that may explain the rather unusual use of the amenities.


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## hotcoffee (Jul 30, 2011)

kjd said:


> I thought that way back around 1990 the Kauai Lagoons was a Weston Hotel project that eventually failed leaving some owners in a mess.  I remember they had a Jack Nicklas golf course there also.  Is this the same place you are talking about?  If so, that may explain the rather unusual use of the amenities.



I think it was Ritz Carlton.  When I was there in 2008, there was a big Ritz Carlton display in the KBC lobby.  I understand that it is now the Kauai Lagoons.

As far as those condos up on the hill to the left of the beach, I talked to someone up there who told me that he was there on a rental.  I never thought to ask him whether that was in any way connected to Marriott.


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## gblotter (Jul 30, 2011)

The Pali Kai Cottage rental in that ad is part of cluster of private residences/vacation homes on the Kauai Lagoons cliff overlooking the Marriott complex below.

A little history: Those homes were built by developer Chris Hemmeter in the 1980's as part of his huge visionary plan for Kauai Lagoons and the opulent Westin Kauai Hotel.  The Westin Kauai struggled financially from the start, and Hurricane Iniki sealed its fate in 1992.  Westin never reopened the hotel after the hurricane and it sat in a mothballed state for quite some time.  Marriott acquired the property in 1994 and transformed it into the present-day timeshare complex.  During its brief zenith from 1987 to 1992, the Westin Kauai and Kauai Lagoons comprised one of the great luxury resorts in the world.  I had the pleasure of visiting the Westin Kauai Hotel just two months before Hurricane Iniki hit, and it really was an incredible place (although some justifiably described it as over-the-top).  I even bought a coffee-table picture book of the resort.  Back then the entire resort was filled with Asian art treasures.  There were mahogany boat taxis and gondolas in the lagoons that would transport you to three different shopping and dining complexes with a total of 12 different restaurants.  You could also take carriage rides around the golf course drawn by Clydesdale horses.  Helicopter tours of the island took off directly from the resort.  During that period, I'm sure those adjacent vacation homes on the cliff were considered some of the most desirable in the Hawaiian Islands and must have sold for an incredible price.  You wouldn't recognize much of the resort's former glory from what you see today at the Marriott.  In addition to the timeshare renovations, Marriott toned-down the resort considerably so that it resembles what we see today at the Kauai Beach Club.  Perhaps the biggest transformation was that Marriott removed the large central pond/fountain (complete with galloping horses spouting water) and replaced it with the beautifully-landscaped courtyard that you now see at the bottom of the escalator.  Believe it or not, that entire area used to be a huge water feature.

From the claim in the rental ad, I can only assume that the original deed for those private residences on the cliff likely also included some sort of guaranteed access to the facilities of the hotel and/or Kauai Lagoons.  As the developer, Chris Hemmeter was certainly in a position to make that arrangement.  When Marriott acquired the property after Hurricane Iniki, they likely inherited that obligation as part of the package deal.


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## hotcoffee (Jul 30, 2011)

Okay.  I am confused by these posts.  What was the Westin is now the Marriott Kauai Beach Club.  I think what is now called Kauai Lagoons was originally intended to be a Ritz Carlton.  Am I not correct?


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## gblotter (Jul 30, 2011)

hotcoffee said:


> Okay.  I am confused by these posts.  What was the Westin is now the Marriott Kauai Beach Club.  I think what is now called Kauai Lagoons was originally intended to be a Ritz Carlton.  Am I not correct?


The name "Kauai Lagoons" originally referred to the golf courses and dining/shopping complex that was attached to the original Westin Kauai Hotel.  After Hurricane Iniki, the Westin Kauai Hotel closed and eventually became the Marriott Kauai Beach Club.  Without the Westin Kauai Hotel, the shops and restaurants at Kauai Lagoons closed and eventually were demolished.  All that remained were the golf courses and lagoon waterways.  In 2006, Marriott entered into a partnership to develop the Kauai Lagoons land into residences, fractional ownership, and timeshares under the Ritz Carlton brand.  That ambitious project never really got off the ground.  The few timeshares that were built ended up being rebranded from Ritz Carlton to Marriott Vacation Club.  We here at TUG know those Marriott timeshares as "Kauai Lagoons", but the name goes back a long way and has other earlier incarnations that have nothing to do with timeshares.  Sorry if I was unclear - confusion is completely understandable.


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## SueDonJ (Jul 30, 2011)

Here's a good history that says mostly the same as what gblotter said.  There was one parcel that covered all the land now taken up by the Marriott Resort hotel and Kauai Beach Club timeshares that sit together, and the Kauai Lagoons timeshares up the road.  The Westin hotel was what is now the Marriott Resort Hotel.  Kauai Lagoons, the newest structures built on the same original parcel of land, was originally developed (Around 2008 sounds right?) by Marriott as a Ritz-Carlton Residence Club; a few were sold as fractionals but then the project was re-vamped as MVCI timeshares when the economy tanked.

Getting back to the OP, the private condos that appear to have use privileges at the Marriott Resort hotel and Kauai Beach timeshares facilities are up on the bluff to the left of Kalapaki Beach at the hotel/timeshare.  That's probably a private arrangement between the condos and the hotel, nothing to do with either of the timeshares.


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## californiagirl (Jul 31, 2011)

When we first visited Kauai in 2000 we drove up to where the shops were.  It was deserted...like a tropical ghost town.  The buildings were in bad shape, most likely from Iniki.


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