Thought I would give an update after spending the past 7 days at Marriott Kauai Beach Club. We came in on an II exchange, my DSV-I studio for a KBC 1BR ocean view unit, so already I'm ahead of the game. It was our first time here, and I had read many mixed reviews, some people love it, others hate it. Here are my observations. No disrespect intended. Photos below.
- this is definitely a hotel conversion, an old hotel, you can hear all of your neighbors through the walls, upstairs, downstairs, those out on their balcony and walking down the hall
- it really is a long way from the front entrance to check-in, if you've never been here, and you don't know that, it's pretty far to schlep all your luggage, better to have them keep it for you
- concierge is helpful but very busy, doesn't always answer the phone, and there may be a wait at the desk, but they are super nice
- we were concerned about construction noise, never heard anything, never saw anything, would not have known except they sent an email ahead of time telling us
- photo below is straight our 5th floor Kahili tower ocean view room, you can look more to the left to avoid seeing the building, 5th floor is absolute lowest for a view
- the bathrooms are clean but very very tiny, someone joked they had to stand in the tub to close the door, that is not very far off from truth
- the limited kitchen is well stocked but a very small area, not much counter space to even make cereal, on the plus side the fridge, micro and dishwasher were all pretty nice
- someone mentioned the hallways were dark, not sure which tower that was but ours was very light and bright
- from our ocean view room we were pleasantly surprised how well we could hear the ocean, we enjoyed many meals on our patio
- resort location is very convenient and central to everything, we did not try the shuttle but it always seemed to be available, self parking is a bit of a hike
- after booking only then did we notice this resort is at the end of the airport runway, we never once heard a jet, but what we did hear very often were the helicopter tours
- having Duke's onsite is a big plus, could not get a reservation online but the super nice concierge was able to get one for us
- not resort related, but food trucks on Kauai are a thing, we tried 5 different trucks and locations, all had excellent food and good prices
- also not resort related, very long line Sunday at Noon getting through security even with TSA Pre Check
I personally do not like the old vibe of this resort, and it really is kind of ugly just looking at the buildings, but everything is fairly updated and very clean, so for location and view I would come here again. Kauai is beautiful, have been home less than 24 hours and I already miss it.
