Maybe the best all around hotel value in Kauai
Written: Nov 14 '07 (Updated Nov 26 '07)
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Pros: Right on one of Kauai's best beaches. Beautiful grounds. Convenient home base.
Cons: Moderately expensive. Little nightlife.
The Bottom Line: Stay in this low key resort for a great combination of location, beautiful ambience and value. Lot's of great restaurants and tourist attractions nearby.
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| jsquarejj's Full Review: Sheraton Kauai Resort |
My wife and I spent a week here in September 2007 on our first trip to Kauai, and we were very pleased. This somewhat upscale hotel boasts an unbeatable location on a beautiful beach, nicely landscaped grounds, a quiet, laid back ambience, and enough extra touches for a pleasant and memorable stay. On the other hand, it's not a super-luxury resort, so it's affordable by a wider range of travelers.
Location
It would be hard to find a better location for a hotel anywhere in Kauai. The general area is known as Poipu, but although some say the Sheraton is on Poipu Beach, that lively strand is actually a bit to the east, and definitely worth a visit. But the beach at the Sheraton is superb, a long narrow strand of sand and a rocky point with interesting tide pools.
Poipu is on the leeward side of the island, so it's both less windy and a tad drier than places on the north and east sides. It's a very convenient location because it's only about 20 minutes from the airport and 15 minutes from the large town of Lihue where you might have to go for any serious shopping or provisioning. There are many nearby tourist attractions, and it's also a good starting point for explorations of Waimea Canyon, to the west, as well as the eastern and northern points of the island. The nearby town of Koloa (a five minute drive) has everything you'll need to make your stay interesting: a few restaurants, a great ice cream parlor, two grocery stores, a shave ice stand, and many outlets for signing onto activities like kayaking, helicopter and boat rides, etc. And there's Snorkel Bob's, a great place to rent snorkeling gear. There's also a superb golf course just minutes from the hotel.
Greeting
As we drove up, we were greeted by friendly staff who gave my wife a real flower lei and me a necklace of nut husks. Checkin was friendly, efficient and informative as they provided a list of daily activities. We were offered the options of valet or self parking and help with our luggage. We chose to park and schlep ourselves, which was pretty easy on the level grounds. There was little or no "selling" of the hotel restaurants or shops, so we spent a little time after freshening up exploring the offerings.
Rooms
We wanted a bargain rate, so we got a standard "Garden Room." This was a very typical hotel room, average in size, with few "Hawaiian touches." It had a quality flat screen TV, a mini-fridge, safe, iron and ironing board, clock-radio and coffee maker. The coffee make and fridge were crucial for us because we like to save time and money by doing our own in-room breakfasts. The one outstanding feature was the bed, which was among the most comfortable I've ever slept in. We had a small balcony overlooking the beautifully landscaped garden pool area and facing east toward the rising sun. It was a treat to get up early every before dawn and watch the sun come up while we prepared and ate our in room breakfasts. The walk from this part of the hotel to the beach takes less than five minutes. One advantage of the Garden Wing is that it's away from most of the activities and thus very quiet.
Besides the Garden Wing, the hotel has an Ocean Wing and Beach Wing, both nearer the ocean and providing the views you'd expect for two to three and even more times the price of the Garden Rooms.
Amenities
The hotel has several restaurants and bars, none of which we tried. We're almost always disappointed with hotel food; it's usually expensive and not that great, so we plan to have our meals and restaurants recommended by our trusted Frommer's guide (more on that later). However, we did take advantage of the every-other-day mai tai hour (included in the mandatory $15 per day "resort fee"). We got pretty decent drinks accompanied by local dancers and musicians on a lawn overlooking the ocean. These festivities are started by a lighting of tiki torches and trumpeting of a conch shell.
There are two good sized pools, the quieter Garden Pool and good sized hot tub below our balcony, and the Ocean Pool in a livelier location close to the beach and restaurants. The latter has a modest water slide and a nearby hot tub, which I must say was pretty small for its location in the busier part of the hotel. There's a small bar and grill by this pool which is also convenient for folks on the beach.
The property has plenty of convenient parking, also included in the "resort fee," on the periphery of the grounds. The distance between parking and rooms is fine if you're fit, but I'd recommend having hotel staff move your luggage if you have any concerns or just like getting that kind of service. The four-story buildings have both stairs and elevators.
There's a small exercise room with several treadmills, stair steppers and elliptical trainers. It has only two weight machines, but a good selection of free weights. I'd rate this facility as barely adequate for a hotel this size, but the view of the beach from parts of the room is amazing. There are also several tennis courts.
Of course, there are small gift shops and the usual beauty and spa treatments available.
And just off the very open air lobby, there's a good sized lounge/reading room with a beautiful high ceiling and ocean view and four computer stations.
Special Treats
While we were there, the Sheraton was doing a twice weekly luau on its oceanfront lawn for about $75 per person. They serve a buffet dinner, which was a cut above other "mass feedings" I've attended, and the entertainment, including audience participation, was quite well done, with several genres of Polynesian dance including both Hawaiian and Tahitian hula. Most importantly, the setting is spectacular, with the ocean, beach and palms in the background as well as the sky show around sunset. Don't expect an "authentic" Hawaiian luau—just a pleasant meal and talented, attractive entertainers.
Service
Service was friendly, and the concierge was very knowledgeable about the area. The activities desk was also helpful for finding off resort tourist activities like boat trips and helicopter rides. They also provided a map of the local restaurants, tourist attractions and snorkeling beaches. We generally don't make many demands on hotel service, so that's about all I can say.
Nearby Restaurants
Although we didn't eat at the hotel restaurants, we did find some superb eateries nearby.
Just five minutes away is The Beach House Restaurant, which was truly special, right on the beach, with its dining room completely open to the outside. We had our first night's dinner there, and enjoyed it immensely. They serve Hawaiian cuisine. Other excellent and expensive restaurants within just a few minutes drive include Casa di Amici and Dondero's (Italian), Plantation Gardens (Hawaiian) and Roy's Poipu Bar and Grill (European-Asian).
At the other end of the cost spectrum, there are a few pretty good places in nearby Kaloa: The Fish Market, which serves quick traditional rice plates with fish or pork, a great smelling pizzeria whose name escapes me, Tomkats Grill for the cholesterol tolerant among us, and Lappert's Ice Cream for a real treat. And a bit farther away in Kalaheo (10-15 minute drive), we found Brick Oven Pizza, the Camp House Grill (a great breakfast place if you have kids), and the extra special Kalaheo Coffee Company and Cafe, which serves excellent coffee, inexpensive breakfast and lunch fare, and superb dinners several nights a week. We ate four meals there.
We took most of our restaurant suggestions from Frommer's Hawaii, and it never let us down.
Prices
We bought a vacation package including airfare from San Jose, California, a rental car, seven nights stay and trip cancellation insurance for just under $3,000. That figures out to a nightly room charge of about $250. I've seen room offers for as little as $200 per night in the low season. Like most hotels in Kauai, the Sheraton tacks on a $15 per day "resort charge" that supposedly covers such things as the mai tai hour, parking, towels, etc.
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Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jsquarejj
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Member: Jim J
Location: Santa Cruz, California
Reviews written: 190
Trusted by: 78 members
About Me:
#7 in Personal Finance, #14 in Travel. My goal? Saving you money.
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