Aston Islander on the Beach — Hotel in Kauai

I was there for 8 days in mid-October, 2016. I'm going to write a book here, so settle in. It took my family and I over 15 hours of travel to make it there, so we were pretty exhausted when arrived in the 9:00pm hour. As I approached the counter in the open air lobby the smiling young women behind the counter greeted me with "Aloha. Mr. Miller?" That was a nice pick-me-up, that she was locked in to her job to the extent that she was confident enough to take a guess that it was me. Checking was pleasant and speedy. The room was not perfect, but I'll give it an "above average". It was exactly as advertised. The kitchenette was just enough to meet our needs during our stay. I have a simple evaluation method for hotel beds. I don't sleep well in hotels, so if I can sleep at all in the bed, it's good for me. I was able to sleep in the bed, so it's good. The staff was working on the grounds every morning, usually quietly. The condition of the landscaping was very good. We spent time most days just sitting on the patio enjoying the view. We chose a "Garden View" room, which offers no view of the nearby Pacific Ocean beach. However, we still had a fair view of the ocean from our ground level room. I wasn't going to pay extra for a room in Hawaii. I wanted to spend my time elsewhere. The pool looked nice. I never used it. The beach was beautiful. We spent time there daily. I'm more of an explorer than may wife and daughter. They want the beach everyday. I spent more time there than I would have liked. While they were laying out did a lot of snorkeling. The water was a little cloudy, and the coral was not colorful. There is way better snorkeling in a lot of other places on the island. Her's the bad stuff. The room was cleaned daily, but they never swept the ceramic tile floor. When you go to the beach, it's impossible to get all of the sand off of your feet outside. It's also somehow impossible to keep the sand from falling off when you get inside. We spent some time sweeping the floor with a towel so we didn't have to walk through it in the evenings. Parking is limited and I had to park as far as maybe 800' from my room at times. Here's my favorite head-scratcher. While waiting at the front desk for included (not "complimentary", there is a $20 per day "Resort fee") Beach towels, one of the contracted security guards approached me. I was wearing red swim trunks and a slightly different tone of red shirt (don't judge, I was on vacation). I was also barefoot. The guard asked "Do you work here?" I'm normally very quick with sarcasm, but he got me this time. I had to say "What?" He repeated himself. Now, I hope you can understand that these guys were regularly patrolling the area. It gave me the impression that they were knowledgeable about the place and, therefore, were prepared to identify people who didn't belong or who were otherwise suspicious. If he couldn't determine how I fit into this picture, I'm certain he would not have noticed if I had bad intentions. All of the staff wore uniforms. Those uniforms looked nothing like what I was wearing. Here's the good part of the bad part. The young women behind the front desk, who was serving another guest at the time, overheard this short exchange. Just as I was about to get into a discussion with the guy along the lines of what I have just told you I observed the kind smile of the front desk attendant melt away from her face. She quickly and politely excused herself from the other guest, and asked the guard what he needed. The guard was terrible, the employee (the same one who greeted me upon my arrival) was great. I love that she was all over that, and that she appeared to be upset that it had happened. That is the biggest reason for my endorsement of the hotel. I'm kicking myself for not catching her name. Bottom line, I would stay...

I was little skeptical about booking this hotel for our babymoon after reading reviews, but I had a friend stay here recently and they loved it. We booked our trip through American Express. We arrived to the hotel around 9 pm so we had no issues checking in or having to wait for a room. We paid extra to have an ocean front room and it was 100% worth it. We loved sitting on the balcony to watch the sunrise on the beach. Our room was clean, I’m not too particular with how updated the room is. All I cared about was having a shower and a clean place to sleep. To be honest we didn’t spend much time our room since we were exploring the island, and relaxing at the beach/pool. I will say, if you’re sensitive to noises, bring ear plugs, there are roosters on the property that love to squawk at sunrise. We didn’t care too much, we thought it was kind of funny but if you’re trying to adjust to the time or want to sleep in a bit, definitely bring ear plugs. The staff were really friendly and helpful whenever we needed something. The location of this hotel is great ! Just a short 15 minute drive from the airport, and there’s a shopping center across the street with a little grocery store, restaurants and other shops ! Highly recommend getting a rental car, we were on the fence about this but ended up getting one and used it all of the time ! We loved being able to drive to different parts of the island !

Places we visited: -Hanalei beach -Poipu beach: if you have kids this beach is perfect for them ! The cove helps block waves and there’s a playground right by the beach as well. -Kīlauea Lighthouse -Waimea canyon -Ha’ena beach

Places we ate and loved: -Passion Bakery Cafe: amazing malasadas, they only make them on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. We waited in line for around 15 minutes but soooo worth it. Also amazing breakfast sandwiches ! -Dolphin Fish Market: where the locals go to get poke ! -The Musubi truck: yummy, quick and cheap food option ! -Sam’s ocean view restaurant: incredible views, right on the beach. Great food, limited parking but if you want a table on the patio make reservations. -Hanalei poke: another great poke place ! -Sleeping Giant grill: right outside of the hotel, great Ahi tuna ! -Napali Brewing Company: amazing beer, great food ! This place is really big, so you have a big party this is place to hangout ! Owners are super nice as well ! We went back here multiple times ! -Puka Dog: waited in line for a while right at lunch time, so worth it ! Hot dogs were amazing, and the fresh lemonade is perfect on a hot day ! -Kauai Beer Company: great beer, the okonomiyaki fries were amazing ! -Java Kai: the best coffee I had during our whole visit, and the breakfast sandwiches...

As many have said the outdoor areas and beach by the property are beautiful. The landscapers are doing a great job at maintaining the property. I would say that overall the stay was enjoyable but there is plenty of room for improvement.

Keep reading for a list of my pros and cons but ultimately as one other reviewer said “motel 6 quality rooms” they are dated and are showing their age. Maintenance has not done a great job inside the rooms.

Pros: Great location Easy check in (but late 4:00PM) Wi-Fi is decent Plenty of amenities (plates, bowls, microwave, utensils, knives, coffee maker, tv, and plenty of storage) Wonderful balcony spot Beds were okay for sleeping 2 comfortable FULL size beds (CON: they were suppose to be queens) Key is in a lock box (CON: old lockbox where you just need 4 numbers out of 10. The numbers can be entered in any order. Super easy to figure out)

Cons: Stains on the tiles in the bathrooms that could be removed with a scrap of a razor blade. Shower curtain has mold spots Plastic shower liner has mold/mildew around the rings Tile in shower has screw holes from where something use to be - fill in holes and buff out or remove and replace tile (could be leaking into the wall causing a much more serious issue/health hazard) Curtains by sliding glass door are stained with what looks like blood and the other curtain is filthy. Bottom of door in bathroom is splintering and needs attention Air flow is so horrible you have signs saying leave doors open. Electrical work is questionable as there is a sign saying no more than 2 appliances at one time or maintenance will charge you to reset the faulty breaker/electrical work..(seems like a building issue/code violation. Not a customers problem for you to charge more) Horrible nickel and dime tactics 2 safes in the closet (1 doesn’t work at all, the other one you have to use a key because the code has not been reset) No phone in the room (so basic it’s not basic) Door slams exceptionally hard and pushes you out of the room when you leave. Slams on you when you enter. Door dead bolt doesn’t work (HUGE SAFETY issue)

All things considered I would give them another chance, but not before I gave their competition the same chance...