Hanalei Colony Resort — Hotel in Kauai

Hanalei Colony Resort is a gem, we had a wonderfully relaxing holiday and we will return. I regularly read reviews to choose a hotel and hope you find this helpful.

This was our second visit to Kaua'i. Our first trip was 10 years ago with our children and we stayed in Kapa'a. We have also visited Oahu, Maui and the Big Island multiple times. Over our 2 visits to Kaua'i we have driven all around and checked out towns and beaches along a good chunk of the coast. After all of our looking around the island, we would stay no other place than the Hanalei Colony Resort. It has an old Hawaiian charm, beautiful beaches and stunning scenery. We watched whales breech from our balcony in the early morning and enjoyed walks on pretty beaches. We are travelers who prefer quiet to bars and nightlife and you will not find that here. There is one restaurant on site that was open for dinner. We were happy to stock up the fridge and enjoy dinner in our suite with the sound of the waves. There are restaurants in Hanalei which you can get to by the hotel shuttle or a short drive. The Big Save supermarket in Hanalei had a decent selection of foods and the Tuesday farmer's market was great for fruits and vegetables. On our day trips we also shopped at Safeway in Kapa'a before returning "home".

The room was very spacious with a king bed, 1 full bath with a tub/shower and another with a toilet and sink, multiple sitting areas, a day bed, a roomy lanai and a well stocked kitchen. We were there for 10 days and had cleaning service and linen changes twice. If we needed anything in between, we could pick it up at the front office or the housekeeping office by the pool. The room was well stocked that we found we only needed to get clean beach towels. The kitchen was well stocked with more pots than we would ever use. The only request would be to replace worn non-stick frying pans.

The staff are wonderful! Chawake gave us a fantastic orientation to the resort and made us feel very welcome. We discovered that one of the beach chairs was broken and when we took it to the office, it was immediately replaced. The room was very clean (I am picky). Other reviews mentioned corroded taps and musty smells. Our bathroom taps did have corrosion but they worked well and when we first arrived, we did smell some must but that dissipated quickly with the windows open. The reality is that humid climates with constant salt spray do cause these issues. It was not a problem as the suite was clean and well maintained.

The resort does promote that it has no air conditioning, televisions or phones. The no air conditioning was a bit of a worry for me as I find I get hot in the tropics. I did not find it a problem at all to have no a/c. The room had 3 large ceiling fans and with windows open on 3 sides of the building, there was great air flow and the temperature was very comfortable. It was actually nicer to climatize to the natural temperature than go in and out of air conditioning. The windows had bug screens but we had NO experience with bugs at all and my husband is a magnet for mosquitoes. We did find the WiFi was slow at times for anything that required a lot of bandwidth. Before arriving, I had downloaded several Netflix shows to my iPad but didn't even watch them. We unplugged, read and relaxed. Blissful.

We did not use the pool as the ocean is our preference but the pool is brand new and beautiful. We did use the laundry in the pool building and it worked well. The gardens are pretty and well maintained. My husband finished the book he brought so read the book about the resort that he borrowed from the office library. It is a unique place, with very enthusiastic owners who in some cases have passed their unit down over multiple generations.

We had a...

1/5 Poorly managed staff, service, and resort located on one of the most beautiful stretches of land with plenty of waterfalls, beaches, and trails.

Pros: Pristine location. We mostly went to the beaches, and they were beautiful with little commotion. The shuttle drivers were some of the most accommodating and down-to-earth individuals. Special shout-out to Keith for dealing with a car accident while we were on-board. He remained professional and respectful throughout the entire process, prioritizing sending us home before dealing with the aftermath.

Cons: The rooms were filthy and were not properly cleaned. I attached photos of rusty/oily fridges and bugs that were spotted throughout our stay. We brought up the issue of the bugs to the main office, and were told that "housekeeping already left" and there was nothing they could do. They mentioned that they will communicate the issue to housekeeping, but nothing was done throughout our stay. Poor amenities throughout the resort. The only place for food on the resort was a mediocre restaurant so if you did not rent a car, you were stuck with scheduling shuttle times to go to the nearest town. The "laundry on site" were old dinky coin laundry machines, and not well-kept. Additionally, it did not have any change dispensers, no ATM, or any detergent. Nothing on the resort was well-thought out for guests and the resort instead uses its beaches as the main selling point. Unhelpful front desk staff. Did nothing about the bug issue in our room when I told them. Did nothing about the power outage that lasted over 24 hours during our stay and just left early the first day. Also when we had to schedule a shuttle, we were given a 9:00pm option for pickup at Tunnels beach. At around 8, it was pitch black with no facilities to rest by. Of course, we take most of the responsibility but the staff could have informed us of the risk of that specific beach since we've never been. They claimed that they "did not have a phone number on file" at the time to contact, but we definitely included one in our booking information. There was a total power outage during our stay and the incompetent management did not have any preventative measures in place for the sporadic weather conditions in Kauai (there was a backup power generator for the communal pool but not any of the rooms??). We didn't have any power across the entire resort overnight. Thus, we went through a night with no lights, no hot water to shower, no ceiling fans (mind you, there is no AC in the resort in general), and the refrigerator stopped working so all our food became spoiled and we had to use our phones sparingly because we couldn't charge them all day/night. Imagine if a guest had a disability or a medical device that required power. This was a complete failure of a response from HCR and when asked about compensation for guests, we were told there was "nothing we can do about it". Of course, no one can control the weather, but given that they knew that the island gets periodic unpredictable rain that causes power outages, the lack of thought-out plans for these situations while running a resort is mind-boggling. We did not receive a single instance of housekeeping, despite paying for it. We stayed for five days, and they only knocked on the door once on the fourth day, in the morning, when we were getting ready. However, we asked for them to please come back later, and all the staff said was, "this is my last room" and left. No one came back.

Overall, I implore you to go to a different resort or hotel if you want to experience the beautiful beaches in Kauai. They will not leave. Hanalei Colony Resort is not worth the money...

Room – The pictures were as advertised. If you get the “premium ocean view” (for $900 per night all taxes included), you are right on the ocean. You literally have about 20 steps from your door to the beach. In this respect, the room has a beautiful view of the ocean and Kauai coast. It is away from most tourists and very few people on the beach. Getting into the ocean is very limited due to hard volcanic rock beyond the visible sand. We loved the idea of this place being very isolated on the island. However, most activities are in the south part of Kauai and take 1-2 hours to reach due to heavy traffic (also speed limit on the island is mostly 35 mph).

Our room looked new and very well kept. The mahogany colored trim throughout the room is beautiful. Our mattress was not comfortable: sheets kept coming off (exchanged twice), and the pillows are awful (I used 5 every night to get a decent sleep, and my partner folded his two pillows in half to get enough cushioning, i.e. think pancake flat). The kitchen is well stocked with utensils, plates, glasses, etc. We cooked many nights in the room. Bathrooms are nice and clean.

Resor: this is not a traditional resort, even though they charge a $30 per day resort fee. If you stay beyond 5 days they will give housekeeping for one day. Less than that, and you have to go get your own towels and sheets from the check-in area and exchange the old ones. All condos either have people living in them, or they are time-shares that the property is managing. The pool/hot tub/ BBQ/laundry facility was only 2 years old and well used. We used the Day Spa on site, which was nice, but pricey ($385 for 2 including tip). We used the separate restaurant on site, which was mediocre and pricey.

Air conditioning: there is none. They told us this when we made the reservation, so we were aware. We read online that this was not a big deal. Others online said you can leave your windows/door open at night for a nice breeze. However, when you leave the windows/door open at night you let in the gnats/mosquitoes and wake up with bites all over. We got bit up for a few days before we stopped doing this, closed the door and bought bug spray to douse ourselves with before bedtime. In the north of Kauai the wind and rain can come on at any moment and, in our case, lasted 3-4 days straight for the first part of our week there. We had winds of 25 mph for 3 days without letting up. So when we opened the windows and patio door it created a very large, loud wind tunnel making it difficult to sleep. The ocean sound is also quite loud. We tried closing the patio door for some quiet, but that heated up the room and made it very stuffy. You seriously need to consider this before renting a room at this place. You might curse yourself after a few days like we did.

The wind gusts during windstorms make the patio unusable for long stretches. A sandwich was literally blown off the plate on the patio table. During the last 3 days of our vacation, the wind did quiet down enough to sit on the patio and it was then beautiful.

Overall, we know that everyone will have their own opinions, and certain issues that bother one person may not bother another. We can only say that in our very specific case the $900/night cost did not justify our time here at all. We would not book this...