Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay — Hotel in Kauai

Cockroach infestation.

My +1 and I chose this place based on convenience: it was near the airport, close to some sightseeing, and pretty central as far as the island goes so that we could drive north or south. In that aspect it was great. If you don't mind cockroaches.

The views are beautiful. There is a short walk to the beach, where there are a couple of shallow pools (at Lydgate Park) blocked from the rest of the ocean, which was pretty fierce this time of year. There were schools of fish and plenty of room to swim.

From the exterior, the hotel is open with fresh air throughout and waterfalls and koi fish, as you would find in Hawaiian hotels. Parking can be a challenge. If you aren't able to snag one of the few spots at the front, be prepared to park on the backside of the hotel, to the right as you pull in.

We tried their restaurant for breakfast, both ordering Loco Moco. It exceeded our expectations. The gravy was delicious, the crunchy onion on top added flavor and texture, and the egg and hamburger patty were cooked to perfection. We washed it down with some tasty pineapple, orange and guava (POG) juice.

I reserved an Oceanview King Suite. And unfortunately, this is where they really feel short. The room was not adequately cleaned, with layers of dust covering the air vents, mold in the cracks of the tub, and bubbling drywall.

And ironically enough, it was after a cleaning that we discovered a cockroach infestation in the bathroom. We walked in late in the evening (after a busy day hiking and sightseeing), flicked on the lights, and saw 3 full-sized German cockroaches (there brown ones that infiltrate interior spaces) scurry away. I managed to kill two of them, but one escaped under a crack in the baseboards.

Hilton, this is where you really feel short. I called the front desk, but they didn't have another equivalent room available but promised to send a housecleaner to spray. He came with a vacuum (for what?) and said he couldn't spray with us in there, but he would take a picture to show management and then spray on the morning while we were gone for the day. Personally, I would have rather he just sprayed around the baseboards for the night, but he said he couldn't. So we got our stuff packed up and closed our luggage and put it all as high as we could, and sealed the bathroom door with towels so hopefully they would stay in there.

When we woke up after the worst night of sleep ever, I found a smaller cockroach, dead, on the sink, and another roaches' wing nearby. I had enough. I went down to the front desk and they reassured us that they would spray, and they would have us in another room later that day after the previous guests checked out. Fantastic. Except that when we stopped by the room midday, a housekeeper started asking us if we were checking out of changing rooms because she was told not clean. Weird. So we go out and have a nice dinner, and we get a call from the hotel complaining that our stuff is still in the room. Of course it is. The other room wasn't available and we weren't going to waste a day on Kaua'i waiting for the hotel to figure things out. We told them we would be there shortly and we finally got moved, shaking out literally everything we owned before packing it all up again and going to another wing. This room was actually clean.

After all that, I asked to be comped a room for the night, but the best they would do was remove a lesser charge. After a message to corporate, letting them know the conditions of their property and miscommunication, I received a few Honors Member points, but now I'm wondering if I'm going to be using them.

When I got home, everything was shaken out again and everything went straight to the washer to make sure our home wouldn't be infested with uninvited visitors. I have no aloha for disease-carrying pests.

Overall, I have zero tolerance for cockroaches and expected much more from a Hilton. I do not...

We came here for three days after checking out of the Marriott Kauai Beach resort. This is no more than a two star hotel. Unfortunately, the property is very rundown. It has a nice location being next to a public beach. It’s a great beach and you can swim and snorkel safely. It’s about a five minute walk to the beach.But you must walk about a mile for any other service. We didn’t have a car so we were stuck. The lobby has beautiful old wooden carved totem poles. Staff was very nice, and especially the bellman. They have to be because once you start to go to where the rooms are you want to run away. Building looks to be at least 60 years old. That mid 60’s boxy kind of building. I heard it was a different hotel and Hilton bought it. Well, they should’ve probably condemned it and built another. It reminded me of my dorm in college. The hallways are dark and poorly lit, carpet on the steps is worn all the way through to bare floor. No water bottle in your room every day as advertised, they hand you a plastic water bottle and it’s up to you to find a machine to fill it. Our room view was so depressing even the bellman agreed. On the second story, we couldn’t open the window. It was completely shut. Not safe. How is this OK,Hilton? So no sea breezes here. I felt claustrophobic. Our view is the window of another room across the green lawn. No balconies here. People on the level below had doors that opened out into a tiny area with gravel and a few cheap plastic chairs. Am I in a Hilton or am I at motel 6? The only thing that reminded me of Hilton was the $400 in night room charge, plus the $30 a night “resort fee”. Our toilet leaked and was loose. The doors slam shut when when you leave so you have to be careful not to wake everyone up. Air conditioner is very loud, but it is cold! Beds were good not great but good. The hot tub only had half the amount of water. What?? Pools are small we didn’t use. They have a restaurant only open for breakfast. $20 for an egg and sausage. No toast. And the service was a little slow. Undaunted on next day we went for breakfast and we waited, about half an hour to get our order taken, waitress was ignoring us, even though we tipped good the day before so we got up and left. Only choice for lunch and dinner is the Tiki bar. The food is pretty good not great but good enough. Expensive. But there was nowhere else to eat. (Oh there were a few skimpy sandwiches in the lobby for $14 ). It was $25 for a hamburger and fries. The fries were fantastic though. Drinks were $17 for a small plastic cup. I’m saying 7 or 8 ounce ordinary plastic cup and there’s no happy hour. Needless to say not not too many drunks hang out here. Management if you want to sell food and drinks then have a happy hour. You buy a drink, you buy a salty appetizer, you buy another drink, etc. etc. it’s good, you make money. For $17, I expected a nice drink in a glass. They don’t care if you stay for a while which is nice. People would stay longer if they were drinking, but I digress. And the view of the bay is very very nice. We were having our house worked on at home so we had no alternative but to stay, but if we could have gone home, we would have. Which is a sad thing to say about Kauai, which is a beautiful place that you should want to stay forever. They did allow us to have an extra three hours in our room before checking out for the small sum of $70. They do have a room which you can reserve if you have a night flight, because most of the flights leaving the island are at night. You can reserve the room for 45 minutes and freshen up, which was very nice. I’d give all the staff 10 stars if I could. Despite a nice location and wonderful staff I cannot recommend this hotel. If you have saved all your life to come to Hawaii, save a little bit longer and stay at a nicer place. There was a time when Hilton Garden Inn meant something above...

To call this place lame would be an understatement.

This is a classic case of bait and switch. The website makes this place look fantastic. The reality is it's a tired old hotel with very few actual amenities.. That big restaurant bar and grill that they advertise? Closed. It's only open for breakfast and then on Friday night for Karaoke.The only restaurant in this place is the tiki bar where you can get hamburgers and low-grade poke at inflated prices. If you want a real meal, go someplace else. Everything about this place is worn out and tired. For example, none of the USB charging ports in my room work.The luau that I wanted to attend and I took a look at it and it was like a dinner at a retirement community.

This place could be so much more if they would just do something with it. Unfortunately they've let it go. I made a majorly huge mistake by booking a week of time here. The website makes it look fantastic. Trust me it isn't .The pool is is unappealing. And there's really no reason to do anything here except sleep. I'm going to spend my time and my dollars elsewhere. I suggest anyone considering this place to look elsewhere like I'm doing.

What a huge disappointment. I've been a loyal customer of Hilton for a long time and I can say this is probably the biggest letdown I've ever had from one of their properties.

UPDATE: 4 DAYS LATER

Just wanted to say that there have been some good things here and some bad things here that have developed since I gave my first review.

The hotel put on a Thanksgiving buffet which was pretty good so I'll have to give them an extra point for that.

So far I have found five roaches in my room. Now I realize this is Hawaii and there's all kinds of bugs everywhere but seriously five is just a little too much to overlook. So they lose a point again. And we're back in to a one star.

The staff here has been friendly and helpful....but they really can't do much to solve problems. That "Hilton Guarantee" sign that they have on the wall really doesn't mean much here.

UPDATE 5 DAYS LATER:

Discovered why there's a rotten egg smell in the hotel on some days. The city sewage treatment plant is nearby. Smell invades if the wind blows the wrong way.

Went to use the guest laundry today. After walking over to the other side of the hotel to find it, I was dismayed to learn that unlike any other Hilton Garden Inn I've stayed at, this one does NOT allow access with your room card. Manual code entry only. So you have to go back to the front desk to get the code

This is stupid, c'mon Hilton....do better!

By the time I got back, someone else was using the laundry and one of the two combination washer dryer machines was in use by another patron.... The other one had an out of order sign on it. Groan.

UPDATE I should have just left my clothes dirty before I went back home and put them in a bag. But no I was stupid enough to use the one washer that was working. Well that washer doesn't work. It won't rinse and won't spin. Leaving my clothes full of soapy wet water. They called up the maintenance guy for me. He looked like he was about 20 years old and he kind of threw up his hands.... Maybe he'll be able to fix it but I doubt it.

Meanwhile, I've taken my clothes back to the room and I am rinsing them manually and ringing them out to hang on the towel racks. Hopefully they'll be dry enough before I go back to work.

Like I said before, this is nothing but a tire toad hotel in great need of maintenance. I'm really really...