Marriott's Kaua'i Beach Club — Hotel in Kauai

Having stayed in this lovely resort 5 years ago, it felt so good to be back, it felt like returning home. The resort was as gorgeous as we remembered last time we here. But more than anything, we were so excited and hoping to see Miss. Faith, the Conceirge again. You see, the last time we were here, Miss Faith had been so good to us. She recommended all the best places for us to see and things for us to. She sent us to visit the Senior’s Crafts Fair that time where we had the very best smoked pork. We still talk about it now. She showed us so much kindness and made our trip that time so very memorable that we always talk about her with fondness and couldn’t wait to see her again.

I am sure Miss Faith, sees thousands of guests each year, I didn’t even think she would remember us, but when she saw us again, she greeted us with so much love and kindness, like we were long time friends. It felt so good to see her again and welcomed back by her. Her recommendations as always was spot on and I love that she is a foodie like us so her tips for poke and roast pork was so very helpful to us. We went and saw her every chance we got. She is one of the reasons why we chose to stay here again.

Our rooms were gorgeous and had full ocean view. The best part of my day was waking up and opening the sliding doors to see and hear the ocean waves. We had two very spacious rooms, one room consisted of a kitchenette with a full size refrigerator microwave, dishwasher, sink, full bathroom, dining table, spacious living room and a balcony. The second room consisted of a comfy king bed, sofa, a full bath and another balcony. Both the rooms were very clean, updated and well maintained. Both our bathrooms were updated as well. The kitchenette was nicely stocked as in Maui. We were able to prepare simple breakfast like toasted bagel and make coffee every day. Since the fridge was a full sized fridge, we stocked it up with fresh juices, fruits and all our favorites for easy breakfast and snacks. Also we were able to eat takeout dinners using real plates, glasses and silverware.

The housekeeping staff were excellent. They always made sure our rooms were sparkling clean and well stocked daily. They even came back for turndown service every night, tidied up our room if it needed and left us chocolates, which my toddler loved.

The highlight of our toddler’s day was feeding all the beautiful fish in the koi pond every morning at 9:00 am. She absolutely loved it and could just spend her entire day there.

My husband and I are the type of people who love to explore the island and see everything that there is to see. Can you believe the last time we were here we never even went to the gorgeous beach that is on property and never used their absolutely breathtaking pool! This time we were different. We still drove around and saw everything that Miss Faith recommended that we see but after that we set aside a few days just to relax in the resort which both our babies absolutely loved. Our toddler loved both the big, beautiful pool, and the fun kiddie pool. We literally had to carry her out each time as she didn’t want to leave. She also loved running around the beach with her Papa and building sandcastles. We were able to relax and enjoy every minute of family time.

We really appreciated the shops and restaurants that were walking distance from the property. I particularly loved walking to Kauai Boba & BBQ few times a day to pick up Boba, Musubi, lunch and dinner.

The staff at the hotel was always so very nice and greeted us with courtesy and a smile every time they saw us.

Stephen the bellman was so very helpful and courteous. I am the kind of foodie who loves to explore a culture through food. It is not that I do not enjoy fancy foods in fancy restaurants, but my heart truly belongs to small mom and pop, hole in the wall gems, where the food is no fuss but cooked with love and totally delicious. Stephen gave us so many truly local restaurants to eat at which...

In April 2019 stayed at Marriott Kauai Beach Club. Wouldn't recommend property for two reasons. First, they engage in deceptive business practices & have extremely poor customer service. Second, property is run down & shares its beach with a massive cruise ship dock.

I booked a regular guest room far in advance of stay, but rec'd an email shortly before arrival saying I'd be in a lock-off instead of a guest room. I've stayed in a Marriott lock off before & there's no noise control. I didn't want a lock off, so I called the resort. The representative acknowledged my reservation was for a guest room and not a lock off, but refused to provide this type of accommodation for us, stating that they didn't have guest rooms on that side of the resort. He said we should cancel our reservation and rebook on other side of the hotel. However, prices had significantly increased since reservation was made, and he refused to honor the original price when we booked. Our only option was to get something different from our reservation, or pay three times as much for what we DID reserve. Not acceptable, Marriott. Additionally, after making our reservation I called the resort to ask if Platinum status included a breakfast and was told it did. However, upon arrival we were told no breakfast for Platinum members. We spoke to the manager about the lock off situation & the misinformation about breakfast and he was totally unsympathetic. He refused to help, & asked us to pay an extra $190 per night to keep the adjoining lock-off empty, even though we didn't want this space. He also stated that lack of Platinum benefits was "clearly stated" during the reservation process. That was a lie. I went back to the Marriott web site and did a mock reservation and it didn't. Either way, when I called to ask, I did my due diligence to make sure I understood policies of the hotel, and the hotel should provide accurate information. Not only did Marriott fail to live up to their promises, they had no remorse or concern about doing so.

The hotel itself was fairly sub-standard. Tired, worn out & falling apart in many areas. Tiles falling off walls of pools, one-foot weeds in flower beds. Even the huge Hawaiian picture near lobby had a crumbling, broken frame. Our room looked recently painted, but there was white paint all over door knobs and hinges & dried paint dripping down moldings. The first two nights there was no one on the other side of the lock-off, but on the second morning a repair guy started banging away on the other side of the door at 8:00 in the morning. Noise problem was exactly what I expected--if I closed my eyes I would swear that he was doing repairs in our room. So much for a relaxing morning. The beach was fine, but I didn't know the hotel was mere feet from a cruise ship dock which released flocks of people that would be sharing the tiny beach area behind the hotel.

Upon check out Marriott added $25 per day for parking, even though we didn't have a car! They never asked if we would like to use their parking lot, but instead just added the cost to our bill. More dishonesty on the part of Marriott, that at this point, wasn't surprising.

Every day of our stay we rec'd time share solicitation phone calls in room, and on last day they left a message offering another stay for two, for $799 if we'd run down and give them more money! After our experience not only did we not accept their "special offer," but plan never to choose Marriott again for personal stays. I don't give my business to dishonest organizations.

No company's perfect. But when a mistake is made, or something is misrepresented, they should make it right. It would've be so easy for Marriott to give us the room we reserved, and give access to the Platinum breakfast on the property. But it seems that Marriott is really not concerned with meeting obligations or creating a good customer experience. And that type of organization...

Beautiful property and overall wonderful staff, BUT YOU WILL BE A SECOND-CLASS GUEST IF YOU ARE STAYING WITH MARRIOTT.

This is clearly -- at every possible opportunity -- a Royal Sonesta property with a very distant side of Marriott. Lifetime platinum or titanium elite? Don't count on any benefits beyond a 1000-point check-in bonus and an extra pitch to buy a timeshare.

How did this affect our stay?

Riding the airport shuttle? It's a Royal Sonesta bus with a Marriott logo toward the back of the bus. Coincidental? I think not.

Pulling up to bell hop / check-in: Royal Sonesta staff are in purple shirts; Marriott are in green shirts. No green shirts? You're going to need to wait or take care of your luggage, while getting uncomfortable stares from the Sonesta team.

Parking? Got a car? You're going to need to park it down the hill in the lot, walk back up the hill, and then tie up those shoes tight for the hike to the far-away Marriott check-in desk, grab your parking pass, then head all the way back through the maze toward your car. You get to drive past the Royal Sonesta Elite parking spaces, observe the tremendous amount of prime spots reserved for valet (empty during most of our stay), and park somewhere in the back. See if you can get a smaller rental car because the spaces are tiny.

Checking in? You're going to need to walk past the elaborate, marbled, columned Royal Sonesta check-in desks and formal lobby toward a back hallway, take a wrong turn at the signs (all while carrying your luggage because of the above), toward a dark back hallway, where the Marriott checkin desk is an afterthought with no windows.

Concierge? Don't bother trying to use the Sonesta one off the main lobby. Head back down to the dark, far-away hallway, where your concierge visit will be 15% help with planning and 85% timeshare sales.

Room? Marriott guests have their own floor(s), where the ocean view is mostly a structural support beam. You absolutely will not get any upgrades. Don't bother emailing the hotel to ask about this, because they will reference (without linking or sharing) a terms and conditions page that (obviously) you should have known before emailing. Hotel is near the airport, so you will hear helicopters and airplanes.

Restaurants? You are asked for your room number, when they determine you are a Marriott guest, they will remind you no less than 3 times during the meal that you cannot bill charges to your room. Why? Because you're a Marriott guest and not a Royal Sonesta guest.

Spa? Same as restaurants.

Laundry or fitness? Make sure not to accidentally tap your key card on the main entry pad. Nope, you get a special Marriott pad on the side. By the way, the cashless resort has machines that take quarters.

Honestly, in 20 years of being Marriott guests, this is the most unwelcome we've felt at any Marriott property -- because, well, it isn't a Marriott property. Rather than a vacation, we felt distracted by how much effort we had to put into navigating not being Royal Sonesta guests and the constant reminders that this was extra effort not only for us as guests, but also for the staff to accommodate Marriott guests in general.

Now, of course, it wasn't all bad: the property is gorgeous, and individual staff members (once we came to peace that we weren't with Royal Sonesta) were frequently very kind and helpful. The on-site restaurants are fantastic (though there is no coffee shop except the bar after breakfast), and other restaurants are within walking distance. It felt safe, the inner gardens were incredible, and the koi pond was really cool. The overall structure is old (you'll see this in the stairwells, the rusty sprinklers, and the paint), but much of the room interior had been redone and was quite comfortable (spare a fire ant bite on the last day). Would we stay here again? If we did, it would probably not be as...