The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas — Hotel in Kauai

tl;dr - amazing rooms, friendly staff.

We were offered a Timeshare Presentation deal to stay at The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas right before the pandemic. We had to keep delaying the trip further and further out because of our kid's elevated health risk. The timeshare presentation staff were very accommodating and kept letting us delay until we finally felt comfortable enough to go with our now fully vaccinated 3 year old.

We normally travel to the South Side of the island but since this deal was pretty unbelievable we made the trek up here.

Rooms Very clean, very island modern. We were in building 7 with a view of the ocean and one of the pools. The check-in person told us the most sought after rooms were in 6 and 7. We had a 1 bedroom suite which worked well for the 3 of us. The entryway holds the washer and dryer closet and lock-in suite access.

This leads you into the kitchen with a fridge, plenty of serving ware, pots, pans, plates, bowls and eating and cooking utensils. The oven is an LG brand smart oven that you can connect to from your phone if you want to remotely control your cooking. The coffee machine is a 10-cup drip Mr. Coffee.

The kitchen, dining room and living room are open to each other and the furniture feels like the perfect size for these spaces. I'm a tech guy so I'll add a few notes here that the TVs do not have apps so you will need to bring your own HDMI cable or Streaming Device. We brought the Amazon Fire Stick 4k Max and it logged on to the wifi easily. For those of you that like to bring your own travel router/access point they do have a couple ethernet ports for you to use. There is a DVD player and Bose sound machine but we didn't use them during our trip.

The bedroom is a standard size with its own TV, king size bed and with enough space to fit a crib. Plenty of usb and power outlets for use next to the bed for all your power needs.

The bathroom is huge with a large standing shower, double sinks and one of the tubs that has shutters looking into the bedroom. There is ample, clean cabinet storage which is unusual for a hotel bathroom (this is a timeshare). The toilet is separated by a pocket door and maybe has too much room.

Some of the things I would recommend adding to the rooms are an extra half-bathroom, some wireless chargers built into the night stand next to the bed and an air fryer!

Service As mentioned in the beginning, we were booking through a timeshare presentation. Everyone helping us with planning this stay was helpful, friendly and courteous. Once we finalized our plans, we called to check if they would allow us an early check-in and if they could provide a crib and high chair for the kid. No pre-planned early check-ins offered but the crib and high chair would be available after we checked in. We did check-in early and lucky for us we were allowed to go to our room a couple hours before check-in.

The staff at check-in, housekeeping (thanks Derek!), activity center, bellhop and pretty much everywhere were outstanding! A surprise to us was that there was daily housekeeping available which we only took advantage of because they came around our kids naptime. But anything we needed they were usually able to accomodate.

Resort The entire resort is nice. Smaller than I had expected and not very convenient outside the resort area. The kiddie pool is perfect for kids and the main pool is nice and spread out. My only problem was that the pools did not seem as clean as I would have expected. There does seem to be a slight problem with goose poop around here. The Koi pond is really neat to see but kind of small.

Timeshare Presentation Michele the coordinator was great to speak with. Greg was our presenter and did an amazing job highlighting the Marriott Vacation Club benefits and value for becoming an owner. "Uncle Greg" was amazing with our 3 year old and really made it fun for the whole family. We unfortunately did not become owners. Thanks to the MVC staff (Michele, Greg and Justin) for being...

Originally posted this as a 2 out of five but I’m changing it to a 1 out of 5. This resort simply does not show enough care or value for its category rating. Waste of hard earned points and money. In comparing other point values vs quality - ie: Marriottt Wailea Beach Resort only requires 50,000 points vs this place at 60,000 - it doesn’t even come close or compare at all.

Beautiful resort but not very accommodating staff and unappreciative of brand loyalty. They only care about owners and pushing ownership here. As a loyal Marriott member, loyal to the brand and a Marriott American Express card holder, you receive zero perks or benefits here (very disappointing). Further more, after accumulating over a 120,000 points - we used our hard earned points to stay at this resort and yet feel very underwhelmed. In our personal opinion, we feel our points would have better used elsewhere such as the Sheraton or other Marriott hotels in the area. We could have saved a ton more points by staying at the Sheraton for 35,000 per night as opposed to 60,000 for this place per night.

As a regular traveller (work and personal), we would would rank the staff and personal touch points as a loyal member very low.

Cons: Marriott App does not allow you to check into this resort or request any services prior to check in. App chat box was unavailable for this resort. 4pm check in (late check in). 10am check out (very early check out) but don’t sorry folks, they will offer you a hospitality suite for a solid 45 mins lol. This will help you store stuff and freshen up after checking out lol. Late check out is unavailable at this resort (only hotel and resort where Marriott benefits and Americans expres card holders do not receive benefits). Rude staff and caddy - they get sarcastic with you and don’t appreciate your business. No thank you or acknowledgement of being a Marriott elite member. They leave messages and envelopes under your door encourage you to visit the concierge desk to find out if “you’ve won” points or a resort credit. This my friends is them baiting you to talk to them about their offers - don’t fall for it. Lack of restaurant choices - they have a market and one restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Massive property with only one sit down restaurant. No welcome drink or lei upon arrival. We have been fo Maui several times and other islands where the nicer resorts make you feel welcome and offer you a nice welcome drink or lei upon checking in. We could not order hot sandwiches from the market as their oven is broken. No replacement or alternative options offered. The market ran out of fruit (bananas) for smoothies. Came down one morning only to find out they ran out of bananas. Maybe go to the market up the street and buy some for your guests? Just a thought. Electrical plugs in our studio did not work. I had to keep unplugging other stuff to use the one outlet that worked. Small items were broken or busted in the room. Noisy hallways at 5-6am. Work was being done in our wing and end of the hall. At one point they had all the doors open and started blowing hot air down the stairwell and hallways - water damage perhaps. Upon check out - the staff didn’t ask how our stay was or show any care (common theme here). The staff member didn’t smile, didn’t ask anything and seemed like she hates her job.

Pros: Nice resort and property.

In summary, if this resort does not cater to regular guests and Marriott members (only concerned about owners), then don’t allow Marriott members to spend their hard earned points here. If you aren’t going to honour the same perks and benefits - do not allow members to use points as a member here - plain and simple.

Hopefully, the management team here will recognize our displeasure and offer some of our points back as a gesture of good...

Two sets of reviews. One for the property and staff, the other for the Marriott Vacation Club pitch.

Property and staff are amazing. Let's talk people. Bill at check in was great and 48 hours remembered us when I misplaced a room key and needed a new one. Luis was helpful in housekeeping and with the help of Google we communicated clearly (my Spanish is horrible at best, maybe 10 words). My wife also appreciated the attention to detail when he cleaned the room, vacuuming into the nooks and crannies.

A few very minor items in regards to the room. The AC is a bit misplaced in the studio setup and the dry and cold air flows over you as you sleep. The room had a few minor items left behind by previous guests (a cup on the patio and a can at the back of a cupboard above the fridge), neither of which would likely be caught unless a pretty thorough clean was done. Regardless, it was perfectly handled. The proximity to things on the North Shore is largely great but you really need a car, even to get to local things. Bicycles would be a welcome guest perk!

Beautiful area, and a lot of great options. We used the BBQ and kitchen to manage costs, but also our own food concerns (lower sodium is a lot easier when you cook on your own). The studio room kitchen(ette) is a bit tight to work in, but the 1 and 2 bedroom options seemed great. How do we know? Well, we came for "the presentation" and entered a bit ready for a battle. Instead...

We were thoroughly impressed by the professional and pressure-free approach.

Chris created a welcoming environment with a clear overview of the Marriott Vacation Club. Tashina later stepped in to address our more specific questions, demonstrating her depth of knowledge and ensuring we felt well-informed.

This was a stark contrast to a previous session we attended with another brand, where we left feeling exhausted and cornered by overly aggressive sales tactics.

The experience with Marriott couldn’t have been more different—respectful, transparent, and focused on helping us understand their modern points-based system, which offers flexibility that traditional timeshares simply don’t.

While we didn’t make a purchase on this visit, the session met our goal of learning and exploring. The professionalism of Chris and Tashina, coupled with Marriott’s refreshing approach, has us considering our options further. We’re looking forward to a follow-up conversation.

Our decision was driven in part by the knowledge that due to personal circumstances we won't travel as much the next year or two. The team invited us to return within 24 months and see if things have changed and we are looking forward to a return visit.

Again, a MUCH better experience than other brand sessions we have attended before. My wife actually commented that she had fun at the sales meeting! Stunned.

In any case, a great overall visit and minor things were handled right,...