We stayed at this hotel on Marriott points (Category 6 Hotel 30,000 points/night) or $339.00 per night, we intended to pay and upgrade of $150 a night extra for an ocean view. From Feb 12 to Feb 17, 5 nights. That meant our room rate would have been $489 per night X 5 = $2500 + room taxes. We made our
room reservation 6 months in advance as well. However upon arrival we were given a room facing the pool only (room 2422). I called the front desk upon the bellman accompanying us to this room. They replied that we could not get a room
facing the ocean because those rooms were full and the remaining ocean views were timeshares and not available to us. That was fine, except they were going to take my money for the upgrade at $150 night if I didn’t complain. They
should have just told me that the upgrade room view was not available and not charged me. I could have accepted that. But they tried to give us a room facing the pool, and see if we'd said anything. So they moved us! Down 3 floors to room 1908 and took off the upgrade charge! An underhanded move by the front desk in my opinion. And they were smooth about it.
I did try to later to complain to the front desk but they had an answer for every question I asked. Poor customer service.

After that let down, we were enamored with the pool. It’s spectacular and has all new tiles decking around it. But back to the room: The carpet in the room was much worn. The furniture was also dated and worn and dirty. It's clear this hotel is used. The bedding was new and up to date, that was pleasant. We had a two year old with us and we were not happy with him playing on the floor.

As the days went on we joked that the glass coffee table didn't get cleaned, and turned out not once during our stay was it cleaned. It became a non-funny thing as we fed our two year old off that table that was never cleaned until we cleaned it the last day.

The kids pool was never skimmed or cleared in the 5 days were there. The same "floaties" that were there the first day were there everyday we were there. The adult (largest pool in Hawaii) was very nice except we noticed there groups of teenagers loud and out of control. After a few days at the pool we discovered
that the locals could pay $60 per month for a pass to the pool. That of course brought some loud and rowdy groups of teenagers that just swarmed areas of the pool with chicken fights and smashing beach toys on each other.... Anyone would
pay $60 per month for their family to go to this pool too. No lifeguard on duty meant unruliness persisted until at one point a security guard finally came to chase the teenagers off the marble waterfall walls! Crazy. This enormous pool
had 5 Jacuzzis. We were excited at the opportunity to use the Jacuzzis. But 1 was out of order the whole time. And the others were swarmed by teenagers nearly every time we were at the pool. And frankly my wife and I didn’t want to be near the rowdiness. We came to relax. And hence I was the only one who braved an adult populated jacuzzi for 2 minutes!

Also this hotel is big on offering timeshare deals to people, like 5 nights for $589. Just to come hear the time share schpeal. That's an insult to me when I was going to pay $500 per night. And the clientele seemed to be in the "resort $100 a night" range too, I might add. We met a completely stoned couple
in the laundry room one night that proved this point, as they explained their "deal" they got, to come there.

Breakfast buffet was $22 per day and the dinner buffet was $39. Neither worth it. Coffee shop coffee was $3.50 per cup and $2.50 for a slice of banana bread + Tax.

The grounds were lush and mature. But the property was originally built in 1963 and looks like an old holiday inn from that era. I would not return to this hotel. But I would pay $60 a month to swim in their pool! Or $100 per night for a time share schpeal! I am a Marriott Gold Member that means I spend at least 50 nights a year in Marriott's. After saving 200,000 points for a vacation here, this stay, and the Waikiki Marriott Beach Hotel stay I have decided to move my membership to Hyatt or Hilton's rewards program. The Marriott properties are tired and worn!

Go. Trust me. This place is Paradise. The rooms are clean (no smoking anywhere on the property!), the staff is friendly and helpful, the pool is large and beautiful, the ocean (small beach) is just a few steps away, there are several good to excellent restaurants within walking distance of the pool, and the grounds and gardens surrounding the execellent facility are fabulous. If you can't be happy here you can't be happy. No, I don't work for Marriott, we just loved our vacation and can't wait to go back!

I loved my stay at the Kauai Marriott Resort & Beach Club. I stayed there for almost a week at the beginning of February. I was fortunate to have a first floor room that overlooked the pool area and was literally 100 yards from the Marriott's beach. The hotel is beautifully maintained with gorgeous koi ponds and beautiful flowers. I understand that only some of the rooms have been renovated and the first floor where I stayed was one of the rooms to have renovations completed thus far. I found the staff helpful and warm. I did unfortunately have a meal at Cafe Portofino. That was definitely the worst thing about my whole trip to Kauai. The food was horribly prepared (filet mignon completely chargrilled when the order was for medium rare) and the service was atrocious (be happy if you are one of the lucky tables to receive both bread and water when seated). The wait staff ignored tables for long periods of time. Completely unacceptable. I would on the other hand wholeheartedly recommend Roy's in Poipu. Roy's is everything you hope a dining experience will be. The staff is knowledgeable and provides seamless service. The food is absolutely amazing, cooked to perfection and completely fresh.

I recently stayed at this Marriott for three days. Overall the hotel is very nice and I probably would stay here again.

Some of the pros about this hotel are:

-The hotel is very nice looking on the outside. The pool and beach look great. The grounds are wonderful. The hotel has a very nice Hawaiian/tropical feel to it. The Koi pond was nice and I would recommend stopping by at 9:00 am to see the feeding.

-There are many restaurants close by and within walking distance. The choices ranged from inexpensive to expensive.
The hotel's restaurants were resonably priced and less expensive than other Marriotts in Hawaii.

-The staff I encountered at the hotel were friendly.

-The airport noise was not bothersome at all. Ocassionally you will hear helicopters however you hear helicopters all over Kauai.

-The hotel is centrally located in Kauai. It is easy to go to either side of the island. If you plan on doing any driving I would really recommend spending extra for a convertible or a Jeep. It will make the drive that much more fun.

-The pool chairs were plentiful and finding a good spot was easy. There are enough good spots along the pool that people were not reserving the seats as soon as the sun came up. By 9 or 10 in the morning most good seats were still empty.

Overall the hotel was fine however there is always room for improvement. Some negatives were:

-Check in at the hotel was not as smooth as it should have been. There is no guest registration parking by the entrance other than the valet. This doesn't seem like a big deal but it is a bit confusing when you first pull up and there is no where to park. No bellman was around that I saw to take luggage.

-The pool doesn't seem to be heated. Other Marriott pools in Hawaii were much warmer and more comfortable to get in. The hot tubs look great but three out of the 5 hot tubs require you to get back into the cold pool to get back to the chairs.

-Our room smelled very heavily of mildew. I had to air it out for two days to get rid of the smell. I noticed that there was mildew growing under the glass on a picture on the wall (I didn't want to change rooms though because the view was good).

-My wife and I are each platinum members with Marriott so I was a bit surprised not to have any recognition that we were on our honeymoon even though I mentioned this before I arrived.

-I think it is ridiculous that Marriott charges paying guests for parking however the lot is open to the public for free. Seriously Marriott...what are you thinking. If you are going to charge for parking at least secure the lot. My windshield was somehow smashed the last night I was there. Tip: Don't leave valuables in your car.

-The towel building opens at 7:00 or at least it is supposed to. I was there at 6:50 and asked when it opens, twenty minutes later they opened up. This is a classic example of why this Marriott is not a five star hotel. A five star hotel would not have made a guest wait and certainly wouldn't have opened up late if they knew someone was already waiting. A minor issue but that is what seperates a good hotel from a great hotel.

We had a pool view room and we could clearly see the ocean as well. The ocean view is not that great to begin with because the property sits on the bay that is fairly small. You could easily save money by not going for the ocean view and take a pool view room instead. Some ocean views are worth it but not as much at this hotel. A garden room would be okay if you don't plan on spending a lot of time in your room. There are plenty of seats in common areas around the hotel that have great pool views and oceans views.

Overall, this is a nice hotel but just don't expect the type of service or room that you would get at a top end hotel.