The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook - Princeville Hotel

Update: The Princeville Resort will close Sept. 19, 2008 for $40 million in renovations. The property will reopen in April 2009 as the St. Regis Resort, Princeville.

252 rooms, 6 tennis courts, 3 restaurants, 24 hour room service, cocktail lounge, fitness center, in-the-pool bar, several shops, ballroom, Play-Stations, conference room, valet parking, business center, free Wi-Fi in some common areas or $12.95 per day wired in your room, keiki program ($65-$85 per day), coffee makers with free coffee, wedding coordinator, pool with three spas and a keiki pool, lu'au. About a third of the rooms have lanais. Casual luxury is the overall feel here. The hotel is richly furnished with a fabulous lobby featuring 18,000 square feet of marble, marble fireplace, clamshell fountain, and a drop-dead view of Hanalei Bay through the glass walls. The lobby is so richly furnished that it's easy to miss little things...like the $100,000 19th-century Erard piano near the Cafe Hanalei restaurant. The valet parking area has their trademark serene fountains. The rooms are more expensively furnished than the other resorts on the island and are quite comfortable. They even have a feature unique on Kaua'i. The bathrooms have windows with liquid crystal panes. The result? Instant opaqueness at the flip of a switch. In regular rooms these windows overlook the main hotel room; in Jr. suites they overlook the outside. Private dinners on the beach are available starting at $435 a couple. Expensive, but very romantic. They also give massages in-room and near the water. Laundry is valet only.

The hotel is designed in a series of tiers, stepping their way down a mountain. The payoff is great ocean views from most rooms. Rather than gaze upon ugly roofs below you, they've thoughtfully planted grass on them. At the bottom is the pool area. The swimming pool is near the beach and is filled all the way to ground level without the usual lip. (Called an infinity pool, in case you're thinking about getting one.) They have free fresh fruit, water and chilled towels by the pool. Have a beverage in the pool from the swim-up bar, or walk across the pool bridge and take a few steps across the grass to Pu'u Poa Beach, an easily accessible and relatively user-friendly beach. Most resorts in Hawai'i aren't allowed to serve you alcohol on the beach, but some loophole lets them do it at the Princeville.

In comparing the Princeville Hotel to the Hyatt in Po'ipu, the Hyatt has a more exotic, tropical feel, whereas the Princeville has a richer and more expensive feel (and a better beach). Both are outstanding; it just depends on what you're looking for. The Marriott is somewhere in between, and the Sheraton Po'ipu rooms aren't as nice but are closer to the water. Because of common ownership, guests here get deeper discounts at the two golf courses.

Rooms 101-119 are avoidable because the hallway in front of them is the main route used by most pool and beach goers. We'd also recommend Mountain View or Ocean View rooms. The interim "Partial Ocean View" units we've seen only show the ocean from the lanai. Parking is an offensive $15, valet or self, so you may as well let them do it. Local calls and 800 calls are $2! And if you want an empty fridge (because the minibar scares you), it's $25 per day.

Their Seamless Check-in is a wonderful perk. Go straight to your room and avoid the check-in desk. (Coming and going, if you want.)

The hotel offers discounts of around 35% on rooms if you join their Starwood Preferred program (which is free) when you reserve. Without these significant discounts, rooms (547 sq. ft.) are $565-$815. Prince Jr. Suites (821 sq. ft.) are $915. Other suites (1,200-2,400 sq. ft.) range from $2,200 up to $5,500 for the Royal Suite. 24-hour butler service is available there.