Grand Hyatt Kauai - Heaven on Earth

My wife and I stayed at the Grand Hyatt Kauai for a long weekend and had an amazing time, so I thought I'd share our experience with all of you.

We decided to stay at the Grand Hyatt Kauai as it had been highly recommended to me by a few friends. I was also able to get a great, prepaid rate on the Hyatt website back in March, so that made the decision easy. We had booked an Ocean Suite, but I emailed the GM a few months prior and explained that it was our 5th anniversary and that this was our first time in Hawaii and that we had heard great things about his hotel, so I was hoping beyond hope that we would get upgraded. We did! More on that later.

Upon pulling up in our car, we were met out front and given leis and chilled water and our bags were taken from us and put aside. Afterwalking in, this is what you see:

Great first impression!

The check-in agent looked up our reservation and immediately wished us a happy anniversary and explained that she was happy to tell us that they were upgrading our room to one of the few "named" suites, just a step below the Presidential Suites. She also mentioned that our room would have a complimentary bottle of champagne in the refrigerator to help us celebrate the occasion. The immediate recognition of our anniversary was super classy and really made us feel welcome. :-)

We were upgraded to Room 5127, AKA the Makawehi Suite, as the sign next to the door explains:

According to the bellhop that brought our bags up to the room, this suite is where Tiger Woods always stays when he visits. It's bigger than most apartments I've lived in and has amazing views, so I can see why. It's also very close to the elevator and the central pool area, so it's in an extremely convenient location. I've heard stories from other people that have stayed at the GHK of having to walk 15 or 20 minutes to get from the room to the lobby, but we didn't have to deal with that. :-)

I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Entrance foyer withbamboo floors, a beautiful Hawaiian quilt hanging on the wall, and its own half bathroom and enormous coat closet.

Upon turning left out of the entrance area, you enter the formal dining room. We didn't use this area much at all, but it was very well decorated. The hotel had left a note on the table next to a couple of champagne glasses again wishing us a happy anniversary. It was a nice touch. On the right side of the second photo you can just barely see a door into the bedroom that could be closed if guests were coming.

Passing through the dining area, you get to the living area. There was another, smaller table here with four chairs and a large sectional sofa facing the flat-panel TV and wet bar. Both the area with the table and the TV area have sliding doors out to the very large lanaioverlooking the ocean.

This is the view from the lanai. Amazing!

The bedroom is next to both the dining room and TV area. The four-poster bed looked very elegant and was very comfortable. There was another, smaller flat-panel TV in the bedroom and glass door out to a private sun deck overlooking the pool (on the left in the photo).

Private sun deck off the bedroom.

Overall, the suite was incredible, which is pretty much what one would expect from one of the best rooms in the hotel. If anyone ever has a chance to stay in a suite here, I highly, highly recommend the Makawehi Suite.

Our dining experience at the GHK consisted of only the buffet breakfast and the luau dinner. The breakfast was pretty standard hotel fare; nothing to write home about.

The luau is really more about the entertainment and experience of it than the food. Since this was our first time in Hawaii, we decided we had to experience it at least this once. We're glad that we went, but we probably would not attend again the next time we go. If I recall correctly, tickets were pricey -- $100 per person or so -- which means you could get a really nice meal with wine in a restaurant off-property for the same or even a bit less. Having said that, the food and drink was plentiful and actually not bad. Here's my plate, overloaded with kalua pig, steak, chicken, lomi salmon, macaroni salad, etc. And, of course, the requisite longboard lager. :-)

On the recommendation of our helicopter tour pilot, we did try to visit the on-property Tidepools restaurant for dinner on our last night, but we were unable to get in as it was fully booked. The moral of the story is to make your restaurant reservations early, either before you arrive at the hotel or just after checking in.

The hotel did have some free activities for guests, such as a meditation class, yoga class, and scuba lesson. Mrs. Sarfa33 and I took the meditation class one morning and it was exceptional -- truly relaxing and uplifting. I also managed to squeeze my way into one of the scuba classes; normally you need to make a reservation in advance, but I called down an hour before the class and managed to get in thanks to a cancellation.

The scuba class is held in their salt-water lagoon and is taught by a local dive instructor. It was a fun class, but I'm not sure that I learned enough in the one class to actually feel comfortable or safe in a real open-water dive. One thing to keep in mindfor anyone thinking of taking the class: bring cash to tip the instructor. I had to go back up to the room to get cash and by the time I got back to the pool, the instructor had already packed up and left. Sorry to him!

The luau is the other on-site activity that we participated in. Having never been to another luau, I have nothing to compare it to, but it was fun and entertaining, so I guess it accomplished its mission. We arrived early and had to wait in line before they started letting people in, but this was the view we had, so I wasn't complaining!

That is one their ocean cabana's that you can rent by the day. We didn't try to get one, but I've heard that they also go very quickly, so make your reservations early.

More luau photos:

Overall, we enjoyed the onsite activities, but we were there on a short stay. If we had been staying a full week, we likely would have gotten a bit bored. The rest of the island has no shortage of things to do, though, so this isn't the type of place where you can just stay on-property for the entire time. Better to go out and explore the island.

I only have two comments about the location. First, Poipu on the southern side of Kauai is known for being the sunnier side and we basically didn't see a cloud the entire time we were there. That was great! It's also close to Old Koloa Town, which is a great place to stop and get some locally-grown coffee or homemade ice cream.

Second, the GHK has some amazing pools, but no beach to speak of. Poipu Beach is a public beach right next door to the hotel that is nice, but crowded. If you're looking for a resort with a private beach, GHK is not for you. For Mrs. Sarfa33 and me, the amazing array of pools more than made up for the lack of a beach, but I know not everyone would feel the same way.

From the big things, like the free room upgrade and recognition at check-in of our anniversary, to the little things, like the hand-delivered bag of toiletries that the hotel provided when I realized that I forgot to bring shaving cream, the service at the GHK was top-notch. I've been to some excellent hotels in Asia and this service was right up there, albeit with a casual, Hawaiian flair.

The Grand Hyatt Kauai made our 5th wedding anniversary truly special and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to spend some time in Hawaii.