The Villas at Po'Ipu Kai

DON'T let the fact that this isn't an ocean-front resort scare you off! It's a fantastic place to stay on the best island of Hawaii...and I'm a grand resort kind of traveler. The walk to the surf is perhaps 5 minutes through a pleasant lawn with a trail directly to the pacific. The on-site pool is fantastic for a family with kids. The suites are very nicely appointed and upscale. Yes - if you have the cash to spend, stay at the Grand Hyatt Kauai, but if you're looking for a great alternative in a great location Poipu Kai is tops. The equivalent at other resorts would be 3-4x the money if you want private spaces for the whole family. We've stayed here a few times and the top floor is great but the ground floor has it's appeal with the pool right outside. The masters have a stunning en-suite bathroom and the other bedrooms either have an en-suite or a jack and jill bathroom. We enjoy making a big breakfast in-house that lasts us through the day (with snacks for the beach) and then heading out for dinner. This resort is perfect for that with a well equipped kitchen. (Pro-tip: head to costco to load up on essentials on your first day) Kauai is the best island in the chain - by a long shot. We recently went to Maui because everyone seems to love it. Blah. It's like a non-descript, busy suburb of a US/Canadian city. No character and super-expensive. Kauai will change your life! It's a Hawaiian post card everywhere you look with cool back roads and village destinations with character and history.

The unit is billed as luxurious and I would not go as far as to say that. It was nice enough and saves our large multigenerational family well. The rounds, pool and location are great. However we noticed right away that the floors weren't well swept in the two side by side bedrooms. We actually found baby clothes underneath the night stand. The sliding wood door that separates the toilet from the bathroom was defective and two of us got stuck and needed assistance to open it up. It turns out that the on site manager already knew about this but failed to inform us. The fluster in the other bathroom kept breaking..maintenance came and "fixed" it but it kept breaking and we had to fix it throughout our stay. Dresser in that bedroom had a funky odor and we couldn't put clothes in there. No one has called or apologized for any of this and then charged us $125.oo fee for a broken FOB that was like that when we arrived. We have traveled extensively so I also know stuff happens, but it is how it's handled that makes a customer happy and all of this was handled very poorly. I would look elsewhere.

The unit and area of Poipu were great. We ran into a few mechanical issues and while the maintenance support tried their best, it absolutely fell short of our expectations. On night 2 of our stay, hot water heater stopped working. I tried basic troubleshooting with the "on-site" maintenance staff, however, we were unable to fix, and it meant 5 of us all had to take cold showers. It was resolved the next day. The more concerning issue was about A/C in the master bedroom. It was a problem from the first day, worked intermittently, and ultimately our only choice was a portable unit that prevented windows from being closed, thus we got up with the sun. I've traveled for 3 decades and understand stuff happens. The resort management did not work the weekend or Monday holiday, was very dismissive of our experience on Tuesday, when they contacted me (when we were already checked out). No offer of a discount of any sort nor they didn't even offer a sincere apology (I asked for at least a phone call - which they didn't even make to me). Horrible customer service. While the unit is very nice, if you're concerned if anything goes wrong there's no focus on the customer - I'd look elsewhere.