Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay in Kapaa, HI

The staff were all wonderful. They should be complimented!! The property needs to be totally rebuilt from the ground up. It's so old and tired and the redone bathrooms just isn't enough. Dark musty hallways lead you to dark musty rooms. Patio doors can't be opened. Coffee in the lobby is whisked away precisely at 10 AM. Pools (yes there are 2 very small very old) have just a few chairs but a couple of couch sets which seems odd. The grounds are nice around the lobby but around the buildings sad grass does not invite you to hang around at all. The park land at the ocean is very busy and includes a lot of old hippies camping out. At 9:15, the maids were knocking incessantly on the door wanting to clean. When we refused they made us commit to being gone in 60 minutes. What? Breakfast was good but closed at 10 am precisely. It is closed most days except for special dinners Tues and Fri. Except not this Friday, just Tuesday...The poolside restaurant has good Hawaiian food but limited menu. Nice live music. You need a car. The hotel is positioned alone on the wrong side of the bridge to town which doesn't allow pedestrians. So you have to UBER it to get anywhere, to anything. Keep looking rather than booking this one. We wish we had. Let me say again, Bree and the other people on the front desk were outstanding!

My sense of this place is that while it may have been privately owned in the past it’s now owned by a hedge fund who feels as if it’s time to withdraw profit. It doesn’t feel as if the money this place generates is pumped back into the property or the experience. The management is likely hired and their mandate is clearly to generate money for other uses, perhaps other acquisitions. The money is clearly not being reinvested, by my eye. The staff appears overextended and too locked in to their “job descriptions” to take any initiative. We booked a four night stay and checked in online. We went to the desk only for physical keys and then we were directed to our room. Our first room was tired but clean however the vent to the bedroom had no air flow and was perceptively warmer than the sitting part of the room. We called the front desk. The maintenance guy, very nice, explained that when they put in the new AC system they left a dummy vent in the bedroom but all of the air was directed away from it. We repacked and went to the new room which was directly below us. It was an ADA room but it was clean, and cool, although also old and tired. My wife texted the front desk as this room was the closest one to the lobby where the kids gathered and next to the elevator which we could easily hear and ran continuously until three in the morning. The kids were loud and having fun but what can you do? The next morning my wife went to the front desk and she was told that we were assigned to the wrong room away from the cottage that my wife, one year earlier or so, had booked, their highest level $700 a night room. Had we not gotten this particular front desk person on our second day, we wouldn’t have gotten what we paid for. And I’m sure the young lady who checked us in must have seen that we were in the wrong room. Whatever. We were told that if we brought our suitcases to the front desk by the time we returned, our suitcases would make it to the cottage for us. they weren’t. When we returned at 6:30, it was raining heavily, our suitcases remained where we placed them earlier. There was no one to help us carry the luggage so we did it ourselves, carrying the luggage down wet staircases to our cottage below. The following day, our keys didn’t work for the second time and we went to the front desk. We were told that the lock probably needed a new battery. I was told at that time to go down to the cottage and wait for maintenance person who would be right there to repair the lock and put in a fresh battery. I waited for approximately 20 to 25 minutes. While I was waiting, I actually called the hotel and I was routed to the concierge’s desk because there was no phone option for the front desk. The concierge told me that she wasn’t the front desk, that I should have called there instead and that maintenance wasn’t under her. When the maintenance gentleman arrived approximately 25 to 30 minutes later, he was very nice and fixed the problem. as we were waiting Housekeeping showed up to let us know that we’re not entitled to housekeeping for three days however she would take out the garbage. So for three days unless you ask, you don’t get fresh towels, coffee service, or a cleaned room. Also, the TripAdvisor site says there is free parking. There isn’t. They charged $25 a day plus a hidden resort fee also about $25. Nobody was unpleasant or unfriendly. However, there is no way that this is a four star hotel on TripAdvisor. I’m confused at the rating, particularly if you read the recent reviews.

The hotel lobby is very nice, and most of the team members are nice and helpful. Close to the beach where snorkeling available. But: our room is a little bit dated, window could not be open just for 2 inches, bathroom is very small. Keycard did not work properly, at first night had to replace something in the door but after it was not better, sometimes 1-2 minutes long time was to open the door after tried both keycards. The shower gel from the bathroom missed, we asked to replace it - during 5 nights they were not able to do it, we got more soap instead of shower gel. Resort fee contains two bottles of water/daily. Second they when asked how or where we can get the new 2 bottles front desk answered that there are refilling machines on the corridors. Guest laundry: it was out of order during our 5 days stay, and it was said that laundry operated by third party and they already reported it to him (it was out since weeks as we heard it). Hot tube: once it was very pleasant temperature, next day it was cold. So, not very bad but from Hilton hotels we have much more betters experiences.

This place very outdated. First room had no air conditioning ducts in the bedroom area. We were moved to an even older handicapped room. Guess it could be good for families but not my choice. VERY DISAPPOINTING. HAD I known it was this archaic when I booked, I would have chosen another place. Unfortunately, there’s nowhere else to go. It’s season. So will make the best of it. If you like anything post 1960… book elsewhere.

From check in to check out we had a wonderful experience. The morning restaurant people were all great, but Miss Evelyn (the Hostess) kept the seating arrangement running smoothly. She was gracious and accommodating all with almost effortless ease. Courtney at the Concierge Desk gave us several suggestions that turned out to be spot on. Again with a smile on her face and calm manner. The room was clean and well maintained,