Hotel Review: Grand Hyatt Kauai

Wow, as I write this review, I’m wishing I was back in Hawaii, or more specifically, on the beautiful island of Kauai! During our recent trip to Hawaii, Kevin and I had the pleasure of spending two nights at the wonderful Grand Hyatt Kauai. Rather than slacking on my trip reports as usual (I promise the rest of the Asia trip reports/hotel reviews are coming soon!), I figured I’d bang out my review of the Grand Hyatt Kauai while it’s still delightfully-fresh in my memory. The Grand Hyatt Kauai is located on the south side of Kauai on Poipu Beach, and it surely is a stunning property.

I booked a 2-night stay at this gorgeous resort for free using my two free-night certificates from my new Hyatt Credit Card, easily saving us over $900. The cool thing about the free-night certificates is that not only is the room rate covered 100% without any blackout dates, but you’re also exempt from paying the resort fees as well (which includes free parking, free wifi/fitness center access, etc.).

We left Honolulu bright and early on a 5:31 AM flight to Lihue (Kauai’s airport), and before boarding the plane, I decided to quickly call the Hyatt and ask them approximately how much a taxi would cost from LIH to the resort since the hotel does not provide a shuttle from the airport. The agent on the phone responded by saying a taxi ride would be between $45-$50 each way. Yikes, no thanks. That’s when I decided that renting a car would be the better option since self-parking was included in my lovely rate of $0 a night. I quickly reserved a car from Car Rental Savers at the rate of $15 per day for a 3 day rental.

I strongly recommend that you rent a car from LIH if you’re staying at the Grand Hyatt Kauai for a few days. It was an impulsive decision for us, but we are so happy we did so because it gave us the freedom to explore the island at our leisure and try restaurants that are off the resort (we found some killer mouth-watering local spots that I’ll be sharing in the Kauai trip report shortly). Plus, since the drive from the airport to the resort was less than 25 minutes, we had a chance to stop at a nearby supermarket on the way (Big Save Mart) to stock up on water bottles, wine, and snacks to bring to the resort before checking in.

When we arrived at the hotel (around 7:30 am), we were beyond impressed and amazed by how beautiful the hotel grounds were. First off, this hotel is extremely vast, and truthfully, we didn’t even get to fully explore the entire resort during our short 2 days there. Everything from the high ceilings in the lobby, the luscious gardens, the fiery tiki torches that light up the resort at night, and what seemed to be an endless amount of pools, waterfalls, and lagoons, was extremely striking to us.

The standard room for a free-night certificate is a garden view room, but since we arrived at the hotel so early, there weren’t any rooms available yet. In fact, the hotel was at capacity, and we did not get into our room until after 10:30 am (which is still early for check in). We were delighted to receive a complimentary upgrade to a pool view room, which offered us beautiful views of the property at all times.

Over our two day stay, we spent most of our time enjoying the resort’s beautiful pools and lagoons. There are quite a number of pools to choose from including a “lazy-river” style pool, a salt water lagoon, an active pool with a volleyball net, and even a pool with a fun water slide in it. Shipwreck Beach (the resort’s private beach) was pretty as well, but the waves were a bit rough, and it was rocky in some spots, so we did not spend much time in the ocean. Kevin and I enjoyed climbing up to the top of the cliff on Shipwreck Beach to catch some great views; we even got to see giant sea turtles swimming in the water below us which was pretty neat!

My favorite pool at the resort was the salt water lagoon (which is nested on a gorgeous sandy-beach nook) because it was super refreshing to take a dip in and then cuddle up with a nice read in one of the many surrounding hammocks. Another key note is that the resort advertises a beach luau twice a week, and I heard it was pretty spectacular. Unfortunately, on the Sunday night we were there, they decided not to have the luau because there were too many private and corporate events happening on the resort grounds that evening. I was a little disappointed with that news, but at least Kevin and I got to experience a luau on Oahu.

As far as dining on the resort, there are plenty of restaurant options varying from pool-side snacks to fine dining, but we decided not to eat at the resort at all for two reasons: one being that food and drinks at this resort are very expensive ($7 for a hard boiled egg as an example), and the second reason being that we don’t usually eat on resort grounds to begin with; instead, we hunt for local favorites in all of the places we visit.

Another attribute of the resort that I thoroughly enjoyed was their commitment to fitness. When I’m away, it’s nice to be able to stay fit, and being in an environment that’s conducive to staying healthy is important to me. The fitness center here is large and is fully loaded with new equipment. There’s also a number of fitness classes available free of charge ranging from power walking, Zumba, water aerobics, and conditioning classes. Kevin and I participated in the 7 am sunrise walk and then continued on with a jog of our own; it was certainly a great way to start our mornings!

We really did have an enjoyable two night stay here thanks to the Hyatt Credit Card which lets you stay two nights at any Hyatt in the world for free. Though many people often choose to burn their two free nights at the ultra-luxurious Park Hyatt Paris, I was craving some fun in the sun at the Grant Hyatt Kauai was the perfect remedy for that! Enjoy the photo tour below!