You are correct--the Westin Kauai was destroyed by hurricane Iniki and was reborn as the Marriott Kauai.

The Marriott is much scaled back and is now a 4 star property and not in league with either the Grand Hyatt Poipu or the St. Regis up in Princeville. Both of those properties are 5 star facilities.

Chris Hemmeter was an amazing architect and was the first one to have the vision that the hotel facilities could be on a scale with the natural beauty of Hawaii.

In my opinion his best effort was the Hyatt Regency Maui which opened in 1980. It was the first resort that literally had a majesty on order with the surroundings. It still looks great today--I stayed there in June and it was just fabulous!

The Westin was his second effort on Maui...but it was just a re-model of the old surf hotel build in the 1960s. Hence the rooms are small and the Ocean tower rooms lack built in closets.

It just does not compare to the 40 acre Hyatt.

The Hyatt Waikoloa (now a Hilton) is where I think Mr. Hemmeter went too far. This hotel does not some much rival the surroundings but in fact over comes them....it goes too far.