Had a 3-night stay here about a week ago and thought it was a fine place but I don't really get what the fuss is about. (To be fair, I haven't stayed at many Hawaii resorts so maybe the standards are generally low and this place is simply relatively good -- but for someone coming from the East Coast, it seemed like nothing too special. Hawaii itself was of course quite special, but the property reminded me and my wife of places like the Renaissance in San Juan, good but not particularly memorable.)
Booked on points (2 cat-7 certs + 30k points technically), was only able to secure a 2 Queen room on points despite all room types being available for cash; emailed in response to the welcome email saying my only request was a King room if at all possible & was willing to pay if necessary, that email was ignored. (I also emailed the concierge desk re: restaurant & other stuff and they were very responsive, so in hindsight perhaps I should have sent them the bed request as well.) At check in, was informed of an upgrade to a deluxe full view... with 2 Queens. Took a lot of haggling to get them to put us in a King room, which ended up being an ADA room (nbd) in the Akau wing facing the ocean (the front desk said the view wasn't that great but it was indeed a full ocean view so i don't know what that was about, it was room 350). There was noticeable construction but we were out all day each day so it didn't bother us; I think the rooms across the hall (349/351/353) would have a direct view of the construction, which is at the north end and just east of the Akau wing. Also, we arrived at 8 p.m. after a long day of travel, and it took about an hour to get our room, so that was a little bit of a let down. We drove over to the Monkeypod and had a nice meal there while we waited though, would recommend ^.
No welcome note, amenity, or follow-up from management re: ignoring my email. I did fill out the survey post-stay and got a canned "we hope to prove ourselves to you next time" response. Eh, whatever.
Agree that the snorkeling off the beach was great, that was a true highlight and a reason to come back. One day it was too choppy & silty but other than that it was clear and relatively calm, and we saw sea turtles and eels right away; on the choppy day, a turtle came within a few feet of the beach much to everyone's delight.
Food seemed resort-average. No real made-to-order breakfast items other than eggs, with the usual sorts of toppings. The local hot sauces are a nice touch (try the Scorpion one, or the Raspberry Ghost pepper one), you have to ask for them. Fresh fruits and grilled vegetables were good breakfast options but all as expected, nothing above expectations for tropical resort. The premade stuff like dim sum, pancakes, etc., were relatively underwhelming because of how food gets when it's left under a heat lamp for ages.
The "Bitters & Bites" meal at the Ka'ana bar was above expectations, but I think they are changing it. (We had 3 savory courses + 3 cocktails, you pick your spirit -- I had bourbon, wife had gin -- and they do the rest; you can do a dessert instead for the 3rd course but we were glad we went with the savory options.) You sit at the bar and have your personal bartender essentially (there's just 2 couples at a time for the dinner), good conversation and good food/drink.
The other hassle was that the ice/water stations weren't on all the floors, seems like a cheap move. A carafe of water was randomly placed in our room on the second night with turndown only (not before that), and taken away the next day with housekeeping (and it didn't show up again that night). I get the "no plastic bottles" thing but wouldn't hurt to have more ice/water stations, carafes in the room, and so forth.
All in all a fine use of expiring cat-7 certs, but for normal points I'd much rather spend them on PH Maldives (sure, yes, it's farther away, but from the East Coast, Hawaii is pretty far too).
We personally enjoyed the Grand Hyatt Kauai more, I think, because the service in the club lounge there was great, we were given a nice room with a view without quibbling, the kitschy entertainment in the lobby was actually pretty entertaining (especially when combined with the option to go to the club lounge for self-poured $5 cocktails and bring them back to the lobby to enjoy with the entertainment), and we enjoyed hanging out at the sushi restaurant/bar there. There was ice on our floor, and the one day when housekeeping didn't bring a new ice bucket liner, I called and had a bucket of ice at my door in 5 minutes, despite the large distances that the hotel hallways span. The GH Kauai is obviously dated, old, and so enormous as to be impersonal (reminded me at first of childhood trips to 3-star all-inclusives in Cancun, shudder). But it ended up being a much more memorable experience for us than the Andaz Maui, probably because the Andaz gets so much hype (that it didn't live up to, for us) and the GH doesn't (so it exceeded expectations).