We recently stayed for 3 nights when taking advantage of the cheap air fare from the mainland. We booked a garden view king on points and were upgraded to an ocean view room (with a Nespresso machine) in Hale 1 overlooking one of the pool areas. We were given 2 coupons for a Mai Tai and a small bag with locally produced lip balm and "refreshing spray". Thanks to the discussion here I was able to arrange for the $100 "compensation" instead of the points or Starbucks vouchers. It took about a half dozen emails with the guest experience team to get it, but the $100 more than covered nice breakfasts from Island Gourmet for the 3 morning we were there. I did have to ask to have the $100 credited when we checked out but there wasn't any question about it.
The resort seemed fairly full and there was a Ford dealers' recognition event going on while we were there. I don't know if the event attendees were solely to blame, but many made a joke of the Serenity Pool rules regarding no cell phone use, no glass, and no outside alcohol. The hotel staff tried to deal with the more blatant transgressions, such as glass bottles on the infinity pool edge, but weren't entirely successful. Most of the lounges around the pool were "reserved" with towels by 7am but staff did walk around taking photos, saying they would remove the towels if the lounges remained unoccupied. We were able to find seats easily when we headed to the pool in mid-afternoon, when we had a nice view of all the whales just offshore.
We only ate at the resort the night we arrived, when we enjoyed our complementary Mai Tais and a light dinner of fish tacos and poke at the Kapa poolside bar. The food and drinks were good, and the service was fine, but we were looking forward to dinners off the property the next few nights.
Room rates for the base garden view rooms were around $1200 a night while we were there, so this felt like a fair redemption, although I'd never pay that cash rate. The resort fees and self-parking were close to $85 a day after taxes, and this made me appreciate the Hyatt benefit which would have waived these fees on a points stay.