Quasiconvexity

We went in early Dec and found it to be ideal. Perfect weather (we may have been lucky here) and very few tourists.

cpsri99

Stayed here the beginning of Sept over Labor day weekend. Booked a few nights paid and few nights points. Since this always seems to mess up the chance of an upgrade I was sure to call in right after booking, a week before, and the day before to make sure there wasn't any issue and inquire about an upgrade.

I checked online and saw plenty of Jr. Suites available for the duration of our stay so I called the night before to inquire about an upgrade and was told that they process them the day of. Had a long travel day with a 10 month old baby and finally arrived at the hotel. When the checkin agent sat down, just from her attitude and demeanor, I was pretty sure there was going to be no upgrade.

I asked about the Jr. Suite and was given what seems to be their usual game: same room isn't available for the duration of the stay and that we'd have to change rooms 3 times on a 5 night stay. I whipped out my phone and showed her how I can book up to 5 Jr. Suites for the duration of the stay online. She kept going on about changing rooms, I asked her if she can at least get us in one for now for a few nights and then we'd deal with the other nights later. She supposedly got us in Jr. Suite for 2 nights, when we get to the room its mountain view regular room. I immediately go back up and ask her why she didn't give us a Jr. Suite as promised. She got very defensive and kept saying that she never offered us a Jr. Suite, I asked her if she could get us in the Jr. Suite as promised. I then got on the phone with platinum concierge, the agent was awesome, I explained the issue and asked about the availability he saw the same thing I was seeing. He got on the phone, didn't get anywhere with the Front Desk, he then contacted the manager and the manager was able to get them to move some room assignments around and get us in a Jr. Suite for the duration of the stay.

Really a bad way to start the stay and definitely left a sour taste in our mouth about this property. The last thing we wanted was to spend 1.5 hours dealing with check in after a 12 hour travel day. It's a really beautiful property and the service at the pool, bar, kauai grill, was all great. Just the games at check in were really annoying and really makes it seem like they are just playing games to avoid giving an upgrade.

ssbmg

I just completed a 3 night stay in September. I booked using plat concierge and they got me some obscure promotional rate for a standard ocean view room. Upon arrival I was upgraded (with no hassle) to a Jr Suite on the 11th floor that looked exactly like the OP's pictures. We may have actually been in the exact same room. The TV that popped up out of the desk was a nice touch (it took me forever to figure out how to get it to go up/down - power button on the remote). The secluded feel to the beach on the property was excellent. The drive to Princeville to/from the airport was very long. We were treated like royalty from start to finish. At times it was even a bit awkward.

BTW - if you are upgraded to a suite, make sure to take advantage of the butler service at least for the free french press coffee in the morning. The coffee was (kind of) local (Kona) and some of the best I've ever had anywhere!

Okijames

I also stayed in Sept, 10days which included the Labor Day weekend. Upgraded to a Jr. suite without asking, and the butler hung our clothes which thrilled my wife. The employees oozed Aloha, very friendly and more than accommodating. A couple housekeeping misses and precision metered pours at the lobby bar were the only glitches. A few tips and the pours improved.

Dining choices in the Princeville area are a little slim, with Baracuda being the standout winner, but adequate IMO.

Based on our experience during this stay, we will definitely return!

enigmamatt

All --

I am going to this property in June 2011 for my honeymoon (5 nights here, and then 5 nights at another property TBD -- any suggestions appreciated...right now leaning toward the Ritz at Maui).

Anyway -- can anyone offer comment as to how different the Jr Suite is from the regular ocean view rooms? I am currently in grad school and thus not traveling, so I will lose my plat status in Feb, so everything is on points. I have booked an oceanview room for 5 nights with 90k points. To get the suite will require an additional 70k points for 160k total. Is it worth it? From the pictures it doesn't SEEM like the rooms are THAT different -- but some first hand experience would be great.

Thanks,
Matt

AlxStevens

We had a Jr. Suite for 5 nights based on a Platinum upgrade from a standard 80k booking. I didn't see the regular rooms, so I can't really compare, but I can say that the Jr. Suite was fantastic.

I know the rooms are slightly larger, and the soaking tubs with the view over Hanalei Bay were tremendous. I think my favorite part was the butler service - packing and unpacking were great, and the french press Kona coffee in the morning was one of the highlights of the trip.

All in all, it's a great property and you'll have a great time. If I were you I'd stick with what you have and hope for the upgrade. Many people here have gotten one (although clearly some haven't). I would CERTAINLY write to the Concierge in advance and mention that it's your honeymoon . It was my birthday when we went and I can't tell you the number of times I was congratulated by the staff.

I worked with Scott Bacon ([email protected]) and he did an amazing job with restaurant reservations, activities and so forth. Several of the better restaurants (Bar Acuda for one) and activities (ziplining) require reservations so it's a good idea to plan ahead if you want to take advantage of them anyway.

/A

spgplat21

The St. Regis is a great place for a Honeymoon. If you're staying on Kauai, i would not recommend the Grand Hyatt. It was really nice, but way too many families. It looked romantic, but the kids kind of killed the mood.

The St. Regis on the other hand, had children, but not nearly as many and felt much more romantic to me and my fiancee. We got engaged at a beachside dinner at the SR which I highly recommend. It was expensive, but amazing in every sense. You also need to do the helicopter tour. We used Jack Harter and took a tour in a helicopter with no doors (crazy experience). At the SR we were upgraded to an oceanfront room where you could walk out of the balcony onto the beach area and loved it. They offered us an upgrade to a Jr. Suite after our first night, but we loved the room so much we stayed. So if that's the room you're booked into, I'd just stay. It's definitely not worth the extra points for the suite as the size of our room was great, plus it still had a separate seating area with a little couch and coffee table.

I'm so jealous, we can't wait to go back.

Okijames

If your trip were a "regular" vacation, I'd say keep the points and an expectation that you will get the room you book while hoping for an upgrade.

However, dude, it's your honeymoon. If you have the points, book the suite, whoop it up!

Okto

Are reservations at the St Regis Princeville offline? I've tried searching for availability in all Hawaii resorts on SPG.com at several points in time between now and next summer and 10 hotels show up, but not this one.

Can someone shed some light?

Thanks

chanp

I just booked 3 nights this morning. I see it online.

Okto

I see it too as well. It must've been a glitch I just happened to hit. All 11 Hawaii properties now show up.

On a related note, what are the odds of getting C&P rates to show up for this property during the summer months? I see that right now this option is only available for December 2010.

Harlem

quick question - we just checked in - the concierge had the flowers in our room that I requested - we just spent an hour with him booking the rest of our trip (at our request he booked a few things before we got here). He was great.
My question - how much to tip the guy.
We gave him $50 - I have no idea if I'm a sucker for giving him that much money - or it I'm a cheapskate. I just want to pay market - if market is $100 then I'll give the guy $100 if it's $20 then next time I'll pay $20 - thoughts?

HNLbasedFlyer

$50 seems on the high side for a tip, definitely above market - on the flip side, if you spent an entire hour with him, that is a long time. You have to really decide how much you value that service. I'd probably only tip that kind of amount if it was a far above and beyond kind of service.

I'd suggest a different technique if the service was great - tip $20 upfront and if you were blown away by the experience go back to him or leave him an envelope of further appreciation, that way you get see how he really did.

romlevy

I'm not generally a big fan of the paper, but I've found this to be a useful guide:
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/hotel...ing17_ST_N.htm

-R

NDDomer86

Thanks for that. It's particularly interesting in the chart to see where certain industry players stand on the tipping issue. I'm not sure I'd ever tip an engineer for fixing something in the room that I did not break though.