I'm waiting for the Courtyard to open
 

No Marriott properties on Kauai offer rooms at the government rate, as far as I can tell. I have tried many times to book a room at this rate while on official business (I believe it is $157/night for Kauai, possibly seasonal) and have never been successful. To contrast this with Oahu, I have never had a problem at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa after no less than nine separate stays with them (with a duration of up to two weeks per stay).

I can't justify the $250+ rates for the most basic rooms on my expense report so I stay at a local condo while on the island.

See this link for an article on an upcoming Courtyard on Kauai, up in the Waipouli Beach/Kapa'a area. Hopefully the rooms will indeed be "moderately-priced" as the article explains.

If you can stomach a timeshare presentation, Marriott Kauai will give you 5 nights for $599, plus they even throw in some credit towards food/drink (maybe $75). It's probably subject to availability and blacked out for peak seasons, but it's worth asking for if you really want to stay at this Marriott. FWIW, Marriott timeshare presentations are less distasteful than most. The timeshares are walking distance from the resort, so the shuttle-bus-trap gambit is not in play. Do your 90 minutes, say NO about ten times, and walk away.

You can Priceline for about the same money, but it looks like more people get the Radisson than the Marriott. I don't think the Radisson is quite as nice as the Marriott.

From what I can tell it does not appear as though any of the properties on Kauai offer a government rate

I was able to reserve Garden View Rooms for $199 -- both my May 2004 trip as well as Dec 2003

Phone call from the Kauai Resort
 

We are a week away from staying at the Kauai Resort. My wife called to inform me that Shelley from the hotel called to find out what time we were arriving, if we were renting a vehicle or using the hotel shuttle and asking us to visit the "welcome desk" upon arriving at the hotel. Anyone have ideas about this? Is the visit to this desk to ask us to consider scheduling a timeshare presentation?

Did you happen to mention when making the reservation about a special event/birthday/anniversary/etc? Otherwise, you might call the front desk to ask. In three visits I've never seen a "welcome desk" per se....the Front Desk, Concierge & 2 Vacation Club desks in the lobby area.

I called the number that was left with my wife and got the voicemail for Shelley. Left her a message with my number so she can get back to me. Hopefully, she will, and I will find out what she originally wanted.

Don't you just love living on the road and calling home every evening to get 1/2 of a message...lol. Something like "Oh Dad, some man named, I think his name was George Cush called. He wanted to know if you wanted to run in a race with him in November. Something about he needs some kind of vice or something like that. Anyway, Mom said she didn't think it was that important either, but his number in Washington DC is 1-800-THE-PRES." :D

One of the advantages of living alone...and the dog is well-trained but hasn't quite managed to learn to answer the phone yet, let alone take messages!

I also thought...which Marriott did you book? If you go to the web site you can book the Marriott Kauai, or you can book the Marriott Kauai Beach & Resort Club (or something like that, I don't recall the exact name) -- they are at the same location, and probably the same rooms, but the 2nd is the timeshare-type property.

The reservation is for the Kauai Marriott Resort & Beach Club. Looking at the reservation on the Marriott webpage, the room we have is an "Ocean View". I think we can upgrade to a Deluxe Ocean View Room for 5,000 points per night. Since we leave next week and I have not "cashed in" any points for certs, I guess we will stay with the Ocean View room or maybe we might get lucky and get a PLT upgrade. Damn, poor choice of words for this forum this week. :D

I wouldn't cash in your points for certs. I was upgraded in Dec (as a silver, athough it was while talking with the Front Desk Mgr who had checked me in in Oct) from a pool view to the Deluxe Ocean View. I really didn't see much difference between the Deluxe Ocean View & the Ocean View except the bathrooms were a little bit different. Enjoy your stay -- let us know what you think afterwards!

Thanks for the advice....I will not use the certs since we plan on being on the go quite a bit while in Kauai and not too much in the room.

Made it back from Kauai and my stay at the Kauai Marriott Resort. A super nice place is my impression. Give it a 9 on a 10 scale.

Positives:

• Nice staff
• Clean hotel, in my mind - nicely decorated (what do I know since my wife says I have no taste...lol)
• Great location - right in the middle of the north and south beaches. Near the airport (we never heard airplanes and only a couple of helicopters while we were on the beach)
• Awesome swimming pool and a nice beach (would be nice if it was swept 1-2 times a week)
• Quick room service and good king crab/prime rib buffet on Fri/Sat evenings

Negatives:

• Checking in was told that we were in one of the best rooms of the hotel (room 1181), right in the middle of the property with best views of pool and beach. My wife is floating at the news and walks away. Clerk gives me a paper to sign stating I will pay extra $80/night above the award stay for this room. Not a good start to an otherwise, outstanding stay.
• Duke's Canoe Club - We ate upstairs twice, not having learned our lesson after the first meal. Service was poor, items ordered but never brought, incorrect change brought back to table after paying for meal (off $20 one night and $15 the second night), food was average at best

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to submit them and I will try to answer before the vacation memory is swept away by this mound of work that was waiting for my return. :eek:

Stayed there last year and were very pleased. It is a fabulous property with a lot going on. Later we jumped to Maui and stayed at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua which is also very nice. My reason for bringing the Ritz up is that the Lihue Marriot we comparable. Both were top notch.

jimflick -- welcome to FT!!! Glad you enjoyed the stay at the LIH Mariott -- and thanks for the comparison to the Ritz as it will help me on a trip sometime to Maui!

We enjoyed our stay there. I did love the fact that when I mentioned how much I loved hearing the ocean and seeing it they upgraded us to an ocean front at no extra cost. It was a huge room and we were using Marriott Points to stay for free anyway.
The only minus I can think of is that the airport is right there and you hear the planes and helicopters coming and going.
I hope you enjoy your stay!!
Julie :D