The Royal Sonesta Kauai Resort

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

3488 reviews

• 

  Disappointing Room

  We are here now, Resort overview is Beautiful and staff very friendly. Unfortunately that where the positive ends. Booked through Costco which may have had something to do with room given. DO NOT under any circumstances accept room 1501. We requested ground floor close to pool what we got was a whole in the corner. No Cell service in room and I would not even give it credit for a garden view. The wing must be save for travelers with pets as we heard barking. Very few choices for food and extremely expensive. Very disappointing and because of that we will not return

  Jun 10, 2025
• 

  DANGEROUS AND CHEAP

  DANGEROUS! AND BAD VALUE FOR TOP MONEY! The Haipu Tower has no security on the elevator- anyone off the street can access the elevators. To make things worse the adjacent parking lot is open to the public. The public can park there for free. They can also use the elevators if they wish with NO ELEVATOR CARD. However, if you pay $700 for a two bed room you have to pay $30 to park in the same lot where the public parks for free! It boggles the mind. The free loaders also take up the parking spaces so you suckers who pay to stay here have to valet -$40- or walk for a long distance AND pay $30. Plus us paying suckers have zero security. The Thursday Luau which is very expensive can be viewed for FREE. Yep park in the free parking lot and walk on in. Just pick a lounge chair on the beautiful beach for free and bring your food and drinks- nobody cares and it doesn’t matter to the resort. You also get to use the chairs for free all day. As long as you don’t ask for towels you are golden. You can also use the pool - plenty of people with no wrist bracelets , so enjoy for free! Avoid Luau if you don’t like flies storming the food. The attendants all stand around and watch the flies and do nothing. Ewww! You also only get housekeeping every other day- yes if you paid $700 per night. Nope only every two days! Clean your own room you lazy rich people who can afford this place! Worst of all you have to drink wine or cocktails out of paper cups. They said they could not provide us with glasses for wine or cocktails. It is not allowed. Screw them - take the glasses from your overpriced, weak cocktails back to your room. OR YMCA camp style folks. The restaurant on site stinks- the food and tables. If you order a lunch at 2:30 you don’t get a normal table. You have to balance the food on your lap on a sofa or a micro bar table that is too tall for the chairs. The food is also not very good and not surprising. Overall, this resort is the worst of the worst. The only thing saving it is the location. The pool is nice and the beach is nice if you like big waves - not a chilling beach with kids. It would be hard for them to ruin the beach even if they tried , but then again this is Kaua’i. This resort appears to be trying very hard to do that. The manager will answer this review with bla, bla, bla and fix nothing and not give a poop. Do yourself a favor and go somewhere else where your $700 per night for a Holiday Inn type room and no oceanfront views despite advertised- with two beds - will be better spent. Oceanfront view means crook your neck to see the beach. Hahaha! Signed World Traveler, Disgusted

  Jun 07, 2025
• 

  Disappointing Experience – Not Worth the Price

  I had high hopes for this property, but unfortunately, the experience didn’t live up to expectations—especially given the price point. The room looked like it had been "updated," but in a very budget-conscious way. The floors and baseboards were uneven and not clean. After walking barefoot for a short time, my feet were black from the dirt. Towels in both the room and by the pool were worn out, with visible holes and fraying threads—definitely not what you’d expect at this price. Room service was also underwhelming. We ordered breakfast, only to be told the espresso machine was broken and that we’d need to go to the bar downstairs to buy coffee ourselves. The food arrived in plastic containers inside a brown paper bag, with a spilled drink soaking through the bottom—not a great start to the day. The concierge service left a lot to be desired. Belinda reached out before our arrival, but never responded when we replied with questions. When we followed up on the day we arrived, we were told she hadn’t been working. If that’s the case, there should really be a system in place to ensure someone else is monitoring communications. Joan, who answered our call, was not helpful either—she simply told us to make our own arrangements. At that point, Google felt more useful than the concierge. The grounds and lobby are nicely maintained, but things go downhill once you head to the guest areas. The overall atmosphere felt a bit tired, and most staff we encountered seemed disengaged and unapproachable. A little more hospitality—like a smile or a friendly greeting—would go a long way. All in all, this stay felt overpriced for the service and quality received. There’s definitely room for improvement.

  May 06, 2025
• 

  $600 to Sleep in the Hotel Lobby...

  My husband, parents, and I were scheduled to depart from Kauai, HI the evening of January 31, 2025 around 9:30 pm. After sitting on the airplane for 3.5 hours, the flight was finally cancelled and everyone had to deplane and go collect their checked luggage from baggage claim. No hotel vouchers or other accommodations were offered to passengers. After collecting our luggage, it was close to 2 am on February 1, 2025. The airport in Kauai was closed and we were unable to re-enter the enclosed portion of the airport (there are no walls in the main area outside of security) and it was a chilly evening getting down into the upper 40s that night. Since we were not sure when we would be able to leave the island, we called the Royal Sonesta to see if we could get a room for the remainder of that night to get some sleep and escape the cold. The representative on the phone assured us that there was a room available and that she would make a note in the reservation that we would be checking into the hotel on February 1, 2025 at 2am. Since there were no other hotels with desk staff and no ubers/taxis operating on the island at this time, this was our only real option since the Royal Sonesta had a shuttle service to the airport. We were picked up by the shuttle and arrived at the Royal Sonesta with two other families who had also spoken to representatives that said there were rooms available that night. Upon arrival at the front desk, we were told there were no rooms available and that we could book a room for February 1-February 2 but would not be able to check in until 4 pm. We told them about our call with the representative that had told us there were rooms available but the hotel told us they could not check us in since the system wouldn’t allow it unless we had flight vouchers (this was different than when they first told us there were no rooms-it appears there were rooms but they just didn’t/couldn’t let us check in). Obviously, if we had been told at the airport when we called the Royal Sonesta that we would not be able to check in until 4 pm on February 1st, we would have never booked a room to begin with… The Royal Sonesta staff told the other two families the same thing but told us we could stay in the lobby until later on that morning when the shuttle could take us back to the airport. With no other option, we sat in the lobby for a few hours which was very cold as the lobby at the Royal Sonesta also did not have enclosed walls and subjected us to the chilly temperatures. Around 5 or 6am, the front desk associate told me she had a room that was available and since we had arrived first, we could check in. I had since rebooked us on a flight at 11 am and therefore declined offering the room to one of the other families in the lobby who had a young son. I asked the associate if we could be refunded the room charge since we obviously did not stay in a room and she said that would be no problem. I received an email notifying me that my reservation was cancelled and assumed we would be refunded. After a week, I noticed that the $600 charge on my credit card was never revoked from the Royal Sonesta. I called the hotel several times to discuss the situation with the manager and inquire about our promised refund but the hotel has never gotten back to me. The only correspondence I received was from a front desk worker who told me that there were no notes on our reservation so they had no proof that we hadn’t actually stayed in a room on February 1-2. If the hotel representative on the phone had been honest with us and told us we could not stay at the hotel during the early morning hours of February 1, we would have never booked this reservation. I was also promised a full refund from the hotel staff since we never actually stayed in a room and the hotel was not transparent with us during the entire situation and thereafter. I also know the hotel is not out any money for this reservation since the other family took the only room they offered for February 1. Worst customer service and hotel experience of my life. Don't stay here unless you like to be lied to and scammed.

  Apr 16, 2025
• 

  Tiny piece of paradise - but it isn’t free! We feel like it is worth it to go there, though! Beach is swimmable!

  Everything was par excellence!! It was pricey but for the friendliness, cleanliness, accessibility to restaurants, shopping, etc. Also a huge benefit is that it is centrally located! Right in middle of it all! Don’t forget to use the hot tubs at the pool! Also jamming banana a bakery coffee shop is great! The high dollar couples massage $600 for 80 minutes at Alexander Spa was not really worth the amount of money but we indulged one rainy day. Even if we hadn’t done that - there was plenty of relaxation in just being there.

  Apr 08, 2025