Review: Westin Princeville Resort

I love the Princeville area of Kauai. I know that the area tends to receive more rain compared to the East and South shores, but I’m just drawn to the exotic tropical feel of this area. I love the abundant shades of green on the twisted mountains with thin waterfalls and Hanalei as the back drop to the blue Pacific Ocean. There’s no place like Princeville on Hawaii’s other islands.

When I heard that Westin was opening a property in Princeville, I really wanted to check it out. I was fortunate to have an opportunity to stay there on my last trip to Kauai.

The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas is just under a year old and is fully complete. There are over 300 villa-style rooms in total. Seven separate three-story buildings house the villas. The resort does sell vacation ownership, but it intends to retain some rooms to rent to the leisure traveler.

The Location
As mentioned, this resort is located in the Princeville area, which is pretty swank. The soon to be re-opened, renovated, and re-branded, five-star St. Regis Princeville Hotel is nearby along with championship golf courses and million dollar homes. In other words, Princeville is a high-end area and this Westin fits right in.

The resort is perched on a cliff about 200 feet above the ocean. Some villas have distant ocean views, but I’d estimate most do not. Other views are of the nice pool area or of the island grounds. If there was one thing I could change about this resort, I would make the resort beach front. That said, the resort provides a free shuttle to Anini Beach that’s less than 10 minutes away.

The Villas
The Westin Princeville offers studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom villas. The villas are nicely decorated with soothing shades of greens and tans. Overall these villas are squeaky clean and very well laid out.

All villas have fully equipped kitchens with granite countertops and beautiful wood cabinetry. You could easily prepare a gourmet meal here. There’s a small market onsite where guests can buy cuts of marinated meat, gourmet pizzas to cook, breakfast foods, etc. In addition, a Foodland, with a much larger selection, is just about a mile away.

We stayed in a one-bedroom villa that had a dining room table that seated six and a living area with a sleeper-sofa, chair, and a LCD flat-screen TV. The villas feature Westin’s signature Heavenly beds. Ah, the bed was divine. We had another LCD flat-screen TV in the bedroom with ample storage for our clothes and luggage.

The granite and ceramic-tiled baths were very spacious with double sinks, a step-in shower, separate whirlpool tub, and a private water closet.

Other excellent amenities worth mentioning are

• in-villa washer and dryer–they even provide you with detergent
• plush bathrobes
• in-room safe
• free wi-fi Internet connections
• lanai furnished with chairs with pillows
• daily housekeeping service

I should note that the air conditioning unit in our villa (2106) was a bit on the noisy side and would sometimes wake us when it switched on. We wondered if perhaps we were unlucky or if other villas had similar noisy AC units.

On Site Amenities and Services
What I think is great about the Princeville Westin is that guests have the privacy and conveniences of a villa, but with most of the services that you’d find at a high-end hotel. For example, you have a full kitchen to prepare any meal you like, but you can also order villa delivery, e.g. room service, from 11 am – 8pm. You can even order fancy dinners that are prepped for you to cook in your villa.

Another feature the resort offers is they’ll provide an order form with tons of grocery options like yogurts, beverages, cereals, ice cream, produce, meats and deli items, and more. You select what you want and they’ll do the shopping for you.

The Princeville Westin even offers special romantic dinners under thatched roof cabanas scattered throughout the resort. After rushing around, we opted to have one of these special dinners. It was absolutely exquisite. The Westin Princeville gives you lots of options that are above and beyond a standard hotel.

The resort’s restaurant, Nanea, has indoor and outdoor pool-side seating. It’s open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For cocktails, there’s a separate bar, Wailele Bar, near the pool.

Three pools are located onsite. One of the pools even had a billiard table. I liked that one pool was dedicated for adults only. There was a kiddie pool with small slide. The resort offers plenty of lounge chairs and a towel service.

The resort offers free or low cost activities and entertainment. For example, we had the pleasure of listening to free live Hawaiian music by the pool. There was a farmers market the week we were there. From the menu offerings, to the onsite farmers market, I got the impression that the resort tries to support and incorporate locally grown ingredients.

Guests of the Princeville Westin receive benefits within the greater Princeville resort area. Guests have free shuttles and access to the Prince Clubhouse and receive a  discount for spa treatments. Guests are offered free shuttles to the Prince and Makai Golf Courses along with special green fees and cart rental rates.

Other aspects worth mentioning are:

• Fitness center with cardio and weight equipment. I should note that this fitness center had a nice, distant ocean view.
• For kids, there’s full and half-day kids club programsf or an additional fee. Each day offers different learning, crafting and play activities.
• Concierge service is available to help plan and book activities.
• Barbecue grills are located throughout the property.
• In case I’ve missed something, see the property fact sheet.

Final Thoughts
I think that the Westin Princeville resort is quite nice and is a great place for couples and families alike. In addition to my thoughts, you’ll find thousands of reviews on TripAdvisor and I’d encourage you to read those as well.

One important aspect that I think guests need to know is that this resort is a hybrid of a condominium and hotel. This resort offers many of the same amenities that you’d find in a typical Westin hotel-based resort. For example, you’ll find the Heavenly beds and baths. The villa set up is a little different from the standard Westin hotel-based facility. One of the main differences between the villa resort and a hotel is that you won’t find as many onsite restaurants, but you do have a full kitchen to cook your own meals.

Here is a link to the current special offers at this resort. One deal includes fifth night free, 35% off the room rate and a $100 dining credit.

See other photos we snapped from this property. Have you stayed in the at the Westin Princevillle Ocean Resort Villas? What was your experience?