Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas

With a pile of Starwood points to burn, I chose to stay at the Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas for five nights during my visit to Kauai.  As a newly minted SPG Platinum, I had received a 35% off redemption certificate.  Coupled with Starwood’s fifth night free for award nights, my five night stay cost a “mere” 52k points when the rate was $300/nt (plus taxes).

At check-in, I was told that I had been upgraded to a one bedroom suite.  As this is a timeshare property, I was expecting minimal Platinum benefits but found that the property consistently overdelivered.

My room’s patio had an partial ocean view.

The hotel is located on the lush north shore of Kauai.

Princeville is a short drive from Hanalei.

For beach lovers, the one drawback of this hotel is that it does not have ready beach access of its own.  The hotel itself is situated along a cliff, but there is a trail to a public beach nearby.

Additionally, the hourly shuttle to the St. Regis allows Westin guests to visit the beach on Hanalei Bay.

I took the shuttle over on my last night to see the St. Regis’ champagne sabering, but it felt a touch inconvenient compared to choosing a hotel with its own beach, such as the Sheraton Kauai.

St. Regis’ champagne sabering begins with a brief historical lesson before the main event:

For SPG Platinum members, the hotel offered a free continental breakfast plate.  There are some out of date posts on FlyerTalk suggesting that breakfast is not served every day (and consequently can’t be offered as a benefit).

The breakfast seating area was frequently overrun by birds, the best efforts of the guests and staff to scare them off notwithstanding.

The complimentary continental breakfast plate had a nominal value of about $18.  The hotel offers its breakfast buffet for about $25, but allows Platinum guests to upgrade to the buffet for just the price difference.