Review: Hyatt Globalist Benefits and Suite Upgrade at Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa

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After booking, I contacted Hyatt to apply one Hyatt Suite Night Award to my 5-night stay reservation for a Standard Suite. It’s worth noting that each Suite Night Award is valid up to a 7-night stay. 

The Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa is famous for its suite rooms. World of Hyatt Globalist members can receive complimentary room upgrades up to a Standard Suite. However, in theory, these Standard Suite rooms are always sold out or impossible to get one as a free upgrade. Therefore, if you want to stay in the suite, you must book far in advance. As long as there’s a Standard Suite redemption available, you can ask Hyatt to apply the Suite Night Award to the booking to secure it for you. 

Moreover, lower your expectations of receiving Premium Suites upgrades as a Globalist member. The Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa is very stingy for free upgrading you further from the Standard Suite to larger or better oceanview suites. I have attempted to request this a couple times after the property contacted me a few days before arrival to ask me for any special room requests. It’s kind of laughable to me when they specifically ask for your request simply to deny it after you make the request, but it is what it is! The Standard Suite is still really nice and spacious, more below!

The Standard Suite at Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort is very nice and beautifully designed. My first impression when I saw the suite was “WOW!” 

The Standard Suite looks beautiful, comfortable, and spacious. Family travelers will perhaps appreciate this room type more because there’s plenty of room to move around inside the suite, and it comes with a full-size white sectional sofa and a dining table in the living room area. 

The bedroom is boutique designed with a comfortable bed and ceiling fan. 

The bathroom in the suite is large and beautiful. It is modern with a tiled floor, a stand-up shower, a bathtub, a double vanity sink. 

All Standard Suites at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa are ground level. When I first learned about this, I was slightly worried because the property describes those suites as more of a Garden View room than Oceanview. I almost requested to downgrade the suite to a non-suite oceanview room above the ground level after the resort rejected my request for complimentary oceanview suite upgrades. But on arrival, the Standard Suite offers the best of both worlds – you get to enjoy the resort’s beautiful garden view and also the horizon of a pacific oceanview afar. While the ocean view seems far away because you are on the ground level, it’s still truly gorgeous to enjoy sunrises every morning over the pacific ocean while sitting or standing in front of the suite’s lanai (roofed porch). See photos below. 

One slight complaint about the Standard Suite is that our assigned suite number 1029 is actually a “connecting suite.” So it lacked privacy when we sat outside and ran into the other guest staying at the other side of the suite. See the photo below. The red arrow points to our suite room 1029. 

Overall, I am very impressed with what Grand Hyatt Kauai’s Standard Suite offers. 

As a Globalist, you have complimentary access to the on-site club lounge known as the Grand Club. You can also use the Hyatt Club Access Award to access the club lounge if you do not have Globalist elite status. 

The Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa is not within walking distance of restaurants. If you do not have a car, you do not have much choice other than eating and drinking at the resort. The food and drinks at the Grand Hyatt Kauai are not cheap, so having access to the Grand Club can definitely save you a lot of money, especially when the Grand Hyatt Kauai’s club lounge is perfect in terms of food that it offers along with just a $5 per a can of beer or a glass of wine. Full review below. 

Here’s the basic information about the Grand Club Lounge at Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa:

• Location: The Grand Club at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort is located on Level 3, next to room number 3021. It’s also close to the Anara Spa if that’s easier for you to find the club.
• Continental Breakfast: Daily from 6:30 to 10 AM
• Afternoon Snacks: Daily from 12 – 4 PM
• Cocktails & Hors d’oeuvres: Daily from 5 – 7 PM
• Desserts: Daily from 7:30 – 8:30 PM
• Review Grand Club Lounge at Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa For Globalist & Club Lounge Access Awards

The Globalist breakfast buffet at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa is offered inside the Grand Club. A complimentary continental breakfast buffet is provided. 

The nice thing about the breakfast buffet in the Grand Club at Grand Hyatt Kauai is that they have the same usual breakfast varieties every morning and a special hot dish that changes every day. The hot items range from bacon, ham, sausages, mini pancakes to scrambled eggs with cheese and salsa. So you are not tired of eating the same breakfast every morning. There is plenty of food to eat, and you will not be hungry. 

It’s unclear whether all guests receive in-room welcome amenities or Globalist members only. A week before arrival, the resort emailed me asking for any requests or celebrations. While I did not mention any particular occasion that I would be celebrating there, I simply stated that I had just reached Globalist elite status and wanted to experience all the benefits that worldwide Hyatt hotels and resorts offer, including the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa.

Inside our Standard Suite, there are quite a few snacks and a bottle of red wine along with a personally written postcard awaited us at the dining table when we arrived. Therefore, if you are celebrating anything special, do not hesitate to reply to the welcome email and let the resort know.

World of Hyatt Globalist members also receive the following enhanced benefits:

• 30% bonus points
• 15% off Anara Spa Boutique
• 20% off lunch at the on-site Ilma Terrace
• $25 off a minimum two-day consecutive car rental from on-site Avis
• Complimentary access to Grand Club Lounge
• Complimentary valet parking on free night awards
• Waived resort fee on free night awards and eligible rates
• Room upgrades, up to Standard Suite
• 4PM late check-out based on availability

Avis Rental Car

We did a two-day consecutive rental by picking up the car at the Grand Hyatt’s on-site Avis and dropping off the car at the airport to save us money from taking a taxi back to the airport. If you want to book, make sure to book really well in advance because the demand for rental cars there is very high and costly. 

When you stop by the Avis desk inside the resort to pick up your car, simply let the agent know that you would like to apply the $25 off promotion to your car rental for being a World of Hyatt Globalist member. As long as the rate you book is not a pre-paid rate, the agent can modify your rental cost and apply the $25 discount accordingly. 

It’s important to note that the Avis desk inside the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa has limited operating hours each day, and they close very early, from 9-11 AM only. So try to make your arrangement during that time. 

Avis rental cars are available for pick up in the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa’s parking lot. 

I have to say, the swimming pools at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa are not your usual resort pools. They design the pools to sit amidst the natural settings, surrounded by palm trees and lava rocks. They are so beautiful, and there are quite a few pools, from family to adults-only pools. Hot tubs are also available. 

The lagoon, the saltwater pool, mimics the beach settings that come with beach huts and several lounges chairs, which are complementary to guests. For cabanas around the pool and oceanside, there’s a hefty rental fee, starting at least $175 per day. 

The only downside about the pools at the Grand Hyatt Kauai is that those pools are not heated. So when we were there in February, the water was a little chilly to get in. We typically did not get into any pools until the sun came out, and I wish they heated the pool a little bit for comfort. 

In addition to the swimming pools, Grand Hyatt Kauai also has a waterslide for the young ones and the young-at-heart adults. I personally did the slide three times during my entire 5-night stay at the resort. It was so fun with all the twists and turns. Perhaps, that’s the easiest way to get into the water without worrying about the water being too cool to get in.

Our favorite thing to do at the Grand Hyatt Kauai is the lazy river by the adult’s pool section. The water is a little bit cool, but we enjoyed floating around the lazy river back and forth. It is not a long lazy river by any means, just shallow enough for you to walk around or float an inflatable tube along with the water current. 

Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa is located in Poipu, where the famous Poipu beach is. However, the resort is not really on the Poipu beach, but rather very close to the public Shipwreck beach. In front of the resort, there’s also a sandy beach too. You can lounge on the beach as much as you want to, but for swimming, perhaps it’s too rocky to do so. Regardless, I did see people swim and surf in the ocean, especially in the Shipwreck beach area.

This may explain why the Grand Hyatt Kauai resort invested in its swimming pools, including the beach-like saltwater lagoon pool. 

Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa charges a $40 Resort Fee but waived for Globalist members that stay on free night awards or eligible rates. 

• Reusable logo tote bag located in the closet
• Two reusable water bottles per day
• Purified water stations
• Nespresso coffee maker with coffee and tea in guestrooms
• In-room amenity bottle of hand sanitizer, alcohol wipes, and mask
• Poipu Bay golf course shuttle service
• Access to 24-hour Anara Spa fitness center
• One hour tennis court time daily
• Recreational bicycle use
• Self-service laundry washer, dryer, and detergent
• Unlimited local and toll-free calls
• In-room safe
• Boarding pass and incoming fax printing
• Welcome lei
• Nightly entertainment at Seaview Terrace
• Hawaiian artisans daily in the lobby
• Lei-making, ukulele, and hula lessons
• Koi fish feeding and parrot talk
• Sunscreen samples at the pool desk
• Kuhio’s arrival – departure hospitality lounge, including showers and computer and printer use. 

Turning Down Housekeeping Service

This is worth mentioning because Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa offers incentives when you indicate that you do not want the housekeeping service. The gift incentive is not just for your entire stay but for when you turn down the housekeeping service every day. 

Inside your room, you should find a notecard that you can hang on your door handle before 11 PM each day to turn down the housekeeping service the following day. The color facing out indicates your choice of gifts that you want:

• $10 dining credit
• 500 World of Hyatt points

Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa has a hospitality lounge known as the Kuhio’s arrival and departure lounge. Regardless of elite status, all guests have access to it as it is included in the resort fee program as mentioned above. 

Kuhio’s arrival-departure hospitality lounge offers lounge seats, showers, and computer usage along with a printer for guests that have to leave the room by the check-out time on the day of departure. If you go to Hawaii, you probably know that return flights back to the mainland typically take place at night, and therefore, if you do not have any plans that day, you can enjoy the resort’s hospitality lounge to relax, snooze, use the computer, etc. after checking out. 

It’s worth mentioning that World of Hyatt Globalist members can request a 4PM late check-out based on availability. 

Surprisingly, Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa parking fee is reasonable. 

• The resort fee program includes complimentary self-parking for all guests.
• Valet parking is available for $30 per day. 
• Globalist elite status level members receive complimentary valet parking on award night stays. 

Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa is a Hyatt resort that participates in the World of Hyatt program. Therefore, you can use World of Hyatt points to redeem a free night’s stay there. Moreover, when you use World of Hyatt points for an award stay, Hyatt also waives the $40 resort fee.