1 Hotel Hanalei Bay: Buyer Beware
Jul 11, 2025 691sami
After many revisions and time to reflect, I feel ready to post the full experience I had at the 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay. I passed through all five stages of grief before writing this, so I'm confident that I can give this review as objectively as possible.
The experience was below expectations.
First let's get the good out of the way:
- The view is…
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After many revisions and time to reflect, I feel ready to post the full experience I had at the 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay. I passed through all five stages of grief before writing this, so I'm confident that I can give this review as objectively as possible.
The experience was below expectations.
First let's get the good out of the way:
- The view is unmatched
- The food is good, especially at Welina Terrace. The 25 year old head chef (Lito) is one of the best sushi chefs I've ever encountered. And this is coming from someone who has eaten at many omakase experiences.
- The rooms are nice and the bed is comfy, however it should be noted that the "shades" (read: wooden doors with slits in the that can be "shut") didn't block out all the sunlight. And for an ocean view room, that meant you were waking up at 7am when the sun streams in. I've attached an image of what 6:40am looks like from the blinds.
- I read some reviews complaining about the spa, and this was not my experience. It's true the facilities lack a pool and hot tub, but that wasn't a deal breaker for me personally. The quality of massage I received was definitely up to my expectations for a five star resort (thanks Asher) and there's a variety of eclectic treatment options, including a hyperbaric chamber and quartz sand massage table. If you're a couple and the spa facilities are a must, the private Hales at Sensei Lanai are bar none.
- The program where you can take a dog from a nearby shelter for a walk is good vibes, and I wish I saw more of that in other places.
But all of these good things were spoiled by the myriad of failures we encountered as guests
Strike 1: They will leave you stranded.
We were abandoned more than five miles from the hotel after 9 pm (house car stops at 5pm). After calling the concierge she shrugged and gave us the number of several cab services, none of which were willing to pick us up. The only solution was a bus that dropped us off two miles away from the hotel, in the pitch black darkness.
It's astounding to me that, for a hotel with a fleet of Audis to be given to guests for free two hour "test drives" around the island, nobody was willing to take a five minute round trip to pick up guests. What would've been a short trip from the front desk turned into a more than hour long walk uphill in the dark to the resort grounds. A rental car is simply a necessity.
We went to the concierge hoping they could help us get one, and maybe have them get the rental car to the hotel from the airport to avoid the two hours round trip ride (an experience offered at many five star hotels including Kona Village and the Four Seasons) But they were either unable or unwilling to assist us. Telling us instead to use the Turo app to get It ourselves. This meant the next morning, bright and early, I was making a two hour round trip to Lihue to pick up a rental car. It was clear I was on my own.
Strike 2: They will try to move your room without telling you.
I have never, in all my travels, heard of this. We discovered the hotel was planning to DOWNGRADE our room without our consent. They were going to have an employee pack up our belongings and move us while we were at the beach. The only reason I found out about this move at all, was because I went to the front desk to complain about my miles long walk to the hotel! The front desk attendent made a passing comment about how we were changing rooms tomorrow, and we were shocked. Not so much as a text message was sent to us indiciating we were being moved. All of our stuff was unpacked in the room. Imagine coming back to your room to find your key doesn't work and your personal items have been moved. We didn't even end the conversation with a guarantee that we wouldn't be moved in the morning. I had to tape a note to my own door saying "DO NOT MOVE US" like I was barricading myself in. The experience really put us on the defensive, which is not what I would describe as "five star"
Strike 3: The luxury is fickle.
The "luxury" cabana we paid $400 to sit at had a rat scurry under it (confirmed by the manager of the area. But don't worry, they're working on it 🥲). Worse, they served us MOLDY FOOD. I've attached the pictures so you can see for yourself. It’s not just disappointing, it’s disgusting.
Maybe a minor comment compared to moldy food and rats, but there wasn't even a roof on the paid cabana to block the rain, which, of course, it did. Kauai gets a lot of rain, and you should expect to encounter some. So why do the free cabanas, offered on a first-come, first-served basis, have top covers to prevent rain from getting guests wet, yet the paid cabanas you reserve ahead of time are just out in the open? I had to use my towel as a cover to keep my phone, my wallet, and myself dry.
After these experiences, everything felt different. It felt like waking up in a twilight zone episode. All the kind words from the staff just felt fake. Only the veneer of hospitality was left, stripped of all substance.
And it makes you wonder how far the deception goes? How many of these five star reviews are actually from guests who stayed at the resort? Some of them say outright that they only came up for one of the restaurants, which feels duplicitous. How many people felt pressured to ignore the failings of the resort because of the expensive price tag?
If you stretch your budget to go to a top tier hotel, especially for a special occasion like a honeymoon, you may get excited, and tell your friends and family in advance about the hotel you're staying at. It then becomes embarrassing, at this price point, to admit "it wasn't that good" or even "it was just okay". I can imagine people flipping through all these rave reviews and seeing all these stunning pictures and just thinking to themselves "what am I missing?" Or "why didn't I feel this way" or even "was it my fault?".
They probably feel foolish. I know I did. And to that I say: I don't think you're a fool. You were fooled, in a literal sense, but that's not your fault. It should be Starwood that's embarrassed to give such a low tier experience for such a high price point. The pressure to put on a happy face and tell everyone you had the time of your life is really strong, and it has a cascading effect where, guests who hear good things go and then THEY feel like they have to say they had a good time. Or else admit they were alone in their dissatisfaction, or even worse, feel like they were the ones at fault.
After management came to speak with us at our cabana, we had guests at the resort come up to us and ask us what happened. And I read my review to all of them. Like I was reciting Antigone in a Roman amphitheatre. And I was shocked to hear how many guests shared in similar complaints. Here are some of the things I heard from other guests
- One guest requested and was "granted" an early check in time, which they wanted because they had a newborn child and had been traveling all day. Only to be given a room hours after normal check in time.
- Valet parking attendants insisted a car wasn't in their service, only to later find out they had the car in the valet lot the entire time. I felt the anxiety of the guest when hearing this, since losing a car is a big deal.
- Guests placing orders for food and/or drink only to be forgotten about and have to remind staff themselves.
It really seemed like we were in good company with our complaints about the resorts failings.
Management did their best to rectify the issues we were having. Sam (manager) especially made us feel heard about our complaints about the hotel. He made sure my wife's and my massage was in the same room (something we were told was not possible when we tried to schedule it ourselves), comped our cabana and even set aside one of the Audis from the test drive for us to use as a rental car (even though at this point I had already driven to and from Lihue airport to rent my own car, since, as I mentioned above, this is not an option but a strict necessity and the concierge will not help you get your own rental). It was really thoughtful and he was constantly reaching out to ask us if we needed anything after that. He even gave us some stuff from the spa gift shop, which was nice.
But truthfully, once it gets to that point, the five star experience you had been sold on has largely been ruined. You just have to take it on the chin unless you're willing to put the effort in to move hotels, and who would do that? Who could predict that this hotel would have failed on so many levels that it would necessitate having a plan B? Are you going to spend time on your vacation frantically looking up reviews for nearby hotels? So that's really not an option.
In the end, you can't "ruin" a trip to Kauai. The landscape on this island is unmatched. You can swivel your head in any direction and see a sight that will take your breath away. It's no wonder so many movies were filmed here. Even writing this, I feel my head swelling up with the desire to go back and just see the landscape with my own two eyes again. It is truly an amazing island. The locals are some of the kindest, most generous people I have ever talked to. Shout out to Robert Demond and Hanalei Taxi for being the only ones willing to help us around the island before we got our rental car.
But before you drop $1,000+ per night at this hotel. I would think long and hard about what you value at a five star resort. How would YOU feel if any of the above experiences happened to you? Would a scented candle make it all better? Would you be willing to just ignore these shortcomings at this exclusive price point? You may be able to fool your friends with an amazing photo, but that doesn't require anything more than $45 for parking and <$400 for a dinner reservation for two. Eat at the restaurant and take all the pictures you want. But if you choose to stay here for the views, don't be surprised by the sinking feeling in your chest when you're reviewing your folio at checkout and think to yourself, "I deserved more." You certainly did.
I saw many, many stars on my dark walk, uphill back to the resort. I remember being amazed, starstruck, if you will. It almost seemed like there were more stars than darkness in the sky. Like I could reach my hand up and scoop them the way I could for grains of sand on the beach. And you know what? I wouldn't give any of them to this hotel. I wouldn't give them five cheerios out of my cereal bowl. If this place weren't situated overlooking Hanalei bay, there would be no appeal at all.
Buyer beware.
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