Nestled cliffside at Princeville, on the north shore of Kauai, 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay stands as the new beacon of luxury and sustainability, promising an idyllic getaway at one of Hawaii’s most picturesque locations. The hotel, emerging from what was previously both the Princeville Resort, and more recently, the St. Regis Princeville, it recently received a $300 million makeover and reopened last year. Beat of Hawaii recently went onsite to bring you our honest assessment of the latest Kauai resort.
It is indeed a transformation to behold, following its rebirth from a musty old relic of the ’80s and ’90s to this unique modern-day oasis. The hotel aims to merge seamlessly with the natural north-shore Kauai surroundings. If nothing else, 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay is certainly impressive. But does it live up to both the hype, its ideals, and the hefty price tag involved? Let’s dive in.
The transformation to 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay.
Upon arrival, the first thing that strikes you is just how different the hotel looks compared with its prior iterations. With an open-air lobby, the hotel indeed succeeds at blending in more with its environment. Gone are the prior stark colors and gaudy designs, replaced now by materials and textures that are far more natural in appearance and fold naturally into the landscape. The latest design aesthetic is pleasing and hopes to reflect the hotel’s stated commitment to sustainability.
The 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay experience.
The iconic location indeed sets the tone of an upscale, eco-conscious retreat. The brand has gone to extreme measures to reflect a new symbiotic relationship with the environment, if not the community of Hanalei Bay itself. You’ll find unusual touches that include barware made by local artists, on-site edible rooftop gardens, and much locally sourced food.
Activities on offer are also designed to provide the feeling of immersing guests in the local culture and the beauty of Kauai. They include such things as guided hikes to explore lush landscapes, on-site yoga, and, a gym that is a complete standout on all of Kauai. These experiences may be enriching, and some of them come at a premium, raising questions moreover about the value proposition for 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay guests.
The reality of luxury.
With room rates often starting at more than $1,000 per night, and the room that Beat of Hawaii editors stayed in normally costing nearly $3,000 per night, 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay is, without doubt, a big splurge. Beat of Hawaii editors paid a media rate, which was substantially less. We enjoyed the experience enough that we stayed a second night.
Compared to the lowest price rooms at Grand Hyatt Kauai, the entry point at 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay is 22% more. For the extra cost, you’ll have a much more personal and boutique experience, one of the best hotel pools on Kauai with the iconic view of Hanalei Bay and a gym that is truly amazing with every kind of weight-lifting equipment you can imagine.
While its offerings are high-end, from the extensive albeit odd breakfast buffet to the myriad of unbelievable fitness and wellness options, the financial outlay to enjoy 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay fully is quite significant.
Comparatively, other resorts on the island, such as the bellwether Grand Hyatt, may offer somewhat competitive amenities at a lesser cost, though arguably not in such a new and unique setting.
Sustainability: beyond the buzzword?
The hotel’s commitment to sustainability is evident, from the absence of single-use plastics to the incorporation of native plants and solar-powered lighting. A water dispenser in each room provides filtered water poured into locally produced glasses. However, the true impact of these initiatives can sometimes feel overshadowed by the inherent exclusivity and consumption that comes with any luxury hotel. Thus, it begs the question of whether it Is truly possible to reconcile these two aspects fully.
Personal touches and misses.
Service at the 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay is where the property attempts to truly shine and often does. Personal connections with staff members, from the servers at breakfast to those leading the activities, seek to add an invaluable layer to the experience. Yet, there are moments when the exclusivity can fall short and feel isolating, and the emphasis on luxury can seem at odds with the traditional, more laid-back island vibe many travelers still seek out while in Hawaii.
Service was often great, but not always.
While dinner was excellent, when we tried to eat at the breakfast buffet, the experience quickly fell flat. There was a long wait to be seated, and there was no host to help people. We waited more than a half hour even while the restaurant sat largely empty.
Then, too, the buffet is served in a very small and cramped area of an otherwise lovely dining room. There was inadequate room for guests to access the food. Speaking of food, it was as expected at a high-end hotel breakfast buffet, but was not a standout in any way.
Conclusion: paradise with severe caveats.
1 Hotel Hanalei Bay offers a slice of paradise for those willing to pay the premium. Its commitment to sustainability, community, and luxury is evident, creating an experience that is both indulgent and conscious. However, the high cost and the sometimes-overwhelming emphasis on exclusivity may not appeal to every traveler.
For those seeking unparalleled luxury and are willing to invest in it, 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay is a remarkable choice. But for others, the question remains: can the true essence of Kauai be experienced through such a highly curated lens?
As we left the spectacular setting of Hanalei Bay, we were left pondering the balance between luxury and authenticity, wondering if perhaps the true spirit of Hawaii lies somewhere in the middle. While we sometimes choose less curated stays, 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay was equally unforgettable.
We welcome your thoughts about 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
Starwood REIT, owner of 1 Hotel is apparently facing serious financial challenges per NY Times, Bloomberg, MSN etc.
Search: Starwood REIT 5/24/24 for in-depth info.
Link results above will be improved by dropping 5/24/24.
We used to spend an evening at the St. Regis bar area for drinks, apps and the magnificient sunset. This is not even an option at this severly overpriced, Fred Flinstone-ish contraption. The only place worth visiting is the pool bar for a drink and lunch after a bit of local beach time.
There is no reasonable way someone who is not staying at the hotel can access it even to look around it. There’s a so-called public path to the beach, but no parking except valet parking @$45, refundable if you spend $100 inside the hotel. This is elitism, keeping out locals and people of modest means.
Overpriced with squatters. Inflation isn’t an issue if you vacation here yet complain.
We’ve known each hotels built at that location since the beginning and 1 Hanalei is our least favorite, especially the setting of the restaurant and the main entrance of the hotel. It was much nicer and elegant before, less pricey and reflecting more the Kauai style.
We ventured over to 1 Hotel for breakfast during a recent stay in Princeville. Our breakfast was fine and the service impeccable, but the setting, while impressive, left me perplexed. For that price wouldn’t you want to spend your time enjoying the hotel amenties you’re paying for, and is that the reason people travel to Kauai? It felt isolated from the community and culture of the island. The infinity pool was annoyingly pretentious, and, when we walked down to the main pool, there was a hotel employee Raking the sand on the beach. We came back later to snorkel and found most of the reef has been trampeled to death. Can honestly say it’s not my jam, which is good because I also don’t have that kind of money to spend!
It’s a bust. I understand the former Sheraton execs who are behind this are losing their shirts. So much that a local veteran real estate agent told me several months ago the Sheraton execs are trying to sell the place. Plus they can’t get staff to work there.
I hope that they are not turned into ritzy condos by a developer. I believe that the moves to restrict short term lets will lessen the demand for these.
His name was Kimo. He went to Lanai. His last night was ver emotional.
If you squint really hard at your last picture, you can see the beach out in front of our place.
The few people I’ve spoken with that have gone there (just for lunch or drinks) or worked there (one of our friend’s sons waited tables – it is union, you know), the word is: “Nice, but maybe once a year for lunch if you have several hundred dollars to blow”
Coco Palms back in the day… Now That was a resort!
Best Regards
Hi Jay.
Yes, definitely. Now that will be another review if and when it ever reopens.
Aloha.
I hope they rebuild in the style of the Guslanders and do not go for another “Tiki Room” remake. Of course there will be those who want faster internet, large spa etc but we have enough hotels like that. The big problem I foresee is the traffic on the highway and accessing the beach the seashell restaurant.
I am a 23 year owner at Hanalei Bay Resort, which shares the beach with Hotel One in Princeville. My tour of Hotel One was very disappointing, gone is the beautiful lobby where I remember high tea in 2001. Gone are the restaurants that outsiders such as ourselves would enjoy popping over for a meal. I saw lots of successful millennials working on their laptops, and I suppose that is who the hotel was designed for. No local support or patronage that I could see. I won’t be recommending it.
Big bucks for rooms without a lanai? We’ll stick with Pu’Poa next door; fantastic lanai’s (most privacy on 4th floor).
Go to the Cook Islands. See the real Polynesia, at a fraction of the cost. It is what these resorts are trying to be.
I worked on the remodeling there doing the finish work. I was reassigned when the gc got removed. Nice to finally see it complete. The spa, bar, restaurant, and pool areas look alot different now that the hotel put their finishing touches on it. Went to the bar there a week ago with some friends, and as they were admiring the atmosphere, all I could do was look at the ceiling and kept remembering how much of a pain it was installing all of the fixtures. It is nice though glad it’s finally complete.
You were obviously not fans of the original hotel. I strongly disagree. The original lobby was breathtaking, both in being ornate, and providing a drop dead panoramic view.
The panoramic view was lost in the St Regis because the spa was carved out the lobby.
It is unfortunate Princeville did not allow a new building foe the spa.
Then the gym and pool building were sold to a billionaire and has been under utilized for years.
Princeville as a community peaked after the Hotel’s last renovation before the St Regis fiasco. 1 Hanalei is more of the same. So sad.
My 2 cents is similar and of the strong, pleasant memories of the Princeville Resort after the rebuild post-Iniki. Memories of the “piano bar” with its chanteuse and the Hawaiian gent with full head of wavy white hair & Nehru jacket who was her accompanist. Saw them featured in a travel mag ad later, and the spell they made with their music while the moon played on the water, “Bali Hai” beyond, was unforgettable.
We have great memories with our family from multiple stays when it was the Westin Princeville Resort and then the St. Regis. We’ve stayed in that large room overlooking the grassy area and puff the magic dragon. It and the seating area for breakfast look the same.
It’s unfortunate that as property taxes and other expenses increase, hotel have to keep increasing their rates and forcing them to rebrand to justify the rate. At some point, you won’t be able to go any more upscale, then what?
It was originally a Sheraton, it was never a Westin. There is a very nice Westin Villas property in Princeville where you could have had a room overlooking a large grassy area.
I miss the Princeville resort. This place feels so pretentious and unauthentic. Makes me really sad what they have done with the property.
Hello..
I was very disappointed by the new 1 Hanalei Bay. So sorry it is not still St Regis.
Lynn
You fail to answer the basic question about any tourist business venture. Would you pull out your own hard earned dollar to go back again, or does the competition give you about the same personal value by paying fewer of those dollars? Tourism is not a one shot business, as one shot will not survive for the long run.
I stayed there when it was Princeville. and that was spectacular. This natural look is attractive, but one I can not afford, at least today. But, it is on my vision board….sooo…. I just Kauai and the Princeville area. For those that can afford it, good on you, and enjoy every minute while you can!
Great story you two !!
Saves us all 2-5 K right out of the gate !!
And especially fine fotos !! Exceptional !!
& Aloha Jeff, it’s Jim S , Dick W’s friend in Tucson !
The big dog & myself are angling to return to Kauai but I’ve had major heart surgery etc etc !!
But we shall see you soonish & thanks for the work !!
Bows —
James Sullivan
Aloha,
I guess “value” is perceptual; I recall sitting at the pool bar at the Grand Hyatt perhaps ten years ago, drinking a margarita from a small plastic cup for the princely sum of $14 and I thought “I’m done…”. I much prefer a ground level oceanside condo for $300-$500 per night, and strangely enough it’s free pour…
Mahalo.
Beat of Hawaii, thank you from Oahu for this review of Kauai’s 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay. Your readers (and you) might also be interested in the recent “In Depth Graham Bensinger” episode called “Hotel mogul Barry Sternlicht tours (and critiques) his Kauai resort.” It is about eight minutes long and can be found via a YouTube search. The description: “Co-founder and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, Barry Sternlicht, takes us on a tour of 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay on the island of Kauai. He opens up about transforming the once sad hotel into what it is today by showing off the garden, the ballroom-turned-gym, and sharing all of the details for upcoming projects and renovations to be done at the hotel.”
We were there last summer. I agree with every comment, with one more based on our experience. With the price point here, we were advised over a month before our trip when trying to book dinners for our upcoming stay that the main restaurant was fully booked for our entire stay. They were able to eke out two seats at the lobby bar but that was literally it. A month beforehand. While I absolutely loved the resort, this continues to be a sore point to this day. One of the main reasons for booking was that restaurant. Anyone thinking of staying there consider yourselves warned as they don’t reach out to advise of this either when you book or before you stay. We just happened to try and be proactive with our bookings.
We come to Kauai twice a year for two weeks. Stay at our home resort Ali’i Kai in Princeville. Have walked to the 1 hotel (and previous iterations) many times over the years. Just three weeks ago enjoyed a mimosa on the small beach bar. A very beautiful setting. However, the price to stay at this hotel is totally out of reach for most people. You can stay a week at many nice resorts for the cost of one night here. It is strictly for the wealthy. I am not sure how they can fill the rooms at these ridiculous prices. But if you have money and can afford $2000 a night I am sure it is hard to beat!
While I can’t imagine ever spending that kind of money for 2 nights at any Resort, I do like the idea of sustainabillity (garden on the roof) but is the A/C in the indoor gym powered by solar? Not that I would use it. After all, Hawaii has enough outdoor activities that guests could enjoy….
I have tried to enter my experiences One Vs Hyatt but your server keeps disconnecting. One Hotel rooms are worse with no soaking tubs in all rooms and pricing is not good value for money. However Welina Terrace is one of the best restaurants in Hawaii. The chef came over to chat and he clearly knows his business. You must go. Not cheap but not astronomic. I will keep renting an oceanfront luxury condo and walking across to eat at Welina terrace.
There have been concerns about workers not being paid on time and properly. Also, there is scuttlebutt about he property being for sale.
I would love to know more about either or both of these issues.
Was the 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay a Sheraton operation at one time as wife ʻO Diana and I stayed there many, many Mahina’s ago?
When it was owned by Suntory. Then it becom a lucury collection the sT Reis and now one.
Now with spellcheck disabled..
Yes, When it was owned by Suntory. Then it became a luxury collection the ST Regis and now One. I was told they could not call it Princeville as the IP for that is not owned by the property.
Yes. It was a Sheraton back when Sheraton was part of IT&T. Then when Barry Sternlicht put together Starwood Hotels & Resorts he made it part of the Luxury Collection around 2005 after he acquired a core group of European palaces from an Insurance company. Somewhere in the takeover of Starwood Hotels by Marriott the property (after he had left Starwood Hote l s) was sold to his investment company Starwood Capital (unrelated to the now vanished Starwood Hotels). He is responsible for 1 Hotels. I believe he suffers from guilt over his wealth and that’s why he destroyed Princeville’s European heritage and replaced with this ersatz Hawaiian royalty sustainable kitsch.
100%. He is not solely responsible for creating cookie cutter tropical resort. The St Regis remodel destroyed the charm of the hotel.
We’ve visited Kauai every 4 years 3 times… Now we ( from Michigan) head over again onay 3-10…. Staying at Bali Hai, we’ve ventured over to the once Regis Hotel to enjoy beautiful sunsets… We used valet parking and gone in for a meal and a sunset… Is this still possible?
Yes, if you are going to spend money they welcome you.