The Royal Sonesta Kaua'i Resort Lihue

Horrible experience with the hotel!!! Do not book a stay at this hotel! You will regret it. We have stayed in Kauai 12 times for our summer vacations and have always had a great time. While the hotel was just ok, the lack of parking for the hotel became a nightmare. We booked 3 rooms for our 3 generation family with 4 small grandkids. They charged us $30/night for each of our cars, which seems reasonable, until we realized that there was no parking available near our hotel rooms. They charged us for the public parking lot adjacent to our hotel which was always full. We had to drop off everyone and park 8-10 minutes away from our hotel rooms every morning and night. This was a huge issue as we had 4 young grandkids with us. The hotel was not interested in my complaints and did not remedy them. Not going to make this mistake again. There are a lot better options available on the island! Save yourself the inconvenience...

Gross and full of cockroaches DONT GO HERE! Rooms are small and full of cockroaches. Complained several times. In the end they took off $42. Never coming back! I would go anywhere else. disgusting, terrible service not to mention lots of people just walk up from the back to enjoy the same thing your paying for

Great beach and pool but added expenses weren’t ideal. Beautiful location, great beach and pool access but “mandatory” activity package of $42/day without notice was definitely not great. Unlikely to stay here again based on added expenses and not spending much time at the hotel since the goal was to spend time elsewhere on vacation!

Don't Miss Out On This Hotel! This was one of the best hotel experiences I've had. Guestrooms have amazing views facing bay and mountains, pool is large and not crowded, service is 5 Star, many reasonably priced F&B options, close to airport and other attractions, scenic surroundings, rooms spacious and elegantly designed. Will be back for next trip to Kauai.

Great Hotel in a Fantastic Location - Lots of Aloha We had a great experience overall at the Royal Sonesta. This hotel checked all the important boxes for me on this trip. 1) It's in a great location to explore the island - you are equidistant from the Western and Eastern ends of the Na Pali coast. Kapa'a, which is a launch point for many activities, is just 15 minutes down the highway. Koloa Town and Poipu are 20-30 minutes away. Waimea Canyon state park is an hour in one direction, and Hanalei Bay is an hour in the other direction. And the airport is a 5 minute drive from the hotel, which was amazing. You will see flights going in and out from time to time but the proximity to the airport was not disruptive in any way. The gardens and landscaping are gorgeous. The decor is a bit eclectic. 2) Our rooms were spacious with lots of hangers in the closet and hooks in the bathroom, two things that I find lacking in many hotels. The bed in our room was incredibly comfortable, and the blackout curtains were great. Temperature was very pleasant and easy to control. I often have trouble sleeping in hotel rooms, but this was not a problem for me at the Royal Sonesta. We had a regular old garden view room, and we couldn't really see the ocean, but the view of Nawiliwili Harbor was beautiful. We saw rainbows a couple of mornings, even. The only thing that was weird about the room was the lack of proper glassware. There are only cardboard coffee cups. 3) The hospitality staff at this place are so friendly and so chill. Just the right mix of casual and attentive. We had only great experiences with the people working here. 4) The food was really good! We ate at the casual poolside restaurant one night and the fresh catch of the day was a huge portion of ono with a couple of delicious sauces to choose from (though you don't even really need sauce). We also ate at the Royal Lanai sushi restaurant one night and I thought the sushi was excellent. The bartender there makes a killer martini if you want a dry cocktail after all those mai tais! We didn't try the breakfast buffet but got breakfast a couple of times at the grab and go - the breakfast bento and breakfast wraps were tasty. And of course, we had a couple of great meals at Duke's. Classic. There is great food nearby the hotel as well. I highly recommend The Jammin' Banana and the Liege Waffle food truck for breakfast- both are easy walking distance from the property. 5) The pool was very big and very nice. The area around the pool was crowded, maybe because of the construction on one side. With the large number of chairs crammed into the patio area, the idea of lounging by the pool ended up not being super appealing for us. The goal of our trip was to get out and explore the island, so this was no big deal, but if you're looking for a vacation where you spend most of your time relaxing by the pool, this might not be the best place, at least until the renovations are completed. The beach is absolutely beautiful and there was more space there, just FYI. As I mentioned above, the hotel is under renovation, and some areas were closed off. This was not disruptive to us at all, but if you don't like that kind of thing, this is not a good spot for you. Cruise ships come into harbor as well. Again, this didn't bother us, but it might be a turn off for some. The parking situation can be a little crowded, but there is a big overflow lot. I am not honestly sure why so many people are up in arms about the parking? There is a valet for $10 extra if you don't want to deal. The property is very big, so you'll get some steps in navigating it.