Prior to my trip, I did a TON of research reading reviews because I wanted to find an affordable BUT CLEAN place. Almost all the reviews I read were pretty positive so I paid 130 a night (including tax) to spend 5 nights at this hotel. I was highly, highly disappointed !! I was completely shocked that so many people actually said they liked this place. I felt so mislead by all those great reviews I read.

The first room we stayed in- H15, it smelled old school (but turning the a/c on helped). The countertops , the oven, and stove was old school. There was no dishwasher so I was disappointed. After all , this is a vacation. I didn't want to wash dishes. There was a full kitchen but it's all cheap stuff which was fine. I'm not super picky and I wanted to save money so all this was tolerable. But what made me really want to go to another hotel was while I was sitting in bed, a bug crawled down my arm. I was so freaked out my boyfriend took it elsewhere to kill it. After he smashed it, he said he couldn't tell if it was a cockroach but it was the same color and it had wings. That happened our first night there so needless to say , I had a VERY hard time falling asleep. " My god, I have to sleep here another 4 nights ?!" I usually make the best of things but I cannot tolerate roaches!! Still, I tried to deal with it. But the next day, I find another small roach in the bathtub. That was finally it. I asked to switch to another room. Front desk advised us they spray for "bugs" once a month which tells me they definitely have a roach problem at this hotel.

The second room was F9. This room was a tiny bit nicer but there was still an old school smell . The countertops were newer and the frig was bit newer but same old school oven and stove. This hotel definitely needs to be refurnished/recarpeted to get rid of that smell entirely. Within the next four days, I encountered two more roaches, a small one which seem to be dying when I found it (they probably just did bug spray before we came) and one baby roach.
We're not the type to start problems so we dealt with it and tried
enjoying our vacation but in the back of my mind I felt really disgusted the whole time I was there . Luckily we had big ziploc bags so I made sure everything we had was sealed tightly to avoid any unpleasant surprises in our food. And every time I cooked, I threw out our garbage bag. Anytime I used any pots, pans, utensils, I rinsed it off. The second room was not as adequately supplied with knives like the first room. We had only one good knife which we would share to eat our steaks. And the bbq grill which was close to our room was not working well so we had to walk to another bbq grill to cook .
Again I am complete shock that people gave such positive reviews...

Sadly I was actually glad to pack up and go home when our trip
ended. We enjoyed Kauai but the stay at this hotel dampered our trip a bit.
As I said , we're the type to make the most of things but I had
to make sure I wrote a review to warn others about this place.
If I knew, I would've payed a bit more to stay elsewhere .....
Good luck!

stayed here for 4 nights at about $144 per night including tax. 4 of us in our 20s. one bedroom with kitchen ( i think all the rooms feature the same amenities) we stayed on the ground floor, convenient because i don't think there was an elevator. would stay here again if we're in kapa'a the hotel is convenient for the area able to get to princeville/hanalei in about 3o minutes as well as po'ipu and waimea canyon. kind of iocated at a middle point on kuhio hwy (major rd on kauai). clean enough rooms. staff at the front desk was friendly, but when we asked the activities concierge to recommend a good swimming beach (since the beach nearest to the hotel is not for swimming) she recommended the baby beach a bit north of the hotel, found out when we drove there and weren't short drive to foodland for groceries and several bars/restuarnts. located right next to the coconut marketplace, lots of food and souvenir shopping available, just beware things close earlier at the marketplace (we were coming from waikiki where everything's open late) and on sundays many of the shops and restaurants/fast food places are closed (we arrived on sunday and were a bit disappointed walking around the marketplace and nothing was really open) not an expert on shave ice but we really loved the ice at the fish hut and for regular food we loved harley's bbq, lappert's ice cream and tc's island grill were satisfying. anyone from ny/nj beware of aloha pizza. i've had not so great pizza in the south and midwest before but our whole group agreed it was THE worst pizza we'd ever had. just an opinion :) free access to internet via ethernet in the room, wi-fi near the front desk only. access to pool and hot tub, we went to the hot tub almost every night to relax. grill and patio area available to bbq. washer/dryer available but not for free. parking is free but when we checked in the girl forgot to give us a parking permit and the second day we received a written warning saying our car would be towed without a visible permit. overall a decent experience.

My new husband an I stayed here, at the Plantation Hales right after our nightmare wedding reception and honeymoon at the Prince ville Resort. We were so so happy to see that not only was there a working fridge but also a full clean and modern kitchen. The marble bathroom and modern sinks were a nice surprise also! We liked it so much we stayed for a week instead if the one night we had originally booked. The room was clean, no mold anywhere ( the prince ville resort was loaded with mold). We could walk right out to the ocean from out Lanai. Housekeeping was wonderful and we got breakfast in bed for under 20 $ yes, I kid you not. . .
The price was right and the service was great. I HIGHLY recommend the Plantation Hales and the awesome town of Kapaa. The best restaurant we went to on the island was in Kapaa and that was the Blossoming Lotus. Hope you enjoy and dont make the same mistake we did! If you are planning a wedding, call Diana Gardner from Alohana Weddings! We had an amazing ceremony, we only wish we had her plan our reception!

STAFF: "Nice" but nothing to write home about. See comment below regarding TV service.

PROPERTY: The grounds were immaculate, with plenty of well-lit parking;however, two of the three pools were closed for maintenance, including the one just outside our room-bummer! The remaining one was very nice and not too crowded at the times we used it - late afternoon.

LOCATION: Great for exploring the island. For groceries I recommend Foodland or Costco - NOT Safeway. The beach is a short stroll across a field and can be seen from the property. As for many Kauai beaches, this one is for strolling or fishing, not swimming, but there are several swimming beaches/parks within a few minutes' drive. The shopping center next door is a nice place to browse for souvenirs and has a few eateries, both take-out and seated. We found the best prices for souvenirs were at grocery stores (Macadamia nuts, coffee, bath/body products) and roadside craft fairs (sarongs, sundresses, jewelry).

SUITE: Roomy and clean, the decor "Hawaiian Hotel" with tropical prints and rattan furniture. The lanai was a great place to have morning coffee or enjoy a fresh breeze. A gate opened to the green area with picnic table, grill and the nonfunctioning pool. The kitchen was clean and adequately equipped for our needs of snacks and light meals, including a microwave, toaster, blender and corkscrew (yaay). The bathroom was slightly worn but very clean, roomy and appeared freshly painted. The room was cleaned daily, including moppping, but the tile floors could use a good scrubbing around the edges. There was a TV in each room but the remotes didn't work properly nor did the premium channels. When we went to the desk about this the response was that they knew about the problem and maybe we should make a comment on the evaluation card!

OVERALL: The property was very well maintained, with a few hiccups (see above). It is adjacent to a busy street but there were tall trees camouflaging it and we hardly noticed any noise from it. You do hear sirens because the fire station is a few blocks away. The roosters are everywhere and only add to the charm and ambiance. With the doors closed at night, the fans and A/C running we did not hear much noise at all. The property seemed very quiet and peaceful.

We enjoyed our stay here, felt there were many more pros than cons and we would probably stay here again. At the very least we should have been informed about and/or compensated for the pool situation. None of the above degraded our fabulous stay in fabulous Kauai.