My wife and I came to Kauai for a week's celebration of our 50th wedding anniversary and chose the Hilton Kauai Beach Resort as our place to stay. In the main, we were happy that we did. Though as many other reviewers have pointed out, it is necessary to have a rented car unless one wants to eat, sleep, and play exclusively at the hotel itself, we found that no problem. The few parking lots were often crowded but never so much that it wasn't simple to find a place within easy walking distance of the main lobby. Everyone on the staff, from the outgoing front desk personnel to the doormen or repairmen were always friendly and efficient. Our room was extremely comfortable and always immacuably clean. The pools were nice and if the beach didn't offer swimming possibilities, it was without question a great place to walk and enjoy the beauty of the Pacific.
Unlike some reviewers, we liked the relative isolation of the hotel. At the same time, the Hilton is situated conveniently to both the Lhue airport and just off the main highway that connects the hotel to everywhere else on the island. Nothing about the Hilton says "cheap," especially the room rates or its food costs, but there are dozens of reasonable restaurants within easy commuting distance of the hotel and we enjoyed a number of them throughout the week both in Lihue and in a number of neghboring towns.
Simply stated, we loved the Hilton. Others have noted that the Marriott just down the road a proverbial hope, skip, and jump is both larger and fancier and that it would offer a nice alternative and they're right. It is, indeed, a beautiful place. That having been said, however, we'd still choose the Hilton Kauai Beach again--and hopefully there will cefrtainly be lots of "agains" in the years to come because it is a special place. The few "glitches" mentioned above probably should reduce its rating from a 5 to a 4.7 or 4.65 if that were possible but since it isn't, we're glad to give the hotel our highest plus.