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I don’t share rooms with my son. Period. I love him, but I also love sleep, and we all sleep better when we’re in separate rooms. Because of this, I’ve become skilled in finding family-friendly resorts with one and two-bedroom, apartment-like suites.
After staying in one and two-bedroom suites, we couldn’t go back to sleeping in a regular studio suite. Aside from catching more zzz’s, I’ll share the benefits of family-friendly suites, how to find them, and some tips to make the most of your stay.
Now that I think about it, I might need to find a three-bedroom suite if my husband doesn’t stop snoring! š“š¤£
Benefits of a family-friendly suite
Comfort and space
Even though we don’t spend much time in our rooms, having an apartment-like suite is much more comfortable and relaxing. It allows us to have our own space, which is beneficial for many reasons. If one of us needs to sleep in or take a nap, the other can enjoy the living room or second bedroom without disturbing them.
Budget-friendly cooking
Having a kitchen is the best because eating out for every meal is expensive, especially in Kauai, and when you have a picky little eater like mine. Why spend $12 on gourmet mac and cheese that won’t get touched when I can cook the Kraft goodness at our hotel?! We still like to eat out a bit, but we do enjoy cooking some of our favorite meals on vacation, like burritos and nachos with fresh fruit margaritas!
Pack less
A huge bonus is that most of these suites have a washer and dryer! Yes, doing laundry while on vacation sounds lame, but it actually makes packing and unpacking much easier. Hear me out…
We only carry-on luggage because we don’t like waiting for it at the airport, and
we want to avoid any chance of it getting lost. That’s not a good way to start a trip.
But carry-on luggage means you have to pack less, and this is much easier if you have a washer and dryer in your room.
I tend to wash a load of laundry a few times during the trip on nights we make dinner. This keeps laundry from piling up in the rooms and allows me the option to wear something again. Then on the last night, I wash all the remaining dirty clothes, so when we get home, I can unpack our suitcases directly into our closets. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like dealing with large laundry piles when I get home.
This all sounds great, but how much?
Depending on the time of year, these rooms can range from $250-$350 a night, but sometimes, you can get lucky and find a room under $200. For example, in October 2022, the Bali Hai Resort offered two-bedroom suites for week-long stays at $166 a night.
The cost will also depend on which time of the year you go. We try to visit during off-peak months, which generally have the lowest rates. Good luck if you visit during spring break, summer break, or Christmas. Instead of googling Kauai peak seasons, I keep this simple equation in mind…kids on school breaks = expensive. š¤ Funny (or sad) how that works!
When looking at flights and hotels, the time frames that usually have lower rates are late January, February, early March, late April, May, late September, October, November, and early December.
My go-to travel websites
Booking.com
Searchability, flexibility, and mobile discounts are why I love using booking.com.
Their website has a ton of filters that make it easier to find family-friendly resorts with apartment-like suites. The most common filters I use are villa, resort, apartment, kitchen, washer and dryer, and free cancellation. Of course, I always try the kids club filter, but I quickly uncheck it after seeing the nightly rates. š
Each listing will show the available bedroom options. When I find one I like, I select See availability to check out the base cost for each room. To see the total taxes and fees, I click I’ll reserve and cover my eyes to lessen that blow. Wah wah. The fees will vary for each listing, so I make sure everything looks reasonable, like the cleaning and service fees. After that, I reserve it or close the tab and keep searching.
I like to have flexibility, which is why I always use their Free cancellation filter. Most reservations have no prepayment or just a prepayment of the first night’s rate that’s fully refundable if you cancel by their specified date, which is usually just a few days before your stay.
Use your phone to book rooms! I reserved a room on my computer and found out after I could get a mobile discount. Since I had free cancellation, I was able to rebook my room and save $150 (10% discount)!
Extra Holidays
Extra Holidays has some crazy low rates that almost made me hesitant to book because I thought it was too good to be true, but it wasn’t! Similar to booking.com, you typically prepay for one night, and it’s fully refundable almost up to the date of your stay.
The last time we stayed in Princeville, I scored a two-bed, two-bath suite for $166 a night. This made our eight-night stay at the Bali Hai Villas super affordable.
It was such a great deal that my parents also joined us and booked a two-bedroom suite. Ironically, the two-bedroom suites were cheaper than the one-bedroom. Then we joked our son could stay in their second bedroom, and they contemplated paying more for a one-bedroom! š¤£
The best way to get low rates is to take advantage of their Weekly Stay Rate. There are many other rates to choose from too, like non-refundable, AAA, senior, last minute, etc., but the Weekly Stay Rate is the lowest and has free cancellation up to 72 hours before. Another plus is that you will not see a bunch of cleaning and service fees added to the rate, just the standard taxes.
Don’t be shy, make requests!
Call the hotel and make friendly requests to ensure your stay is comfortable and quiet.
It has been helpful to read reviews about the resorts to get tips about the best areas in each hotel. I usually search for things like noise, loud, quiet, and view.
My typical request is to stay on the top floor, away from the main roads and pools. If we are traveling with other people, I also ask to be placed near them. Once I find a room that I love at a resort, I ask for that room on future visits, which simplifies my request.
There’s usually a place to add your special requests when you book online, but I’ve found that calling (and now texting with some resorts) is the best way to communicate what you want. I used to avoid doing this, but it can really make a big difference in the comfort of our stay.
Which resorts are family-friendly in Kauai?
Kauai is very family-friendly, so it has been easy to find resorts that have everything I want. Here are some details about some of the places we have stayed, and I’ll add to them as we try out new resorts.
Kauai Coast Resort at the Beachboy
We stayed in a two-bed, two-bath suite at this Kauai Coast Resort at the Beachboy twice in Kapa’a, and it’s one of my favorite family-friendly resorts.
The suites had a full kitchen, washer and dryer, a living room, and a bedroom and bathroom on each side. Each bedroom and the living room had a sliding glass door and a balcony.
Both rooms we stayed in were “garden views,” but each had fantastic ocean views. Even better, we could hear the waves crashing from the room. So relaxing! From the looks of it, you can see the ocean from all of the rooms at this resort.
The location is perfect. You can walk to the Coconut Marketplace, Napali Brewing, and some other nearby restaurants.
My son’s favorite part of the resort was the pool! It’s really nice and has a pool bar š¹ that serves delicious drinks and food for kids and adults.
This resort has three-story buildings. The first time we stayed here, we were on the second floor, which was nice, but the people above us didn’t have ninja-like walking skills. On our last visit, we requested the third floor, and it was very quiet.
Banyan Harbor Resort
During one of our son’s spring breaks, we stayed at Banyan Harbor Resort in Lihue.
Our suite had two levels. The first level had a kitchen, living room, and a half-bathroom. The second level had two bedrooms, a full bathroom, and a washer and dryer.
Before staying here, I read some helpful reviews that commented on how some buildings were noisy because they were close to the busy road. I called the resort about a month before to ask if they could put us in a building away from the busy road, in a top-floor unit, and next to a family traveling with us. They gave us exactly what we asked for.
The pool wasn’t the fanciest, but it was clean, and the kids had a blast in it, so that makes it perfect!
There was a covered area to sit under with bar-b-ques and tables. This was really nice when it started raining, and the kids wanted to stay in the pool.
Bali Hai Villas
After walking past signs for the Bali Hai Villas numerous times on past trips, we finally decided to book a room there.
Located in Princeville, we were able to snag a two-bed, two-bath condo for $166 a night in October through the Extra Holidays website.
The suite was spacious and had a large patio balcony. Sadly, all three of us got the flu on this trip, so we spent a lot of time in our room. But, we were able to each have our own space and could cook a little even though we didn’t feel much like eating.
Once we returned from the dead, we could check out the resort. It had beautiful pools, a store that rented out beach gear, and two food trucks. Only one of the food trucks was open that week, but they had delicious and reasonably priced food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Before visiting, some of the reviewers disliked the loud pool and road noise, so I requested to stay on the top floor, away from the pool and busy roads, and near my parents. The resort met all of these requests.
We only encountered one hiccup, which was not the hotel’s fault. Our room was right by large ponds, and every night around 5 p.m., a very loud croaking noise would start up. This would go on all night long. It turns out it was some kind of toad, but I’ve never heard anything like it!
A really cool thing that we haven’t seen at other resorts is that they had multiple filtered water refill stations. We usually buy lots of one and two-gallon water jugs, but we could keep refilling one this time.
Ka Eo Kai Resort
We haven’t been to the Ka Eo Kai Resort, but my parents stayed in a two-bedroom suite here. It’s very close to the Bali Hai Villas in Princeville and has very reasonable rates through Extra Holidays depending on the time of year.
My parents’ top-floor room had beautiful views of the golf course and ocean. It also had very high ceilings and a wrap-around balcony.
Looking at the pictures above, I wish I could take pictures like that of the places we stay at, but the minute my son walks in, it’s like a hurricane hit our room!
The only negative my parents mentioned is the parking was a little difficult because the spaces were small, but they also had a very large SUV.
This resort is definitely on my list of family-friendly resorts in Kauai to check out when we head back to Princeville.
Old MacDonald had an alarm
Roosters only crow in the morning…FALSE! More like all night long! It will take two to three nights to get used to this noise.
If you are sensitive to noise, bring earplugs. My husband wears the sleep buds to block out the noise.
Ignore reviews that ding resorts for the noisy, annoying roosters. It’s nature, and they’re all over the island.
Time to book
Treat yourself and try a family-friendly resort in Kauai. You won’t regret it! Just figure out which area you want to stay in, read the reviews, and book it! And don’t forget to make those friendly requests to make sure you have the best stay!
We are creatures of habit, so once we find resorts we really love, we tend to keep rebooking. However, we still try to check out new places, so I’ll post updates as we do.
Good luck with your search!
If you need help planning out your beach visits and activities based on location, download my Summary of Kauai Recommendations by Location.
Related posts to help you plan a trip to Kauai
- What are the Best Places to Stay in Kauai
- How to Visit the Best Beaches in Kauai
- What are the Best Non-Hiking Things to Do in Kauai?
- What are the Best Hikes in Kauai for Recreational Hikers
- Best Stores for Grocery Shopping in Kauai
- Kauai Recommendations Quick Guide
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