Hey everyone!! We love Kauai and were going to start looking into timeshares but would appreciate anyone's personal recommendations on a great place to be at, or any places to definitely stay away from before we start actively contacting anyone on Kauai.

I'm sure you've all experienced high pressure sales and we'd like to learn as much as we can from you and your experiences so we're armed with knowledge when we start talking with places. Any input you have would be fantastic!!

I don't own one, but I have stayed at the Marriott Waiohai on Poipu Beach and loved it. You can search under my same screen name on Trip Advisor for my review. (We do own in Palm Desert).

I've never got the timeshare thing..more power to you if it works for you but I would just rather rent a place, then be tied to one place for years and I hear that the maintenance fees are outrageous.
I love Kauai too and we are looking at getting a condo.
Trying to figure out if we want the Poipu area or North shore.
We stepped into the Marriott at Waiohai and it looks lovely.
It's next to a great restaurant, Red Salt.

Maintenance fees are high, but so are condo maintenance fees when you own one and have equivalent amenities. You aren't tied to one place for years (that would be when you OWN a condo) -- since you can exchange your timeshare for other places (we've exchanged for Ko Olina, Newport, various places in Lake Tahoe). So, if you can't afford a "whole" condo, you get a condo for a few weeks for a price that isn't rising (the maintenance fees go up, but the purchase price of course doesn't). That said, we worked it out, and the only reason it really works for us is that we bought two weeks, but get four in reality because at our "home" timeshare, we can do what is called a lockout - two weeks in a one-bedroom unit and two weeks in an efficiency unit, instead of two weeks in a full two bedroom unit.

well said sf..awesome that you got 2/4 weeks.
where in PD are you at?
we usually go to Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage, and of course, Palm Springs/Palm Desert since its so easy for us to do the Pines to Palm highway in less than 2 hours..love playing tennis and golf in spring.
we are looking to split cost of a condo in Kauai with old friends and rent the remainder to offset cost with a % management fee..
still looking..cash is king and no one is lending..and none of us want to give up our $$$ right now.

Marriott Waiohai is great, we stayed there in 2007 on a Marriott "teaser". If you call them you might get to do that, it was a five day stay then we filled it out with a rental elsewhere. There was no hard sell. I'd avoid Diamond properties (example Poipu Point; former Sunterra and Embassy), lots of negative comments. See www.tug2.net

Timeshare has been good for us so far as we like going back to Maui. I viewed it like buying a car or boat - simply an expense. Maint. fees then just mean you're staying for about a quarter of the going rate. There's some amazing prices on the resale market at present, even for Hawaii.

This year we exchanged for a Marriott in Orlando to do the Disney thing with our granddaughter. Seems like a Maui week really does have clout, we traded our 1/1 and got a 2/2 as well as a bonus week.