Hawaiian Punch: Starwood’s New St. Regis Hotel at Kauai’s Princeville Resort

<span style=”font-family: ‘Lucida Grande’, Verdana, Arial, ‘Bitstream Vera Sans’, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;”>This is the back of Director of Golf Steve Murphy, who runs operations at Princeville’s Prince Golf Course. Steve has an easy job, given that the Prince is a Robert Trent Jones, Jr., classic, one of the highest rated courses in the state.

But Steve’s job just got even easier. Last week, Starwood opened a fully renovated St. Regis Princeville Kauai hotel, and if you’ve stayed there before, you know it needed some work.

Gone are the Asian accents, the marble floors and the formal furnishings, which were too big-city for Kauai’s small-town, old-Hawaiian feel. In their place are mahogany and Koa woods, overstuffed couches, a Jean George Vongerichten restaurant. Oh, and the sunsets over Bali Hai and it’s half-moon beach are as spectacular as ever.

And this is Erik Peterson, who works for the Golf Channel. Nice guy. Even better golfer. (But my money is still on Steve.)