About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 3: Nanuku Arrival

Author’s Note: This trip report is being published almost a year after the trip.

Previous Trip Notes:
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 2: The 29.5-Hour Trip To Nanuku
About Time, A Long-Distance Trip Begins – Part 1: The Setup

As we arrived at check-in, we were greeted by many on the staff. They were friendly and offered a traditional welcome. Our daughters were also introduced to their “buddies,” quickly our girls would refer to them as their “best friends.” The buddies gave each girl a necklace with their name on it, and it created an instant connection between them.

Prior to arriving, I had emailed the General Manager of the resort to see if the staff or Tribe would appreciate anything from the mainland that might be hard to get there. He politely declined, but we exchanged some emails based on our similar backgrounds. We had booked this SLH property with 25,000 Hyatt points per night. An upgrade was possible due our Hyatt status, but did not occur often. The base villa we booked was the upstairs of a 2-story villa. The base room looked great, and would have been perfectly adequate for us. I had hoped that we might get upgraded to the next-level-up, which was the lower level of the 2-story villa. The lower level also included a private plunge pool, and our girls love having that option. I was elated when we were told we had been upgraded. The elation turned to shock when the check-in agent finished their sentence: “…to a residence.” I hadn’t even looked at what residences were like, but some reviews had mentioned some pretty amazing things. That anticipation would have to wait though, as the buddies had also given our girls Easter headbands and baskets, and told them the Easter Bunny had left eggs around the grounds.

Easter Egg Hunt

After our girls got their eggs, we were taken by a buggy to our residence. Our “house mama” was waiting for us to give us a tour. There was a main room with a couple sitting couches, and an adjacent large kitchen with a kitchen table for 10. A popcorn machine was sitting on the counter with plenty of popcorn kernels, and a French press with coffee as well. Oh, and a welcome amenity including Champagne, juices, fruits, and chocolates:

Welcome Amenity

A downstairs bathroom was next to the kitchen and second main door. This was easily 1,000 sq feet of space, but were then taken upstairs to the master bedroom and bathroom. This offered a king size bed, TV, large closet area, large bath, and large shower area. Easily another 750 sq feet. Outside was a long balcony with chairs that overlooked the ocean. We went back downstairs and were shown an outside patio behind the kitchen. We then were taken to the side of the house, where there was a covered patio next to a large private plunge pool (with a special welcome message in it):

The entire area was fenced in, minus the view to the beach, giving a lot of privacy. There was another small building though, and we were taken into the “movie room.” This room was a private room outside of the main villa that housed a large projector screen, surround sound, and couches to enjoy movie nights in. It also came with a catalog of movies. Sadly, the wifi from the house wasn’t quite strong enough to be able to stream movies from your own devices, but that didn’t stop us from watching some movies from the catalog. Overall, definitely a top 3 “room upgrade.”