We’ve stayed at Aulani around 5-6 times, Marriott 4-5 times and the Beach Villas twice - both times were for 25 days. Family of 5 with children aged from 6, 4 and 2 ( first trip) up to 14, 12 and 9 (last trip).
Other then the lazy river, Aulani and Marriott are extremely similar. Rooms are pretty close to same size - we always stayed in a 2 bedroom at each place. They both have fully stocked kitchens as well as laundry facilities within the rooms. They both have food and beverage service available both pool and beach side. The main difference for us was Marriott never felt as crowded as Aulani. At certain times, Aulani was a nightmare to get seating poolside and it just felt too packed with bodies. Marriott has their pools spread out more IMO plus ”their” lagoon isn’t shared with another resort whereas Aulani and Four Seasons share the same one.
Beach Villas are brilliantly appointed and massive! Each time we had a 3 bedroom and they had everything a family could need. We rented via beachvillarealty.com both times, having a different condo on each visit. There are a few caveats - the rules are very strictly enforced. Approx 1/2 of the condos are owner occupied and as such, there is a long list of enforceable rules. Most of them are fine - no wet towels on the lanai, park only within your designated parking spot etc. The main one that was a little hard with kids was noise levels within the pool. There are two pools - one designated “quiet” but kids are allowed and a family pool. Our kids were in the quiet pool and were behaving themselves however there was a group of 3-5 other kids unsupervised who were bombing and yelling. By the time the security guard came around to enforce the quiet rules, they had scampered back to their condo leaving our kids to get the blame. Another time the condo below us had their wet towels over their railings - the security guard counted up the levels incorrectly and left an infringement notice under our door. Since we had been at the North Shore for the whole day, we took that one up with the service desk and had it deleted from our account.
There isn’t any restaurants onsite - when we stayed there was a pool bar that was open daylight hours serving beverages, crisps and hotdogs. Not a huge deal for us as Marriott, Aulani, Four Seasons, the strip mall and Golf Course are all a 5-10min walk from the villas. Plus the lagoon out front had lovely thatched umbrellas that dot the sandy cove for shady respite.
if you want rooms serviced then definitely book the Marriott. If it’s not that big of a deal take a look at the Villas.