Hilton Waikoloa Village

The wife and I went on our anniversary and stayed 3 nights. If I am paying for a Hilton Resort my expectations are different than staying at the local motel. I am disappointed that it has not been updated in many years. There is cleaning service unless you remember to ask the the day before and tell them to clean your room. Their ice machine and water don't work. The monorail is so slow that you can walk across the resort before getting there on the monorail. The staff was no where to be found. On the bright side I ate at couple of the restaurants and the food was excellent. I just have higher expectations for a Hilton Resort.

Recently returned home from Hawaii, stayed 11/7-11/12 at the Waikoala Village and had a ball. I stayed with my 2 adult children. The resort was amazing, the grounds were immaculate. We swam in the lagoon and I had 4 turtles swim around me and nudging me. We stayed in the Makai Ocean front room on the 6th floor. We were directly over the dolphins with the ocean in the background. Our room was cleaned daily without asking and was clean. Staff were friendly. The food was expensive but the Queens marketplace is basically a few minutes drive with great food. We did get room service a few times, my kids really liked the pizza. The boats appeared to be not running, we. saw it our first day going along the water but not again after that. I walked the resort every morning and really enjoyed it. We rode the tram for fun. The rental fee includes renting movies, we did this 2 times for late night movie before bed. There is so much to do on the resort, we did go off the resort and went to one of the farmers markets, shopping at Walmart/Target, we did the manta ray excursion and the UTV excursion. We had pizza at a local pizza shop and ice cream at Founding Farmers. We also went to the beach at 49 black sand beach. We are looking forward to our return. I was disappointed that we did not recieve the KuKui Nut lei necklace, I was looking forward to seeing this in our room upon arrival especially since a lei greeting is not done at Kona airport, I thought I would at least have the necklace in the room. I was able to buy one for $15 in the gift shop.

We decided to visit the resort because of the timeshare offer. As all these timeshare/vacation clubs do - is that they put you in the shabbiest room in the hotel so that you are very impressed with the "owner's model" during the presentation. Hilton is no different. Old beat-up rooms with a tiny bathroom slow flushing toilets and lots of noise from the rooms around you. Having said that, it was clear the property put all their money into the grounds, which were beautiful and well maintained. There are beautiful pools and plenty of beach lounge chairs. So, if you wanted to just hang by the pool and enjoy the rip-off prices at one of the 7 restaurants on the property, you can! entrees as high as $80. That is nuts, but they do have a captive audience or people too lazy to leave and find better and less expensive food options. Coffee for a mid-size cup is $7.50, and best of all, the Island coffee bar by the check-in sells Costco muffins and pastries for $9 each. We went to Costco and bought an entire breakfast cake for $11. It lasted the entire stay. this hotel is no different than all the other major brands that are charging crazy prices to book, and you can't even get your room cleaned. If you need toilet paper or towels, then you can call for the supplies. We did get our sheets changed once, but that was it for five nights. It was clear the hotel did not have enough staff and this was part of the skimpflation all these companies are getting away with. If I am going to pay $400-$600 a night I should get a room cleaned every day. The parking fee is also a rip off at $48 a day and depending on the wing you stay in it is a half of a mile to walk to the parking lot. They do have a tram that runs between the buildings, but you can walk faster than the tram carries you, and the AC was broken more than once. We wound up leaving the property to find beaches on the Kona side of the island which were quite lovely though filled with a lot of lava rocks in the water. Very few sandy spots. So bring water socks to go swimming if you plan to visit the beaches. All in all it was a nice time in spite of the drab dreary rooms because the weather was perfect. Needless to say we did not buy a timeshare. The numbers never add up.

If you’re planning a trip to Hawaii and considering this hotel, do yourself a huge favor and look elsewhere. I genuinely regret choosing this place. From the moment I checked in, I felt completely dismissed and undervalued, and the experience only got worse. For a property charging this much, I expected at least a basic level of courtesy and hospitality. Instead, I was met with rudeness, indifference, and a sense that the staff didn’t care about their guests at all. Never have I ever met such rude and racist people working in the service industry. The front desk staff, especially, were shockingly unwelcoming, with attitudes that bordered on discriminatory. As a Diamond member, I expected at least some recognition, but according to Melanie at the front desk, they don’t prioritize Diamond members at all. Her words were almost dismissive: “50% of our guests are Diamond members, and we can’t treat everyone like they want” I felt more like an inconvenience than a guest, and the staff seemed almost annoyed that I was there. It’s not just the service that’s disappointing—the entire property feels old and run-down. The rooms and common areas are dingy, with visible signs of wear and tear that make it clear the hotel hasn’t been well-maintained in years. It could be because they don’t offer daily make up service either. The tram, meant to be a convenience, was rusted, outdated, and even leaked water on guests from the roof! It was almost laughable if it weren’t so disappointing. The food here was another shock. Not only was it mediocre at best, but the prices were exorbitant for what you got. I’d highly recommend eating elsewhere if you do end up staying here—there are plenty of other places where you’ll get much better food for a fraction of the price. The only thing this hotel has going for it is the view, but trust me, you can get that at plenty of other places without the headache of dealing with this property’s poor service and outdated facilities. The whole experience left me feeling frustrated and frankly insulted. For the same price, you’d be far better off renting a condo or booking at a different hotel where the staff actually wants to make your stay enjoyable. To anyone considering this place, I strongly urge you to reconsider.

This is so wonderful and pretty big hotel for family or couples who want to go for honeymoon. Pools are big ( two different locations ) it was a lot of programs that you can asked the front desk for more information. Room clean and you can walk to the market in 20-30 minutes