Hilton HHonors - Now that Kalia Tower reopened

It's been a few months since Kalia Tower opened at HHV. Has anyone tried out thier lounge for Diamond/Gold? I am trying to decide which tower I want to be upgraded to. My inclination is to ask for Kalia since it is the newest. What do you guys think? (This will be a kid-free, business/pleasure trip. My folks will be staying in their Lagoon Tower timeshare and keep the kids. Hooray!!!)

Bump. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Also looking for answer to same question re: lounge.

I stayed at the HHV for for 2 nights from 1-3 Nov. Reserved a generic village view room but, being Diamond, got a nice upgrade to a bigger room looking at the ocean and Diamond Head on the 34th floor of the Tapa Tower. Asked if one of the corner Rainbow Tower rooms were available, but was told they weren't. Only there 2 nights so the larger Tapa room was still very nice. Got my breakfast coupon listing the Niamalu Cafe and Ola Pono Spa Cafe in Kalia as the two available places for breakfast. Tried the Niamalu the first morning and the Ola Pono the second. The Niamalu is in the Kalia lobby. Was asked what kind fruit I wanted (chose pineapple) and beverage (coffee and OJ). Was brought a machine cut quarter pineapple (very nice and tasty), OJ, sticky cinnamon and peach bun, a macedamia muffin, and coffee. If you want cereal, I think you would have to ask for it. I didn't. Sat inside, but there are tables outside as well. A little windy this AM so I stayed inside.

The next morning I tried the Ola Pono. It is on the 4th floor just outside the spa. It also has indoor/outdoor seating with a small pool outdoors. I sat outside. I had OJ, Hot tea, Special K cereal, and the same quarter pineapple. I think I preferred the Ola Pono better. Nicer staff upstairs and less traffic. More self-service upstairs (which was OK by me) whereas you would need to ask for everything in Niamalu. Both of these lounges are preferrable, IMHO, to the Tropics Lounge at the base of the Ali'i Tower that they gave me last year. Tropics was always a zoo. Tough to find a place to sit down and the birds just waiting for you to get up or turn your head. Never took my coupon (this year or last year) over to Rainbow Lanai. Cereal, fruit, OJ, and coffee or tea is all I really want for breakfast, anyway.

A word of warning about the Kalia: a co-worker of mine stayed there last week. After he checked in, he sat down to watch Monday Night Football, and the TV didn't work. He called to have someone fix it, and they said they'd send someone up, in about an hour-and-a-half.

Shortly after that, he tried to shut the curtains and curtain rod fell off, dropping the curtain and the hardware to the floor.

In the morning, when he turned on the shower, the showerhead fell off. Needless to say, he requested a new room and was immediately moved to a junior suite in the Diamond Head tower.

It sounds like they still have some bugs to work out at the Kalia tower.

I'm not a big fan of the HHV due to its massive size; however, I much prefer the Diamond Head tower over Tapa due to the proximity to the beach. Gold and Platinum can still (as of August) upgrade to the full-buffet for a few dollars in the Rainbow restaurant. No lounge access, but that's OK with me. The management makes every attempt to upgrade. They will also move rooms mid-stay if you really want to go through the hassle. I have not stayed in corner rooms of Diamond since I bring the family and required rooms with two double beds, but have stayed in the room next to it. Excellent view, but not worth stressing over since very little time is spent in the room. The big advantage is the fireworks show bursting right outside of your balcony.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TTT103:
I'm not a big fan of the HHV due to its massive size; however, I much prefer the Diamond Head tower over Tapa due to the proximity to the beach. . . . Excellent view, but not worth stressing over since very little time is spent in the room. The big advantage is the fireworks show bursting right outside of your balcony.</font>

I think you mean the Rainbow tower. The Diamond Head tower is tucked back behind the Ali'i and its view of the ocean is over DeRussey Beach and the Hale Koa Hotel. If you can see the fireworks from the Diamond Head tower you have one heck of a long neck.

By the way, you could still upgrade to full buffet breakfast at the Rainbow Lanai for $6.25 as of two weeks ago.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by dashark:
A word of warning about the Kalia: a co-worker of mine stayed there last week. After he checked in, he sat down to watch Monday Night Football, and the TV didn't work. He called to have someone fix it, and they said they'd send someone up, in about an hour-and-a-half.

Shortly after that, he tried to shut the curtains and curtain rod fell off, dropping the curtain and the hardware to the floor.

In the morning, when he turned on the shower, the showerhead fell off. Needless to say, he requested a new room and was immediately moved to a junior suite in the Diamond Head tower.

It sounds like they still have some bugs to work out at the Kalia tower.</font>

Sorry to hear about your friend's problems with the Kalia tower. I won't be at the HHV until January. Presumably, they will have had time to work out the bugs by then. Assuming that the Kalia tower is good physically, do you think it would be worth asking for that over the Rainbow tower? I am a Gold VIP.

Designtime, please do post your experience after your January trip if you end up asking for Kalia. A recent string of posts at a Japanese board seems to agree that the lounge experience is pretty good but the room is smaller and has no extra sink and counter outside of bathroom. Have a great trip!

I will post my experience. I am leaning towards requesting a room in the Rainbow tower unless I hear some more positive feedback about the Kalia tower.

Checked into HHV yesterday (11/21). Tried to get into the Ali'i, Tapa or Rainbow towers as a Diamond, but the resort is full for the holiday week. Got an oceanview room in the Kalia Tower, on the 21st floor (of 25).

Rooms are nice, new, but on the smaller side. Odd numbers are oceanview, even mountainview. Haven't had a chance to look at the mountainview rooms yet. There is definitely street noise even on the oceanview side, if you are on the lanai or have your sliding door open. The view toward Diamondhead is blocked by the Tapa Tower, with the Rainbow and Lagoon Towers partially blocking the beach view. My room looks straight out over the lagoon. Still nice at sunset! Saw the fireworks from my lanai last night...minimally obscured by the Rainbow Tower. I think if you were on the other end of this tower, however, the view of the fireworks would not be as good. Room numbers range from XX29-XX57. I am in a higher number room.

This is the furthest Tower from the beach and superpool. This doesn't bother me, as I like to walk (I guess I'll get a lot of that next week at HWV!) The tower does have it's own pool on the 4th floor, along with Mandara Spa.

The lounge is located the 25th floor in the center of the building, oceanview. Morning continental breakfast of the usual fare: toasts, bagels, doughnuts, danish, cereal, fruit. During the day they have crunchies like chips/salsa, pretzels and yummy cookies and brownies, along with soft drinks. I have not tried the evening reception, but one of the servers said it has a pu pu selection (hot/cold) and bar service. Cocktails and wine are $7, beer $5 (which includes gratuity according to the drink menu).

I move to HWV tomorrow (11/23) for my ALON stay over thanksgiving. I will give a HWV update at that time.

Hope that helps!

Thanks, AkWxMan, especially for the lounge info. Don't mind the walk to the beach/pool either and having that lounge access with the kids along might really help to defray some of our food expenses. I'm a little concerned about the room size though - what is the configuration? King and a sofabed? Do you think there'e enough room for a rollaway? Thanks.

I was at the HHV Nov 12 - 15 last week and as I checked in, I asked when the Kalia tower was going to reopen, and the woman at the front desk said "in about a month." I'll be darned.

Thank you for the timely info, AkWxMan. I think it reinforces my decision to try for a corner room in the Rainbow tower. I am guessing the week starting Jan 2 will be a little less packed.

Another little update...

Was at the evening reception last night. 2 hot Pu Pu's and then the usual assortment of cheeses, veggies and chips/pretzels. The Kalia tower also has a seperate reception and concierge in the lobby, as well as a seperate Valet ($17/day).

yyzflyer, I had a room with 2 doubles as no king rooms were available. Would be VERY tight to have a rollaway in there...don't even think it would fit. Didn't see a king room..sorry.