Public Areas of the Hotel Entry into the hotel from the driveway

Part of the Lobby

Room

I was in a Deluxe Ocean view room:

This is a great room as when the hotel renovated they took 3 old rooms and created 2 deluxe ocean rooms out of that space. That is why there is a large bathroom, dressing area, and a balcony off the bathroom as well. The room is not overly luxurious but comfortable enough -- the balcony is great and is probably the best feature of the room. A couple shots of the view from the room:

Beach

Mauna Kea Beach has a gorgeous beach. However, in December, the surf is pretty strong. I actually had to close the door to the lanai at night as the sound of the waves were so loud it kept waking me up! Some additional photos:

The nicest sunset.....

Dining

I had a chance to have dinner at Manta and the food was top notch. The mahi crusted in macadamia with lilikoi sauce was divine. I liked that the food came piping hot; so often in North America, food comes warm but not piping hot. Service was attentive.

There is a pub on-site with a sushi bar and live music. It was so nice to hear a local singing Hawaiian folk songs during happy hour -- since my room was situated above the pub I could hear the singing with the lanai doors open.

Breakfast is a lavish buffet at Manta. Just beware of the birds -- they are hungry and have no issues in pecking at your food.

The Beachfront bar is popular with guests -- all seats were taken and judging by the conviviality a great time is had by all.

Overall

MKB is a solid 4 star hotel. The rooms are comfortable but not luxe. Food and beverage is solid and the hotel has a great beach. It does not have a very good pool, however. Service in the restaurants are good but in other areas they lack the polish and attentiveness of other hotels -- part of it is that MKB is a very relaxed property but part of it is training and service standards. The George V it is not and nor should it be.

Finally, a taxi from MKB to KOA is a flat fare of $90 and can be charged to your room account.