HomerJ

...sheraton no beach ....HP one of the best beaches on the big island.

xbrxx

Stayed at both properties in May 2009, and was also in a priceline room at Hapuna, and ocean front room at Sheraton Keauhou. It all goes down to this. If your looking for seclusion and a nice beach, go for Hapuna. If you just want a room close to the action, and don't plan to stay at the hotel much, go for Sheraton Keauhou. Be forewarned, rooms at the Sheraton are dated and are in need of a remodel badly.

3Cforme

Two-thirds to 3/4 of the ocean-view rooms at the Sheraton will be looking over the pool - ever full of screaming kids during my visit. (No, the rear pool designed for children didn't seem to lure this extended bunch.)

Let us know how that Priceline bid works out. I'm a fan of B-F-T but just because someone once got the Hapuna at that rate doesn't mean you will on the needed dates.

ctownflyer

What kind of room did Hapuna give you? How did the rooms themselves compare? Was the Sheraton Ocean view just a view of the pool?
How crowded was the Hapuna beach and which hotel had better pools?
Thanks!

turtlegirl

The two properties are so totally different-comparing is like apples to oranges. I'd say the largest similarity is that neither has nice, updated rooms. The Sheraton is right near Kona and has a great ocean front location but no beach. Their pool is great with a slide. Hapuna is set back from a great beach with a small pool. Both are angled a bit strangely. We always stay in a hotel like these for 2 nights before our stays at Kona Village. We paid for Hapuna once and have stayed at the Sheraton on points twice. For our purposes, we like the Sheraton better as it is closer to grocery stores for us to stock up beer and wine etc. when we arrive and it is closer to the volcano if you're going there and Capt. Cook. and the coffee belt. Our little one likes the slide before moving on to the smaller pools at Kona Village. I would not stay at the Sheraton for more than a couple of nights, though. The Kohala hotels are just so much nicer. We always include a day at Hapuna Beach (the beach itself) while we're at KVR for waves and Mauna Kea Beach for no waves.

xbrxx

At Hapuna we were given a standard room on the lowest floor on the upper building. This was clearly their "priceline" room as it was so distant from the lobby. Room was fine though, it had an small outside terrace facing the lower tower and you can kind of see the ocean on the horizon. Room was dated, but overall was nicer than the Sheraton.

Don't know how it is now, but during our visit in May, the property was like a ghost town. Quite hilarious seeing their night band playing to a handful of people. So that also left the heated pool completely empty, but on the other hand you have such a nice beach why bother with the pool! As the property was empty, the beach wasn't ever to busy either.

As for the Sheraton, the ocean view room is exactly that, ocean view. It has a balcony directly facing the ocean. To be honest, I was not impressed. Sitting out at the balcony kind of felt like on a cruise ship just starring at the blue ocean. The pool is about 2-3x the size of the Hapuna one. It has a inner pool and a outside pool that has a nice water slide. Out of the two, the Sheraton has a nicer pool hands down. Hope this helps.

bocastephen

The Sheraton is a great hotel with a phenomenal location for exploring the Big Island.

No, it doesn't have a beach or the higher-end luxury amenities of a Mauna Lani, Prince or Four Seasons, but it's the perfect base-camp for folks who are looking for a comfortable, well-located place from which they can explore the southern and northern parts of the Island, be close to a vibrant town and connect with the three most important roadways on the Island.

If you're looking to stay on property most of the time and use hotel amenities, this place is probably not what you're looking for. If you want a clean, comfortable and nice place to sleep, earn/redeem SPG points and get out early to explore the Big Island, this hotel can't be beat.

W2B Globetrotter

^Agree ^

The Big Island has the best snorkeling/scuba of all the Hawaiian islands (Kealakekua and Honaunau bays) due to water clarity and healthy corals, and the best boat tours leave from the adjacent Keauhou harbor. No long drives in order to make it in time for an early morning snorkel/dive/whale excursion. Kahulu'u Beach Park, a very good novice snorkel spot with plentiful honu (turtle) viewing, is just a few hundred yards north from the resort.

It's a very short drive into town (Kailua-Kona), coffee plantations, Place of Refuge (Pu'uhonua o Honaunau), etc.

It's also the closest chain resort to South Point, Green Sand Beach, Punalu'u Black Sand Beach and eventually on to Volcano National Park (taking the southern route).

For those activities and sights above, I make it a point to stay at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort for a few days before relaxing at the Kohala resorts, if I so desire.

damon88

Just returned from a short little visit. I have mostly good things to say about this hotel. First- it's probably the best value we've ever had in Hawaii. Yes, our room was a bit "tired" and it was pretty much a standard Sheraton room- but it had a large private lanai with gorgeous white water ocean views directly over the manna rays- which were really amazing to watch every evening.

PROS: Great view- Fabulous spa- Very nice pool and poolside service- (try the fish tacos and the ono mango manta drinks- ummm)- friendly wait-staff- close proximity to shops and 5 minutes from one of the best Sushi restaurants we've ever dined at (and we've been to Masa and Sushi Yasuda) Kenichi Pacific- wonderful fresh sushi and they actually serve genuine wasabi We had the most delicious fresh toro I've ever tasted.

The Sheraton manager was very nice and accomodating and helped us arrange a special extra late checkout (for a fee)

CONS: The rooms could use an update-All of the remodel money must have been spent on the pool and common areas. We also found it difficult to believe that a huge property like this (385 rooms) only has 9 suites (could someone verify this?) because occupancy was very low and we were surprised they couldn't find a suite for us. The hotel also has the WORST and most clueless concierges I've ever encountered at any property in the world.



Bottom line though- for the price we paid I think it was a fabulous value and we plan to visit again for a longer stay. (though we may insert a few nights at the Four Seasons just to compare - somehow the FS concierges were able to have taxis waiting for their guests- Sheraton told me this was impossible)

shinbal

The Orchid was "The Orchid At Mauna Lani", a Starwood Luxury Collection property until about two years ago, when it was taken over by Fairmont Hotels. It's now the "Fairmont Orchid". Comparing this property to the Sheraton in Keauhou Bay would be like comparing a Ritz to a Holiday Inn. Very different products.

shinbal

As stated earlier, it's a big, concrete structure. It's not a pretty structure.

We stayed on points. I had two rooms and as a platinum I was given both rooms with ocean front upgrades.

The short version: You can get cheap rates here, with a very nice staff, and some impressive views and a great pool. It's great for kids. However, here a few more details I observed.

There's no doubt this property is suffering financially. I was able to get a glance at the daily operations report just about every day while waiting for my car at the valet. Average occupancy was around 40%, and there were a lot of SPG comp rooms.

The staff was very friendly, but they will volunteer the fact that their staff has been decimated by layoffs. Valets are also security staff; housekeeping takes a long time because there were so few housekeepers about. That being said, I never found services to be off or "sub-par".

The prices are standard resort for things like food: ridiculously high. $21 for a very average breakfast buffet. $9 for a coffee and bagel with cream cheese. Burgers and water for two at the pool bar? $28.

There were little things I noticed. For example, I doubt that more than 1/4 of the tiki torches were lit at night. Not only was there no flower lei greeting on checkin (there used to be), you can't even buy a lei on property. Wal Mart, Safeway, and other grocery stores have plenty if one so desires.

For a hotel that's suffering, they didn't do much to encourage spending. Why not offer a "buy 1, get 50% off a second" for spa treatments? The spa was very light on business. Why not offer some real incentives to have people spend their dining dollar at the hotel? Our $90 breakfast for four one day guaranteed our leaving the property for breakfast or keeping things in our room. Better on-property marketing of some creative deals could keep guests' spending on property. They didn't do a good job of this.

As far as experience, I really felt this property was the least "Hawaiian" of any hotel I've stayed out on any of the islands. It may as well have been Sandals - but for the beautiful scenery. The grounds are well kept, and there's not replacing the Kona coastline view; but the hotel has whacked everything uniquely Hawaiian about the resort. This is obviously due to the economy.

If one doesn't care about those things, the grounds are very nice, the rooms are far more than adequate and are nicely kept. The rates are great even for last-minute stays; and as others have mentioned, there are really great deals to be had.

Nothing beat the view from our lanai, and our room was very comfortable. We left with a very good feeling for the place, though it was a long way from a "great Hawaiian experience".

RLG

Actually, management of The Orchid was switched from Starwood Luxury Collection to Fairmont almost 7 years ago.

Your comparison to a Ritz is especially appropriate since the property was originally built in 1989 as a Ritz Carleton.

oc1

Just finished a stay of five nights at this property using points.

They had already assigned a nice suite with ocean views but not on the ocean; most of these rooms are not suites, so I'm sure I could have got one of them if I pushed it. Part of the hotel is dated, but has a lot of things to do and would be great with a family.

The suite had a second toilet, separate dining table, bar area.

Great pool and recreation areas at the hotel.

All in all, a nice property, a nice stay.

(OC1 only spent $4.65 at the hotel over five nights. Feels a little bad about that).

caseydeg

Just got back from a five night points stay at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort. Overall a good experience.

Pros:
--Got a Gold upgrade to an oceanfront room with a beautiful view of Keauhou Bay
--Stunning lobby and windows to the Bay
--Pool is surprisingly large and was never crowded or busy (plus it takes a few minutes just to swim across)
--Manta Ray Bar is pleasant enough with local Kona beers on tap

Cons:
--Rooms and hallways need a cosmetic makeover
--Old 27-inch CRT TV in room
--$10 a night parking for a mostly empty lot
--$13 a day internet fee for spotty service (this one really irks me as I would never stand for this as a business traveler, yet they do this to us business travelers on vacation)

Overall a good stay and a convenient base of operations for Big Island activities. I would think twice about this one if you plan on lounging around the hotel for your vacation as there is no beach, just a few mediocre restaurants, and a 15-minute drive to town and the other restaurants and beaches.

Duckouttahere

I stayed at this property this past weekend for (3) nights and thought I would give it another review based on my 2nd visit there. I know there was a lot of talk about the buildings being run down but I think the buildings and grounds are in better shape than what people have mentioned here. True, there are parts that could be touched up and the original room they upgraded me to didn't smell that great but the room I ended up with turned out to be very nice. I had to "downgrade" to a better room. Go figure. They originally gave me an "ocean front" which was ground floor on Wing 2 with a limited view of the ocean. Since I had been upgraded as a Gold on my previous trip and enjoyed an ocean view from Wing 3, I requested a room in that wing and was happy with the view of the pool and ocean from my room.

There was a Tsunami warning while I was there and the staff did a great job of notifying residents. I heard from a fellow guest that they had buses ready to transport anyone who didn't have transportation to the mall up at higher ground. Unfortunately, it took a bit to get service (Manta Ray bar had been closed and Crystal Blue didn't have food for the evening) and water turned back on after the warning was canceled.

At nearby Keauhou Bay, there are a few scuba outfits that will take you out on tours and they are within walking distance of the hotel. I think I'm done with the Big Island for now but if I come back, I will probably come back to the Sheraton provided it hasn't been sold or closed or turned into a non Starwood hotel.

Hope this helps...