Grand Naniloa Review: May 18-20, 2017

My wife and I were visiting the Big Island. We flew into and out of KOA and explored by driving around the island in a clockwise direction.  Two of the nights that we were on the island, we stayed at the Grand Naniloa since it is the only hotel property on the eastern side of the island that is part of a major hotel chain (Hilton or Marriott or any other) and, for its price and features, is an extremely good deal – especially considering the rates that are being charged on the Kona side.

I booked this property directly through the Hilton website a few weeks in advance at an AAA rate of $132.05 per night.  At this property, it appears that the cheaper rooms are on the lower levels of the Mauna Kea wing (northernmost part of the hotel) and have limited views (see below).  If you’re interested in a room with a better view or more space or both, I’d suggest you browse amongst the different room types before reserving.

As a historical property and one of the hotels that's part of the Historic Hotels of America, the Grand Naniloa has been in existence since the 1930s and the current hotel structure appears to date back to the 1950s/60s.

Using an image available from the property’s website, here’s a great view from an aerial vehicle looking southwest toward the hotel:

Besides its affiliation through Hilton, another draw of this property is the Banyans Golf Club/Naniloa Golf Course – which I didn’t play – a 9 hole par 35 course.  It appears that guests can play the course each day once for free (http://www.grandnaniloahilo.com/free-golf/)

As others have noted and a quick search on this property shows it has been undergoing a renovation.  When we stayed there in mid-May 2017, the renovation was still ongoing and different parts of the property are still to be started or even done.

To provide some orientation and to show off my Google Maps 3D and Paint skills, the following image illustrates that the property is composed of 3 room blocks (Mauna Kea Wing, Mauna Loa Wing, Kilauea Wing) and the main hotel services section that links the room blocks together:

Another annotated view from Google Maps shows the former restaurant/conference area that also needs work, the challenging main parking areas as well as the overflow parking across Banyan Drive that’s part of the golf course:

So, if you want to stay at a hotel property in Hilo that’s on the water, this is really one of the better ones.  Note that it doesn’t have a beach – if you want any number of those, you’ll need to visit one of the beach parks further east on Kalanianaole Avenue.

The property sits on a peninsula that sticks out into Hilo Bay. On Banyan Drive, it is situated north and east of Hilo and is just north of ITO. Here’s a view from Google Maps of where the Grand Naniloa sits relative to the airport:

Additional Google Maps' views are available from the images that I’ve uploaded to my photobucket account.

I had planned to check in via the Hilton Honors app.  Unfortunately, I didn’t remember until we were driving along Mamalahoa Highway along the north shore of the island and there was no signal.  It would have probably been better had I had done so in order to have been able to select from different rooms.  Ultimately we arrived at the hotel around 5 PM while there was both daylight and self parking.  If you’d rather drive up to the front, the hotel has a beautiful porte cochere.

When you enter from porte cochere, the lobby and front desk have a great view out to the bay and ocean as well as videos rolling to your left of the performances of native Hawaiian dances and hulas from Merrie Monarch festival held annually in Hilo that the hotel is a part of. Since this is a DoubleTree property, you’ll get a warm chocolate chip cookie for each person in your room.

Room 221:

Since I wasn’t thinking about what room we might get, I accepted the room that was assigned – Room 221.  In the Mauna Kea Wing (rooms x14 through x36), the odd number rooms (x15 – x33) basically have views east and mostly of the adjacent properties and not the bay.  Also, the odd number rooms do not have a balcony – in a different day, the windows of the 2nd floor odd number rooms in Mauna Kea might have opened so you get out to what is a mini common balcony but that’s no longer feasible.

This is what it looks like outside of the room and its adjacent corridor:

221 is a 2 double bed guest room with the ubiquitous Kim Taylor Reece photo art above the bed:

As noted, here’s the room’s view out to the not-accessible common balcony, toward the water and the covered connector to the closed restaurant: (the window’s hardware gives away the hotel’s construction origins from the 1960s)

The closet/desk/microwave-mini-fridge common unit (note mini-safe in closet):

The bathroom has a sliding pocket door that is most likely from the original’s hotel construction (repainted multiple times since then but still worse for wear):

The bathroom has a common tile scheme and continues the use of the wood laminate from the desk common unit. Shower/bath, with this tile scheme, is a rather small enclosed space when the shower curtain is drawn:

While I wasn’t terribly happy or thrilled with this room, we weren’t planning to spend our whole 2 days in it so I was willing to live with its limitations.  However, after getting back from dinner and getting ready to bed down for the night, we found its additional limitations.  When the small fridge would enter its cooling cycle, it would trigger a grounding fault on the power circuit that it shared with the microwave so that the microwave would then beep.  Then, when the fridge ended its cooling cycle, it would hit the same grounding problem and the microwave would beep again.  This also occurred when the fridge door was opened or closed. Needless to say, the incessant beeping of the microwave is not conducive for sleep.  I finally moved the fridge and unplugged the microwave in the middle of the night.  Additional investigation in the morning by my wife determined that someone had burnt and spilled something in the microwave that quite likely shorted the unit and, if you opened the microwave’s door, offered up a rather horrific smell.

That’s when we decided to move.

After breakfast at the buffet (see below), we packed up our bags and then made our way down to the lobby and front desk.  At that point, I made the request for another room.  I’d note that this is no small matter for my wife who prefers to not have to move night after night to different properties so I knew that I had one shot at this.

Once I explained the problems with the microwave and the power, the desk clerk reviewed the available rooms and offered up a 1 king bed guest room.  Likely, had I made the request later in the morning or potentially in the early afternoon, I might have been able to negotiate something larger but we wanted to get on with the day and find a suitable room to move to.

I then went up with one of the bellhop’s and inspected the room and worked with him to transfer the bags between the rooms.

Room 328:

Also in the Mauna Kea Wing, room 328 is one of the even number rooms (x14 – x32) with views directly west toward Hilo and of Mauna Kea (and some of Mauna Loa) as well as the bay – and have individual balconies.

The 3rd floor of the Mauna Kea Wing looks amazingly similar to the 2nd floor so no images are shown in the review but are available on my photobook feed.

As noted, 328 has a single king bed and a small sitting chair:

The same connected closet/desk/microwave-mini-fridge common unit – but that didn’t go beep when the fridge door was opened or closed:

And a similar bathroom with pocket door (not shown) as with the previous room:

Here’s the view looking out from the room (note balcony tile is same as that used in the bathroom):

If you wanted to wake up at 7 am, here’s what I saw as a composited image:

And, if you were willing to wait an hour, here’s what happens when the trade winds and the two tallest volcanoes on the planet decide to generate their own weather (and eliminate the view to their peaks):

Compared to the previous room, Room 328 was definitely an improvement – and would have likely been a bit more expensive had we booked it to begin with.  Considering what is being offered as well the prices for the rooms, we would now likely pick one of the more view-oriented and/or spacious rooms if we were to return.

Here’s a view of the pool at night from the balcony of one of the rooms we stayed at:

The Fitness Center is located on the bottom floor of the main hotel services section and looks out over the bay:

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Prettier images of the pool during the daytime and a nicely lit view of the fitness center are available via the hotel’s photo gallery (http://www.grandnaniloahilo.com/gallery/).

The rooms in the Mauna Loa Wing all face to the west – here’s a view of the common access corridor for rooms on the 3rd floor:

Not sure if these rooms in the Mauna Loa Wing then have real balconies but at least they seem to have sliding glass doors:

Additionally, the remodeling work over in the Kilauea Wing was on-going when we were at the hotel and still hadn’t completed sufficiently so that any rooms were available at that time.

And, yes, parking is a pain here.  If you don’t get to the hotel by 6 PM, you’ll likely be circling looking for an open space.  There’s parking across the street at the golf course but there’s not much light at night under those banyan trees and the lot’s not flat.

Breakfast was served buffet style for $16/person at the Sandalwood dining room located on the lower floor of the hotel’s main service section.  While they have the standard (U.S.) continental fare of cold pastries, fruit and juices, they had a person making waffles and hot chaffing dishes with items such as fried rice, scrambled eggs, bacon, etc.   It appeared that they continued buffet style dining for both lunch and dinner but we weren’t around for either dining period.  Also, because of my Diamond status, the cost of breakfast was waived.  We were sure to tip generously given the good service we were provided for coffee, other drinks and keeping the table clear of used plates, etc.

I’d also highlight that the demolition and construction that was ongoing at the lower level of the Mauna Kea Wing is for a new restaurant that the hotel apparently plans to name Bayfront.  Given where they were when we stayed at the hotel, the new restaurant will likely not be ready until sometime later in the summer or early fall.

One additional note: when I was working with the bellhop to bring our bags from our first room to the second, I asked him about the closed restaurant at the water.  He said that he wasn’t aware of when it might get any work done to it but that it was a shame how poorly it hadn’t been maintained – a quick inspection walk of that side of the property shows that it’s been many years since it was last opened and needs a whole bunch of work.  One consideration might be to demo it and then build a whole new wing to the hotel.  However, given its siting and view, I think that dining there would have been kind of fun.

As compared to other larger properties in and around Hilo, the renovated Grand Naniloa is definitely an improvement.  Because of its association/affiliation through DoubleTree and Hilton, it is clear that HHonors members have a certain expectation of what the hotel should be.  I would emphasize that, even with the investment so far made to bring the hotel up to what is likely one of the more upper end hotels in Hilo at this point, it will take even more dollars and time.  I know that both I and my wife would return and do recommend the hotel that we stayed at in mid-May 2017.

As a final note, as the bellhop that has worked at the hotel since the early 1990s said, the current owner is the third since he’s started there.  And since this is the Garden Isle, the view of overall time horizon may be best expressed in terms of units of “Island Time”.

David

p.s. If interested, you can search on the web for older images of the Naniloa Hotel going back a few decades. In addition, more photos and images from this stay are located at: http://s1179.photobucket.com/user/leedavide/slideshow/DoubleTree_Grand_Naniloa_Hilo_HI_2017-05 (slide show) or http://s1179.photobucket.com/user/leedavide/library/DoubleTree_Grand_Naniloa_Hilo_HI_2017-05 (individual images).