mnredfox

Trip report of AXON stay from 20-24 Dec 09.

1. Room
Very disappointed here (not in the room, but more so service and expectations given). I wrote to the GM prior to arriving and were told we "would be taken care of", that we had an ocean room and could possibly get a suite UG. When we arrived we were told by the front desk that we had a high floor with no ocean view and could move to a room on the ground floor with an ocean view. Both in Ocean Tower. We agreed to take it as the desk clerk indicated that better rooms would be available the next morning. The room we moved to did NOT have a good Ocean View, was on the wrong side of the tower the clerk told us. The next morning we talked to the concierge who moved us back to a high room, with an even WORSE ocean view. We stayed in our room. Went to the front desk and talk to the front desk manager who said she would "take care of us" and get back to us that afternoon. Never heard a word and our bags weren't moved after we were told to pack and leave them in the room. That afternoon we asked the concierge at the Ocean Tower and he said someone would contact us shortly. Never got a call back. We simply stayed there.

2. Grounds & getting around
Hotel grounds were lovely, lots of beautiful artwork and liked the motif everywhere. Things were clean and well kept. Ping Pong table at the Kona pool, but they ran out of balls on day 2. I agree with all the comments on the trams, they are very slow so take the boats they are fast. Even faster to walk - especially if you walk towards the ocean side of the resort and take the paths on that side. We did this every time and could get from one side of the resort to the other in less than 10 min. Another quick tip, fastest way from the Ocean tower to the parking lot is to cross to the ocean side, walk on the ocean side of the lagoon, and then cross back at the Kona pool into the Kamehameha court area and cut through the tennis courts.

3. Food
Food was way overpriced. As a Diamond, we got 2 free water certs/day for their $6.50 Fiji water and $20/day to spend. The buffet at WEB was $26.95/person (no more $10 continental breakfast). We did the pizza special at Orchid for a pizza and fountain drinks which I agree was a great deal. We had two pizza dinners at the point on the Lagoon tower at sunset which was memorable since no one was there. We also did breakfast once at the Lagoon Spoon which was a good use of the $20, make sure you go there early though as they run out of food by 930am. There is no more ice cream special (used to be $1 from 3-4pm, then it was $2, now it's gone). And yes, exec lounge is not there.

Otherwise it was expensive so we bought food at Mauna Lani just up the road. We didn't shop at Queen's marketplace or Kings.

4. Parking
We coughed up the $15/day to park there. They essentially charged us at check-in, but sometimes the exit gate is broken and if you wanted to you could sneak in there. The parking trick of the art gallery could also work, but I didn't do that as I'd have to do that for 4 days and that isn't right. Stray cats everywhere at night though.

5. Internet
Was something like $11/day, so we went to Queen's shops at the Starbucks. I was able to iPass in via AT&T at Starbucks for free (via my work VPN), but if you have a Starbucks account it's free. The business lounge charges for internet, but you can print out BP's for free there if you're flying out.

6. Service
Folks were pleasant other than the non-responsiveness of the room issue. I'm going to write back the GM about this (again, not the room UG but the lack of follow-through in treatment)

6. Other amenities/services
Spa was nice, and is still free for diamond members. Art galleries were fun to walk through in the lagoon area. Great property, well worth the 125K AXON (booked before the change) but not sure I'd stay here again. We did the "welcome meeting" or "orientation" which Hilton Vacations runs, you're "free gift" is a little carrying bag which was nice and we saw lots of folks using to carry beach stuff around. It takes about an hour which is good if you want tips about different vendors to use for helicopters, jeep rental etc. We got a pretty good "things to see" sheet with driving directions which was worth it, but jetted out of the meeting early.

We didn't do the Hilton Grand Vacations 2 hour talk though. You can get $100 resort dollars or 20K HH pts. I heard though you could go there and play cards with someone while they talk....