1,000,000 points. Guessing that translates to *some* sort of HHonors elite status. Gold at a minimum, right?

I'd go HH here. Marriott withholds pretty much all elite benefits at resorts, whereas at least at the HWV you'll get *something* as a Gold. (See HH board for exactly what - there is a huge ongoing Waikaloa thread there.)

We spent 1 week of our honeymoon on the Big Island and enjoyed our Hilton stay there a lot. This was when Golds were given access to a very good lounge - plus we had a wonderful top-floor full ocean view room. Overall, we just thought it was a very good hotel - better than we were expecting since we aren't usually megaresort fans. It was so big that you could find your own uncrowded spots pretty easily.

The Marriott there is the old Outrigger hotel. At the time I was there, it was nowhere near the quality of the Hilton...but I'm sure it's been upgraded since then. We were over there a couple times because that's where boat cruises pick up passengers...seemed like a high-energy place with more people per unit of space than the HWV.

My personal take is that MR points are worth 1.2 cpp and HH are worth a little under a penny. I now primarily use the points in Asia or the Middle East where I place a higher premium on a Western hotel and don't use third-party booking sites and the like. But you have to base the values on how *you* personally like to use your points.