Not a good evening at this property last night as about a half-dozen parties arrived around 8:30/9p off the various flights at KOA. One would expect a property where virtually all the mainland flights land at a certain hour to be prepared for a crush of guests shortly thereafter. But not the Sheraton Kona last night. There was one clerk at the desk and several empty check-in positions as the line grew longer.

To make things worse, something was wrong with the computers such that they would not process credit cards. It took almost a half hour before an old fashioned manual credit card embossing machine was located and the first guest in the line was finally processed. (It took 10-15 minutes to figure out what to do about credit cards, seemingly oblivious that everyone's booking included a cc guarantee on file that could have been used until the morning when the system was fixed. Nobody was going to skip out on their bill.)

It was only after about 20-minutes that an assistant manager (or someone purporting to be "senior") came out and explained the problem, but no further staff arrived to handle the check-ins. (This young man joined his colleague to assist in the balance of check-ins.)

So on two counts this property failed miserably...not to mention there was no elite check-in, but more to the point, the desk was grossly understaffed at a peak check-in hour. Whoever manages this property needs to be brought up before regional and national management and re-educated on how to run a proper hotel!

And of course there is the ongoing issue of the Resort Fee at these properties as it affects Platinums. At the Kona it is cut in half, to $15. Purportedly it covers internet (which Plats get as a benefit), self parking (but there's no control on the lot so does it really make a difference?), unlimited local/800 calls (again a pretty standard elite benefit when upgraded) and 30-minutes of long distance (which I've never made use of). Also two bottles of water daily (duplicated by the Platinum welcome gift which included water, plantain chips, macadamia chocolates and juices). And a bunch of other activities I've no interest in partaking.