zachary

All right, that's a strange story. I looked on the hotel's website, and the categories now seem to be Resort View, Ocean View, Deluxe Ocean View, Ocean and Dolphins (in the "newly renovated Lagoon Tower"). I've stayed in a lower floor Lagoon Tower room -- I wouldn't call the view "Ocean and Dolphins." Maybe they are now saying that all Lagoon Tower rooms are additional upgrades.

I'd agree with you that a lower level Lagoon Tower room shouldn't include an extra charge for Diamonds. In fact, I would guess that most (but not all) people here would prefer an upper level Ocean Tower room over an lower level Lagoon Tower room. But, of course, the rules pretty much let each property decide what upgrades to give. As you point out, you then have every right to respond by deciding where to put future your hotel spend.

Personally, I'd directly talk to a manager before I spent $300 for a lower level Lagoon Tower room, but I could certainly understand where you might feel differently.

BrlDsguise

I think what they are saying is the Lagoon Tower isn't an upgrade - it is a different Tower that for whatever reason is $60/night more than the OP paid for his room. Therefore what the OP is asking for is an accomodation - not an upgrade.

eltex

Isn't the lagoon tower the one with the most recent renovations? I know that when we booked, some of the room categories were specific to the Lagoon Tower, so I am guessing they feel the whole tower is a premium product. I won't actually be there until next August, but we should have pretty good views of the dolphins from our room.

GatorBlues

Sometimes it's wiser to just say "whatever you want" to a wife who is fed up with your cheapness, doesn't want to wait while you complain to the manager, and just wants to complete the check in process and get to bed after arriving at the hotel at night with exhausted kids.

And, yes, BrlDsguise, the Lagoon Tower is a different tower and it is more expensive to book. But that's the entire point of an upgrade. You get something on a space available basis that is more expensive than what you booked. The HWV said moving from a partial ocean to a full ocean view in the Ocean Tower is a one step upgrade, but moving to the Lagoon Tower, even in a low level room, is two steps and not allowed for a Diamond. So pay up or stay in the other tower. To keep our two rooms in closer proximity, my wife was willing to pay even though I wasn't.

That's Hilton's new policy at this property when it wasn't their approach in past years. They are doing the absolute bare minimum. In my opinion, it's an approach that is too cheap for Hilton's own good and is an unacceptable way to treat Diamonds. Some may agree with me; some may not. So be it. For me, I find it so unacceptable that I have already scoped out the location of the Hyatt and Marriott in downtown Miami for my next business trip, where I previously have stayed at a Hilton for my previous 4 trips over the last two months.

I honestly don't care if I get upgraded for business trips, but have frequently been given suites while on the road for work. When I take a vacation is when I hope to reap some benefits from sending my business trips Hilton's way. Instead, Hilton decided to apply its most rigorous rules at a property catering primarily to vacations, which is the exact opposite of what I would hope for.

In any event, rather than debate whether I should be bothered by this, the real point of posting my experience is so others will know this when they make their future plans:

For Gold and Diamond Hilton members coming to Hilton Waikoloa Village, if you want the Lagoon Tower, book the Lagoon Tower. Hilton will not upgrade you to it for free, regardless of your status, if you're booked in one of the other two towers. I assume suite upgrades are out of the question too since Hilton is strictly applying a one category upgrade policy here.

RAPC

The above all fits in with my experiences of dealing with the hotel recently, as well as a similar story with my wife calling the shots with regards to room type

We will be at the hotel for the New Year period and booked 5 nights on points earlier this year. Room rates have consistently been $450+ since we booked, so I at least feel that I'm getting value for my points. That gets us in to a basic room. Mrs RAPC wants to be in the renovated Lagoon Tower. There is the option of trying to NOR1 up to these rooms for $39 per night, but no guarantee that it will clear. A family friend was at this hotel a few weeks ago and despite plenty of availability for the Lagoon Tower, they wouldn't offer him a $39 upgrade. Instead they seemed to come up a story that they only had a different category of Lagoon Tower room, but that would be $60 per night. He ended up paying, but when he questioned the staff on the difference between his room and the supposedly unavailable $39 rooms, they couldn't offer an answer. Regardless, he got a lower floor room with not too much of a view.

Much as I begrudge paying it, I've had to pony up $100 per night to guarantee a King Room in the Lagoon Tower. Happy wife, happy life as the old saying goes. What has annoyed me and prompted me to jump on to this thread is that the hotel is now proactively trying to shake me down for more cash. I've had a voicemail message at 3am (us UK guests obviously need to work to Hawaiian time) from a member of staff offering me the chance to upgrade my Lagoon Tower room to one with a guaranteed Ocean View for just another $50 extra per night. (Plus tax of course) My take is that I have now paid for a Lagoon Tower room. As a Diamond, if they wish to offer a category upgrade, then an Ocean View would seem reasonable? Even if they disagree, I certainly won't be taking them up on this offer.

They do seem to be doing their best to annoy HHonors customers in particular:
Resort fees for HHonors Diamonds and Golds.
A breakfast voucher that doesn't actually cover breakfast. (Breakfast involves food and drink for me)
Minimum effort when it comes to upgrades
Nickel and Diming everything.

We're still going to go there and hopefully enjoy our stay. I just hope they don't decide to call me up again though at 3am to offer me a great opportunity to give them more cash.

Need

Well I see the estandby for Lagoon room for $39 extra. It was $75 extra then my normal resort room room rate. I will see if they would offer the "$60" upgrade like others and report back. I guess if you really want the lagoon room, it will be cheaper to take the $60 upgrade then book the original $75 extra per night.

Is the Ocean tower really that bad? I don't really care too much about the room as long as it is clean enough.

some dude

GaterBlues:

While I agree with you that this property does the exact minimum in recognition of their Diamond guests, and would never return to this property after my experience there -- I'd point out two things:
1) The treatment at this hotel is nothing new, and has been widely reported on this thread for years.
2) All hotel chains have their gems and their turds. I think this property is clearly a turd, but If you think Hyatt or Marriott is nothing but gems, well, I hope you get a long run of good luck before realizing that there are turds there just the same. I have had bad experiences at Ritz Carlton, SPG, Hyatt, as well as Hilton hotels. I have also had fantastic stays at other properties operated by each of those brands.

Need:

The Ocean tower is unrenovated, and is *very* far from the parking area. Walking to your car and back from your room at the Ocean tower will likely take ~15 minutes each way. There is the shuttle tram which moves no faster than brisk walking speed. There is also no sandy beach near the Ocean tower -- just big rocks along the shore there. I am personally very sensitive to air quality, and was offended by the smell of mold in my room at the Ocean Tower. Luckily, when I was there, the weather was beautiful the entire time, and I was able to just leave the balcony door open the entire time -- but if I had to close the door, I would have had difficulties breathing.

I think a further note to be considered here is that the poor treatment isn't merely a "Diamond" issue, but rather just their treatment of any guest. After complaining about the moldy air quality, their initial response was to replace the (very dirty) HVAC filter in the unit. This made a very minor improvement. After a second complaint, I was basically told that I could be moved to another unit within the same tower, but that likely all rooms would have similar air quality. I inquired about moving to another tower, and was declined (even though there was wide availability). After a third complaint post-checkout I was offered that if I returned to the hotel in the future, that the manager would "take care of me". I have no desire to ever return, so I haven't taken them up on their offer.

HWV I guess has some appeal for those with kids (and I don't have any), but the overpriced (and unimpressive) restaurants, minimum recognition of elites, nickel/diming of everything (expensive parking!), lack of a natural beach, and unrenovated state of most rooms ... just do not make this property a place I would choose to stay at again.

There are better properties nearby, which are often available for less.

This gets a bit O.T, so I won't expand on this too much, but I would highly recommend the nearby Mauna Lani (which can often be had for a steal using Hotwire -- and on my stay I was upgraded to a wonderful suite, even on a very cheap Hotwire rate).

If you want to stay within the Hilton brand, you might check into the nearby Kings land.

GatorBlues

Update on my upgrade experience at the Hilton Waikoloa Village:

I just got a call from the manager in response to the complaint email I sent to HHonors the night we checked in. He was very apologetic. He said a complimentary upgrade should have been given to me as a diamond because rooms in the lagoon tower were available. He said that other than the suites in the lagoon tower, which are considered specialty suites and therefore not available for upgrades, every room in the hotel, including suites in the other towers, are upgrade eligible. He is removing the charge. He could not have been nicer.

mnredfox

I get there are a lot of Diamonds and Golds that stay here, but it seems like getting a nice UG is always a hassle here. Either way, the mgmt usually responds well.

kmandrew

I have stayed at this property 5 times, the first time when it was a Hyatt and parking was free. Every stay we seemed to like it less and less. I am currently in a condo right near the Hilton for $125 that has 2 bedrooms and a view of the same Beach golf course most of the Hilton rooms have and could not be happier.

ksyrah

Here is a follow-up on my visit last month. A little background - I'm a diamond and we have been to that property at least once a year for the last few years. I took the family there for three days before we moved over to our condo (My kids love the slides and the lagoon sports). If you book with points, you will NOT have to pay the resort fee. I haven't been charged it since inception even though the GM told me by email that I would have to pay it. The resort was quiet (no conventions) until the day we left when the Thanksgiving crowds started showing up. The Kohala pool had just been completely refinished and the Kona pool is undergoing it now. I have never paid for an upgrade and have always been given a nice room for the bare minimum of points (sometimes a suite, sometimes lagoon tower, sometimes oceanfront over Buddah point). Sometimes you just have to find the right person to talk to and it depends on capacity, too. They have cut a lot of the trees in the lobby of the Palace tower to cut down on bird noise. There is only one boat running in the afternoons/evenings and one train running all day. I believe that they are being shortsighted on that point. One of the boat operators that has been there for years was temporarily laid off a couple of months ago for a few weeks. That is a sad state. The Lagoon Spoon is gone - only breakfast buffet and coffee shops for breakfast. The Lagoon grill/bar was closed at 5pm the week we were there. I guess it was too expensive to keep it open at the current hotel capacity which, I was told was 40%. It seemed more like 30% (I'm not complaining!) The Ocean tower is planned to be converted to timeshares. It was supposed to be completed by now but in Hawaii, things go at their own pace. I know that the "Royal Suites" are a bargain now, but those are the oldest rooms on the property and in dire need of a makeover.

I am not sure how much longer we are going to keep visiting and the service is getting slower due to fewer employees. Maybe one or two more years. We shall see.....

DjRashonal

I just booked my stay for Jan 7-9, any chance you could forward me the GM's email so I can touch base with them before our stay? Diamond booked in the 50k "resort" view, hoping to get something that won't be too much walking for the wife. Also, thoughts on possible post new years occupancy? Any recommendations?

Need

I just came back from a week stay there. We booked the resort view king room and got the Ocean Tower ocean view room. The room overlooking the golf course with partial ocean view. The room was actually better than I expect after reading all the reviews about old dated room. I don't feel the room is too dated except for the popcorn ceiling giving away its age. The room was comfortable but didn't really spend too much time in it anyway.

The Lagoon tower side seems to have better pools. There is no hot tub near the Ocean tower that I could find. Where in Lagoon tower, there were at least 2 I could see on the walk to the Luau and KPC. The Lagoon was really nice. The turtles would swim up next to the paddle boarders and follow them around. It was really cool and nice and swallow for kids to play. The slides at the pool near Palace tower were nice too, but the pool is 4ft deep so not as friendly to little kids.

The tram was nice if you catch it on time. If you just miss it, it takes about 24 minutes to make the trip back. I like the boats, but it only start at 2pm and I have no idea why. I really like the idea of the $10 food vouchers. I also got their 10% off food card. If you spend any time in the resort eating, it is a no brainer. For $26, you get back $20 vouchers and for $6 you get 10% off for the rest of your stay. You made the $6 back just for one meal.

Overall, it was a really nice stay. My kid begs us to come back here someday and stay at the same hotel.

RAPC

Currently here now and coming to the end of a 5 night stay. As you may have sensed from my earlier post, I wasn't expecting much and was begrudgingly paying to upgrade in advance. I have to say though that I was very wrong and that I need to apologise to the property for my upfront cynicism.

There, not that is out in the open, it's time to give some feedback.

We arrived at the property and self-parked. It was busy, but there were a fair number of spaces available. We headed over to check-in and there was no queue, so straight to a helpful gentleman at the front desk. He confirmed through the various details, confirmed our reserved Ocean & Dolphin room and the upgrade fee of $100 per night. We also received our 10 sets of $10 F&B vouchers, plus 2 vouchers for bottled water. Finally he confirmed that the resort fee was not payable with us paying on points. This was proactively offered up without me having to ask. ^

The Lagoon Tower is split in to two parts. I'm not sure if just part, or all of the Tower wing overlooking the Dolphin Pool is designated as Ocean & Dolphin. We were very happy with our room as it is has a great view over the Dolphin area, as well as views out to see as well. It was pretty much perfect in terms of the view they could have given us. You can pay a smaller amount to upgrade to the other part of the Lagoon Tower and I now understand why we paid more for the Ocean & Dolphin room. The refurbished rooms are pretty nice and definitely spacious enough with plenty of room in the room itself. There is both wired and wireless access in the room and you're covered for unlimited devices.

Before arriving I didn't like the lack of a proper free breakfast due to the $10 coupons. Again, this actually has worked out pretty well for us. We've eaten more at lunch and dinner time, so made better use of the coupons then as a discount and it has proven to be a bit more flexible.

We've had no problem getting on the boats or the train, even when the resort was very busy. It's a pleasant enough walk from our side of the resort all the way over to the Ocean Towers, but it was good to grab a ride on both services for the sake of it.

We did the Luau show on NYE. Food was good and plentiful and there was an open bar included in the price. This included a number of alcoholic cocktails and some mocktails and soft drinks. You would do well to get drunk on the cocktails as I don't think there was much booze in them, but people didn't seem to mind. It was well run and enjoyable.

The fitness facilities are decent, with plenty of cardio machines and a slightly more limited weight machine selection. We've been a few times and it has been quiet though.

We've eaten a bit at the hotel, as well as across at the Lava Lava Beach Club (which was excellent) and down the road in Kona. The hotel would probably get a bit boring for food after a week or so, but it has a reasonable range.

Staff have all been helpful and we've definitely enjoyed it here. Very glad we came and we would definitely considered coming back if we return to the Hawaiian islands.

sundinkc

I am seeking advice on how to handle an upcoming stay. In two weeks my wife, toddler son, and myself will be spending four nights at Hilton Waikoloa Village. I reserved three nights with points and made a normal reservation for one night (as I did not have the necessary points). I reserved three nights in a '"deluxe oceanview king bed with lanai" for a total of 160,069 points (an average of 53,356 points per night) and then reserved the same room type for $264 plus taxes and resort fees.

I recently received my weekend night certificate from my Citi Hilton Honors credit card and planned to use it instead of paying for the one night, but when I called I was told that the certificate cannot be used for the oceanview deluxe rooms.

I am a Gold so I was thinking of downgrading the entire reservation to use points plus the free night certificate and hope to be upgraded. This would allow me to basically use the same amount of points plus a certificate and save about $325 What do people think? What are golds typically upgraded to?

Any advice about this matter would be welcome. Thanks!