linsj

Yes. And HGVC is renovating the rooms.

Weatherboy

The Ocean Tower is in weird limbo...at least the untouched rooms are. Hilton / HGVC had a joint agreement in which HGVC would sell the rooms they updated to HGVC standards while Hilton would represent and sell the unfinished/untouched original rooms in the tower outside of the new construction zone. That changed, in which HGVC is responsible for it all including representing/selling it. Of course HGVC isn't doing anything to update or even fix the old rooms since they're going to convert the entire thing over to new HGVC rooms in time. So the really bad rooms are simply dropping out of inventory with time. And now, Hilton Waikoloa Village is really only the Palace and Makai/Lagoon Towers.

EPPanda

Staying here 2/9-2/13 on points, booked 2 standard rooms as Diamond (palace resort view) and see that both reservations are now makai garden lanai rooms. No notification of upgrade in the app/email

Gertjaars

Any recent stays here regarding the car rental option from onsite property? Is it still $99/day?

joecool1885

Finishing up a 4 night stay. Low expectations coming in, which helps my overall opinion of the property. It actually seems decent enough.

Things I enjoyed: great views, beautiful grounds, good restaurant selection, nice pool (with fantastic waterslide). Walking distance from shops/restaurants/cinema. Average rooms. While the hotel is pretty sprawling, the trams and boats that travel between different parts of the property can alleviate that if youre tired.

Things I didn't care for: Checked in Wednesday afternoon. Was a less-than-superb welcome... no Leis, no inquiring about trip purpose (I.E, celebrations, etc). Observed people checking in on Saturday who did get leis. Don't know why some do, some don't.
We had 3 seperate reservations for the trip... first night my name (Diamond member) using free night certificates. Second two nights wife's name also using free night certs (Diamond member). Last night wife's name using points. All initially confirmed into Palace Resort King, with a note to combine the reservation. By the time we arrived I was being upgraded to Two Queen Lanai, and wife was being upgraded to Palace Ocean View King. Arrived at 2:00, check in at 4. Told them we wanted a King the whole stay, and that we'd wait longer if we could get a better overall room. Agent said Housekeeping was working on the room, they'd text us when it was ready.

I had terrible illness because I had just gotten booster day before and was experiencing side effects, so I sat in the lobby of the Palace Tower. At 3:50, I returned to the front desk, and the room was suddenly ready.

We ended up in the room we had booked.

Daily F&B credit doesn't cover a two egg/bacon breakfast, but that's the current trend with Hilton, so oh well.

Birds fill the lobby of the Palace Tower and are quite loud. Woke us up around 530 each morning. White noise found on youtube on the phone can help alleviate that.

This resort is partial timeshare, and also they want to sell you on activities, but no overbearing attempts to sell (a couple staff started to interact with us on false premises, but we shut them down before they could start a pitch).

Also didn't enjoy wearing a wristband the entire stay. Not sure if this is specific to this resort, or if it's adopted across Hawaii in the wake of Covid.

Overall this was a decent stay. They beat my low expectations, which is better than when Grand Wailea failed miserably at my high expectations. I could see coming back if I'm ever inclined to return to the big island, but our impetus to come here was family friends who were staying at their condo, and being able to spend time with them in Hawaii. Not sure I'll revisit this island until retirement.

jlt19

Thoughts on which building to choose. No status, 2 adults, 2 pre-teens. Currently have 4 nights booked w/ 255k pts +$527.92 b/c we didn't have enough points for the whole stay. Palace Resort View 2 queens.

But it's now showing the Ocean Towers has availability, and we could get an oceanfront 2 doubles for a total of $1800.

So that makes the Palace redemption a really bad deal. But it is worth it to stay there over the Ocean Towers? While I don't mind "dated", I also don't want gross and falling apart. My standards are definitely not as high as most here since I rarely travel. I just want to feel clean and safe in the room as I don't feel like we'll be there much anyway.

Thanks for any insight!

ETA: I did a bit more thinking and decided it's probably better to just pay the $140 for the 25k points needed so I can then get out of resort fees and most taxes.

I'd delete if I knew how

HIFlya

I have a stay booked with certs from 3/12-3/15 and I just got an email "offering" an upgrade. In the past I know these emails are designed to get you to pre-pay but that was prior to me being diamond. Now if they are offering me an upgrade for money, that same upgrade (up to suites) should be available to me as a comp right?

Qwkynuf

In theory, yes. In practice, your mileage may vary.

I have had pretty good luck at Waikoloa. I have stayed there 5 times since 2017 and got some sort of "Diamond Upgrade" at checkin every time. Each time it was from whatever cheapest room I selected to a Partial Ocean View.

The below is not specific to Hawaii, but my general experience with these offers.

I can tell you that in the 6 years that I have been a (domestic US) Diamond with Hilton, I have had zero success arguing this line at the checkin desk.

It seems really straightforward.

• Upgrades (where available) are a published benefit of Diamond level.
• Upgrades are obviously "available" - you are trying to sell me one.
• Therefore, I should be upgraded based on the clear availability.

No dice.

There have been two occasions where I requested upgrades via the email link and then argued at the desk to not be charged for them. I am 50/50 on those. One location let me have it, the other gave me the option of paying for the upgrade or passing on it and reverting to my reserved type. (I passed)

Good luck, and remember that a bad day at the beach is better than a good day at work!

HIFlya

Thanks for the amazing data points and detailed thoughts. I guess I will just wait rather than confirm and argue it. I feel if I do the confirm first way, things might escalate as it is so obviously a listed benefit.

EPPanda

Only have the 1 experience at this property, but based on what I've read (and experienced), they seem to be pretty poor with the upgrades.

HIFlya

I just checked in for my stay starting tomorrow and I was given a Palace Tower "resort view" room on the fourth floor. However, looking at the floorplan it looks like it is facing towards the ocean/waterway, so does that actually mean it is considered an "ocean view"? Or is Ocean View officially only if it is on a higher floor? They said they would upgrade me if allowable when I get to the hotel, I made sure I took a screenshot just in case it might be helpful when I arrive. First time ever going to a resort with some status, it will be interesting to see what it entails.

joecool1885

For upgrade purposes, "resort view", even if you are able to see the ocean, is not an upgrade. I don't know where they draw the line between classifying their rooms "resort" vs "ocean" view though. If the floor plan shows you facing the ocean, indeed it may be that higher floors are the only ones considered "ocean view".

cfischer

Stayed in February. 5 nights for 240k points. Asked nicely at check-in and was given a suite in the Palace tower with 'some' view of the ocean. Huge 2-room suite.

$18 F&B credit covered breakfast sandwich with potatoes plus juice or coffee ... worked well for us.

HIFlya

I think you hit it all on the head. When I checked in, I was told that they could move me from my 4th floor room to a 7th floor room that was considered Ocean View as my Diamond upgrade. I was also offered a Makai Tower Ocean view room that overlooks the dolphin lagoon for $60++/night. We chose the paid upgrade because we thought the front row seats to watch the dolphins was worth it...and we felt it was. I would note that in the Waikoloa upgrade T&C's specifically excludes Makai Tower rooms from being a part of a complimentary upgrade.

joecool1885

Yeah, good choice on your part. All around a better location than Palace Tower, too. We ended up in what we booked (4th floor Palace tower with partial ocean view... technically a resort view), because we had been upgraded, but had seperate reservations on my wife's name and mine, and the only way to get a King Bed for the whole stay was our original booking.

If I had any expectations going in, I would've been disappointed, but this was one of those rare trips where I didn't care about our room type, because we weren't going to spend much time there.