needathrill

During my stay at the HWV as a gold member on a Alon stay late Jan. I had a discussion with a manager as to why I wasn't allowed to use the diamond lounge & that the T&C don't mention treating gold’s different than diamonds as far as access. Her response was they are ONLY required to provide a continental breakfast. Anything additional was the hotel option. She made it very clear they view diamonds different than gold’s & that is why they are offered the additional evening food drinks along with priority upgrade to rooms they are generally charging $100. additional for if available.
My observations. The fact that the Palace gold lounge from 11:00am-1:30pm has free cans of ice tea or pop along with awesome cookies & maybe some fresh fruit means they are providing more than the required continental breakfast. Just to mention the Hostess said if you wanted to buy the cookies to take home somewhere around HWV they sell for $35.00/dozen & there smaller.(Which would mean I ate more than $70.00 worth in a week!)I would take breakfast, pop & cookies over ocean view room any day. I realize there are some hotels where your ocean view balcony is the best thing about a resort but not HWV. Then again if you would ever leave your rooms there probably wouldn't be any padded lounger’s or hammocks overlooking the ocean under the palm trees up around Buddha point for me After viewing the Diamond Lounge at 5:00pm one evening I was envious of the mini buffet of hors d'oeuvres. Almost all day Diamond lounge would have been my choice over breakfast only certs at Palm Terrace(although it's a good breakfast)if that was still the option. When we were eating at the Palm Terrace on a Sunday morning people were waiting for seating availability. If they would have been offering certs. to all like in the past there would likely been a long wait line & that would probably be costing HWV paying customers.

nsx

I wonder if she or anyone else at HWV has that in writing from Hilton. If so, it appears to conflict with what Hilton tells members.

As to the ocean view upgrade, I agree: anybody who hangs out in the room at HWV is missing the whole point of being there.

adgtravel

While checking my reservation for HWV, using an ALON, I noticed this strange Room type! Does anyone know what it means? It also listed Rate type: HHonors 30 Reimburse, and Rate: Confidential! Thanks

yoko

We spent five nights at HHV (Kalia Tower) and four nights at HWV (Lagoon Tower) earlier this month. This is Part 2 (HWV).

Rental car --- someone on this board warned me about Alamo not necessarily having 4WD’s on the lot. He/she was right! The day before, I called Alamo Kona office. They said “all SUV’s at our lot are 4WD’s.” BOY, WAS SHE NOT TELLING THE TRUTH. We got there the next morning at about 8:30 after an early morning flight from Honolulu (four free flight certs using HH points), and had to wait for over one hour for the only 4WD in the lot to get cleaned and gassed. Meanwhile a whole bunch of 2WD SUV’s were being rented out. It was worth the wait, though, considering the price we got and the fun we had.

Checking in and the room --- This was a 100K ALON stay. I had requested a Lagoon ocean/pool/dolphin view on the web reservation form. The check-in clerk warned me of the long walk to the HH Gold breakfast lounge in Palace Tower. To us, the proximity to the lobby/parking area and the big pool were more important. We got a 5th floor dolphin lagoon view room. Ocean was lurking between palm trees. I was expecting a parking lot view as this was a free stay and I was only a Gold. So I was overwhelmingly happy with what they gave us. The closeness to the parking area was nice as we went exploring a lot.

Breakfast --- Kids did complain about the morning walk to the Gold Lounge, but it was good for us to get some exercise before the big carbohydrate binge.

Food --- We tried Kamuela Provision for one dinner, Orchid Café for a lunch, and Lagoon Grill for a lunch. They were all good but no more than that. The price may have something to do with my three bean rating rather than four beans. However, their “Kona Kolada” (pina colada with coffee liquor) was really good. Definitely a four bean.

Exploring --- We drove to Waipio Valley (very special), green sand beach (my daughter (6) was afraid of tumbling down the slope to get there so I stayed up with her while guys played down there a while), Volcano (cool photo ops but lots of walking on rough surfaces for kids), and a few snorkeling spots (lots of marine life). The guidebook (Big Island Revealed) was extremely helpful in us hitting all the highlights during the short stay. By the way, HWV lets you check out towels at the valet parking desk for the days you start exploring early (the pool towel stands does not open until 8am). That was nice.

Snorkel rental --- I opted for rental snorkels from Red Sail Sports on site for the entire stay. I knew it was more expensive than the places in town, but I thought the convenience outweighed. What I did not know, though, was that they do not have prescription goggles (for my husband) and they did not have the kind with the valve thing that prevents water from entering snorkel (for kids). Well, kids did quickly learn how to blow out the water, so the simple snorkels we got were just fine. The day we checked in we practiced in the HWV lagoon for a while (lots of fish and some sea turtles). Later we ventured out to the placed recommended by the book.

sbc94523

Hi Yoko,

Can you give some detail about your experiences using HH pts for your air flight? Does the HH pts allow for the inter island transportion?

yoko

(1) Call HH and request for Hawaiian Airlines inter-island certificates (HAAP13)-the agent gives you the cert numbers over the phone and also mails you the actual paper certs via mail; (2) Call Hawaiian and reserve the desired flights and give the cert numbers. At this time you have to pay $5 tax per roundtrip using a credit card; (3) When they arrives, mail the paper certificates to Hawaiian Airlines. The address is shown on the cert.

SocREd11

I am curious to know what times of the year are considered peak seasons at the HWV. I will be visiting the HWV March 28-April 3 on a TEEN award and was curious to know if I stood any chance of getting upgraded since all the threads I've read indicate that upgrades are based on availability. I am a Diamond member.

HawaiiBound

I believe peak seasons in Hawaii are winter, probably Dec-Feb and summer Jun-Aug. April should be off peak, except maybe for Easter week which will not fall during your visit so you should have a good chance for an upgrade.

MisterNice

As a Diamond you should have no prolem getting the nice lounge access and a more desirable room almost any time of the year. The only time better rooms are tough to get is if a major company has booked a lotta rooms or a big golf tournament etc is going on.

MisterNice

DRP

Last October, I visited Hilton Waikoloa Village and used points for a 6 night stay.(Gold level) We were hoping for an ocean side room, but were given one near the golf course. We plan to return this year, again using points. (now diamond) Any suggestions on how I can improve my chances of getting a room upgrade? We will probably go in November. One possibility I considered was to pay for an ocean side the first night and hope to talk management into letting us stay. But are there other ways? This is my first posting to flyertalk. Thanks

edg1

Hi DRP and welcome to Flyertalk.

It has been a while since I have stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa Village, so I can't help with any current advice., however it is a very often discussed topic on the Hilton board. If you do a search on "Hilton Waikoloa Village" or "HWV" you will find lots of advice.

Weatherboy

Best way is to email/call the hotel directly.

It's been my experience (and I've been to this resort a handful of times over the last few years) that rate isn't a function of upgrades --occupancy levels and elite status are. So if you're a Diamond in a low-peak time, odds are in your favor that you'll get the best room.

I always pay the lowest available rate and have always been pleased with the upgrades offered. (Even 2 years ago where a Priceline stay scored me a deluxe oceanfront room thanks to HH Gold.)

yoko

Hi, DRP. My experience: I (HH Gold) was there last month on ALON. On the note section of the on-line reservation form, I added a line "I'd appreciate a Lagoon Twr dolphin or ocean view. Thanks." The check-in cleark saw it when we showed up and got us a 4th floor dolphin view room with a little ocean between palm trees. I was checkin in quite early (~10 am). Good luck.

LemonThrower

email and then be firm at the front desk.

I would request Ocean Tower.

The key is to be there when the convention business is slow, which is a crap shoot.

Tenacious

Is there now Gold lounge in both the Palace & Ocean towers? If so, how do they differ? When I was there last May, I believe the Gold lounge was only in the Palace tower, where I stayed.
I'm going back to the HWV in several months, and would like to know the options. Thanks.