Billiken

FYI:
When we were there in late March, the honor bar was NOT self-pour.

Weatherboy

In July, for at least the 2 evenings I visited the lounge, self-pour was back.

A few folks were disappointed by the lack of a complimentary open-bar. If any resort in the Hilton chain should have free liquor, this one should be that one.

Billiken

It would be nice but would cost the HWV a fortune.

tudorcity

That's good to hear - we'll be there for 11 days late December/early January - if you are going to have to pay, at least its nice to have a drink exactly how you like it!

Was there actually a bartender?

Flying High

Just returned from a week at the HWV.... the only complaint that I had was the Diamond Lounge in the Ocean Tower was PACKED every morning. Seats were tough to come by and the staff was truly overworked. They truly need to get the staff more help, especially during the morning rush.

Otherwise, a beautiful property and a great staff!

gozar

I recently spent 6 nights (2 rooms) at the Waikoloa Village with my family.

I used an ALON2 and 4 C601 certificates to pay for 10 of the 12 room nights. When I made my reservations a few months ago they had to use the Diamond force to get me in.

Check-in
We arrived on a Friday. We dropped off our bags and self-parked. Valet parking is $10.50/day. The lobby was crowded, but I went to a VIP line for check-in. I was quickly attended to. I had requested a suite upgrade with connecting rooms in my reservations. They had given me a nice set of connecting rooms in the ocean tower overlooking the golf course. I inquired about suite availability. I told them that the view was not as important as the upgrade. They said that they were out of suites that day, but could move us into a Bay Suite (Ocean tower) with a connecting room the next day. The front desk person did a great job - I think they try to make things special for families on vacation at this property.

Rooms
Our rooms the first night was a King connecting to a Double/Double. These were very nice rooms on the 8th floor. My only complaint about that room was it was a long walk to the executive lounge on the 6th floor.

On the other nights we were in a Bay suite connected to a Double/Double. The Bay suite is very nice. It is a King room with a living room, refrigerator, table, and TV set. It is basically twice the size of a standard room. Our new rooms were just down the hall from the lounge. The view from this room was better than the golf course - it overlooked the lagoon and pools. I would not consider it an ocean view. Based on the map of the hotel I would say most of the Bay suites have this same view. So if an ocean view is important to you, then you might be disappointed in one of these suites.

Food
The executive lounge had a nice spread for breakfast. It had cereal, fresh fruit, rolls, juice, coffee for breakfast. In the evening they put out some fruit & cheese.

Lunch at the hotel is not too bad. You can get by with $10-$12 for a burger or sandwich. Dinner is another story. If you eat dinner at the hotel be ready to spend $25 - $40 per person (before drinks). The buffet dinner is $35 per person.

Driving into Kona is an alternative, but it takes ~40 minutes to get to Alii Drive in Kona where most of the good restaurants are.

Trams & Boats
Many of has said that this hotel is like Disneyland. The transportation system to move people between the 3 towers includes Trams & Boats. The trams are faster than the boats. Most of the time they were running 2 trams and the longest wait we ever had was ~4 minutes. When they are running only 1 tram the wait can be upto 7 minutes. If you are walking from the front lobby to the Ocean Tower then plan on a 15 minute walk. It’s worth walking it at least once to see the art. Take the boats at least once to get a different perspective on the resort.

Activities
There is a lot to do at the hotel. If you bring kids plan on spending big money on the dolphins. My 2 daughters had to do it. There was no way I could say no this and have a happy family. The package we got was $175/person for 30 minutes with at least 20 minutes with the dolphins. Photos are extra - so bring your camera.

Red Sail Sports runs an activity desk. My son and I went Scuba diving. They pick you up at the hotel and take you to the boat. It was some very good diving.

You can rent snorkel gear and go in the lagoon. The lagoon has some turtles in it. There are some local beaches nearby with fantastic snorkeling sites.

You can also sign up for site seeing tours. We rented a car so we did our own around the island and volcano park tour. That was a full day.

Spa
The spa was great. I used it twice to work out, steam, shower, and clean up after playing all day. My wife used it to work out in. It was clean and not very crowded. It is free for Diamond members.

Summary
This is a great resort for families. I was treated well and if you are diamond they go out of their way to make you happy. Any minor problems I did have were corrected immediately by the Ocean Tower concierge or front desk.

This hotel requires patience. Plan on taking 20 minutes to get from your room in the Ocean tower to your car. If you are not a patient person then go for the Lagoon tower.

I would stay there again. If I was not gold/diamond and staying with kids I would recommend the Lagoon tower (it is closer to the pools and spa). If I was staying there with just my wife (no kids) then the Palace or Ocean Tower would be what I would try for.

More information about this hotel can be found in this thread.

Billiken

No bartender, one of the attendants poured the wine for us.

Weatherboy

50,000 acres of grassland in Waikoloa and the Kohala cost went up in flames around the time you were there. News reports mentioned that the village of Waikoloa (population: 5,000-7,000) were evacuated to the coast where the Hilton and the Marriot sheltered the residents in their ballrooms/conference rooms.

Did you notice fire damage north/east of the beach resort complex ...and did you notice displaced residents at the resort? (The fires didn't near the beach resort at all ...and stayed mainly up in the hills towards Waikoloa.)

I checked-out of there on 8/1 and missed the excitement by a few days... but it'd be interesting to share vacation space with Red Cross patrons.

gozar

The fire was put out prior to our arrival 8/5. There was no sign of any displaced persons at the Hilton or the Marriott. I called the night before we left and asked about the fire. The front desk person told me that the fire was out and everything was back to normal. We did not see any manifestations of the fire at the resort or nearby.

LemonThrower

there are some restaurants in Waimea, which is roughly the same distance to Kona but in the opposite direction. We tried Merimans and liked it, although I think the same restaurant is right there in teh Kings Shops (beyondthe HWV parking lot).

Flying High

I was actually there the day the fire started.... it created this huge black haze over the resort and the entire Kohala coast. Made the sun look bright red (which was actually cool). Since we left on the 2nd, there was no impact on the resort or nearby facilities. But everything just smelled "smokey".

sharptalk

We stayed there in early august. We booked 2 rooms for 2 nights using points. When we arrived there was a terribly long wait at check in. When I got to the desk, they upgraded us to a single huge, lovely suite. We did not spend a dime at the hotel as we were traveling with our teenagers and the King shops near by had less expensive restaurants. We left the hotel keys at the front desk when we checked out. 2 days later we got a call that there was some damage in the room. Housekeeping reported it right after I handed in our keys. We know we did not cause it. We wanted to know if anyone else had experienced these false accusations after a stay at this location.

JDiver

Did you ask them to detail the presumed damage? Were they trying to charge you? Have you had a chat with your kids? Frightened kids can be creative about hiding damage - not saying they did, but I'd check it out, regardless of how good they normally are - I recall my very nice nieces and nephew causing a flood in one hotel. They were kids!

Had you noticed any damage yourselves while you were there that could remotely match the reported damages? It's hard to comment without knowing more details, but document everything - it is possible someone noticed damage another houskeeper didn't.

Nicholas

Hadn't heard that happen before, but I got charged for PPV by mistake two years ago -- no idea how -- but they took off the charge after I called them. Have a look at your credit card bill just in case.

sharptalk

They have called 3 times in last than 2 weeks. They sent a letter with blurry pictures in black and white and a bill for $195. Yesterday they had a "police officer" call. I asked for written details of the investigation, his name and badge number. He wouldn't give me the info and told me to call someone at the hotel at a certain extension as he was only doing the hotel a courtesy. My lawyer called that number to make further inquiries and was given the run around. (It was the hotel's number.) There was no damage in the room when we checked in or out. Also, we have pictures we took of the suite and we realized last night that the furniture in the 2 pictures is not the same. Our charge card has not been billed yet.