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[ARCHIVE to 2015] Hilton Waikoloa Village {US-HI}

Old Jan 26, 2014, 12:41 pm
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[ARCHIVE to 2015] Hilton Waikoloa Village {US-HI}

Old Oct 5, 2005, 12:40 pm
  #2311  
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: long beach,ca
Programs: hilton diamond, hyatt platimum,best western diamond elite
Posts: 189
Went there i sept and was really disappointed.....upkeep on the place terrible!

(note i have been there 4 other times!).....boats peeling paint..water dirty...even "elvis the barracuda" sign knocked over for the 10 days i was there

i'll be going to sheridan from now on, since my wife just got downdraded from gold.......
alfaman is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2005, 8:32 am
  #2312  
 
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 321
Re the OP asking if 4 nights is too long/not enough:
It depends on how you feel about that part of the Big Island. If you're the type who never wants to leave the resort, 4 days should be plenty. But if you want to experience the Big Island, or even just the Kona (west) Coast where the resort is, you will want more time. It's called the Big Island for good reason. Distances are vast and from Waikoloa you are minimum 30 minutes drive (and up to 3 hours' drive) from anything of significance.
LAXGUY is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2005, 10:46 am
  #2313  
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Mt. Laurel, NJ USA
Programs: Hyatt Explorist, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond
Posts: 156
Any recent info on the Wiakoloa Village (Big Isalnd)

Here is a belated trip report from our stay the first week in August:
PART 1
Flight: We left Philadelphia on a United flight and had a 3 hour layover in SFO. I was worried about United given their recent financial woes. No reason to worry-all flights left on time. We had wonderful service going out. Our 17 y/o son had enough miles to upgrade to first class (while sister and parenst sat in the cheap seats). The cheap seats were overbooked in SFO, so I graciously offered to volunteer for the rest of our family to be upgraded to first class for the SFO-KOA leg to keep S company-request cheerfully accepted! SFO airport has some interesting food court options that made the layover bearable.

The Big Island pre-HWV-We were staying at HWV on 2 GLON awards for 6 nights. We decided to spend the first 3 nights staying elsewhere and circumnavigating the island. First night was at the Outrigger Keauhou resort-a plesant surprise-while rooms were basic, the resort has an awesome bar area with entertainment that juts out over the Pacific. It is next to a beach with a large sea turtle population-fun to watch. At $129 per night, we thought it was a good value. Next, we drove to Volcano and spent 2 nights at the Kiluea Lodge bed and breakfast. Very nice restaurant and rooms (although teenagers went through withdrawal when they saw no phone and tv in room). Drive to Volcano was beautiful. We stopped at Greenfield coffee and had a fun tour-enjoyed stop at Surfin ... for delicious chocolates known as "Donkey Balls-also stopped at Bong Brothers coffee where we got a nasty salesperson who complained about "people like you" tainting the BI with Walmart (not sure why-maybe because we were tourists)

Volcano was fun-watching the lava flow at night was awesome! Restaurant at the Lodge put congratulatory messages to acknowledge daugher's 19th birthday and our anniversary on the menu for that night-very cool! Great pizza/pasta place near the B & B. We also met the owners of the Volcano teapot Cottage who seemed very nice and have great reviews on tripadvisor.

Left Volcano and drove over the Hilo-stopped at Big Island Candies (great coffee and cookie samples)-also stopped at the Farmer's Market in Hilo where kids got souvenirs for friends back home very cheaply and adults bought fresh fruit. Scenic drive out of Hilo, Akakaka Falls and the "What's Shakin" smoothie stand all were great (as were the malasadas at Tex Drive-in-can you tell I do my food research before we travel?) Drove across Waimea area to Hilton on coast, therefore completing our round the island tour-trip around the island highly recommended if you have the time!

Hilton in a nutshell-great room, good food, very mixed service. Part 2 (to be continued).
BXIAN is offline  
Old Oct 8, 2005, 1:16 pm
  #2314  
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: PHL/KOA - SU '03 M BB NCAA Champs/Phillies '08 WS Champs/Eagles '18 SB Champs
Programs: AA EXP (3MM)/HH Diamond
Posts: 684
Originally Posted by BXIAN
Hilton in a nutshell-great room, good food, very mixed service. Part 2 (to be continued).

Great report - looking forward to part 2 re: HWV. We'll be there for 11 nights starting right after Christmas.
tudorcity is offline  
Old Oct 9, 2005, 5:41 am
  #2315  
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: NC
Programs: Delta Diamond/3MM; Hyatt Globalist; Hilton Diamond; Hertz PC
Posts: 382
Originally Posted by BXIAN
the malasadas at Tex Drive-in
Those are awesome; you did do your research. I can't wait until we're back there in April!
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Old Oct 9, 2005, 4:08 pm
  #2316  
 
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Scottsdale, AZ, USA-Hilton/Silver, Starwood, Marriott/Silver
Posts: 177
There was no damage to the room. We have reported the incident to Corporate Hilton with no reply. We reported it to customer service at Hhonors with no reply to us. We reported it to Kona Chamber of Commerce with no response to us back from Hilton Waikoloa. We will be filing with consumer protection at the attorney general's office, the BBB and Conde Nast ombudsman.
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Old Oct 9, 2005, 7:24 pm
  #2317  
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Mt. Laurel, NJ USA
Programs: Hyatt Explorist, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond
Posts: 156
Any recent info on the Wiakoloa Village (Big Isalnd)

Part 2-Hilton WV
There was good, bad and ugly during our stay. One of the good parts was being upgraded to two connecting Ocean View rooms overlooking the golf course and the Pacific even though our stay was an award stay. On a day without clouds, we looked out and could see Maui!

Check-in went smoothly even though it was Saturday afternoon and the lobby was mobbed. We were suposed to get a bottle of champagne in honor of our anniversary plus an amenityfrom the new Diamond amenity program that Hillton had just rolled out. I picked the spa amenity (samples of the on-site spa products) for our room and free Internet for the teenager room. We got to the rooms to find no champagne and no Diamond amenities. I made a polite call to the front desk, was switched around many times. Everyone who looked at my profile acknowleged we were supposed to get the champagne and Diamond amenities, but did not want to take resposibility for fixing the problem. Hours later, while we were out at dinner, the champagne, a bottle of wine, and a fruit platter showed up together with the spa products and Internet package.
We had made dinner reservations 3 months ahead of time at the Kamuela Provision Company. We waited an hour and one half to be seated. Things seemed quite out of control. They had no table for us and kept aplogizing, but could not seem to find us a table. The bartender at the wine bar was wonderful-chatted with us and gave us complimentary pours of his best wines, which we appreciated. Once seated, the meal took forever to come out-and mine (seafood bouillabase) was mediocre. Free dessert-nice gesture, but if they were better organized, they would not have had to offer us anything. We ran out to watch the sunset-an awesome view from that location-it is great to stand to the right or left of the dining area and watch the sun set.

Sunday-brunch in Waimea at Daniel Thiebaut-usually a pricey restaurant, but Sunday Brunch is reasonably priced and has a guy on a keyboard playing music. We bought a discounted gift certificate on EBay from HawaiiSavers before we left for Hawaii and saved even more. I discovered that I loved Kona cofee...a lot (usually drink tea). Took about 1/2 hour fto drive there rom the hotel. In the afternoon, we lazed around the pool. The adult pool by the Ocean Tower has comfortable cushy lounge chairs, but the pool itself is small-we spent the rest of our stay at the Lagoon pool for the most part because it had waterfalls and a slide and was close to the spa. 19 year old daughter and I loved stopping in at the spa for a steam/jacuzzi and a shower using the yummy smelling spa products after a day at the pool. Diamond members can use the spa for free. We all took advantage of this-we all worked out (19 y/o daugther got there at 7 AM each day-we almost fell over-uncharacteristic early rising for our college student!)-also used the steam room and jacuzzi a lot. Husband and I went over to get a tour of the spa on Sunday. We were so full from brunch on Sunday that we did not have dinner-just snacked on the fresh veggies and cheese in the Exec. Lounge. We liked the lounge-food was good-at times, birds would fly in and out if kids would feed them, but this was mostly in the front off to the side. It did not bother us.
Monday-first Exec. Lounge breakfast-tasty fresh fruit, bagels and pastries-ample so long as you don't need a hot meal. In the morning, H and I did the timeshare tour (our first) so that H and S could get a free round of golf for their afternoon tee time. i went in knowing that we would not buy-to my shock-, H seemed interested-we did not buy, but I came home and joined the Timeshare User's Group online so I could educate myself on timeshares and avoid overpaying if we purchase down the road. D and I spent more time around the pool that day and had snacks by the pool for lunch while H and S had fun playing golf. . D and I made beautiful floral leis at the cart by the main lobby-$15 each, which I thought was a fair price. We had dinner at Roy's-good fresh fish. The restaurant is located in the King's shops-fun for an hour's browse-but we all concluded that it was not worth more time than that. If you like Dairy Queen (a treat for us, because there are none near home), there is one in the food court there. That night, 17 y/o son went out to the hot tub and met some kids his own age to hang with, so he would go swimming or play sand vollyball after dinner most nights.
Tuesday-as we were celebrating our anniversary, H and I treated ourselves to a couples massage in the cabana overlooking the ocean-very pricey, but it was pure bliss-being kneaded into a noodle-like state with the sound of the waves crashing beneath you-we told the kids that we had a romantic dinner at Donatoni's planned and said that they could get room service or eat out-they chose to eat out at the Chinese restaurant above us and then surprised us by coming down to have dessert with us. Guess we're not so bad as parents after all! The food at Dontoni's was wonderful.
Wednesday-Exec. Lounge breakfast and then ATV Outfitters Adventure Tour-we voted as a family before we left-picked one excursion to do-H, S and D picked the ATV ride, so my snorkeling idea was out-voted. I was so timid on the ATV that they almost did not let me ride-we ended up having a blast! We rode through beautiful fields overlooking the ocean and hiked down to a waterfall-a highlight of the trip. We found the ATV Outfitters trip in the "Big Island Revealed" book-which I used a lot to plan our trip. We also bought gift certificates from Hawaiisavers on EBay which brought the price of our excursion down quite a bit (although we got discounts on all 4 tickets, be forewarned that ATV Outfitters is not keen on this and would like to limit the coupon usage to 2 per family-they were nice to us, but I believe they had words with HawaiiSavers about this). We had a late lunch/early dinner at Cafe Pesto in Kaiwae Harbor, about 15 minutes north of the Hilton-great pizza and salad! Then back to the hotel for more pool time.
Thuesday-more pool time-our last night in Hawaii -we had dinner at the Japanese restaurant-decent food but not phenomenal-ever since the kids first went to Disney World and fell in love with the Teppanaki Grill, we make it a point to try teppanaki-style restaurants if convenient when on vacation.

The tram broke at various points during our stay. There were never any signs posted to indicate that it was not operational, and no one from the hotel staff was ever around to ask any questions when a malfunction occured. I felt sorry for older guests or foreign tourists who may have had difficulty getting around. The paths are not well-marked-although the walk from the Ocean Tower to the Lagoon tower is interesting (lots of art and beautiful views) , it took me until 2/3 of our stay was over to learn how to get to these points via the walkway. The people running the boats were friendly and helpful. For the most part, the people running the trams were not.
The concierge staff was pretty mediocre overall-did not seem overly interested in doing anything other than making in-house dinner reservations. Even then, some acted like they were doing you a big favor if you called to ask to verify a reservation time. A notable exception was the wonderfully cheerful young lady who staffed the adult Ocan Tower pool towel area-she actually had set up a book swap,so you could read and then trade for another book when you were done. She called each guest by name and was a pleasure to deal with.
We had lots of trouble getting an Internet hook-up-we had gotten it for our kids as part of the Diamond amenity package, but no one knew how to set it up-we made about 8 phone calls-it was supposed to be a hookup to use the internet for several days for free-they finally threw their hands up and told us to use the regular costly set-up and they would take it off our bill. Unfortunately, our experience with Internet hook-up exemplified the "its not my problem" attitude that we saw in a lot of the staff members. There were some gems (notably, the Ocean pool towel person, the wonderful hardworking people in housekeeping, and both bartenders we encountered at the wine bar of the Kamuela provision Company), but overall the staff needs work. One young woman in the spa who worked behind the desk said they had problems with people calling in sick.
Despite the customer service glitches, we had a great time and found the resort and the entire island to be beautiful). We all agreed that it was the best family vacation we ever had!
Actually, Hawaii did not end the vacation-we spent a quick 2 nights at the San Francisco Hilton where we had WONDERFUL customer service-I had e-mailed the hotel that D was celebrating her 19th birthday that weekend-they upgraded us to a lovely suite on the 43rd floor with incredible views of the City and treated D to a lovely birthday cake with her name written in chocolate. Everyone at the hotel was wonderful-if a housekeeper saw you in the hall,they always said hello even when a bit of a distance away. We wished that we had more time there-they Hilton WV should send its staff to SF Hilton for lessons on how to make guests feel welcome!
BXIAN is offline  
Old Oct 10, 2005, 12:00 pm
  #2318  
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Orange County, CA
Programs: HH Gold, Hyatt Plat, AA Gold
Posts: 129
Just Returned on 10/7

Originally Posted by MBM3
I am curious to know about the actual level of construction/refurbishment - I just made a reservation for early November and got a notice that something was going on but everything would be open.
Just returned from my 3rd annual stay at the HWV on an ALON2 cert. As there are plenty of other trip reports on this site, thought I would just give a quick construction update. Upon check-in was assigned a typical room in the Palace tower since that is where the Gold Lounge is. I prefer either of the other towers to the Palace and requested another room. Because I have 2 small children, we have typically requested a 1st floor room in Ocean tower facing golf course/putting course so that we can open the slider and let the kids run around outside. Was told 1st floor in Ocean tower was under construction. 2nd Floor in Lagoon Tower was also closed for tile work. Ended up with a nice room in the Lagoon Tower overlooking the Dolphins. Saw very little construction. The buffet restaurant was closed for a few nights, but was open again by the time we left. Rooms have been updated with new furnishings and bedding. So other than some specifc floors being closed, we really didn't notice any construction. Service was excellent, no doubt helped by the fact that the resort was less than 60% occupied.
OCTraveler is offline  
Old Oct 10, 2005, 4:52 pm
  #2319  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Dallas, TX, USA
Posts: 651
Ignore it

If you didn't damage the room then just don't pay the bill.....

Sounds like you've already spent more than $195 worth of time on the matter.
MacDaddie is offline  
Old Oct 11, 2005, 12:00 am
  #2320  
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Cerritos, CA
Programs: AA Plat; HH Gold; Marriott Silver; UCLA Fan
Posts: 798
Originally Posted by alfaman
Went there i sept and was really disappointed.....upkeep on the place terrible!

(note i have been there 4 other times!).....boats peeling paint..water dirty...even "elvis the barracuda" sign knocked over for the 10 days i was there

i'll be going to sheridan from now on, since my wife just got downdraded from gold.......
Where is the sheridan? I might want to go there too.
srk123 is offline  
Old Oct 11, 2005, 7:42 am
  #2321  
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Coppell, Texas
Posts: 1,014
Originally Posted by 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.
Isn't this why the hotel has problems with people using points. You get to stay free and can't spend any money there. I believe some should be given back. The Sheraton is in Kona oppositie direction of Waikoloa.
milesrus is offline  
Old Oct 14, 2005, 8:48 pm
  #2322  
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Programs: United 1k ; SW A+ Preferred; Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 634
We stayed there with "points" for a week last March It was great - the room was just fine, no peeling paint, etc.

You can spend as much money as you want, staying on points or not.
ryerflyer is offline  
Old Oct 15, 2005, 3:11 am
  #2323  
cjd
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Newcastle, UK
Posts: 2,378
Originally Posted by 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.
I received an unknown charge on my credit card from a Hampton Inn last year. Upon checking with HHonors and eventually Hilton Corporation, I was told the charge was for damage in the room. Allegedly, there was damage to a picture and we had placed the microwave in the bath! Complete and utter nonsense. After several e-mails disputing these accusations and the fact they charged them to my credit card without any reference or explanation to me at all, I was refunded the charges and also refunded the room rate for my stay as I was 100% dissatisfied with my stay at that Hampton Inn after that ridiculous saga. It does however show that hotels make mistakes and can easily charge credit cards whatever they want. Getting these errors corrected is a lot of hassle on our part when they shouldn't occur in the first place.
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Old Oct 28, 2005, 9:27 am
  #2324  
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Columbus, OH, USA
Posts: 13
My Hilton Waikoloa Village Experience

I spent last week at the HWV on my honeymoon. I'm a diamond, and I booked the trip using points.

We checked in and self-parked. Had the bellman take our bags to the room while I checked in. I was given an ocean view room in the Ocean Tower with executive lounge access, two water coupons out of the minibar, and was told that we'd have free access to the workout facilities at the Kohlala Spa, by showing my membership card at the desk.

Got to the room, everything looked good, the view was pretty nice. I called the desk and asked if they could send up a dorm fridge. They agreed, and we went out to explore the hotel. The place is huge, so plan on walking a LOT. From our room to the front desk is a 10 minute walk. The tram is only marginally faster. I don't mind walking, and I think almost all of us could use more exercise. When we got back to the room, the fridge was there, along with a fresh fruit plate and a welcome letter from the hotel.

We planned on a lot of activities and day trips, so we went grocery shopping to stock the fridge with lunch and snack foods. The KTA in Waimea is about 15-20 minutes away, and they had everything we needed, including beer. NOTE---You will look out of place taking groceries/cases of beer into this hotel. If you choose to go this route, bring an empty bag to put the goods in.

The executive lounge was well stocked for breakfast and cocktail hours. Breakfast had fresh fruit, bagels, cereal, croissants, muffins, pastries, and yogurt. Cocktail hour had beer and wine for sale, veggie trays, hot snacks, and pop. I was never there for lunch. We never had a problem finding a seat, inside or out.

The parking lot filled up early in the evening, and there were several times that I had to valet park. I politely told the front desk that the lot was full, and they comped my valet charges every time.

The only disappointment I had was with the restaurants. I found the food to be average at best, and ridiculously overpriced. If you want to eat locally, go to the Kings Shops, and eat at any of the restaurants there. Roy's, the steak house, and the chinese restaurant there are all pretty good. The best meal we had was at Huggo's in downtown Kona. Definitely make a reservation, and ask for a table by the ocean.

This is unrelated to the Hilton, but the only other problem we had was with the local trash that hangs out in downtown Kona around Ali'i Drive. It seemed like we couldn't walk a block without dealing with locals leering at and making comments to my new wife or hitting us up for money. The junk in the Kona shops isn't worth the hassle; you can buy most of it at the airport gift shops. I'd shop somewhere else.

On check-out, we were never charged for valet parking, the fridge, or the in-room safe (the instructions state that there is a daily fee, but it doesn't say what it is.). We were very happy with our experience, and wouldn't hesitate to come back.

There is a lot to do at the hotel. So much so, that you could spend a week there, never leave the hotel, and have a good time. Don't do this. The island is huge, and there's a lot to see and do and learn. Get out and do things on the island, then come back when you're tired and enjoy the hotel. You'll have a great time.
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Old Oct 28, 2005, 9:40 am
  #2325  
doc
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: May 1999
Posts: 46,817
Thanks for the nice report. FWIW, there have been several reports here on FT, that this hotel is slowing moving downscale somewhat, and they are, I believe, accurate. Yet we still like it very much. It was wonderful when it was a Hyatt, and also was great during the early Hilton years, yet it must cost a fortune to operate, so the temptation to perhaps cut a few corners to help their bottom line must be immense. In any case, glad you had a great time! And best wishes to you!

Mark
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