dublin487

FWIW I had a four night AXON stay in July and received points for room charges ( with the promotion bonus too!)

zachary

As I recall, I had to email/call to get points on incidentals on one award stay. Others have posted automatically. But when I called/emailed, the points were posted.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

My points from room charges posted automatically a few days after my stay in May.

Regards

TBS

eltex

How was the stay? We will be staying this time next year, I just like to hear any tips about your trip.

Thanks

TransCon1

I will be writing a detailed review. I short, I was disappointed with the service and the property. I was particularly unhappy with my treatment as a Diamond. I only stayed here because availability at the Grand Wailea disappeared on the day of the devaluation. GW is a MUCH better property. Didn't have to fight (actually fight, wait four day,s fight again, then hve to go to the general managers office) to get the upgrade I was supposed to get there like I did at the Waikoloa Village. Tired room, ants, lame A/C, lame overpriced retaurants, on and on. I think my tip is to stay somewhere else. The big island, however, was great and really interesting -- our first time there.

Filthy Monkey

I'm heading there in just under a month. Having stayed at the GW last year, it will be interesting to compare the two. I managed to get a ridiculous deal on a Presidential suite, at 77,000 points per night, so that should soften the blow slightly if it's not up to the same standard as the GW. Any tips on what to do on the big island...?

linsj

Check the Hawaii forum. LOTS of info there.

Filthy Monkey

Damn, I didn't even know there was a Hawaii forum!! Thanks

eltex

The hawaii forum here is okay, but I must admit the one over at tripadvisor is awesome. They have them subdivided by island, and they have lots of favorite questions already answered in a sort of FAQ, which is located on the right column of each forum page. I have found that site invaluable for my plans, and this site is awesome for the travel arrangements. I will just be glad to dump all my hilton points. Based on all the changes, it just seems like hilton points are fast approaching zero value. If you have them, pick good times and values for them, but for acquiring new ones, the value of them is too low to accrue.

billinghamn

I've copied across my review of this hotel from a recent stay from another thread in a different forum - hope it helps others considering staying at this hotel.

Stayed here twice in a trip to Hawaii recently. First time asked for an upgrade to the Ocean Tower with a view of the sunset which was difficult to organize - the staff weren't that helpful but we sorted them in the end. Initially wasn't that impressed with this place, but it grew on us - it wasn't very busy and it was good value for money.

Second stay was for a single night and I asked for an upgrade to the Lagoon Tower with the refurbished rooms which were much better. Overlooking the dolphins was a nice touch, and it felt very homely the second time.

The area around the hotel is beautiful - one of the nicest settings. We tried Lava Lava for dinner one evening which was lovely. Although I don't recommend walking down the road back to the hotel, where there is no lighting - we were lucky there was very little traffic, but I had images of us making the headlines in the papers the following day for all the wrong reasons!

Expensive for parking your car.

Definitely choose a Lagoon Tower upgrade in future, and I would definitely go back to this hotel even though it has a strong Disney feel/family orientation.

brp

This is a bit of an odd bag booking for most on this forum, but the stay review is relevant.

We stayed on AA miles, which are supposed to incur the $25 resort fee (unlike HHonors stays, which don't). I worked with a customer service person a few months ago who indicated that it could not be waived, even for Diamond. At the time, I had a paid stay held. In the end, using the AA miles, there was no Resort Fee charged.

He helped us get an upgraded, 5th floor, ocean view room with two Queens in the Lagoon Tower. We overlooked the pool, dolphins and ocean. We could see the sunset to our left, and not quite see the sunrise (the orb itself) to the right. Overall, a fabulous room and with a great view.

We got 2 x $10 coupons per day (so 6 total) for the 3-day stay, in lieu of breakfast, as others have said. Since there are definitely better places for breakfast, we used them for drinks in the evening (there are better places to drink, but it was fun sitting and watching the Dolphin experience). Also used one for coffee at the Waikoloa Coffee place.

Snorkeling in the lagoon in front of the hotel was quite nice in terms of fish.turtle spotting.

Overall, we preferred the rooms and feeling at the nearby Hilton Bay Club (HGVC) and will likely get some points there to complement the ones we have with Hilton in New York. But this is a very nice location and facility as well.

Cheers.

linsj

Had another great stay for 5 nights last week. At least a week before I arrived, I was upgraded from a partial oceanview room to a full oceanview room on the top floor of Ocean Tower. Contrary to the complaints of other people about the long walk to the lobby and then the parking lot, I like being in that tower and walking the museum walkway.

One change from last year: The business center is now a UPS Store and charges by the minute to use the computer to print from a USB drive. (I used less than 2 minutes, charged 85 cents. Last year there was no charge for the computer.) Printing is 49 cents/page.

All of the staff I interacted with were friendly and helpful. I used my $10 vouchers three times for breakfast; ordered off the menu. Each time the service was slow; didn't appear to be enough wait staff.

Even though I was moving to Kings' Land, I booked the volcano tour while there to get the Honors points.

Roblal

We are going for a week in may 2014 any input would be great. We have three choices for rooms. Ocean view in beach tower 1060 ft2 66,000 points a night, or royal suite in palace tower 1900 ft2 for 46,000 a night, or regular room in lagoon tower 530 ft2 40,000 a night. thanks

Westcoaster

Beach tower? I know they have the Lagoon, Palace, and Ocean towers. Is the name "beach" tower from the website or ???

Also you might give us more info about your priorities. What's most important to you -- lots of space or a nice ocean view or proximity to the dolphins or what? The HWV is very spread out so the location of the tower could be important depending on who is in your party. Reading through this thread, at least the entries from the last year or two, could also help you make your decision.

linsj

Beach tower doesn't exist. Do you mean ocean tower?