tinkybelle

I had a third(ground out of the tram) floor room in the ocean tower and the view of the water was wonderful BUT I leave my door open at night and the NOISE the towel trollies make at 5am is frightening.
The breakfast and nibbles at night in the exec lounge is VERY ordinary.
The pool and the lovely tents at the adult pool is worth the effort.
Take out a loan if you want a three course and wine in most of the restaurants.
I wouldnt bother with the seafood????????buffet in the smorgasboard restaurant.
Dont get me wrong-I did like the stay and the hotel
-its just a bit too big for the personal/staff issues to be controlled

yyzflyer

Thanks for the review, NeverAtHome. You've helped with our decision for this summer.

You're right about those Can-pesos too!

pinniped

No kidding - our first night there we ate at the Italian place. I found it to be way, way overpriced with a rather uncreative menu. The $42 lamb chop they served me was okay, but I could have done better on my backyard grill. Wife had spaghetti bolognese for $24 and she also thought it was okay - something she could probably beat with a recipe off the Internet. I was more offended at how little effort was being put into making this place special than I was with the prices themselves. Want to charge me $42 for a lamb chop? Fine - but make sure it's the best lamb chop on the face of the earth. $24 for spaghetti bolognese? Okay - but you had better have an Italian grandmother back there in the kitchen making it! We left unsatisfied with the rather bland meal and average service with which it was delivered.

We didn't even order wine: not that we are winesnobs or anything, but we recognized most of the bottles on the list and recognized that they were overpriced by about 75% compared to what the usually go for in a restaurant. I drank a beer with my $42 lamb chop.

FFSaver

From reading all these posts, HWV doesn't sound very attractive, especially for non-rev vistors I'm going there on a TEEN award very shortly.

luddgang

Hi FFSaver, be sure to post a quick trip report if you get a second when you get back from your trip.

I will be there mid Aug.

Tenacious

I have an ALON award booked in mid-May and am hoping that this is before peak occupancy hits. I'm curious to see if the trip reports coming from off peak periods have better luck with upgrades and ammenities.

patricia

Now I am worried..I am scheduled for spring break at the HWV after saving up those 100,000 points I will be real disappointed to face a service road.

SECKART

Thank you all for the reassurance! It did say award certificate redemption on the e-mail I received, I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a major hidden charge I was unaware of. Thanks again!

FFSaver

BTW, does anybody know if we can take the hotel towels to the beaches outside HWV or do we have to "bring" our own?

luv2go

Re the towels: When we were there in april, took a day trip to Hapuna Beach (minutes away) Nearly everyone there it seemed had the teal and white stripe HWV towels!

InHoc

As of 3 weeks ago, they make you sign a form agreeing to pay $35 per towel that is not returned by the end of the day. They were not very diligent about enforcing, IMHO.

eDiveBuddy

We just returned from two weeks in Hawaii.

I'm a gold member with 39 nights last year. I made the reservations in October of 2002. This stay was from Jan 5 to Jan 11. I paid for a two-night stay last January at the HWV

Both rooms were in the Ocean tower. One had lounge access one did not.

Even though I was the only HHonors member, we were provided with 24 breakfast coupons, and 12 free bottled water coupons. I rarely ever use the lounge other than to get a cup of coffee and a pastry in the AM and as we could upgrade to a full buffet breakfast for $6.95 we never even made it to the lounge. Actually we could not even verify that they had one. There was also welcome back amenity for us. It was a fruit plate consisting of 1 pear, 1 orange, 1 red apple, 1 green apple, and a bunch of grapes.

There was no real difference in the two rooms other than the view. I let my wife pick the room she wanted and she preferred the one without. She did notice that the shampoo provided was from the Spa in the other room though. She did end up paying $10.50 for an 8-oz bottle of it. I did not know this until the day we were leaving or I would have tried to get the room stocked with this as well. The wife now says that they also had "icky" robes in the other room.

I can not see how one could get a better view than that from the Ocean Tower. View of the Bay, Lagoon, and as the name implies, the Ocean. The sunsets if you happen to be in your room are spectacular. Try for a room in the xx60's to xx80's. I would try for the low 60's to low 70's, as waking up to see the whales from your bed is a great start to the day.

As far as activities, there are no hammocks on the Lagoon Tower side of the resort. A vacation for me just does not seem complete with out one. There are about five hammocks on the Ocean Tower side of the resort. The Seaside putting course is also at the Ocean Tower

The Kohala Spa, Red Sail Sports, Tennis Courts, Dolphin Quest, And Lagoon Tower Shops are all at or near the Lagoon Tower.

There are pools with waterslides connected by rivers for the kids on the Ocean Tower side. Use the stairs by the laundry facility to get there, it's shorter from most of the Ocean Tower.

As mentioned before, the adult's only pool is at the Ocean Tower. Basic pool (not square), little wind, plenty of sun, and it gets HOT there. I don't sunbathe, but my wife and best friend's wife do and it was too hot for me. I tried to keep them company once and could not stand the heat for long. No forms to sign for towels and I know my wife brought one back to the room twice and left them overnight. If you want your favorite rum filled drink at this pool, you'll have to get it yourself though.

Next to the Lagoon Tower there is a Huge pool with a waterfall. It also has a sandy bottom wadding pool for the real young ones.

There is a southward-facing beach on the lagoon. It is your standard resort beach just on a lagoon. The lagoon itself is saltwater with open access to the bay. I believe that it's also spring fed as there was plenty of cold water mixing with relatively warm water. There are plenty of fish in the lagoon for you who snorkel. Green sea turtles also call the lagoon/bay home. If you snorkel in the bay, watch the rocks and surge.

I take my own scuba gear on vacation but I did notice that there was rental gear available. They rent by the half-hour, hour, daily or weekly. I can only remember the daily rate at $21 a day and $31 a week. I'd go buy a cheap snorkel package and give them away before I left before I'd ever pay that price.

May I also recommend Huggo's in Kona for Dinner. Make reservations early to get there before sunset.

debo_nair

Is the Hilton property close to Volcano National park?

l etoile

No, it's about a three-hour drive o/w.

smk219

The drive is long but is well worth it. The hotel is great and the Volcano is a must see. That being said, make a dinner reservation (definitely call ahead) at the Kei Cafe for dinner on your way home. The food is amazing (the restaurant is the size of a two car garage) and is incredibly cheap but bring cash because they don't take any plastic.