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Reviewed 31 October 2012

I went there with my fiancé for a little more than a week. We loved this place. Here are some of the positives and negatives from our perspective:
Positives:
- The Grounds: The grounds are amazing - the waterfalls, the walkways, the landscaping, the views and the art. We loved roaming around the grounds. I should note that we are young and love to walk. Some people may find the walk exhausting if their hotel room is located far away from the lobby. It took us 10-15 mins to make our way from our hotel room to the main lobby. I recommend the Lagoon Tower if you do not want to walk - it is almost right next to the lobby. Although, the monorail and boat are a nice touch. They are not particularly fast but the experience is enjoyable.
- The Room: We had a room in the Ocean Tower (note that this tower was farthest from the lobby) with a gorgeous view of the ocean as well as some amazing sunrises and sunsets. Our room was incredibly spacious and had everything that we could possibly want.
- The Pools: This was one of the main reasons we chose the hotel. They have numerous pools and each one is different. We loved pool hopping. My fiancé (who is now my husband by the way) loved the slides.
- Shuttle - There is a shuttle ($2) that runs to some nearby shopping plazas every 15 mins. The shops themselves are nothing to write home about but I'm a girl and I need regular retail therapy. There is also a free shuttle service to the beach upon request.
- Cocktails - On a personal note, I liked all the little hawaiian themed cocktails.

Negatives
- The Food: We were not thrilled about the food. They are many options but they are, for the most part, average in terms of food and expensive in terms of price. I thought the Lagoon Grill had the best food. It closes a little early but service was quick and always with a smile while the food was inexpensive and pretty decent. I also didn't mind the Cantina.
- The Disney Feel: There is a bit of a Disney (not authentic) feel but we were not horribly bothered by it. It does attract a lot of children who ruin the romantic ambiance but that is a personal opinion.
- A Lot of Add-Ons: Everything comes with a (huge) extra cost. It is hard to stay on a budget but with a lot of dedication we managed and had a great time!!!

Date of stay: January 2012
  • Trip type: Travelled as a couple
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3  Thank MagicalRhyme
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 30 October 2012

First, we were on one of Hilton's "seven days, six nights and a car" sales offers, so it was just my wife and myself; and since we are both well past retirement age, we didn't really sample all the resort has to offer. With that in mind, here are our impressions of the resort: 1) The concierge staff was outstanding. Our "Vacation coordinator" spent a full hour with us going over the things we might want to do on the Big Island. 2) We weren't very pleased with the hotel's decision to put us in an "out-back" room with a view roughly half golf course and half construction yard -- especially since we had spent well over $2,000 just getting there to listen to their sales pitch. We arrived too late the first night (day one of our seven) to argue about the view, so we just partially unpacked and went to bed (right after I had man-handled the 100-pound mattress far enough off the box springs to get access to a power outlet for my medical equipment). However, when we approached the in-hotel concierge the next morning, she was very gracious and gave us a free "upgrade" to an identical room on the lagoon side. That gave us an enjoyable view for the rest of the week, and the housekeeping staff installed an extension cord and brought us an electric teapot. If the hotel had been even slightly busy that week, we might have been more willing to accept the second-class room; but since they were barely 50% full, it seemed reasonable to ask why they would put us out back and seriously hope we would go to their sales meeting in any mood to buy a timeshare. But I digress! 3) The sales meeting itself was actually enjoyable; and their offer was very enticing. However, they made it clear at the outset that if we didn't commit to a purchase that very day, the offer was no longer valid. Being fairly conservative folks, we declined the offer and walked away at the end of the meeting. On further reflection that evening and throughout the week, we decided that it actually would have been a good purchase, but we took them at their word and didn't try to reopen negotiations. (Dear Mr Hilton: consider giving us 24 hours to think it over -- your sales might go up dramatically!) 4) Overall, though, the resort itself was very enjoyable; and a family with young kids would have a ball there. The staff was always friendly and anxious to please. We liked the boat and tram transportation systems, and most of the restaurants were consistently good. Be sure to try the little coffee shop at the Ocean Tower end of the tram run: the breakfast croissants and the chocolate cookies were outstanding!

Room tip: If you are there for the sales meeting, ask for a Lagoon-view room in the Palace Tower.
Date of stay: September 2012
  • Trip type: Travelled as a couple
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1  Thank GeezerBunny
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 30 October 2012

We stayed at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott for 5 days and our AA flight was cancelled so they booked us a free night at the Hilton Waikoloa Village. Too bad we didn't stay at the Hilton for the entire trip!! This is truly a 5 star hotel!! The hotel has a light rail train that stops IN THE LOBBY!! It has that Harry Potter feel!! You ride the train to other areas of the property. It has 5 stops I believe and is easy to find your way around & very ultra modern. We arrived late at night and didn't eat at the restaurants but we did have a breakfast buffet the next morning in the main area that we were directed to. The breakfast was awesome and I'm sure overpriced but it was compliments of American Airlines. Our room was very spacious, much larger than the rooms at the Marriott. Our room number was 3024 and it had a lanai that was open to a beautiful garden area. The room was very large with a comfortable king bed and the a/c was perfect. NO COMPLAINTS!! It was very quiet, did not hear any children or adults in our area. Explored the hotel the majority of the next day. It has a beautiful man made rock waterfall that you can walk under and take pictures as well as swimming areas that are plentiful. We enjoyed watching visitors swim with the dolphins & feed them while one of the employees filmed it. They housed 8 to 10 dolphins and two of them had babies a couple of weeks old with one dolphin expecting to deliver any day we were told. There is lots of asian art to look at and exotic African Crowned Cranes walking around that you can take pictures of. Spectacular view of the beach and ocean!! There is also a canal for boat rides that run beside the light rail train. Thanks to our cancelled flight we got to experience this magnificent hotel. If we ever go back to the Big Island, we will definately stay here!!! Loved it!!!

Room tip: Room 3024 was very large with access to a beautiful garden and golf course.
Date of stay: October 2012
  • Trip type: Travelled with friends
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1  Thank jennymc_11
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 30 October 2012

We stayed at this resort for a week. There are 3 sections of hotel towers: Lagoon, Palace, and Ocean. Lagoon is closest to shops and lobby. Ocean is closest to restaurants and also very high in density. Palace is quieter and more private. There are boats and rail that take you from tower to tower or you can walk. It took us 19 mins to walk from Palace tower to the parking lot.

The main decor of the property is statues, mostly Asian theme. What I find disturbing is that they are not coordinated. For example, you'll find a Chinese artifact on one side of the wall and the Egyptian painting right across. They will have a Hawaiian beach dancing painting next to a Thai statue. In my humble opinion, they have way too many statues and they have overdone the decor without any coordination effort. Also, a lot of the statues represent some history of the Asian culture but there are no labels describing any of them.

This resort has many restaurants but all over-priced. Be prepare to pay $6 for a cup of coffee. The closest place you can get reasonable price food and grocery is Queen Marketplace or King's Shops a few miles down the road.

With the excessive decors in the property, one would imagine the room will have some nice decor too. It is not! The rooms are extremely simple, slightly better than a very nice Hampton Inn.

Perhaps I had higher expectation before I came. Afterall, this is Hawaii right? And the room rate per night is $240. We arrived on Fri afternoon and we drove up the drive way to drop our luggage. The bell man came to help with my luggage and disappeared. I thought he had taken my luggage to the front desk area. I went looking for him because I wanted to hand him some tips but then when I found out that my luggage was actually sitting unattended next to a bench by the front door, I decided to keep the tips.

The front desk service is mediocre too. The check-in was pretty normal and I didn't feel any special welcome at the reception. The lobby was full of people and pretty noisy. To me, the Kona Airport has a better welcoming atmosphere than this resort. :-)

There is no free Internet or parking at the property so you are looking at addition $30 per day to your stay.

The parking lot is huge but not all the rows are marked. It can be a challenge trying to locate your car if you don't memorize exactly where you park.

If you can't stand cockroaches, don't stay here. One night we were walking in the property and I saw a pretty good size cockroach in the garden, not too far from the restaurant. That yikes me!

Oh, don't bother about the Luau here. The performance was average and they pretty much rushed you through your meal. When the performance is over around 8:30pm, the food and beverage sections are closed. We didn't even get to use our second drink voucher!

Last thing - always check your bill. When we checked out, there was one restaurant item in our bill that didn't belong to us. Apparently someone signed the restaurant bill to their room but the clerk in Hilton entered the wrong room number in the system and it came to us.

Overall, it is a nice property if you don't have high expectation. If you have kids they probably would enjoy the dolphin education or snorkeling the property offers. Other than that, nothing much to shout about.

Date of stay: October 2012
  • Trip type: Travelled as a couple
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5  Thank codebeans
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 30 October 2012

I write my reviews based on being a travel consultant and as a consumer (my husband traveled with me one night of my three night stay in this case).
Pros: - large, renovated rooms in the Lagoon tower
- Deluxe Ocean/Lagoon view rooms are worth it to see the dolphins every morning, that was a huge highlight for me! Kids would LOVE this!
- The Hilton's balconies were some of the largest I saw (we did site inspections of multiple resorts in Kona)
-Large rooms!
-Again, I think the Lagoon tower would be worth any extra costs; location is ideal for everything
- Monorail or boat service throughout the resort for those who do not like to walk/or unable to walk comfortably
- All the staff I encountered were fantastic!
- Hilton works really well with travel consultants - so use one, the perks are worth it!
- We were fortunate enough to experience a 'reception' at the Hilton - they did an amazing job; it was well staffed, there were plenty of food stations, drink stations, etc so if you're considering for a wedding reception, rest assured, they can handle it (we had around 180 people)

Cons:
- In our good-sized group of consultants staying there; I think we all confirmed that only the bar/lounge is open after about 8 or 9PM (this is pretty typical Hawaii though)
- Even the sundries shop isn't open until 730AM and closes before 9:30 or 10PM, but the staff will go out of their way to get you any necessities!
- the birds. I wasn't sure if I would mention this in my review but I think it's worth just mentioning. There are birds at the resort (not one's they brought in!) they are extremely loud at 4AM then again at sunset; it's the oddest thing - they are working on trying to naturally get them to leave...we asked if people complain about it & they said not as often as you'd think which makes sense because you forget about it until it happens again. I only heard them in the morning because I was waking up at east coast time; other people said they woke them up but the pillows are fabulous and will block out any noise :)

Overall, I think it's a great resort for families!

Date of stay: October 2012
  • Trip type: Travelled on business
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3  Thank Heather C
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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