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Since 1993, Castle Resorts & Hotels has specialized in innovative hotel and resort management. We manage properties throughout the Hawaiian Islands, including Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and Hawaii Island, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. Accommodations range from full-service hotels to resort condominiums and combines value, convenience, and authentic experiences.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Modern
Family
Languages Spoken
English
Location
69-1029 Nawahine Place, Puako, Island of Hawaii, HI 96738-5748
Castle Hali'i Kai At Waikoloa
4.4 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
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Our family of 5 stayed at Castle Hali'i Kai and it was absolutely amazing!! I would highly recommend staying here if you get the chance-it is a gated condo resort area and felt quieter-they have a beautiful pool area and workout facility that is right on the ocean!! Check in was easy and so was check out. The condo was perfect for our family-the only downside was that our condo was in building A which is a little ways from the pool and workout facility but it was an easy drive or walk. Everything was very clean and kept up. The workers at the pool and restaurant were very friendly and helpful. There is some great shopping and a great beach within a few minute drive.
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Date of stay: July 2024
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Trip type: Travelled with family
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.
Stayed at Hali'i Kai for 2 weeks during Ironman. 7 of us stayed in a 3 bed villa, ample size for all of us with good facilities in the villa; WiFi, dishwasher, washer & dryer. Very clean on arrival. Short walk to the pool and ocean front walks. Shops nearby for essentials and 35 minute drive in to Kona Only downside was advertised as having a sofa bed which it didn't but they brought us a blow up mattress. Beautiful setting, lovely meals at the ocean club. Staff were always friendly and helpful
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Date of stay: October 2022Trip type: Travelled with family
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.
Next to impossible to find any improvements to recommend in this holiday home. Every kitchen appliance you could imagine, fine glasses for indoor use and others in the kit of picnic gear. And chairs and rattan mats to complete your picnic environment. Choose a book to take along, or any of a variety of games and toys for children to enjoy at the beach. The beds and linens are of the finest quality, and the beach towels are sumptuous. A very short walk to the pool make splash times easy to achieve. Highly efficient and welcoming unit layout makes family holiday time easy to organize. Thanks to Peggy Yelland (and the cleaning staff)for her care in ensuring everything is in excellent order.
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Date of stay: October 2022
Value
Location
Service
Room Tip:Consult the info binder early for best use of time.
Wonderful laundry facilites including soap...
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.
Just getting home from a wonderful week on "The big island" with my hubs and 4 kids. We chose the Halii Kai for the same reasons most people will, it's advertised as a condo like unit with amenities in a good location for a reasonable (* Hawaii Reasonable*) price. There are some little details that I need to share that I didn't see in any other reviews that I hope will help others booking after me make a more informed decision. First and foremost the unit was clean and in a great location. We had a partial ocean view and while the mattress was firm and the furniture a little worn I felt that the property managers did a decent job keeping the place up. We were given 2 remotes for the gate and a keycode for the door. The office hours are 10am to 6pm so make sure you get extra coffee and creamer at your check-in because there isn't anyone on site "after hours" to get anything you may run out of like trash bags, towels, etc. There is no cleaning service at all. This place is not a resort. They do not have a concierge, front desk, or maid service, this is a VRBO style place so they set it and forget it. Also, our A/C stopped working the night before we checked out so by 9:00 am the next morning it was 86 degrees in our unit. We are frequent travelers so I know upfront that there will be resort fees in addition to the points used to book the unit and I am OK with that. What I am not ok with is additional cleaning fees and surcharges not listed on the website ($400 worth) that we were told about and charged for during check-in. After having flown for 11 hours and faced with that additional charge I just bit my lip and let them give me the "Chase, Expedia and the Owners had this negotiation" spiel. The issue isn't their negotiation but that no where on my reservation was this extra charge explained and the way it was presented gave the impression that this is a very common occurrence. It shouldn't be.
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Date of stay: October 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:Ocean club has great fish tacos.
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.
I contacted the property two weeks prior to my stay to inform them that we would be arriving late in the evening. I received a response confirming that there would be no issue, with no further instructions provided. However, upon our late-night arrival, we found no one at the reception desk and no way to contact the hotel until 10:00 AM the next morning (!) Even reaching out to Booking.com was useless, as it turns out the person communicating with guests via Booking on behalf of the hotel isn’t even a hotel employee, but an external agent located in another country, with no ability to contact the hotel in real-time.
This is utterly unacceptable. We were forced to take a taxi and find another place to stay in the middle of the night, which cost us approximately $600. The next morning at 10:00 AM, when we finally spoke to the front desk, we were told we should have received an email with instructions to access the property through Booking’s chat. Needless to say, no such email was ever sent, and despite contacting the property directly, all I received was a response that "everything was fine."
The receptionist admitted she had no idea why the agent had given us such a response and promised to look into it (not that it would help us at that point). We were also promised that the charges for the first night and the cleaning fees would be refunded via Booking. To this day, despite numerous messages to Booking.com, we haven’t received any response or refund.
This entire experience, both with the hotel and Booking.com, has been absolutely abysmal. I would not recommend staying here under any circumstances.
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Date of stay: October 2024
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Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Terrible Experience – Completely Unacceptable Service
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.
We stayed at Hali’i Kai in Waikōloa for two weeks. The property manager, Michelle, at Kohala Coast Properties was outstanding and very helpful. We had to extend our trip by one day to accommodate an unexpected flight change. Michelle was extremely helpful in getting booking us for an additional night at the last minute and even answered her phone after hours.
The reason for the two star rating is because of an issue caused by the staff at Hali’i Kai. We dropped our two access cards in the drop box at the front office at approximately 8:45am on the day of our departure. I took photos of me dropping the access cards in the box just in case something happened and they tried to say we didn’t return the cards. There was no one at the office at the time and the sign said they would not return until 10.
Sure enough, we received a call from Sadie at the front office at Hali’i Kai that only one card was returned. We insisted that we returned both cards and I offered to send them the pics of me returning the cards. Despite all of this, she insisted that we would be charged $50 for a lost card.
After a lot of back and forth, my wife got on the phone and insisted that Sadie check the box again. This also took quite a bit of convincing as Sadie had said she just checked it. Finally, she decided to check the drop box again. After being on hold for several minutes, Sadie let us know she had found the card stuck to the bottom of the drop box. No apology from her, just a “thank you for your persistence” before she hung up.
If the front office isn’t going to be staffed and the drop box is not reliable, they should consider another system of returning the access cards. Or, at the very least, be more willing to double check the drop box. The fact that we had to repeatedly insist that the card was in there and ask her to check the box again was very frustrating. Had we not been so persistent, we would have been charged $50 for a card we did not lose. I would highly suggest that other guests take video of the cards being dropped into the box and to make sure the card numbers are visible when doing so.
Other than that, our stay was fine. The condo was nice and mostly well equipped for a two week stay. There are some pretty draconian rules at the pool and it isn’t really great place if you have active kids. They should consider making it an adult or senior citizen pool.
Due to the “no fun zone” at the pool and the failure of the staff at the front desk to properly account for the returned access cards, I will not be staying here again. We’ve been coming to the Big Island for many years and have never had these issues with any of our other stays.
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Date of stay: January 2024Trip type: Travelled with family
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.
I am giving this an average review because there were both good and bad aspects. The main issue with this resort is that it needs to decide if it is a 55+ resort or a family friendly resort. I think they want to attract families to fill their 3 bedroom condos but the atmosphere is not family friendly at all. Kids were not allowed to bring any toys in the pool; but older adults were allowed to use pool noodles. No outside drinks or food permitted at the pool including coffee cups. The pool could be described as a "No Fun Zone." Our kids got yelled at several times by older adults (60+) staying at the resort. One morning my sister had her one year old outside on the grass at 7:40 (20 mins before quiet time officially ended) and her and her husband got yelled at the lady upstairs, in fact she told my brother-in-law to go back to his country because he had a European accent. My mom spent a ton of money renting three of their condos for our family to be there for two weeks and we enjoyed the location and the restaurant and the amenities but not the atmosphere. To be clear we were not a party group and were regularly in bed before 9 PM. On a side note my husband did get bitten by a centipede in our bed. If you are in a ground floor unit I would suggest not relying on screens to keep bugs out. This is especially an issue right after they do heavy watering as we all found centipedes the next day.
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Date of stay: December 2021
Location
Cleanliness
Service
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.
The Waikoloa beach has plenty of resorts, including the likes of Marriot, Hilton, etc but they get booked quickly especially if you're traveling for a conference. This place Halii Kai is quite close to Hilton and Marriot (<5 min drive). We stayed in a 2B2B unit. The unit is centrally air-conditioned, it's a must given the temperatures. They provide you with some towels, washing machines, and beach equipment including chairs, balls, surfboards, even sunscreens, etc. There is no coffee or food available like in a typical Airbnb so plan to bring your own. The living room had a smart TV. The rooms are average (with smart TV), nowhere comparable to Hilton or Marriot. The backyard has a barbecue and opens into a golf course on the side of which is the pacific ocean and the morning view is amazing. If you're lucky you can spot some whales (I was not, unfortunately!)
There is an Ocean's club exclusive for anyone staying in this resort and it has an amazing vibe in the evening - live music, pools, spa, and food on top of a nice beachside view.
The bummer part is that there is no breakfast available and this is the only place serving food and opens only 11 am-8 pm.
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Date of stay: January 2023
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Cleanliness
Service
Trip type: Travelled on business
Room Tip:Choose a resort with unit no. < 14 to get beachside view. We took 12C which was walking to the...
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.
The location is beautiful and the condo is lovely. But I am paying to be in Hawaii in a condo so I can make my own meals and drinks. The pool does not allow any drinks even water bottles or snacks. You must buy their extremely expensive subpar drinks. The staff is rude, aggressive, unfriendly and unprofessional. I spent over $100 on drinks at the pool and was treated like garbage. When did treating customers like they owe you something become the way to succeed? If this poolside bar wants to have people come back they would consider a significant change in the treatment of their patrons and policies. I will not return to a place where I have been ignored, talked down to and witnessed other people being disrespected. The staff at the pool ruined our afternoon. We will never come back to Halii Kai. I hope the property owners think through the way these disrespectful staff at the pool in the resort complex they own homes in, are impacting their real estate investment. I will never return.
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Date of stay: February 2022Trip type: Travelled with friends
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.
Stayed here for the a few days. Condo was nice, pool was excellent. In general, this condo complex is very nice, gated community. The rooms were clean. Grounds were beautiful. The pool is exactly what you are looking for in Hawaii with great view of the ocean and that tropic vibe. Pool bar had good food and drinks too. There is a small open-air gym as well. There are plenty of good restaurants in the area as well.
We did run into a couple problems so be careful when choosing a room. We went with 24D because it had advertised a King and 2 Queen beds. When we got there though it only had the King and 2 small double beds which made it uncomfortable to sleep. There were a couple lights out but I found extra bulbs in the closet to fix that. The TV in the master bedroom did not work but no big deal as there was one in the living room. The front desk also tried to charge us an extra $300 on check-in even though we paid in full before arriving. This took a day but was resolve and we got our $300 back.
So I would recommend these condos but beware of the possible issues when booking.
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Date of stay: September 2024
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
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.
Yes the pool area is friendly, accommodating and available to guests. Units are individually owned and only a few go through Castle. Check out 11F at Waikoloa Vacation Rentals for example.
The water bottle rule results from people bringing in closed containers of alcohol which was discovered by the Authorities and the Club was given a huge fine. So no closed containers .... otherwise we would need someone checking every water bottle! Ugh!
Hi, Yes there is poolside cocktail service. Halii Kai is the ONLY condo complex in Waikoloa Beach area offering that. The hotels offer it of course, but none of the other condos. There's a full-service restaurant/bar at the pool with a happy hour. The food is very good and reasonable for the island. Of our 4 stays at Halii Kai, we try to make day 1 a pool day as we adjust to the time change and recover from traveling. Just eat, drink and be merry while in the pool looking at the ocean. Then pay for the whole day at the end of the day. My fave part!
Nope, no relationship between resorts. Hilton wouldn’t dare associate with these folks. Weird cultural appropriation ceremony at sunset performed by elderly white folk. Better off staying elsewhere for families.
There are more places to choose from in the Puako area.
PRICE RANGE
AU$557 - AU$905 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
halii kai resort at waikoloa beach hotel waikoloa
LOCATION
United StatesHawaiiIsland of HawaiiKohala CoastPuako
NUMBER OF ROOMS
192
Prices are provided by our partners for one room, with variable occupancy rules as provided by the property, and reflect total costs of the stay, including all taxes and fees known to our partners. Please see our partners for more details.
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