we stayed the new years at the marriott waikoloa resort. to our dismay, we found the place not much better than a howard johnson motel located on the beach. it certainly is not a luxury resort. food basic and ample. we got a newly refurbished room that had excellent beds, but we were annoyed by a lot of little things like bathroom doors that did not stay closed, the main room door that took a lot of effort to open due to apparent poor fit to the frame, a very noisy air conditioning system, a tiny bathroom that can only accommodate one person at a time, and the drabbest rugs we have seen since having lived in eastern europe four decades ago. the construction stopped for the weekend, thank goodness. it is unlikely to be finished before the summer of 2007, and that is an optomistic assessment of the local planning director.

We got a terrific "remodeling" rate on the Marriott website (log into the site as a member first to see the rate) which included free parking, 1/2 day snorkeling and 2 free drinks each day.

Yes, there is a lot of reconstruction going on in the pool and lobby areas but we could hardly tell from the beach or pool areas. All the rooms are remodeled and the staff said there is no chance at this point of getting an old room or one in the construction zone. As you can see from the photos - the rooms are really nice and spacious.

We, too, were hesitant when we booked but I'm glad we took the chance!

Just returned yesterday from a Big Island stay which included the last five nights at the Waikoloa Marriott. Don't plan on this being your typical overall "resort experience". My wife and I were surprised that they even try to keep it open during all of this renovation. Our ocean view room was great, on the inside, but we overlooked a courtyard with ongoing construction projects and a huge overflowing construction dumpster and were woken one morning by construction noise. This view repeats itself from the balcony of the restaurant and lounge area as you look over the new infinity pool they are building.
The beach is nice and a decent place to spend a day, but the snorkeling is way below average due to low visibility, although the numerous turtles in the water were unique. There is great snorkeling South of Kona at either Captain Cook or the bay next to the state park at City of Refuge, so if you're looking for snorkeling, go there.
If you are like us and you just use it as a base of operations and a place to sleep while you see all of the unique things this island has to offer; and you don't pay too much, then you'll probably be content.
If you are planning on kicking back and spending most of your time on the property, forget about it, you probably will be disappointed.
By the way, as we were checking out, we overheard one of the front desk clerks telling some other guests that the construction would probably be done in June of 07 - contrary to the latest update on the website which says March.

We stayed here from the 14th to the 19th October. This turned out to be more memorable than we ever envisaged because of the earthquake. I am just grateful we were staying at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa. First of all we were in an ocean fronted room on the 6th floor and had just got dressed ready to go down for breakfast when the quake hit. I cannot praise the response of the staff highly enough, they were fantastic when you think they had homes and family affected too. Now to the hotel, Ok construction is going on and you can't miss it but this didn't cause us a problem, it may have done if we hadn't got special promotional rates off Marriott's web site. The hotel is about 20 miles from Kona and a bit less from the airport, a car is a must I would say. It took us about 3 hours to drive to the Volcano's National Park anti clockwise and about 2,5 clockwise but who cares we were on holiday.