My husband and I stayed at the Waikoloa Village for 8 nights through our Hilton Honors Points and it was the best vacation yet, and we've had some great ones. The resort is beautiful, our room was comfortable and clean (we asked to have our room changed to the Ocean Tower and they accomodated our request with an ocean view room). It is off season, the hotel was only 1/3 full and from what we heard the economy is really struggling like everywhere else. We read all the negative reviews prior to going, and were somewhat nervous, but once we arrived, and were greeted by a delightful young lady that accomodated all of our check in needs our minds were put to rest. All of the employees we came across were friendly, hospitable and more than helpful. The shuttle and boats were both working, yes, somewhat slow, but we were on vacation and had no timeframes to meet. We enjoyed riding on both, it was relaxing after a long day of sightseeing. We only spent one full day at the resort, we were so busy seeing the island, discovering tucked away beaches, small towns and enjoying the fantastic snorkeling. As a Hilton Gold Member we had access to the "hilton executive lounge area" that gave us a free continental breakfast, snacks during the day and a happy hour (reduced prices) in the evening. We ate one meal at the resort, at the provision company on our last evening which was actually very good, we had 2 drinks ($11.50 martinis) our entire stay at the resort. Arriving in Kona, we bought a styrofoam cooler at K-mart, beer, wine and the mixings for margaritas, that took care of us for the week. Gas is $4.00/gallon, we had a costco card and the gas there was $3.80. We ate at some great restaurants, The Fish Hopper-kona, Huggos-great caesar salad with fresh ono, Merriman's (at the King Shops) and the restaurant at the golf course across the street that serves tappas. There is a a new restaurant in Waimea? called Huli Sue's, we had a great pulled pork lunch with some local brew, reasonably priced and delicious. There is also a marina about 2 miles from the airport that has the coldest, biggest, cheapest beer on the island. The food isn't bad either, all local fishermen/women coming in for a cold one after a long day. very interesting group! Overall, our trip was fantastic, we made the most of the time we were there, enjoyed every minute of every day and are anxious to book our next hilton vacation, next time in maui. Take advantage of this resort, it is well worth the trip. Relaxe, and take the resort for what is has to offer, nothing is perfect, but this is close to it!

Hello Everyone!

This may be long. We traveled with my wife and my 15month old daughter.

Resort - We stayed at the Hilton last week from April 6th through the 12th. The location is good but it's not what we expected. We traveled to Oahu twice and this part of the island is not green like you see in the pictures. This resort is actually built on lava rock. The landscape driving to the hotel actually reminded us of home in Phoenix. The staff was friendly and our room was very nice. We stayed in Ocean Tower and had a golf course view with ocean view in the distance.

Getting around - Getting around the 70+ acre resort is somewhat tricky. They have boats and a tram system that takes you to at least 5 different stops. The second to last day on of the trams was down so only one was in service. The wait time could be more than 15mins. The boat service was slow as well. If you have something planned then you may want to walk.

Parking - Parking is $12 per day for Self Park. We didn't want to pay the extra money for them to park our car.

Food - The restaurants are very expensive on the resort. We only eat on the resort one time. We went to the local grocery store and purchased food items to help reduce the cost of food. It worked out perfectly. There is a star bucks and fast food not to far from the resort.

Kona - If you have a rental car I would recommend taking a day trip down to Kona. It's about a 25-30 min drive south on 19. They have great restaurants and shops.

Attractions - They do have dolphins on site and you can pay high $$$$ to interact with them. I would highly recommend that. Also, we went Whale Watching and saw three humpback whales. I would recommend using Capt Dan M. for your whale watching. He has over 30+ years in the business and gives you great knowledge of whales. It was an amazing experience. When we went he had over 120 days in a row of sittings. :) That's amazing.

I would defiantly recommend this hotel to anyone.

Good luck!

First, let me say that I have never written a negative review about anything, much less a hotel. I always try to find something to like. But from the moment I arrived at the Hilton Waikoloa, I was disappointed. The person checking us in was incredibly rude and could not find our reservation, so we asked if perhaps it had been misspelled. She insisted it was not. She then goes to her manager to see if we can STILL stay at the hotel (it is now 8 pm), manager says "yes", but she then informs us that we will have to pay for two rooms if there is indeed a reservation under the wrong name (which would have of course been the hotel's fault). Whatever happened to Rule #1, the customer is always right? Well, guess what. After our insistence that she try multiple spellings of the last name, she finds it, but is still rude about it. And folks, I am a nice person. This transaction left us exhausted. We go to the room where we see this cute little stuffed dolphin on the bed that my son immediately hugs and wants to keep, only to discover it will cost $15! He is in tears. So the fun just keeps going. It is a long walk to anywhere, although you can wait for a tram or boat. There is nothing as far as entertainment at night, with the exception of a jazz singer (who was lovely) and the bars close at midnight on a weekend. Did I mention that the water in the pool was FREEZING? Too cold to swim in. Our mantra during our 2 day stay was "we're never coming back, we're never coming back, we're never coming back."

I agree with one other review recently done and feel I must add my own review of our recent stay at this property. My husband, myself and our two children ages 12 and 11 had an absolutely wonderful stay at this hotel. We arrived on March 22nd (late arrival) and stayed 6 nights. There must not have been any conventions going on, due to the Easter holiday, during our stay because the resort never felt crowded to us at any time. The staff on the trams, boats, front desk, and restaurant staff were all pleasant and friendly. The trams do have stands at their many stops which will tell you how many minutes it will be before the next one arrives. I never saw the wait times greater than 8 minutes and many times it arrived at our tower as we were leaving to go somewhere. The boats were a very pleasant ride to any destination on the resort. If you are on a strict time schedule and do not want to wait for the available transportation, we found it a little shorter/faster to walk through the 'center' garden walkways to our destinations rather than to walk along the art walk hallways (which btw is past flamingoes and georgous gardens). Our room was in the palace tower, and had a view of the golf course. I rarely heard any birds in the morning but nothing I would consider annoying by any means. THE ONLY negative of our stay was that unfortunately I did see two cockroaches near the coffeemaker and that was disappointing. We rented a car and did eat some meals elsewhere, but the Sunday brunch at Kameuela Provision Company was fantastic! As we sat down at our table overlooking the ocean we saw a mother whale and her baby right in front of us! Beautiful ocean views from that restaurant. The pools are beautiful and we had no trouble getting towels. We did use self parking to save some money but it definitely is necessary to use bellservice to get your luggage to your rooms. That worked out well for us. And some suggestions to bring as snacks help keep down the cost of meals. We brought our oun coffee filters and coffee to avoid the charge by the hotel to use their coffee. But you can use the coffee maker to make ramen noodles, tea, oatmeal, and other snacks. The in room fridge came in handy too.People who have complained about housekeeping may not have noticed the little card on the nightstand which states if you want towels replaced just leave the dirty ones on the floor and they will replace them, also the little card must be placed on your bed in order to have the sheets changed. Not difficult to do, and we had no housekeeping problems. If you want a peaceful, calm and relaxing stay at a Hawaiian resort this would be my first pick by a longshot! We really enjoyed our stay and hated to leave.