Visited 11/19/12 - 11/23/12. Good location, easy walk into town. The hotel is older and looks dated but was clean. The staff is friendly. The clientele mostly seems to be senior citizens who have been returning here for years. The beds are only inner spring, no pillow top so for me very uncomfortable. The bathroom is not vented (personal pet peeve), not well stocked with towels unless requested, & they do not provide conditioner (pet peeve again). The pool is quite small, there is no hot tub & the pool towels are the size of bath towels. Don's Mai Tai Bar truly does have the best Mai Tais (try the sampler). The drawback is the luau. While it is nice to be able to watch the show for free from poolside or from our balcony, it is incredibly LOUD. It could be heard through our closed door every night until 10pm because once the luau ended, practice began. A gentleman we met who had stayed here 2 weeks is now ready to never attend/hear another luau again after hearing this one so often. It only took us 3 nights and we were glad to be leaving. Overall, I would not plan to stay here again, I prefer a little more luxury and amenities on vacation.

My sister and I visited the Royal Kona Resort for 10 days from Nov 22 to Dec 2. We have been to over 10 different hotels in various tropical locations and this is our favourite so far. If you are looking for a fancy hotel you will want to look somewhere else. If you are looking for a nice hotel with a great atmosphere, nice surroundings, friendly staff and no faults in our opinion than this is your place. We are already planning our return.

The location can’t be beat as it is on Ali'i drive and walking distance to everything. The hotel is very clean and has a wonderful Hawaiian atmosphere. Our room was perfect, clean and had a fantastic view of the ocean.

Rooms are very sound proof and we couldn't hear any noises from other rooms. We could only hear the ocean and listening to the waves crash against the rocks at nice is a lovely way to fall asleep.

Staff is very friendly and always willing to help you out. The people at the activity desk were exceptionally helpful in answering any questions. She even goggled something for us to make sure she gave us the right answer. She is a very sweet lady and we benefited from her help.

Parking is $10 a day but definitely worth it. There were always lots of spaces to park in and it was handy having the vehicle so close. Wireless is also $10 a day which we did not purchase. Instead we bought ourselves a coffee from Java on the Rocks a few steps away and used their wireless a few times to save money.

I would definately reccomend this hotel and am planning to visit again! We stayed in the Ali'i tower.

We travel quite a bit since the kids have left the nest and so we have stayed in many hotels, resorts, and dive boats. This hotel makes every effort to make sure you are happy. The first night we were here, the bar noise floated into our room until about 2am. The hotel moved us the next day and they were very gracious and understanding. They also sent us a bottle of cider to our room to celebrate our 39th anniversary!

Although some say the age of the hotel bothers them, the age doesn't take away from the location and the great service. As long as a building is kept in good repair, the age shouldn't be an issue.

We also like how close the hotel is from the airport. After flying for 7 hours, it's nice to unpack and start having fun right away!

We stayed for 6 nights in September and could not really fault this hotel. The location was great, with an amazing sea view from our room, free parking is available on a first come first served basis but we always found a spot no problem, there is also extra paid parking at only $10 per day. The rooms are fairly basic but clean and spacious with everything you need for a comfortable stay, the staff were helpful and courteous.
It may lack some of the amenities of the big 5 star resorts, but at the fraction of the cost and in a much better location on the edge of the lovely Kona town itself (the Hilton would have cost us over 4x as much and is stuck out in the middle of nowhere) it really is fantastic value for money and there is so much to see and do on big island the hotel has anything you need.
I cannot comment on the eateries at the resort as the location meant that there were so many options we never had chance.
If I return to big island in the future it would take a pretty special deal to make me pick a different hotel. We had a great stay at the royal Kona and would recommend it to anyone.