We stayed at this place because our flight was delayed due to engine issues. I have to say- the initial smell when you entered the lobby reminded me of places that try to mask the smell by spraying scents. The room was disappointing. I noticed another reviewer added photos of the mold coming out of the vents, so I won't bother with mine. It gave us all the creeps. I used the shower and was grossed out by the mold build up on the inside of the curtain. The furnishings were old and tacky varnish coating- the tv had the worst reception-mostly blue and green hues on the picture. As I looked around I kept thinking that some of the issues could be so easily taken care of by proper cleaning. The hotel is in a great location for people who want to be in the hub of the action. It is a shame it has so much potential but is reduced to a "by the hour" type of hotel, if you get my drift. Don't stay there- we were thrilled we didn't have any issues with bed bugs etc.

When booking our room online, we knew it was an older hotel. We expected some dated furniture and some wear to be showing, but we were not prepared for the filth we encountered. Walking into the lobby one is greeted with the overwhelming smell of nursing home (urine + industrial cleaner). Our second clue should have been when waiting to check in a family in front of us were changing their room for the third time in as many nights. As other reviews have noted, the hallways and elevators are filthy. Our room had stained carpet, mold growing out of the air conditioning vent, and stained upholstery. The louvered closet doors were covered in fuzzy grime, and spatters of what looked suspiciously like blood were on the bathroom door. Every handle and knob on every drawer and door had a ring of grime around it. Our "partial view" balcony had a complete view of old diapers that had been tossed off another balcony onto the hotel roof a few stories below. They had been there for some time. The final straw was pulling back the bedding to find a boot print and blood smear on the sheets.

They offered us another room (?!) and finally they agreed to give us our money back and help us book a room at another hotel.

When we stayed at the King Kamehameha hotel I felt that I had stepped back to the 60’s. When we first stepped into the room the face of my 9 year old daughter dropped, she didn’t want to stay there. The room smelled clean but that was the ONLY good part. Furniture looked like it just came from Goodwill, peeling rattan furniture with VINYL cushions, the headboard also had VINYL padding, one corner of the room was cracked – there was a gap in the wallpaper from floor to ceiling and the carpet was stained in several places. We were on the 2nd floor and our view was the rooftop of the mostly unoccupied shops on the hotel property and it was littered with cigarette butts, we noticed it because a few were still burning. The balcony was furnished with rusting, chipped metal chairs so it made it look even more uninviting. THE WORST part of all was the mattresses on the beds…box springs were stained and old, the top mattress on one of the beds looked newer but the other bed had an old stained mattress WITH A WOODEN BOARD PUT IN BETWEEN THE MATRESS AND THE BOX SPRING!!! I couldn’t believe my eyes and still can’t believe that a hotel would do this!!!!!! This is the first time that I stayed in a hotel and had a hard time walking after the 2nd night there because my back was killing me. We took our daughter swimming in the GREEN tinged pool with broken tiles all around the edges and were constantly shooing away annoying flies. This is one of the only hotels (besides the Naniloa in Hilo) that we stayed in where we couldn’t wait to check out and go home!
We have already said that we will NEVER stay here again!

We were thrilled to travel to Kona to see our daughter compete in the Ironman Triathlon. The hotel is ground zero for the race: the swim start is at the beach and bulkhead next to the hotel, the bikes are adjacent to the hotel (so both transitions take place there). The finish line is right outside the front entrance to the hotel. The Ironman banquets take over the tennis courts and some parking lots. If you are a guest at the hotel, all you do is roll out of bed at 4 am to get ready for the competition or stake out a place along the course to view the race. These would be the ONLY reasons to stay there.
My daughter arrived first and called us on the East coast and told us to bring our own sheets. The top sheets did not go all the way to the end of the bed. Hawaiian style? I guess! Agree on all the points about the smelly carpets, lurching elevators, and ungracious staff. I'm sure the staff has heard countless stories from dissatisfied guests, especially during the Ironman. Not the worst part, but certainly adding to the experience, was the room rate during the Ironman week--2x the standard.