My husband remembers visiting the Hilton Waikoloa in the 80s when it was new. He was super excited to bring our son here. They have now converted part of the ocean towers into Hilton club, which is where we stayed. To say this is underwhelming would be an understatement. The unit itself is very nice, a two bedroom, with two bathrooms, fully equipped kitchen, and two patios. That is pretty much where the niceness stops, though the staff has also been very lovely and attentive when we have needed assistance. Unlike most club properties you cannot access the building with your car. That means that you have to park over a half a mile away and schlep back-and-forth. While some people may come to the Hilton and never leave, we are the type that likes to go dine out, visit beaches, etc. Yes another option is to ride a really slow little train, that seems to wait forever at each little station. It can take 20 minutes to get from your hotel room to your car at this property. Another big downside is that this summer the one hot tub on a property of over 1000 hotel rooms is closed! And the big slide that they are famous for its also closed. Of course none of this was revealed in advance. Something else that really seems to be missing on the club property are outdoor dining options. It seems like two of their hotel restaurants are closed while 2 pool bars and a single small grill is open. It also seems like a serious oversight to not have any grills or patio tables available for families to use outside. When we visit other club properties we always purchase steaks and burgers in advance. Now we’re on the hook for nice steaks which we will have to cook indoors on a crappy peeling Teflon pan that is warped since that’s all the club provided. It is disappointing that they also have decided that any sort of shade provided for people who did not opt to pay for a casabella is unnecessary. Most properties have a mix of umbrellas or Palapas style shade for free seating around the pool, as well as sun for people who would like it. This property has zero umbrellas or Palapas for any pool seating anywhere on the entire property. Again this seems shocking since there are over 1000 hotel rooms here. It seems like this is a property in transition, that they are upgrading as they go. But already have some club units available seems a little weird, given that a lot of things are a bit shabby around the edges and the amenities are seriously incomplete. Pictured here is the one slide that is open for children.…
Stayed at OT celebrating my 30 year wedding anniversary. Everything was perfect. We had a newly renovated studio with view of the ocean and Mauna Kea. Any issues we had were quickly resolved by HGV staff. The grounds are well maintained and the sunset view every night is amazing. Overall a very positive experience for my first use of my HGVC membership. I highly recommend this property. But keep in mind this is a large resort property. You can get around on the tram or canal boats but you should not be in a hurry. Just relax and enjoy. Thanks for a great vacation HGV!!
The entire Hilton Waikoloa Village is the definition of a mega resort. And if that is your cup of tea then it's great - if the idea of a hotel with 1200+ rooms over 62 acres is overwhelming well - welcome to my mind. It's a lovely hotel - however the 3 separate towers to the uninformed/uninitiated is super overwhelming upon arrival. After one night it was fine - it was just that first feeling and it was a lot after a long flight from SFO. We opted to walk from the main lobby to the Ocean Tower - the hotel has done a nice job of engaging the guest with the collection of art and views of the property and ocean. Check-in at the Ocean Tower was relatively quick and uneventful. Our bags arrived from the bell desk in a timely manner. Our ocean front room was nice - albeit an odd shape - the bed sat in the "corner" of the room - but I must say the ocean front view was spectacular. Below us was an expansive lawn area, Buddha point and the ocean - picture perfect. During sunset families would play and picnic on the lawn - it was pleasant with minimal kid screams. Where this hotel is struggling is with staff - not all restaurants are open, you need to budget your day to make sure and accommodate what spots are open and when to make sure you get a meal. The coffee place in the Ocean Tower does their very very best to accommodate 1+ tower worth of guests for morning coffee (one morning there were 26 people in line behind my husband at 6:30am). We were at the hotel for a wedding so our stay was relatively short and purposeful. The adult pool is wonderful - quiet. calm, pleasant, and plenty of pool chairs with a towel machine right next to the stairs. It would be great if there was a bar closer then the next pool. All in all the Ocean Tower with an ocean front room is wonderful and management has done a decent job of putting what limited resources they have where the guests need them most. Management is doing the best they can in these trying times to staff a hotel of such size.…
The resort itself is expansive with beautiful views. However, I'm VERY surprised to see that this hotel is rated 4 stars. Customer service at the front desk was either very pleasant and helpful or downright rude and condescending. The resort fee is a little sketch and they charge hotel guests for everything! Parking $39/day. Don't return your pool towel? $20. Unfortunately, we did not have an updated room and it showed. The rooms are huge, yet the beds are small (doubles), damp & mildew-y, and our room in particular had a slow drain that would "burp" randomly throughout the night - had the hotel engineer/plumber come twice to not be able to fix it. The activities offered are first come first serve, so unless you want to wait in line an hour before the activity starts, you're out of luck.…
We were lucky enough to get an amazing updated room. It wasn’t high up, but we still had a partial ocean view. . There were a few marks on the walls, but otherwise, it was great. There was a small kitchen with new a new fridge and lots of food storage. The bathroom was modern and even had a Toto toilet. The king sized bed was comfy and clean. Sadly, that’s where my good review ends. The hotel charges you for EVERYTHING. Parking is $39 per day, in addition to a daily resort fee. If you want to take the shuttle to the market down the street, it’s $5 each way per person. There are only a handful of free beach chairs by the lagoon, but there are plenty of for-pay seats. The on-sight store is insane too. $5 for a pint of milk? What?! If you stay here, plan at least an extra $100 for mandatory charges, per day. I must say my experience is also influenced by the worst customer service I’ve experienced from a hotel chain. The main hotel staff looked like they’d rather work anywhere else. The bellman was visibly mad when I said I’d manage my own bag. The front desk staff was curt and explained nothing about the hotel upon check in. But, none of that compares to the salesman at the condo sales presentation. We came here on a Vacation Club Package. After seeing the room, we had lots of questions and were interested in learning more. Unfortunately, the sales presentation was awful. Our salesman started insulting us for using a package to come to the resort and bullying us to buy ten minutes into our talk. He actually told us he didn’t care about our “situation” or how we like to travel. We were either there to buy or not. By the end of the exceedingly long 90 minutes about how great he is, we knew his whole life story and nothing about Hilton. The final straw was when he walked us out and said, “If you ever get offered a package like this again, don’t take it. Don’t waste someone else’s time.” Never ever again.…
We stayed at the hotel for a Few days after 2 weeks on the island at a rental . So luckily this wasn’t our main vacation spot . It’s awful . Rooms are rundown , check in wasn’t ready , staff appear miserable and overworked. Everything is ten years past when they should have stopped using it, beds, towels , sheets , furniture. Gross carpet , mold in bathroom .
I checked in 7/25/2022 and got assigned to Room#1087 at ocean tower. This room is straight out of 1980’s, and never remodeled or refreshed since the day it built. I am very surprised this is how Hilton wants to impress guests at Big Island Waikoloa. I paid Hilton price but received an experience less than any motel 6. The two front desk receptionists on the morning shift of 7/26 trained to be deceiving guests. Renovated rooms are available to check in on Hilton website, but told me no such room available to switch. I suppose to stay for five nights but checked out on the next morning on 7/26/2022. Stay away from Hilton Waikoloa village
Absolutely beautiful ground, landscaping, views, location but rooms are very rundown, dirty and smelly. Carpet was hard to walk without sleepers. Would not stay again. Staff was very friendly and helpful.
The resort overall is quite beautiful and well maintained. The main hotel had been booked 6 months out and we spent 18 nights in the Ocean Tower. Let me tell you the pictures flashing at the top of this header are not representative of the room we had or any of the rooms throughout the majority of the three towers. Perhaps 25% of the rooms have been renovated to that level , white the reminder are late 1980/early 1990 decor with popcorn ceilings to boot. We had a great ocean:golf course view and the room was kept clean but only because we requested fail maid service ( otherwise they would only come every 3 days). Who spends $8000 on a hotel and makes their own bed? The pools throughout the property have no umbrellas so between noon and 4pm we had to find other man’s to entertain ourselves as skin cancer runs rampant in our families and we were not seeking a death wish in Hawaii. I am not sure why they got rid of all the umbrellas around the property? The NUI Italian Restaurant was excellent and the coffee stop in our hotel convenient if you played it right and could avoid the long line. The Lagoon Restaurant had tasty offerings and good shade but the birds trying to share your food was annoying. I would have hoped they would have had more restaurant offerings on such a large property and that the ice cream shop might stay open later than 4pm. Totally stupid!!! Again the most disappointing aspect to the hotel was the room decor. It is not up to Hilton standards and as a Diamond member I stay at lots of Hiltons. Further the bate and switch trick with the pictures is unprofessional. When discussed with the front desk the Godzilla woman just laughed and gave me a bottle of water. Which by the way I would get at least 2 a day at every other Hilton. Here I was told it was just two a stay. Will we be back? To Waikoloa yes. To the Hilton maybe ? To Ocean Tower? Not unless a miracle happens. Either way I would think Hilton owes us some form of remuneration for this situation.…
This was our first time at this resort. The place, the whole resort, is huge. The tram is nice, but pretty slow; sometimes it's better to walk. The resort in general is very expensive for everything. You pay daily to park your car or valet it. Food and drinks are expensive. The Nui Italian place was nice and convenient, but paying $30+ for a pizza is a bit much. I paid for 3 adults and 2 kids, and it cost me over $150 with 1 drink each for the adults. We stayed in the Ocean Tower. Our room was behind the main lobby. Birds were loud and chirping at 5AM. No biggy...we got used to it. The room was ok, nothing special. It was clean. We called/texted the hotel multiple times for linens and they were prompt bringing them. The room has a small fridge (you can't adjust the temp). The biggest grip is no microwave. Spending $150 for food and having leftovers you have no way to reheat. But wait.....for $30 a day you can rent a microwave. That, to me, was over the top. Another negative was places close way to early, like 5PM. So your food options are very limited on site after 5. We were actually next in line at the ice cream place and they closed at 4. The woman finihsed the order for the person in front of us, closed the window and waved us off. Another 10 minutes would not kill her to serve us a $7-8 ice cream. Overall, we liked the place. Lots of pools, the lagoon was nice, and you can snorkel in the ocean right there. The Luau was excellent. …
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