Sheraton Kona Resort and Spa at Keauhou Bay

Our stay here was also almost derailed by my wife reading negative reviews and second guessing decision to stay here. Our room was clean, no mold and everything worked. We liked the location of the hotel. The onsite market store had reasonable prices. Had dinner one night at Rays. Decent, expensive food, great views, poor service. Did not like the resort fee and charge for parking. There is free parking on street. Had a late flight and asked for a late checkout. As a lowly silver elite I was given 1 pm and told it would cost $125 to stay til 5. Got a great deal on this hotel through a Delta vacation package. Would not go out of my way to stay here again but this hotel is OK if you get a good deal and arrive with reasonable expectations.

We stayed January 1 through 9 2020 at the Sheraton Kona resort. This review is based on the pre-renovations that are said to happen in 2020. Our stay here was nearly derailed due to my wife reading negative reviews, and second-guessing the decision to stay here. This was a great hotel, and we had a great time. My experience leads me to believe the other reviews either had different expectations of the Island of Hawaii, or they were truly unlucky. The hotel is in a quieter area near a golf course. There is not a lot near the hotel, and if you wanted supplies or to hang out there is a 5 (Keahou shopping center with drug store, groceries and some other shops)- 20 minute ('downtown' Kailua-kona with all the beaches and tourist shops you can imagine) drive. Luckily there is a shop inside the resort (Holoholo market with convenience items, coffee and souvenirs). A spa- Ho'ola spa, we had a great experience with a couples lomi lomi overlooking the ocean. Most spa places put on an audio track with ocean sounds or birds, this experience was amazing. There is a calendar of activities (hula, ukulele lessons, lei making, history and culture talks) that are included with the resort fee, we took advantage of many of them and had a great time. There are also two restaurants that are expensive, but have good food. The farmers' market on the front lawn on Wednesdays is great. Our room was clean when we got there, and our room was clean every day when we got back from our adventures. The housekeeping staff was very friendly. I helped to pick up some of the trash in the parking lots. I did this other places on the island where I saw it as I try to leave places better than how I receive them. I find it more satisfying than complaining that someone dropped trash and then not pick it up myself. This island gets most of it's money from tourism, and there isn't a global authority that follows you around to pick up your trash because you're on vacation. Pick it up yourself- even if you didn't do it. We had a King room, and we were upgraded to an Ocean view because I stay at a lot of Marriott hotels. The rooms had quality furnishings that had their prime a few years ago, but everything was functional and clean. Exceptions - Hold the toilet handle to flush, and you might have to flush a couple of times- this was the case of every toilet I used on the island except for one and I do not fault the Sheraton for this. The only bugs I saw were outside. The balcony was great, we could see the Mountain (Mauna) and the Ocean (Moana) from our room. The adult pool was pretty chilly, the family pool was much warmer, and had a nicer view. Breathtaking views are to be had everywhere on property. Make sure you do not forget your Aloha spirit, and please leave your negativity on the plane- you'll have plenty of time to find it when you get back home.

Note: Would have given this 0 stars, but that is not an option. My husband, who is a Titanium Elite Marriott Bonvoy member, booked this hotel for a part of our honeymoon, and it was the worst decision we made. We were upgraded to a suite at first, but when we went to the room, it reeked of mold and was uninhabitable. I called housekeeping to come to the room, who said nothing could be done about the smell and they had no idea what was causing it. My husband promptly went downstairs to speak to a manager. While they moved us to an oceanside king room, nobody could explain to my husband why we were given such an unsanitary room; even with the new room, we had leaky faucets at the sink. The lounge for Titanium Elite members was also not that great; they lacked a variety of food options, particularly for a vegetarian. We also encountered a staff member who said we could not have breakfast even though the breakfast was out. We were then told by someone else that we could enjoy the breakfast. While the pool area and entrance of this hotel were decent, don't let that fool you. Marriott should be ashamed of itself for this property as this was a horrible experience and the staff was not particularly helpful.

This hotel is located on the Kailua-Kona coast which is where you want to be for the best chance of having sunny, dry weather on your stay. You will need a car to explore this great island and Kona is a great starting point. There are plenty of places to shop and dine in the area. Your general hotel experience will depend on where your room is located, so know if you want a pool view, lawn view or ocean view ( partial or full ). We stayed nine nights from Dec. 17 to Dec. 26. We were fortunate to have an ocean front room so every night we enjoyed being on our balcony overlooking the ocean listening to the waves crash and watching the manta rays feed. Rays on the Bay is a great open-air restaurant right on the water with awesome views and a ring-side seat to watch the manta rays feed every night. There isn't a beach because the hotel is perched on lava rock on the ocean's edge. We loved this setting: it made it unique. They have a nice pool with some sand at one end if you miss not having a beach, and the pool is next to the ocean so you can enjoy looking out at the waves. The hotel has a poolside bar/restaurant as well and a market for food and miscellaneous items. There is a Spa, but we did not visit it. There are water sports available. Dec. 24th we watched Santa arrive by outrigger canoe which was fun. There is a Farmer's Market next door on Wednesdays. We visited the other resort hotels on the island's west coast and, although there are a few resorts on the Kohala Coast that are beautiful, luxury hotels, we will definitely stay at the Sheraton in Kailua-Kona again the next time we visit the "Big Island". We liked the fact that it is not a large, sprawling complex, not a luxury resort with matching luxury pricing, and not pinched in between other hotels. We enjoyed the slightly isolated setting away from the crowds. Tips for booking this hotel would be: If you are a hotel rewards member, book directly with the hotel on their website, realize that this is a very nice property that, although expensive, is less expensive than a luxury property would be. It does not have a sandy beach, so choose a different hotel if you want sand.

This was the worst experience I’ve ever had with Marriott properties. Fortunately, the grounds and the pool area were very nice. Kudos to Bruce!! However, the bathrooms were very outdated and we had an issue with bugs. There were flying bugs but the main issue was with the roach found in our room. We notified the hotel on last Friday morning on January 3rd. We initially asked to be moved to another hotel at 7am prior to my wife and I leaving for an all-day excursion. We spoke with Samuel at the front desk. I also emailed Jaimie and Samuel shortly after. Samuel didn’t provide an update until 5pm late afternoon. He offered to upgrade our room complimentary because the Westin property didn’t have any Bonvoy points availability. We opted to take the complimentary upgrade. However, when we checked out, Samuel had charged us $50 per night for the upgrade. Luckily, I had the email with his statement and Thea took the charges off when we checked out on 1/6. However today on 1/9 the charges are still on my card. The lack of prompt service and the lack of integrity by the Guest Relations Manager, Samuel, is very disappointing at this location. I’m very upset that I utilized 160K points for our wedding anniversary on this experience. Again, by far the worst experience ever on a Marriott property, and very bad reflection on the Marriott Brand. Overall: Location - Great Staff - Great Management - Need an Upgrade, poor experience attempting to resolve any issues. No follow up, no empathy, no desire to satisfy the guest. Response to the roach was simply that “it’s a Tropical area so you will have roaches.” Price - Overpriced by far. Rooms - In need of an upgrade badly. Not the cleanest, but only so much you can do to clean a room in the current state.