TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

This was my favorite Westin resort. While a bit remote from Kona, that is not necessarily a bad thing though I do recommend renting a car. The resort is situated on Hapuna beach, which is reputed to be one of the nicest in the country. I wouldn't dispute that. You can snorkel from the beach itself, though there is not as much to see as in some other locations. The water in the AM was very calm, but towards the afternoon, you start to see some waves...not surfing waves, but gentle waves. Service at the resort was on the whole quite friendly and accommodating. Other than a couple of misses by housekeeping, which were quickly corrected (missed our room one day so they cleaned it at 5, had to request that they refill the bath supplies on two occasions which they did) most of the service was great and friendly. The room itself was sizeable. To save money (points, really), we stayed in a 2 queen bedded room, with my wife and two barely adult daughters. We didn't really feel cramped, and compared to a lot of 2 queen bedded rooms, this one had room to set up luggage racks. The lighting could have been a little better in some areas of the room, but that is nit picking. Our bathroom (I don't know if this is true throughout the resort, though it may be) had an electric bidet toilet, a luxury that I have rarely seen in the US. Food was generally pretty good, though expensive, but that is the case everywhere on the Big Island. We are Platinum Bonvoy members and elected breakfast instead of the points as a gift. They offer a "Platinum Continental Breakfast Buffet" for two guests, which I saw another reviewer complain about. I thought that it was great. It not only contained typical continental offerings, but also offered bagels and smoked salmon, hard boiled eggs, plus hot oatmeal, cereals, juice, and coffee. If that wasn't enough, you could opt to upgrade to their $50 full buffet, for an additional $25 but we really only did that once, and in general never felt that we were missing out. We found the resort to be attractive overall, and the two pools to be really nice. We never had trouble getting seating at the pools, and it seemed that beach chairs were also never full. The beach activity area was great, and they offer snorkel loan for 2 hours per day per guest, canoe rides, kayaking, and paddleboarding. I know that the snorkel was complimentary but I don't recall about the rest of the equipment. The sister hotel, the Mauna Kea resort is accessible with a shuttle that goes back and forth in the evening, and they have a terrific restaurant called Manta that is near a small overlook where you can go at night and watch manta ray(s) swim about. They light under the water which attracts plankton and that attracts the mantas to feast upon. Both resorts offer beautiful sunset views from the restaurants or the beach and these could be spectacular. Suffice it to say, that we loved our stay here and wouldn't hesitate to come back.

This is our second year in a row staying here. It's a wonderful family friendly hotel. The open lobby welcomes you. The best rooms are closer to the lobby. The beach has small waves and great snorkeling. The pool is nice and open and 4' for kids. Our stays are always magical.

The Westin Hapuna exceeded all of our expectations and if you are thinking about where to stay on the Big Island, you need to stay at the Westin. We were on a 10 day family vacation and stayed at a condo for the first three days and then did a time share presentation at the Hilton for five days and finally ended up for two days at the Westin. There was no comparison and we wish we would have spent our whole time at the Westin. From the moment we walked into the lobby we were greeted with the aloha spirit from all of the staff. Valet staff were great, front desk (greeted us immediately with cold washcloths, and fresh pineapple juice), restaurant staff were friendly and helpful, and the beach staff went out of their way to make sure we were welcomed. I want to recognize Pono (beach staff) who when he saw we were looking at the beach came up to us, greeted us so warmly, shared about the beach chairs and umbrellas, complimentary snorkel gear, paddle boards, kayaks, and canoe trips! Pono exemplified the aloha spirit, and made us feel like family. I am sure with all the guests he sees everyday he won’t remember us, but we sure remember him and how welcoming he made us feel. This kind of service throughout a large resort seems to be a rarity these days, but not at the Westin. When we were looking to book we read some of the reviews on trip advisor and we weren’t sure what to expect from the beach, but our worries were put to rest when we got there. The beach was terrific, pool area is laid back, never had to worry about getting a chair as there are plenty of options even in the shade. Food options were all really good and the best prices on the island. As an example, if you don’t want to pay for the buffet breakfast that looked phenomenal, they have options that we did both days that had to go boxes for $10 that my wife and I shared, that had eggs, sausage, hash browns, and Portuguese sausage. Effectively my wife and I could easily split one so breakfast for us was over looking the ocean and resort for $5 each. The evenings we sat at the Piko coffee and bar enjoying live music and the smells of the many plumeria trees. I could go on and on about the elegant rooms, bedding, showers, and so much more like the beautiful lighting that comes on during the evening, and the overall ambiance of this resort, but let me just say a very big Thank you to the Westin and staff for making our vacation and stay so memorable! We will be back and can’t wait until we can return again!

I was at this hotel with a group. Their responsiveness to groups is subpar. It takes many emails/calls to get any response. There were billing errors. We had to beg for attention. The hotel manager is always right. Think twice unless you want to deal with a nightmare.

I am currently staying at the Weston Hapuna Beach Resort and thought I would leave a review while I am here and my thoughts are fresh. We are a family of three and are here on the Big Island for a 14 day vacation. This is the last leg of our trip - having stayed at other locations around the island - and was supposed to be the highlight of our trip and what I personally was most looking forward to. We checked in yesterday into what was described as an Ocean View room. The hotel itself is beautiful. The grounds are immaculate, the lobby areas are beautiful and the pools are very nice. The rooms are not as described. There are varying levels of Ocean View… some partial ocean view, some on the ground floor with a lanai, some described as “premier” ocean view. The room we checked into was classified as Ocean View. The room itself was well maintained and what I’ve come to expect from a Westin room. The view was not “Ocean View”… yes, I would see some of the ocean, but someone thought it a good idea to place the seemingly more important “Residences” building directly in front of the of the hotel rooms… my room not only had an impeccable view of the Residences building, but was “lucky” enough to have a room on direct alignment with the elevator shaft… further limiting the already limited ocean view. Including a photo below. Once connecting back with the front desk and not expecting any options for moving (was already told that my room - all the way down at the end of the building and quite a walk to any amenities - was the only one available), I was offered the option. To change rooms to another Ocean View room… We ultimately ended up in a room that was a bit more centralized yet this “Ocean View” room has less view than the previous due to a giant set of trees directly in the line of sight. I opted to remain there as it was less of a walk to civilization - even though it had a much more limited Ocean View - because I am on vacation, supposed to be relaxing, and don’t have time to tour room options around d the resort hoping the room classification lived up to its description. We’ve only eaten at the poolside grill at this point - delicious food. No concerns there. The walk to the beach can only be described as a maze… constantly looking for the next set of stairs to take me another level down. I’ve got to imagine much of this is due to the Residences being plopped in prime location and limiting options for hotel access. Just a couple suggestions for management: 1) Reclassify your rooms to appropriately reflect their actual amenities. Totally understandable if you want to block the Ocean Views by placing a seemingly more lucrative and more important residences building directly in the line of sight, just be clear about the fact that Ocean View simply means you can crane your neck in a certain direction and often get a glimpse of the water. I’m reluctant to ask or see what the “Partial Ocean View” room looks like… maybe it has views of the golf course as opposed to the water? 2) make it less complicated to get to the beach We will continue to have a great tome… that’s just us… but it would have been better if we knew what we were getting into prior to arrival. As a lifetime Platinum member.. and 15+ years of earned Platinum status, I’ve become accustom to Marriott accurately describing their properties… the Westin Hapuna Beach has missed that mark by a country mile :)