TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

This resort was hands-down the best on the Big Island! Because we are Hilton members (diamond status), they upgraded us to an ocean view room in the Makai Tower at no extra charge and waived the resort fee completely! I forget sometimes how much it pays to be a Hilton member. We "paid" 100% with points so that saved us at least $2,000 and actually well over $3,500 after the room upgrade and waiving of the resort fee. Our room was located in the Makai Tower, which I would highly recommend because you are so much closer to the main pool, the lagoon, Dolphin Quest, the luau and KPC restaurant, the spa, and the parking lot. The Ocean Tower was the furthest from all of the above but they do have a nice shuttle tram or gondola boat ride that will take you around the resort. After a long day of fun on the island, it was nice that we didn't have a super long walk back to our room. Our room was above the Dolphin Quest area on the 5th floor; it was so fun to be able to watch the dolphins (as well as whales in the ocean) from our own balcony! Though we were in the heart of all the action, I didn't feel it was ever very noisy. The grounds of this resort were immaculately maintained and the service was phenomenal from all the staff (huge shout to Annie at the Hilton Member check-in desk). It truly felt like a Disney-style resort which was great. We hope to come back to Hawaii again some day and we will 100% stay at this resort again. Tips: Reserve a room in the Makai Tower if you can. The higher the floor, the better the view. We highly recommend the luau at this resort. The food was delicious and the entertainment was phenomenal. Even though the signs say the pool closes at 10 PM, a worker told us that as long as we weren't rowdy, they didn't mind, so we mainly used the pool and hot tubes at night which was fantastic since they were much less crowded. If you snorkel (just to swim was free) in the lagoon, sea turtles are often spotted over by the waterfall. They have walking paths along the ocean all around the resort; it was such a beautiful walk. FYI, though this resort is considered on the beach, the beach is very rocky (and also hard to access); it's not a sandy beach.

Be prepared to walk everywhere and it’s not just a stroll down to the lobby…..it’s a full on hike! There’s a tram that runs between the building but it’s slow, 15 minute wait times. The hotel was severely understaffed and nothing had consistent hours. The food was underwhelming and overpriced. Our room was cleaned once during a 7 night stay, you have to request housekeeping 24 hours in advance and they cannot guarantee it. This place needs a major overhaul! Such a cool location and has so much potential. The spa was decent but again, slightly overpriced.

Overall I felt this resort was disappointing. We stayed in the Ocean tower which is about a 10 min walk from the main lobby/drop off area to the tower. I don’t recommend this tower. The rooms are dated, but the property itself is pretty and there are lots of great swim options. While they have a large property and tram with stops at different places the tram was not working for 3 days of our stay and had not been repaired yet as of checkout. This created challenges for my parents who are older and not able to walk as far. This resort requires a lot of walking to get between room and pool/parking lot etc. It was inconvenient with a baby and older parents to navigate this as we spent so much time walking between places instead of actually enjoying the property. The walkways are often not stroller friendly as there are lots of stairs, and you have to hunt or walk farther to find an elevator or route without stairs. Also if you’re bringing anything to your room like food/groceries you have a hike to carry it all. We tried the breakfast buffet but were disappointed. The nui breakfast restaurant was just ok. If you’re able to eat off property we found some other options that we felt had better food/prices. I did like that they have a lagoon area with calm water that offered snorkeling but was disappointed there’s no true accessible beach right on the ocean. We did like the pools. This area is also primarily lava rock when you leave the resort so it is a bit of a drive to find the greener lush parts of the island. The staff we encountered were very helpful with the exception of checkin when we found out one of the rooms did not come with two beds as requested and they could not initially provide an alternative. Two of the three rooms we did find some bugs and were able to get new rooms after that. All in all it may work for some if they plan to mostly stay on property and don’t mind the walking, but was not ideal for us and I would likely pick a different resort to stay if coming back.

This resort is AMAZING! It is so beautiful, and as long as you can walk without a lot of pain, then this could be a very very romantic place. If you go in the winter months, make sure you check out Buddha Point to see the humpback whales on their yearly journeys. OMG, there were so many. If you can take binoculars awesome, binoculars with the ability to record video (if those exist) you could get some awesome shots! If it's just a camera, by the time you see them, chances are they'll go back under and you've missed your chance if you're not recording video. The lagoon is really cool, and it's pretty affordable for a cabana for the day. Even if you don't do the Dolphin Quest experience, definitely go watch them. They do not seem ill treated or out of their element. They are shallow water dolphins that were rescued. If they were so miserable one of them wouldn't be 52 years old imho. The pools look well cared for and inviting. We didn't have a chance to try them as we spent too much money for other things and you'll want to want to plan on spending all kinds of money to do awesome stuff. But definitely do the Sunset Cruise on the Spirit of Aloha if you don't have kids with you! That crew is freaking awesome! But I do want to warn you of some things: If you can't walk much then you might want a place easier to get around this resort can be difficult. The reason I gave the Hilton Waikoloa 4 stars instead of 5 is the staffing levels and lack of food options at a decent price as well as how early everything closes. If you are an early bird and want to wake up at the crack of dawn to go do things and go to bed at 9 or 10 this is your place. If you want a decent breakfast, make sure you get to the breakfast buffet or Nui by 10 a.m. If you go to the buffet, plan on the most expensive breakfast you've ever had if you're like us and aren't used to such high prices. One blogger site reviewed the place in 2019 for $28 plate, it's $50 now, with only basics. So if you like IHOP or Denny's basics for a way cheaper price, you'll be disappointed by scrambled eggs, purple pancakes, bacon and lukewarm plain diced potatoes. Unless you'd prefer to to pay $50 for fruit and cereal per person. At Nui, the breakfast sandwich is cheapest, largest, and filling, but nothing else is included. Nui is the latest closing restaurant of 3 (we didn't do the reservation one, way too expensive and they close at like 8). Nui closes @ 9. Definitely get the pizza, so yummy, and relatively affordable if you're used to delivery! Or if you like not great bar food you can go to the Kona Tap Room, that will get you by until 10 or so. If you're lucky they will stay open till 11 or midnight. If you don't get breakfast by 10 a.m. then you can't eat until 11 unless you like overpriced Starbucks like basics and like to walk quite a ways if you are staying at the Palace Tower to get it (or wait a long time for a tram (which one broke just past Palace Tower on it's way toward Ocean View about 3 days before we left). My boyfriend has a bad back so it was painful for him to get around. If you don't eat by 10 a.m, next place to open is the Lagoon Grill by the Dolphin Quest area. If you haven't eaten a lot and you're starving, an hour is a super long time to wait. Plan on a $28 basic cheeseburger and Carl's Jr. level fries (after door dash has delivered them after 3 other drop off's) . If you don't have a car (book one well in advance or pay the price as well as a hefty overnight parking price) the earliest the shuttle goes to the 2 shops in the area starts @ 12 p.m. and it runs till 9. If you stay at Palace Tower, you get 2 vending machines. Everything else is a long walk or long wait if you don't time the tram right. When we were there the beverage machine was broken, so either stock your Barbie fridge with soda's, water, etc. from the ABC market @ Queens Market. Parts, for fixing things, take a long time to get there so chances are it won't be fixed soon. Like I said, the place is beautiful, it deserves 4 stars for that and that alone, but if you are a night owl, have mobility issues, and want somewhere to eat at any given time, you might want to look up reviews elsewhere. Oh, and no real beach access, somewhere else would be good for that. This place is awesome, like I said, but you have to be prepared if you want to be on vacation and get up when you want, go to bed when you want and not be deprived if you aren't on an early bird schedule. OH, the artwork if you can walk all the way from point to point is freaking amazing!!!! Oh, don't forget to say "Hi" to the family of ducks if they grace you with their presence.

While the property is very beautiful and has dolphins, the amenities and services did not match the price point. No umbrellas for the pool chairs, no poolside drink service unless you rented a cabana at $150 a day, no room service, maid service not conducted daily and due to a large convention, there was an evening and poolside party that was very distracting. The walls in the room seemed to be paper thin, hearing the guests next door snoring and the hallway was used as storage for over 12 spare beds.