Hilton Waikoloa Village

Reviews

• NS

  Nivedita Sonker

  1 day ago
  1.0
  We had a pretty terrible experience during our stay. We had specifically reserved a couple days to relax on the island but the stay was a far cry from it. It’s like Hilton has forgotten how to provide service and hospitality. 1. As soon as you enter the resort you’re forced to pay self parking charges of $48/night or valet parking for $55/night. When you’re paying $400+/night for a room the least you can expect is parking included, but not in this case! This honestly feels too cheap! Even a 3 star provides free parking! 2. The entire Palace tower is under construction and this hasn’t been mentioned anywhere on the website or any of the other third party websites. Moreover even during check-in the staff doesn’t inform you about the construction. Entire day and night you’ll hear all sorts of noises- drilling, scraping, paint fumes, workers yelling and talking, debris all around. We went to sleep and woke up to these noises! 3. We had booked an ocean front room and were given a room that faces another tower with a corner view of the ocean. When we tried to complain about this the staff was arguing this is what we had booked when they specifically have separate prices for a partial ocean view vs an ocean facing room. 4. There is a tram that runs throughout the resort, but the frequency of it isn’t great and operates at a snail’s pace. If you plan to walk be prepared to walk 10 mins minimum each way. Overall we felt this resort provided no value to the money you’re paying. There are absolutely no complimentary services they provide, whatsoever! Not even a single meal. The food at the restaurants is extremely over priced and barely has any taste. Every single guest we passed was either getting food outside or bringing groceries. That speaks volumes regarding the resort’s offerings. Oh and they even charges you for the shuttle that takes you to a nearby grocery store! I’d honestly recommend not staying at this resort at least until the construction of the palace tower has finished.
• LN

  Lisa N

  6 days ago
  4.0
  Hilton Waikoloa Village is nestled away above Kona, literally in its own village. It has a grocery store, restaurants, shops, a golf course and more. The views are mesmerizing. Especially the ones that overlook the dolphin lagoon. They have several pools with a few slides which are fun for the kids. The downside to Hilton Waikoloa Village is that everything closes early on the property: restaurants, bars, pools, snacks etc. That was a huge bummer for us. The other downside is the hallways to the rooms are so long (beautiful walk) but there’s only one way up and down and over the waterway separating the towers which if you aren’t aware of where it is or how to navigate it, plan to walk in circles for awhile. They also have a free tram that takes you to your towers and back throughout the property, but it is definitely a bit of a wait, and it’s a crazy long walk if you don’t hop on it depending on where you’re staying.
• KB

  Kylie Bobertz

  Nov 17, 2025
  1.0
  They are breeding dolphins in captivity. The enclosures are so small, especially when you consider that the dolphins will spend their entire lives in there. I’m quite honestly surprised that this unethical practice is legal in Hawaii still. PLEASE don’t support this place with your hard earned money. I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe all the dolphins were rescues, but unfortunately that is not the case. I was talking to a few of the trainers while they were out feeding the dolphins and they told me all except 1 were bred into captivity. And the original ones were caught from the ocean. What a horrible confined life :( UPDATE to respond to hiltons response. The “four acre lagoon” is where they are allowed only for dolphin shows. The access to it is closed most of the time. The real place they stay is less than 1 acre for 5-7 dolphins. And I actually took a video of one of the dolphins trying to get out. See video
• TH

  Tanner Hatley

  Nov 10, 2025
  3.0
  We stayed at Hilton Waikoloa Village for 10 days. The property is in a beautiful location, but the experience fell well below the standard we’ve had at other Hiltons. First, this resort is huge and requires a lot of walking which isn’t a big deal. The tram is slow and takes forever to get from one end of the resort to the other. If you have small children, make sure you have a stroller. But, the resort isn’t stroller friendly with lots of stairs so you have to take the long way around if using one. The boats that are also there to transport guests through the hotel are out of order and have been for some time. Housekeeping was a major frustration. At every other Hilton we’ve visited, daily housekeeping was normal. Here, it’s only offered once every five days. When we requested additional cleanings, the staff seemed annoyed and required a 24 hour notice. On our first night, we asked for extra towels for myself, my wife, and our daughter. They brought only two, and the staff member who delivered them made it clear she wasn’t happy about it. She basically threw the towels and the ground as she stomped away. The Makai Tower rooms badly need a facelift. Our shower had mold and looked worn, the bathroom was extremely small, and the room lacked basic comfort—no couch, no extra seating, and overall outdated furnishings. For a long stay, it simply wasn’t comfortable. I don’t see this being a “one night” stay sort of resort, so why the rooms are built like that beats me. Plenty of seating around the pool unless you want to beat the Hawaiian sun and heat. If that’s the case, you have to pay $150/day for beat up day beds with shade. You can also rent cabana’s, but those are $300-$750/day. Pool was large and ice cold which was nice when you were burning alive. But the pool needs a major upgrade as well as it was showing signs of wear and tear. The resort also feels seriously understaffed. We passed the same trash and used towels in the hallways for days. Food and drinks on property are extremely overpriced. You’re much better off grabbing a bottle from the store and making your own poolside drinks. Better dining options are just down the road. The bright spot of our stay was Randy and Katherine at the pool. They ran nonstop and delivered excellent service despite the challenges around them. We also really enjoyed our morning walks to see the dolphins on property. The Dolphin Quest mission is fantastic and was the only highlight to our stay here. The location is beautiful, but the resort needs major improvements in housekeeping, staffing, and room quality, especially in the Makai Tower, to justify the price.
• NI

  Nickolis Irby

  Nov 7, 2025
  1.0
  Terrible experience, unsafe building, untrained staff, and a ruined trip. Keys constantly stopped working forcing a 15-20 minute round trip return to the lobby. Staff at the lobby seemed to care little about the situation despite 6 pilgrimages to the lobby. It’s not a short walk, as you can see on Google Maps the complex is huge with only one main lobby for 3 of the buildings. Due to heavy construction in the hotel, the water was intermittent. Imagine staying at a very expensive hotel and having limited access to running water. At one point in the middle of the night a room in the hotel had a smoke alarm going for a half hour. No one from the hotel responded, and there were nearly a dozen of us guests in the hallway trying to respond to the alarm since it was loud enough to be heard through closed doors. When I called the lobby they said there was nothing they could do unless the person from that room called. Everyone that the room might be unoccupied and since they were having heavy construction, it would seem logical to send someone to check to see if there was anything causing the smoke alarm. When I told this to the lobby, she said there was nothing she could do but Mahalo for the call. Great. Fortunately the guests were able to get into the room and turn it off, so I guess you can hope you similarly vigilant guests to keep your family safe, because the hotel staff are probably too busy making new room keys. Later, the manager offered on our last day to give us a voucher for breakfast—unfortunately we were checking out the next morning for our flight and the wait for breakfast was nearly an hour because there is only one breakfast location to accommodate multiple hotels worth of guests, so I guess that was a bad experience too. Think about all of this before you book your family to stay here. I’d recommend you stay literally anywhere else—car camping would have been preferable.

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