Hilton Waikoloa Village

Reviews

• NT

  Nichole Tautz

  5 days ago
  4.0
  Previous visits: 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, - - Jan 2025 Is it me? Or is it them? The Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort is for YOU, IF: You have young kids and have not been to Hawaii before. They will love the kid friendly pools, lagoon, experiences and their eyes will pop at the ginormous feeling of this resort. The tram will be entertaining. (I did miss the boats). This year we took friends with kids and the thing they most like doing was snorkeling (in the ocean with the sneakers on) just outside of what would be considered the resort as all beaches are public. There really aren't beaches on the Big Island exactly - mentally plan for lava rock.... This property is getting tired. It could use a MAJOR overhaul. Things in the tropics don't age super well and this is aging better than most. Having said that we stayed in two rooms at the beginning of our stay that were less than fresh. No dirt, just old. The mattress was lumpy, the pillows were worse, the linens were thin. From their we used our HGV Club points and moved rooms. Those were incredible! If you can score a room that is a remodeled suite, you won't regret it!
• DJ

  Daniel J

  Jan 2, 2026
  4.0
  ​Location & Logistics: ​The Area: The resort is in a safe area with beautiful beaches. It is convenient for the Kona Airport and visiting Kona/Captain Cook. ​Volcano Warning: Note that this is not a preferred location if your main goal is to visit Volcanoes National Park (it’s a long drive). ​Parking: Parking is expensive—Valet is $55 and Self-Parking is $48. Given the minimal price difference, I wish self-parking was lower, but either option works fine. ​The Resort Experience: This place is huge—it has its own lagoon, a monorail, and boats. ​Transport: There is a monorail connecting the buildings (Makai/Lagoon to Ocean Tower), which is fun but necessary given the size. ​Dining: On-site restaurants are pricey. I recommend driving to the nearby mall (Queens' Marketplace/Kings' Shops) for better food options at lower prices. ​The Room (Makai Upgrade): I paid for an upgrade to the Makai building (Lagoon Tower) to be closer to the water. ​The Good: The room was huge. The best part was the Makai Ocean View—we could actually see the dolphins right from our lanai! ​The Layout: It has a split layout where the walk-in shower and toilet are in one room, while the sink/vanity is outside. ​The Bad (Aging & Cleanliness): The hardware definitely shows aging, likely due to the ocean weather. More concerningly, we found stains on the bedding and sofa. ​Service Failure: This is where the "big property" issues showed. I informed the front desk about the stains, but nothing changed. There was no housekeeping follow-up and no compensation offered. Communication seems to struggle here because of the sheer size of the hotel. ​Verdict: I still recommend it for the lagoon and the views—they are fantastic. However, be prepared for aging hardware, expensive parking, and potential cleanliness misses that might not get fixed.
• SS

  Sail G (SailG)

  Dec 30, 2025
  1.0
  We stayed here for 5 nights here during Christmas time . The best thing is its location and ,picturesque grounds with pool , lagoon , dolphin encounter and golf course & couple of restaurants and coffee shops . ( all the outside landscape is maintained pretty good ) We stayed at palace towers ,which is 10 mts walk from main lobby . The customer service is awe fully WORST . Though it is beach resort the room service is on demand , we have to text/ call and let them know 24 hrs ahead for room service. We did the same and still no one turned up for cleaning the room, and if we call Emily would answer after 10-15 mts and apologize for not doing the service . She said she would take off a day of Valet parking for not doing inspite of the 24 hour notice . ( which she did not do , as we paid all the 5 days of our stay .) After a long tiring day from HVNP we came to room at 10.30 pm , no body wash ( as no one comes for room service until 5 th day of stay ) and we have to call multiple times for housekeeping service and wait for more than an hour as no one turns up & finally have to call lobby manager .(carter is the manager and he is not sure why house keeping is not responding and sends the bodywash around midnight ) It was my husband’s bday and we had to go through all this on his bday . The room was so filthy with hair and Sand right from the time we checked in , even after cleaning on the 5 day they stay the same , ( as they concentrate only on making the bed and replace new towels but not on cleaning the bathrooms and vacuuming carpet ) Very surprised how this was with Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts as we always go with Amex FHR and always has good experience with the only exception of this hotel .
• PV

  Pooja Virani

  Dec 30, 2025
  2.0
  We stayed in this hotel because I had fond memories of the breakfast buffet and pools from staying here as a kid in the 90s. Unfortunately, things change over time, and in this case, not for the best. Let’s start with the good. Our hotel room had both a pool and ocean view, which allowed us to enjoy colorful skies during sunrise and sunset. The pools, landscaping, and grounds were better than I remembered them with gorgeous flowers, ponds, and artwork throughout the property. We saw a good amount of aquatic life while snorkeling in the lagoon, including two turtles. The museum walk was wonderful for history and cultural lovers (though I do wonder how the hotel acquired all of its Asian art). We also received daily room service, which has become a rarity at hotels nowadays. Now for the bad. The property is HUGE and inaccessible for folks who have trouble walking. The hotel offers tram service and canal boats to get around. However, the trams were broken most of our stay - meaning we had a 30 minute walk from the lobby to our room - and the boats were never in operation. It seems that the trams I loved in the 90s haven’t been updated since then (maybe the hotel should invest in a modern transportation system instead of microchipping cheap pool towels). The other con was the prices. I’m used to resort prices being high, but this Hilton takes price gouging to a new level! We pre-purchased breakfast with our room after hearing good things about the $55/pp breakfast buffet. We thought that we were saving money by paying $32/pp ahead of time. Instead, we were scammed out of our money. We were told that we did NOT have access to the buffet, only the coffee shop. For $32, we each received a drip coffee and two egg bites. Each bite was tiny, barely what I’d consider “breakfast.” I’ve had better breakfasts while staying at motels! The prices for the other (limited) food items at the hotel similarly felt like highway robbery. We decided to buy fruit at a nearby grocery store to rectify the breakfast situation, but were unpleasantly surprised to learn when we called the front desk that they had no plates or cutlery available. Despite having room service, the Hilton couldn’t provide us with a knife or fork. Instead, we received 10 cups and plastic cutlery after a 2-hour wait. Daily parking was exorbitant at $48/night, which based on previous hotel reviews, is 3x the price the hotel charged a decade ago! TLDR: Beautiful property, outdated services, exorbitant prices.
• KS

  Karly Shepard

  Dec 25, 2025
  1.0
  One Star – Deeply Disappointing, Especially for Owners Our stay at Ocean Tower at Hilton Grand Vacations Club in Kona was frustrating from start to finish—and that’s saying a lot considering we are owners. First, the location of Ocean Tower is absurdly far from the main entrance and central amenities. You’re looking at a long, nearly mile-like walk (15–20+ minutes) depending on pace, luggage, or heat. The tram is either not running or completely packed, making it unreliable and pointless. There are even signs for boat transportation, but we were told those boats haven’t been in service for over 8 years—yet the signage is still up. Important accessibility note: if you or anyone in your party has mobility issues, I strongly urge you not to book this property. The resort requires excessive walking, long distances between buildings, steep grades in some areas, and inconsistent transportation. Many areas felt poorly designed for accessibility and not truly ADA-compliant in practice, making navigation extremely difficult for anyone with mobility limitations, injuries, strollers, or assistive devices. The breakfast buffet is wildly overpriced and barely qualifies as a buffet. It’s closer to a basic continental breakfast, yet priced like a premium resort dining experience. Honestly, most of the food across the property is overpriced and underwhelming for the quality. They also charge $5 per person, one way, for a shuttle to take you less than a mile down the road. Nickel-and-diming guests at every turn seems to be the business model here. Now the most unacceptable issue: our room keys didn’t work for TWO DAYS. Despite calling multiple times, we were still locked out of our room at 8 PM after a long day of excursions. No urgency. No resolution. A manager was supposedly going to call me back—that never happened. Zero follow-through. Late checkout? Also a joke. No one approved it, no one communicated with us, so I’m currently still sitting in my room and checking out late on my own because there was absolutely no response. Getting beach towels is another unnecessary headache. The towel machines are in inconvenient locations, frequently out of stock, and exchanging towels feels like a scavenger hunt rather than a resort experience. There are only two hot tubs for the entire resort. You’d think one would be near the adult pool—but no. They’re located on opposite ends of Ocean Tower, and one requires walking through a pool to access it. Both were consistently overrun with children, making them unusable for adults seeking relaxation. As owners, we were once again placed in an unrenovated room, which seems to be the norm. If you’re considering buying into Hilton Grand Vacations, don’t. Ownership does not equal priority, quality, or value here. Despite a massive parking lot with plenty of empty spaces, you still have to walk an additional quarter mile to self-park—and they charge nearly $50 per day for the privilege. That’s just insulting. Finally, the dolphins. Keeping approximately 10 dolphins in an extremely small pool feels inhumane, regardless of the resort’s claims about conservation donations. Seeing this in person was uncomfortable and sad—not educational or inspiring. Overall, this property feels like a cash grab masquerading as a luxury resort. Between broken systems, poor communication, outdated rooms, excessive fees, accessibility challenges, and ethical concerns, this was not the Hawaii experience we expected—or paid for. We won’t be returning, and we strongly caution others—especially potential timeshare buyers and anyone with mobility limitations—to think twice.

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