Royal Kona Resort

My husband and I stayed here for our honeymoon and had a great time! The location was perfect. It is near a lot of little beach shops and restaurants. It is also a close drive to many things as well. The atmosphere of the hotel is very open and airy. Our room in the Bay Tower was more up to date than anticipated! We had a great view of the ocean and enjoyed looking at the ocean. The only negative about the rooms were the balconies. They aren’t very private and you can hear the people staying next door to you if you’re both out on the balconies. The pools and lagoon were also great amenities. We never had any issues getting seats by pool or lagoon, but know that shaded seating by the lagoon goes fast. The lagoon is great for beginner snorklers, as it is shallow and there are little fish swimming in it(we even saw a turtle by the rocks!). Overall, I would stay here again and recommend this hotel to anyone visiting Kona! Read less

The good: - Great location. Easily walkable to “downtown” Kona and lots of shops and restaurants. - Good breakfast. Waking up to eggs and bacon on the oceanfront is great. - Good ocean front bar. - Our room was clean and well kept by housekeeping. The bad: - When we went to our room we noticed we received two doubles instead of a single bed. It would have been nice for the check-in staff to have asked or mentioned. When we asked if we could change, we were told single bed rooms were sold out. Admittedly there is a disclaimer that “bedding configurations aren’t guaranteed” on the website, but it’s a little odd. I imagine it would be upsetting to book for your honey moon or something and receive two small beds. - Rooms are pretty dated. We stayed in the “Bay” tower, which is not yet renovated. Nothing extreme, but the rooms are definitely showing their age. The bathroom in particular was disappointing. - Staff/service were only ok. We had a pretty curt person at check in, but maybe it was a one-off. The bar/breakfast staff seemed short staffed which made service a little slow and not as friendly. Read less

Great location, lobby and restaurant area was nice, staff was great. Our "updated" room was dumpy and if you looked closely, it was dirty and not maintained well. Pool area was very bad, years of pool side grunge and pool tile scum was a serious eyesore. The room was on par for an old Motel 6 in small town Montana. We expected much better from a "resort". Owners need to increase the maintenance budget. That said, we had a great visit to Kona. Read less

We LOVED the Royal Kona!!! We would absolutely stay here again! The lobby is awesome, full of vintage hawaiian details like the giant tiki pole at the entrance and the carved stone walls in the lobby. The bar, restaurant and pool are right on the water's edge with fantastic views and the grounds are gorgeous. The rooms are no frills, and like others have mentioned, need a refresh, but the location totally makes up for it--you can hear the waves crashing even with the sliding doors closed, and the sunsets are spectacular. We had a deluxe ocean view room and it is exactly as pictured on websites--sweeping views of the bay and ocean. We started out on the 4th floor of the Ali'i tower, in a room with double beds. This was fine, except--this side of the building (even numbered rooms) overlooks the restaurant and the restaurant kitchen vent, which meant that there was a strong smell of food cooking inside the room, both morning and night. We went to the front desk and spoke with the lovely Mae, who graciously changed us to a room with a king bed on the 7th floor. The room still overlooked the restaurant, but we could not smell food cooking from that height. The king bed upgrade was very nice! Another aspect of the hotel we really enjoyed was the lagoon--I snorkeled there a few times and saw a nice selection of reef fish. The lagoon has a tiny beach and lounge chairs, and it is a quiet and peaceful spot to hang out. There is also yoga every morning overlooking the ocean. The hotel is right across the street from restaurants and shopping, an easy 3 minute walk. We walked to breakfast and dinner and picked up snacks and drinks at ABC across the street. The day we left we had a red-eye flight but had booked the room until the next morning so we would have the room all day. At the airport we found out that our flight was canceled, and even though we had already checked out, Maria at the front desk assured us that we could return to our room for the night. We ended up getting booked on another airline, but it was great to know that Royal Kona would accommodate us if we were stuck. I would rate Royal Kona 4.5 stars if I could for the service from the front desk, the gorgeous grounds, beatiful setting and awesome Hawaiian style. It's not a super upscale resort like you find in Waikoloa, but Royal Kona stars in great service and authentic Hawaiian feeling. Read less

READ THE REVIEWS BEFORE YOU BOOK! If I could give 0 stars I would. We will never stay here again. The hotel does not care how their events affect guests. There is a wedding reception going on that is so loud it’s like the DJ is on our actual balcony. It’s a Sunday night at 9:30. You can’t even enjoy watching TV in your room because it is so loud. The room is an absolute dump. Frayed carpet, bathroom is like a motel and fixtures are rusted. This place is absolutely not worth the money. Read less