Sheraton Kona Resort at Keauhou Bay

Our family stayed here for 2 nights in June. We didn't choose the resort as our destination, but rather a place to stay when visiting Volcanoes National Park. The resort looked very nice online and was beautiful in person. We stayed in a large corner suite with 2 lanais that had stunning views. Everyone at the resort was very friendly. We did not have a chance to enjoy the pool areas, but they looked amazing as well. Our days began with a cup of Kona coffee while watching the dolphins and manta rays. Perfection! Read less

Date: July 10-17, 2021 Traveling companions: Husband and 15 year old daughter Room #2204 Booked through a vacation package with Costco: included r/t air from SFO, full-size care rental, 7 night stay, resort fees, $100 resort credit, parking fees, $100 excursion fee (we didn't use). Location: the location of this resort, in our opinion, is unrivaled. We loved that it was isolated from the busier, more touristy, hotels and resorts downtown making us feel like we were secluded amidst the natural beauty of the Hawaiian coast. No, there aren't any swimmable beaches nearby but that didn't bother us at all. The Resort is also the base of the Manta Pacific Research Foundation and where the Manta Learning Center is located. They have an observation deck where you can watch the snorkelers swim with the Mantas. Grounds: BEAUTIFUL. They've managed to keep the natural beauty intact with native flora and fauna growing out of lava rocks. Flower bearing trees are in abundance and you can enjoy their fragrance everywhere. We saw wild goats grazing in the area, mongoose running around, and cats. However, not once did we see animal feces anywhere they shouldn't be! The resort is huge so be prepared to do a lot of walking! The grounds are well maintained and we never saw any trash laying around. Facilities: Sheraton is built over land that use to be a sanctuary for Hawaiian natives. When the sanctuary was destroyed by natural elements, the architect who designed the resort (not originally a Sheraton), designed it with the same element as the santuary. Thus, looking at the building from above, you'll see a common open area in the middle and buildings connected from that open area (almost looking like a starfish). With the way the resort is designed, every room has a beautiful ocean or mountain view, or both. We used the gym almost every morning, At around 7 am, there were already quite a few people working out, reaching almost full "covid" capacity (not all machines are available for use in accordance with social distancing guidelines). The gym had all the right equipment for use: free weights, elliptical, treadmill, stationary bicycle, therapeutic balls. They provide towels and chilled bottles of water as well as towels and sprays to sanitize equipment after use. Room: this is where we saw the age of this resort. Our room in the Ahiahi (red) section is a full ocean view room. It's the first room in this section and overlooked the Manta Ray snorkeling area. It's also located on the 2nd floor so the lobby and gift shop is easy to access. We had 2 full size beds that were very comfortable, although smaller than what we're use to at home, one very large flat screen TV, pretty fast wi-fi (fast enough for us to stream movies from our laptop which we connected to the TV). The bathroom has one small counter (enough for 2 people to use simultaneously) and a separate toilet/shower area. The tub/shower is covered by a curved shower curtain/rod so it gives you more room to move around, plenty of tub rim space to store bottles for liquid soap, shampoo, and conditioners. The shower head is removable and can be handheld and adjusted for pressure. Unfortunately, the water pressure was never enough and the hot water was never hot enough at night. The room has a fairly large balcony and since our room was in the corner, we had a great view of the ocean, the observation deck, the gym, and the adult pool area. They need new furnishings in this room. The dresser drawers seemed haunted - they kept opening on their own. The closet is small and they don't provide enough hangers so we had to double up hanging our clothes. The closet also has a small safe. They provided us with one bottle of water but they have a water bottle filling station that we used - a lot! Besides, we brought reusable bottles from home to avoid filling this earth with more plastic. The room also has a Keurig single coffee cup maker and they provide Hawaiian blend coffee and Tea. The A/C is a little loud and since my body temp runs hot, I needed the temperature set no higher than 72 F, otherwise, I would melt. So, the a/c was constantly running. Restaurants: The Rays on the Bay is still closed. We only ate breakfast twice at the Wailele Cafe. It's pricey there. If not for our $100 resort credit, we wouldn't have eaten there. We bought a few sandwiches at the resort's gift shop and they were pretty good. Service: everyone we came in contact with (valet, front desk, room attendants, restaurant and pool waitstaff, activities) were such wonderfully welcoming and accommodating people). We didn't come across any single instance with anyone at this resort that didn't try to accommodate us in any way they could. For this alone, it's worth staying at this resort. The resort fee includes all kinds of amenities so be sure to reserve your spot for those. Pool: There's one large slide at the outdoor family pool area. The indoor adult-only pool is connected to the outdoor family pool. The pool area is beautiful and well-maintained and the outdoor pool has a gorgeous view of the ocean. There were always chairs available but we noticed during our early morning walk (at around 8 am), that people already reserved the best lounge chairs with towels and personal items even though there weren't any bodies in the pool. First come/first serve should require actual bodies instead of allowing people to wake up first thing in the morning to reserve those chairs when they aren't actually using them. Anyway, first world problem without entitlement attitudes. Enough of that. Yes, we would happily stay here again. Read less

This is a beautiful resort with a nice view of the ocean. The rooms were clean and spacious. The AC in our room was not working properly, so they allowed us to switch to a different room. even so, the AC didn't cool the room below 72 degrees. We loved watching the manta rays in the evening. Our biggest frustration was with the housekeeping service. We had been getting daily housekeeping service and then the stopped with us telling us that they had changed to only on request. The pool area was beautiful and we enjoyed our time at the pool. Read less

I stayed here for 2 nights in early June and overall had a really nice experience. I didn't find any of the covid-related restrictions to be unreasonable or a hinderance. Every staff person we encountered was very nice and helpful. I had a partial ocean view room that overlooked the main swimming pool with an ocean view looking to the south. Unfortunately the sunset wasn't viewable from the room, but there are plenty of places at the hotel to watch the sunset. The room was comfortable even though the hotel is dated and in need of refurbishment. There are so many picturesque places on the hotel grounds, and I spent one morning just walking around and enjoying the plants and the ocean. We tried to see the manta rays from the edge of the hotel one night, but didn't see any after waiting an hour. I really liked the fact that the hotel was away from the main town but close enough to drive up for lunch or dinner. The Keauhou area has a little shopping center with some shops and restaurants too. It's also a quick drive to lots of coffee plantations. I appreciated that they have a parking lot just for Marriott elite members that is close to the building. We really enjoyed the live music every night and we could hear it from our room. I would definitely return to this hotel. Read less