Courtyard By Marriott King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel

“Best stay in Kona”

This is one of the best destination hotels I have ever experienced. I traveled to this hotel in summer 2024 with my partner and 7ry old daughter. We reserved a oceanfront king room, and requested the West tower as we had heard some comments that it was a better review and quieter. Due to other... more

This is one of the best destination hotels I have ever experienced. I traveled to this hotel in summer 2024 with my partner and 7ry old daughter. We reserved a oceanfront king room, and requested the West tower as we had heard some comments that it was a better review and quieter. Due to other rooms that were reserved for our group, we ended up in the East tower on the 2nd floor, as we all wanted to be in the same tower. Turns out, the East tower is totally fine. The view was still amazing, and the noise probably was the same as the west tower. In fact the east tower may be quieter because there are some obstructions that will soften the evening live music by the pool. The room was in excellent condition. No excessive wear, it was clean, not super spacious with the pull-out open, but plenty of room. When we got to our room, the air conditioner was not working. We called and were given a commitment of 15 minutes or less for maintenance to be in our room. They arrived in 12 minutes, and had the A/C fixed within the next 20 minutes. Throughout our stay we saw a lot of maintenance work and upkeep. I am saying this as a good thing, I saw a lot of signs that this hotel was being well taken care of. No other maintenance issues during our stay, and the other people in our group had zero issues with their room. One minor complaint, hotel management please pay attention: there are NO towel hooks in the bathrooms. This would be such a minor thing to add and would help guests to re-use bath towels. We ended up draping towels over anything we could to try and dry them. We were provided with 6 bath towels which did help some. Our room was cleaned every other day, and they did a good job of this. Towels were refreshed, trash was emptied, beds were made. Also, hotel management, please find a way to reposition the toilet paper closer to the toilet. No one has 5ft arms. The main features of this hotel are the location, beach, and pool. I am not aware of any other hotel in Kona that has both a pool (beautiful pool btw) and an oceanfront beach. And the central location of this hotel puts you close to all the activities in downtown Kona. This beach is just amazing. Its sheltered so there is no violent wave action. Kids can truly play all day in the water without worrying about rough seas. The beach does have some loungers which are reserved for hotel guests. We did see some people reserving chairs early in the day, but typically you could find one or two empty at any time of the day. In addition to the loungers, the hotel has an arrangement with the Kona Boys beach rental hut which is on the beach. The hut will loan you two beach chairs and an umbrella when you show your hotel wristband. This rental hut was an amazing thing to have available, they rented standup paddle boards, kayaks, and snorkel equipment and also offered outrigger canoe tours. Hotel guests get 1 hour free snorkel rental per day, or $5 rental for the whole day. Ill write a separate review of Kona Boys, but we had great experiences with their services and the people working there. All beaches in Hawaii are public. So you may encounter locals, guests from other hotels, cruise ships, etc on the beach. Even on cruise ship day (currently Wednesday) the beach did not get overcrowded. In the morning and evenings the local outrigger canoe clubs use the beach to launch their canoes. This is a really interesting thing to see, the local Hawaiian culture practicing their rowing. They don't typically launch the boats when the beach is busy, so this isnt disruptive at all. The pool at the King K was also well above what you expect for a hotel pool. Keep in mind this is downtown Kona so real estate is limited, but this was still a good sized pool for the hotel. There are about 25 loungers set up around the pool, as well as 2 or 3 rental cabanas. I wish they would get rid of one of the cabanas and add a few more chairs, but almost any time we checked there was at least one chair available. The pool was in great condition, clean, perfect temperature. Towels are provided at the pool deck, each room gets 2 towel cards, each card gets you two towels. Exchange wet/dirty towels for clean/dry ones, or a card. We used these towels at the beach as well and no one told us not to, so I guess you can use these as beach towels. Be nice and at least shake them out before you return them so they arent so sandy. The pool has a large ~3.5ft shallow end, and also has a deep end that goes to about 8ft. This was nice as it gave the kids some more places to play and dive for toys off the bottom. We selected the "Stay for Breakfast" hotel package, which included a free buffet breakfast for 2 adults and all children in the room. This buffet was served at the hotel restaurant Honu's On the Beach. This was a great deal, this buffet must cost at least $20/person, and we got it for much less than that with the hotel deal. The breakfast had a lot of good options, including a staffed omelet station, fresh fruit, bacon, fruit juices, etc. Coffee and water was served by a waiter, bring a few dollars per person to tip the waiter if you got good service. There are a lot of wonderful common areas in the hotel with artwork, shopping, and gathering places. We had several family meals with takeout gathered around one of the tables in the common areas near the lobby. As this hotel is located centrally to the city, you do get some road noise. We found that with the patio door closed, the road noise was almost unnoticeable. We travel with a portable white noise machine which completely eliminated the noise from the road. Keep in mind, you are in the middle of a lot of great things, so you might hear a random car honk or something, but we didnt really notice anything bothersome. Some of the amenities in the hotel that we used: ABC Store - drug store plus packaged food, souvenirs, cold drinks (get your cold beers for the beach here) Kings Coffee - coffee shop, breakfast all day, sandwiches, smoothies, pastries Shave Ice - its shave ice! very good Hawaiian Culture Center - interesting historical info, lei making (fun and affordable) Island Breeze Luau - really great to have this on the grounds, this is a very good luau, see reviews of this separately. Honu's - daily breakfast buffet as well as weekly prime rib and seafood buffet on Saturdays Billfish - poolside bar, also offers sandwiches, salads, flatbreads, etc. Very good food, typically fast service. Bar has some decent tiki-style cocktails made well. This hotel was hosting some sort of kids sports teams during our stay. This was not really a problem apart from one instance of late evening door slamming in our hall. The kids were respectful and the grounds are big enough to absorb a lot of people. Before our stay, we were a bit concerned after seeing some of the negative reviews of this hotel. I am now confused as to how any of these negative reviews could be from a reasonable hotel guest. We had 3 rooms, all were lovely and apart from the A/C that was repaired quickly, we had no issues at all with the rooms. Hotel service was impeccable, this hotel is simply a must-stay if you want a hotel with a beach. We will be back to Hawaii, and this will be our first pick of places to stay.

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“Great Downtown Hotel”

This was our 4th trip to Kona. In the past we have stayed at condo rentals. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed staying at a hotel, even thought I am a platinum Marriott member. This hotel is a Courtyard, but had all the services of a regular Marriott. Definitely the best Courtyard I have s... more

This was our 4th trip to Kona. In the past we have stayed at condo rentals. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed staying at a hotel, even thought I am a platinum Marriott member. This hotel is a Courtyard, but had all the services of a regular Marriott. Definitely the best Courtyard I have stayed. The staff was excellent and assisted us with anything we requested. Most of our favorite restaurants are in downtown Kona, so it was great to just walk to the venue rather than driving. The hotel was in great shape, I understand it was recently renovated. Also, the pool and the area around the pool was renovated and was very relaxing. The service at the pool was great. The exercise room had machines and free weights, excellent selection. Before our trip I called the hotel several times with questions, and they were very helpful. The beach is small, but had a very calm water for just enjoying the water. Also, in the morning the outriggers go out and it something to see. You can also get a outrigger ride which I strongly suggest with Kona Boys.

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“Most disappointing Marriott Experience in 25 Years!”

This Marriott property misses the mark on almost every front. For the price per night and location, one would expect an amazing vacation experience. But no! It was a major disappointment. An "ocean view" may overlook a parking lot. There are petty policies (ex: pool towels - distribution limited ... more

This Marriott property misses the mark on almost every front. For the price per night and location, one would expect an amazing vacation experience. But no! It was a major disappointment. An "ocean view" may overlook a parking lot. There are petty policies (ex: pool towels - distribution limited hours). The property is poorly maintained and dated - a room lock may not function and a bathroom need paint. The restaurant wil be mediocre and overpriced! Don't expect freshly prepared real food or a simple breakfast staple like good coffee. (Where was the Kona coffee?) Amenities are few - ex: few umbrellas allocated for guests without rental fees. Expect two reserved rooms to be on different floors in spite of an early request for proximity. Do not expect daily room tidying. This is a poorly managed Marriott property. The family is staying in a different Hawaii Marriott today - with robes in freshly decorated rooms, better value, ocean access, delightful food in the restaurant and good coffee. The only redeeming value of the Courtyard Kona beach is access to a lovely swim. Note: the poor customer experience is not a customer facing employee issue - all "face to face" service providers were lovely. Kona Marriott employees are working in a mediocre, sub value, poorly managed property. The Courtyard by Marriott Kona property is a very poor value for the dollar. Management is cutting corners on every front. I strongly suggest investigating other options on the Big Island.

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“Bad experience”

The Saturday crab and prime rib buffet was good but the service was not as good as it should have been. We reserved a table specifying an indoor table with an ocean view. We were seated outside with no umbrella. The wait staff did not come over to remove our dirty plates. It started to rain ... more

The Saturday crab and prime rib buffet was good but the service was not as good as it should have been. We reserved a table specifying an indoor table with an ocean view. We were seated outside with no umbrella. The wait staff did not come over to remove our dirty plates. It started to rain and the waiter did come over to have us move. We moved ourselves to another table where we had to drag a heavy umbrella over to the table. Only then did the front desk clerk come over to move us inside.

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