I read a lot of reviews before booking three rooms at this property, so when I placed my reservations using a combination of airline points and cash I decided to call and make sure everything was in order and most important to make sure we were all given updated rooms. I called on 8/15/11 and spoke to Sarah and gave her the details of the reservations, told her about the negative reviews on Trip Advisor due to rooms that have not been updated and specifically requested updated rooms and the fact that we were checking several properties on the Big Island to reserve rooms for an upcoming wedding. She asked me to e-mail her the reservation details so she could make sure they were in order and 4 days later she replied with reservation numbers. I noticed my daughter had 4 different reservation numbers so I replied to make sure she would not have to check in and out each day, but I never received a response.

Upon check-in it was total confusion and names, rooms and dates were a mess – but that is nothing compared to nightmare my daughter, her husband and baby got when they opened the door to room #207. The smell of mold and mildew hit them the instant they walked in. This unit has clearly never been updated. There was mold around the toilets and in the shower. It looks as though there may have been some flooding in the unit above because there was damage to the ceiling in several spots. When my son-in-law tried to open the screen door to the lanai to help with the smell the door fell off. When they asked about another room the next morning they were told to check back at noon. When they finally gave them another room the baby was napping and they could not move in until later that day. They basically lost an entire day on the island. The next day my daughter was called down to the front desk to check in AGAIN. I was told this was due to the 4 different reservation numbers so I asked why we could not just sign all 4 reservation slips at the time of our initial check-in and was told “yeah I guess you can do that”. Am I missing something or shouldn’t this have been suggested to us (the customer). Not surprisingly this was Sarah. I then asked her why my daughter was given such a horrible room when I asked her to make sure the rooms were updated. She said the room is not horrible and I told her it has mold on the ceiling and bathroom and she said there is no mold. So I asked if she had been in the room lately and she said “I don’t have time check every room” – OK, I get that, but shouldn’t someone check rooms that have received complaints?? My husband and I asked if we could get a room upgrade and mentioned a room we passed every day that was empty (we had room #305 and you only get a partial view as the right side of the building cuts off any view of the sunset) and Sarah once again replied with her lack of customer service skills, “No, that is a higher class room”. You would think after messing up the reservations and messing up the room she would upgrade us. The room we asked for was empty the entire time we were there.

I asked Sarah to let the manager know we wanted to talk to him, but of course she never did so I called him upon our return and he was very sorry and agreed to refund one night stay ASAP…..4 months later still no refund. Needless to say the wedding guests for our August 2012 wedding will be staying at the Royal Kona.

What a beautiful get-away! The complex is so well kept and the staff is top-notch "personable" without ever interfering. The rooms are spacious, clean, and -- without even knowing "what we'd have to "cook with" -- great gourmet utensils! We didn't really know that would matter until we realized there were 4 grills -- immaculately cleaned each day -- right by the ocean! Well, that did it! After a zip-line tour to the Northern part of the island (recommended by the app staff at our complex), we stopped by a market and picked up dinner to grill! There is an amply staffed mini-market next door - in addition a larger grocery chain 10 minutes South of the complex. There is a Costco near the airport . . .great wines, fresh fish, etc. -- and remember, you can grill right at the complex! We did not snorkel at the complex, but, saw others snorkeling when we were leaving! Wish we had. There are beautiful beaches 5 minutes away! Great central location to all activities! We did it all in 4 days!

Again, the staff is there to "support" you -- they do not "push" in any manner. We were so thankful we had some guidance as to "what to do " or "wait to do" or simply, "not to waste our time doing". . .

We so enjoyed our "Big Island" Christmas stay! Aloha and Mahalo

All in all great. Staff very helpful, rooms are MASSIVE. Pay the extra $ and get oceanfront, not oceanview(overlooking pool). Clean, well maintained and fairly close to town. Not cheap but a much better deal than getting a couple of hotel rooms. No complaints.

My second time at Kona by the Sea - kids 1st time, both times through Costco! 1st time went a little better though! We stayed in room 202 this time, we paid for ocean front and it's a nice condo. On our 3rd night, xmas eve, and after spending a fortune at Costco on food since we have 4 boys ages 13-25, we discovered the oven didn't work. We had management come up and they couldn't figure it out, so said they would send another staff member up. No one ever came! We fried our chicken strips that night! The next day I asked again because we had Christmas dinner to do! They said someone would come up later. He did come, but said he had to order a part and it wont be here till the next day. We asked if we could at least use the oven in another unit, but it was so far away, really hard to carry hot stuff. It wasn't great, but we did it. Several days later, when we asked again if it was going to be fixed, a staff member asked if that was the only reason we were in Hawaii, to use the oven? How rude. We said no, but we went to the store so we could eat some meals as a family at home and want to do that. We bought the food already. He said well, they are going to buy a new stove/oven and it would be a few days. It never showed. We ended up leaving a lot of food in the freezer and refrigerator since we couldn't use the oven. Sadly, the management sort of defined our experience with their non-compassion and non-help on this as it never got resolved. We did ask for an extra cot, and they brought a pump up mattress, which was nice. The 1st one had a hole in it, so they brought another one the next night when we asked. I would still stay here again though.......it is an easy enough walk to town and a wonderful view, and I understand things happen out of their control, if they would have just showed a little concern or compassion about it....