I am not much of Condo or home rental traveler, but in Kona it worked out great for us. We generally stay in hotels, but in Kona its either high-end properties or old properties in need of renovation. In my opinion, staying at Hilton, Mauna Kea or Mauna Lani, is not true Hawaii experience. So, I contacted one of our friends who live on the island to help in our search and they got us touch with Vivian, who manages several properties at White Sand Condo. We were lucky enough to find a Condo, due to late cancellation at White Sand, unit 329 for a week. The unit was on the top floor, away from the pool area and very quiet. The unit had everything, it was like walking into home that is occupied, it had a small locked cabinet space for the owners, but everything else was accessible. It even had freezer full of food, along with complete spice rack and closet full of linens. Two bedrooms of which we only used one of them and everything in working order.
The location was ideal, midway between town of Kailua Kona and Keahou Bay, it definitely gives you the feel of living among the locals with the sound of dogs barking and roosters in the morning. If you are coming to Hawaii, enjoy the local flavor as much as you can, many leave without seeing this part of the island. Cruiseship visits regularly and town fills up with people, but they leave in the evening. Many reasonable places to eat, both in town and Keahou Shopping Center. Great lunch at Coffee Shack north of Keahou on the way to Kealakekua, they bake their own bread and what a view! In town, try Quinn's for amazing Ono fish and chips and great selection of beer at Kona Brewery Co. If you are looking for another Oahu or Maui, this is not the place for you, especially for younger crowed which makes this island perfect for nice and relaxing stay. Contact Vivian and you will not go wrong. sellersh001@hawaii.rr.com

My wife and I just returned from Kona, we stayed in condo #326 at Kona White Sands. The condo was perfect. It was clean, modern, well furnished, quiet, and comfortable. The Condo complex pool was very nice too. The location was great, right across the street from Majic Sands Beach on Alii Drive. The condo was easy to book and find, and flying into Kona Airport was a breeze. The Kona area was great, not much traffic, great weather, and better beaches. We will be back in the future, and hopefully back to #326.

We stayed in condo #209 for 2 weeks this July. We were there with some other families and we did have young children with us (ranging from 9 months to 5 years old). The condo itself was great- was nicely updated and had everything we needed including a dishwasher and washer/dryer. The only thing the condo didn't have was air conditioning but we managed to stay comfortable with the use of all the ceiling fans.

The reason why I would NOT recommend this place to any families traveling with younger children is that there are some residents of this facility that are just plain cranky and don't like young kids. It can get quite uncomfortable especially since we're just there on holidays, ready to enjoy our family, the sun and the beautiful island- not to deal with grinches. Our group had run ins with these people and we saw the same thing happening to other families that were there at the same time. There was even an elderly woman that would come out on her deck whenever there were kids in the pool to take pictures of what there were doing in case they were doing something against the rules. Oh yes, that reminds me, if you stay here, I hope that you enjoy lots of rules like no non potty trained children in the pool, no kids in the hot tub, no playing games in the pool, don't have too many pairs of shoes outside your door, don't track too much sand onto the facility from the beach across the street etc, etc.

It's really unfortunate that some of the residents there are so miserable- it could be a really great place for families to stay.

We stayed in condo #326 for our first vacation in Hawaii and feel we struck it lucky first time. The condo is roomy, clean and is excellently placed right opposite Magic Sands beach. There is a swimming pool, hot tub, tennis court and pool table available for the use of guests. This condo has a great Lanai for relaxing on and enjoying meal times on. There is a full kitchen, washer and dryer and plenty of towels and linen. There are body boards and chairs that can be used at the beach and the only thing that was missing was that there wasn't any tennis rackets, so you will need to bring your own. A great condo in a great location aided towards a great vacation and we would certainly stay here again.