Marriott, Hilton or Hapuna Prince

Read the previous postings regarding the choice between the Marriott or the Mauna Lani. Would love to stay at the Mauna Lani but for the week after Easter best price left is $800/nt. Not in the budget. Hope the ';experts'; can help me out.

We are a family of 4. Daughter 11, Son 17. We are spending most of trip at condo south of Kona, wanted to move to Kohala coast for last 3 days of our trip for beach time for gals and golf for guys. Which of the above resorts would be best for these priorities. After reading posts I am not thrilled with any of these choices.

Is the berm on A bay going to be there end of March?

Is the Hapuna Prince in that bad of shape?

Do reservations ever open up at the Mauna Lani?

Any help and guidance would be appreciated. Budget is up to $500/nt.

Thanks!

Marriott, Hilton or Hapuna Prince

I%26#39;m not an expert, only a lowly malihini (visitor), but here%26#39;s my two cents, anyway :-) If you stay at the Hapuna Prince, you can use their free shuttle to the Mauna Kea Beach (Kauna%26#39;oa Beach). Thus, you would have access to the two best beaches on the island of Hawai%26#39;i. The Hapuna Prince is comparatively more isolated than the Marriott and Hilton, which would entail a little more time spent in the car, if that%26#39;s a factor.

I%26#39;ll defer to the local experts regarding other details. Have you checked directly with the Mauna Lani hotel itself for room rates? Unfortunately, spring break is a busy time. Good luck!

Marriott, Hilton or Hapuna Prince

cant say about the berm....

Hapuna is a golf hotel....far from everything and isolated...not my choice. Hapuna beach to me is just so-so

Reservations do open up at all hotels....BUT...they will be for the highest rate...expect no better price.

I would go with the hilton due to all the tons of things and the water features/park/pools.....are astounding. across from the beach course...much cheaper than Hapuna

The Hilton is one of the most beautiful hotels we%26#39;ve ever stayed at (and we travel a great deal) with amazing pools and grounds. The downside is they don%26#39;t have access to the beach from the hotel. They%26#39;ve created a sandy beach lagoon but no waves. If beach access is important than stay at the Marriott. Not as nice a setting but there is a beach.

Read the current reviews for the Hilton, it seems to have gone downhill lately. The Marriott on the other hand just finished a renovation and it IS on the beach so no shuttles involved if beach time is what you are after. Not sure why the berm is an issue for you, it isn%26#39;t like it is Mt Evererst or anything.

The berm can be an issue in that there is little dry beach on the water side, and you can%26#39;t see the water from the hotel side at ground level, so it affects where you can set up your towel or chair to veg on the beach with a water view. If you just hang around the pool, then who cares. If you want to lie on the beach and see a great expansive view, then it%26#39;s a consideration.

Stayed at Hapuna few years ago or so. Nice hotel with great views. Nice pool. Very manicured grounds.

The entrances into the rooms themselves are from the outside if that matters. Rooms are average, nothing special. We found the service to be outstanding. One thing I remember is that the outside hallways overhead ceilings had many active bee hives.

Visited the Hilton while we were there. Very busy. The valet is usually quite overwhelmed. You seem to wait for a lot of things here. The beauty of this place is literally outstanding...Hapuna has nothing on this place in terms of beauty/grounds. You will walk, and walk a lot here. Then you will walk some more. They have various modes of transportations you can use, but there are lines. Pools are just awesome. Teens and older children would love this place.

hope this helps a bit.

Thanks for the explanation Honu_Ohana, since we have only ever been there In October there hasn%26#39;t been a berm.

Couldn%26#39;t you just set up on top of the berm and see the ocean?

Aloha, It is all about your children, if you think they will enjoy the pools and extra activities available in Waikaloa I would go all the way with the Hilton. If you feel being a tad further out (like 15 mins) and having the option of 2 white sand beaches with out the need of a car to get to them is better I would go Hapuna Prince. I have stayed at the Prince a couple of times in the last 18 months, the rooms are nice, maybe a tad tired, but clean and nicely set up, the grounds are beautiful and the staff wonderful. I prefer the Marriott over the Hilton but when the children were younger the Hilton would have been a great place for us.

As far as reservations go, busy time of year, I would grab reservations someplace and keep checking back, you never know when someone cancels. Give a call to ML and let them know how much you want to stay, share your budget requirements and ask them when it is a good time to check on cancellations and if they have a wait list.

We stayed at the Hapuna several years ago. The hotel was nice, rooms were clean, not overly spacious, but very nice. I would definately recommend an ocean front room. We had the breakfast buffet included in our room rate, which was a plus. The pool was pretty good, very low key, but great views. My husband and son really enjoyed the snorkeling from the beach. I probably wouldn%26#39;t stay there again, as previous posters stated, it is very remote. We were constantly in the car going some place else to eat. If we went back, I%26#39;d choose the Marriott, simply because they just went through a renovation. Good luck with making your choice.

Berm is triangular, so the top is narrow and I am not sure a lounge chair would fit and be stable on top.