Royal Kona Resort in Kailua Kona, HI

The staff is outstanding. From the room cleaners, the wait staff at the restaurant and the desk staff are friendly and always ready to make our visit special. We have been there at least 6 times or more and never had a complaint. The desk staff remembers us and treats us special. The sunsets are magical from the pool and restaurant. And if you’re lucky you might see Joe ( the dolphin whisperer). He swim out daily to spend time swimming with his dolphin friends.

We have stayed at 2 different places back in 2022 while visiting Big Island - a cool down to earth hotel in Hilo, and an a vacation rental in Kona here on the west - so with 2025 return we decided that the best way would be to combine it with the form of accommodation from 1st + location 2nd = Royal Kona Resort experience with an oceanfront view without breaking the bank - and that's where really Royal Kona is - it's not a boutique place, nor high end resort, but a down to earth with a stunning black lava rock ocean front resrt, cool open bar and some nice theme throughout the grounds, that sadly during our January 2025 were either closed or affected by the renovation - once Location: easy, roughly, 20 minutes drive south of KOA airport, walking distance to downtown Kona town, with plenty of restaurants near by, big parking lot, I think about $20 a day or so, nothing terrible and super convenient and desperately needed/appreciated for the area. Facing wests for great sunsets and whale watching from the hotel, and the rocky oceanfront is super unique - the hotel looks really unique and cool - definitely for me a very symbolic building for the area. Room: we got the room in the Lagoon Tower, which is undergoing renovation - it didn't affect our inside the room comfort at all, we would be usually gone during the day and never bothered us, and the room we got was renovated on the 6th floor so we were thrilled :) nice big bed, spacious balcony, "rustic" furniture mixed with modern colors, we though it's a good combo. Mini fridge, sink, don't recall the safe but I bet they have one, WiFi worked great - views were awesome as well, funny enough you could see from our room the Luau they were having Hotel Grounds/area: I think the pictures depict it all, it's pretty cool Polynesian style, I really loved it after being to French Polynesia 3 times, and now 2nd time to Hawaii I gained lot of appreciation for the theme, as a Tiki theme in the mainland USA in a concrete jungle just does not do it for me, here in the islands it feels natural and cool! The huge Tiki in the middle of the hotel adds to that vibe and plenty of other sculptures around the area. The beachfront open wall restaurant/bar is an added bonus. There are 2 areas for Luau/shows - one open air and then another one behind the gift shop area/closed walls and we bumped into them doing either one - we attended a Luau before so we didn't care to sign up for one, but randomly seeing the action as a hotel guest was definitely an unexpected bonus :) Beach: During January 2025 the private lagoon/beach was unfortunately damaged and closed from access - it look pretty amazing so I was a bit heart broken about this not being mentioned anywhere - after all the resort fee is paid here and does not cover really too much, parking is paid separately so this should be probably told more openly in advance as otherwise there is no more direct water/beach access from the hotel and you have to drive somewhere else. Once fixed this looked amazing! Otherwise there is nothing to say here because there is no other beach access. Food & restaurant options: we had a dinner at the hotel once and one breakfast - reviewed separately, it is a convenient thing but I would encourage everyone to explore the area, Hawaii has a really good food scene and of course good coffee Things to do: you are really close to everything from Kona, you do need a car though - whether to go south towards Volcanos National Park (about 2h scenic drive), or to go north to the beach, or to hop across the Saddle Road to Hilo - the closest attractions are all the coffee forms within 45m-1h drive, plenty great ones. "Chocolate" farms etc. - and if that is not your thing plenty of the unusual attractions like Salt Farm, Vanilla Farm etc. closer to the airport. Big Island is like Iceland of Tropics, it's a paradise for adventure seekers and people who want to see/try/taste local culture, products etc. - although there are some very nice white sand beaches in the north I would say the island has too much to offer to "waste" it on a beach :) and I doooooooo love beaches! Overall: this is a really great place to stay, it has everything one needs to make a pleasant stay and without breaking a buck, once the renovation is offer this will be for sure a 5/5 place, hopefully they just don't increase the prices too hard as that will then offset the whole balance of +/- :)

The location and views were great. The staff and food service were outstanding. However, the carpet was filthy. Our feet were very dirty after only briefly walking on the carpet each day. The cabinet doors and some drawers did not work well. It is an older hotel that has been subject to significant maintenance along the way.

I preferred the firm mattress. Quiet room. Polite and helpful staff. Long overdue renovations are taking place. One helpful employee stated it should’ve been completed a couple years ago. It’s iconic but also tired and needs some TLC. Great views.

Rooms are still cleaned daily. Lau is performed on site, not free. Beautiful grounds. Great amenities including laundry facility, tennis court, pools amongst others. Great staff. Wonderful location to restaurants, downtown and the airport. 2 complementary mai tai