Hanalei Bay Resort

Guest review

8.0

The view is stunning. All the staff were helpful and welcoming. Two great restaurants on site.

Nickeled and Dimed

4.0

We stayed here for a week using a timeshare credit we received from Diamond, now Hilton, from when we couldn’t travel during Covid. We called several times before we arrived to let them know we would be there early and would like to check in before the 4 p.m. check in time if at all possible. We arrived at 2:30 p.m.and were told our room wouldn’t be ready for another 1-1 1/2 hours. Ok fine, so we went to the bar that opened at 3 to have some drinks and an appetizer. We made sure to pay and be back at the front desk at 3:30, at which time we were told our room still wouldn’t be ready for another 1-1 1/2 hours!! Are you kidding me?! Check in is at 4 p.m. We were given some towels and a wrist band to wear while on the grounds so we went and sat by the pool under an umbrella while it rained off and on. Then we decided to go ask if we could at least put our perishable groceries we had bought at Walmart in the room while it was being cleaned. We were told, “No,” but they could see if another room was ready. They said we could check into a room on the 2nd floor instead of our room on the 3rd floor, but we decided to wait because we wanted the best view possible. We asked if there was a refrigerator somewhere that we could put our food in so it wouldn’t go bad since it had now been in the car for over 3 hours. They did accommodate this and took our eggs, lunchmeat, frozen burgers, frozen chicken, and frozen ground turkey to put in a staff refrigerator. However, by the time we were able to check into our room, the burgers at the top of the bag were thawed, and the ground turkey roll was thawing on the outside. Unfortunately, I ate some of the eggs a few days later and got sick, so we threw the other 16 eggs away. My husband’s bread also started molding well before its sell by date. I’m guessing this was due to it sitting in the warm car for the 3+ hours that we waited for our room to be ready. At no point were we offered any sort of comp or discount to make up for the fact that we couldn’t check into our room until 75 minutes after the resort’s 4 p.m. check in time. Not a good look. The grounds are nice and well kept. However, I don’t like that the pool doesn’t open until 9 a.m. (at least an hour late in my opinion). In fact, on Wednesday, I believe, the gardeners started working on the area around the pool at 9 a.m., so the pool didn’t open until 10 a.m. that day. The pool is pretty shallow but does have an area where it gets to about 4 ft. My husband was really looking forward to using the jacuzzi for his back after carrying our luggage up to the 3rd floor. It was nice and hot, but the jets were not working. He asked the front desk about it, and they said they were waiting for a part to fix it. The bottom of the pool is rough and uncomfortable for your feet (as if it has lots of built in pebbles/rocky areas as the floor). However, it seemed pretty clean. Some people got in trouble for tossing a football in the pool. Others got in trouble for tossing one of those small balls that bounce off the water. I understand it has to do with injuries. I just think it’s something to point out. I overheard a staff member ask one of the people with a ball if they were owners. When they said, “No,” the staff member replied, “Well then you don’t have to pay the insurance do you?” Again, I understand the liability issue, but I thought the comment was unnecessary. However, the staff member was not being mean and even started making friendlier comments afterward. The morning of checkout we received an email with our itemized bill. Holy cow!!! Over $500!!! WTH??!! I understand there are resort fees and taxes, but we didn’t expect to pay $20 each night to park! Where else were we supposed to park?! We’ve stayed in Princeville many many times, but we’ve never been charged to park!! There was also a “transient accommodation tax” that was 14% each day x 2 (maybe for 2 people?) x 7 days and a “timeshare occupancy tax” that was $21 x 7 days. Additionally, there was a “resort fee” that was $25 x 7 days and a “general excise tax” @ 4.75% x 15 (no idea why it was 15 times since we only stayed 7 days). Furthermore, there was a $50 “check in fee” for the privilege of checking in 75 minutes after their advertised check in time. Now compare this to the Kapa’a Shores where we stayed the week beforehand using the same certificate from the Covid years. Obviously this is not the Hanalei Bay Resort. Not even close. However, I will give them credit for being very friendly and accommodating. I called ahead to ask if any of their rooms had AC. They didn’t, but the lady who answered offered to put an extra fan in our room, and it was there when we arrived. I also requested an ocean front room, which she noted and we did get. The biggest difference though was that they only put a $250 “hold” on our credit card, and after we left, there were ZERO CHARGES!!!! No taxes. No resort fees. No check in fees. No transient accommodation taxes. No occupancy taxes. No parking fees!! That’s a huge difference. Why?? When we checked in at the Hanalei Beach Resort, we saw an offer on their board to purchase a 1 bedroom unit for 2 weeks for around $5,000 plus roughly $800 in closing costs. They were also offering a credit of around $4,000 toward the first (and maybe second?) year’s dues. It said you could book the weeks starting in 2027-2028. We seriously thought about it and almost went in to see how much the annual dues actually were. So glad we didn’t. I’m so disappointed that we paid over $500 for a vacation that we had already paid for through our ownership. Lesson learned!! If you stay here, be prepared to be nickeled and dimed to death in addition to whatever you paid to stay here if you’re not an owner, or in addition to your purchase price and dues if you are an owner.

A lovely place that we don’t k ow before but will be back

10.0

It’s a truly special place , chill vibe , beautiful views and great facilities

− Not much to be honest

Such a great week with my family! The HBR never disappoints!

10.0

The location was great. Sunsets from the lawn were amazing! Everyone was helpful and friendly. The pool and hot tub were clean and never too crowded.

Paradise

10.0

Absolute paradise! Beautiful views of the bay and the mountains. Decent restaurants on site and a short walk to the beach.

Good food and nice views from 1 Kitchen

10.0

We ate lunch at 1 Kitchen with a gorgeous view of the bay from our table. The food was good although a little pricey. Service was excellent. Be aware that you have to use valet parking at this resort and they charge $20 for it. No complaints just be aware that this is an expensive resort with prices above average whatever that means in Hawaii.