Paniolo Ranch — Hotel in Comfort

My now Wife and I went to Paniolo Ranch and to look at having both our wedding & reception which would take place later there. We met with Hunter, & we went over the table arrangements & how we wanted everything set up. We talked about the DJ while going over the Table set up & they asked if we wanted one & we said yes, we did, & they said OK. Both Judy & Hunter were there for this conversation. Judy later acknowledged this conversation & stated that never meant the DJ was included in the price, that only meant they would book it for us. We planned out the wedding & went over the details of that where Judy & Hunter were made aware of the Food Allergies, & she even acknowledged them in previous responses, but the night of the wedding still served Shrimp Cocktail. Moving to the reception part we wanted somewhat of a Hybrid of their two packages. They pulled out the different packages & then crossed out everything we did not want or need for the reception. We went over colors & flowers & then we talked about the price with Hunter. Judy was not even involved in the price conversation. In talking with Hunter, he stated since we were booking 2 events, he would give us a discount & they could do everything for $6,500. We agreed on the price. We got the invoices & paid them in full. The invoice was for the agreed upon price so no issues.

For the reception, which we had already paid 100% for a month in advance, we thought everything was all being taken care of. Then 10 days before the reception I got a call from Judy stating they needed a guest count to order flowers, linens, & set up tables. I had already given them the guest count a month ago & told Hunter. Just from the start of the phone call Judy was very argumentative & not willing to do anything & not sure exactly what she said but it then came out that the linens & flowers where extra & not included in the original price, they never booked the DJ & she didn’t know why we would think the DJ was included even though she acknowledged the conversation we had about the DJ. We decided to have a conference call with everyone, me, my wife, Judy & Hunter who discussed almost everything including the price for the next day to get these issues resolved. We call the next day, & Hunter is not available, & we never get to talk to Hunter about anything & it comes out that another couple wants our date & Judy offers us a refund. Our invites have already gone out, we have people from out of town coming & it is now 9 days before the reception. How are we supposed to notify everyone of a venue change & find a new place in 9 days? I am still not sure why they were even entertaining another couple for the same evening when we had already paid in full a month prior other than the fact that they gave us a discount and then raised their prices. Not being able to talk with Hunter to get everything worked out, my mother and sisters did all the decorations, and we purchased a sound system for the music. We made the best of it. Judy’s response to my brother, she stated that the workers get food, & she was working that night. If she was working, it was not at my event as we were there from 12pm to 10pm & she never once came by to see if we needed anything or see how everything was going. The only time Judy came was to get Free Food.

I vented my frustration to my family. Almost a week after the reception I got an email from Judy threatening me with legal action if I don’t take down my review. I had no idea what she was talking about. I checked google & found my brother had left a review. I replied to Judy, & she didn’t seem to care, still threatened me with legal action if I didn’t take down my brother’s review. At that point is when my family started leaving reviews. You wonder why she has all 5-star reviews because she threatens people with legal action if they leave negative reviews. Look at the reviews now. No reviews for 2 months & then in 2 hours suddenly, she has 9 5-star reviews from people that have supposedly stayed there months ago but never left a review. Seems a...

My wife and I got the Eat, Sleep, and Be Married package (6,600 base, 9,621 after fees + some extras added). Our guests loved the Paniolo Ranch. It was lovely. I want to share with you what Judy and her family did to go above and beyond for us.

As my wife and I are getting ready for the wedding, we look at the time and there is panic because the wedding party was supposed to meet under the arbor before the ceremony. It just hits me—I have not told ANY of my wedding party where they were supposed to be lined up. On top of everything, my mom isn’t dressed! It’s 10 mins to my wedding and my mom isn’t dressed!!!

Judy (the owner and coordinator) sees the panic and comes to the rescue. She stalls the wedding so that my mom can get dressed. My wife and my veil were cathedral veils and all over the place so Judy helped us with that. I don’t know how Judy did it, but she managed to give my mom enough time to dress, arranged my wedding party under the arbor, and got my wife and I on our way to the wedding in time! Judy is Wonder Woman! Her daughter-in-law was our officiant and running everywhere to check on us as well as get our sand ceremony ready. Judy’s granddaughter was at the photo booth ready for my guests. Rae (Judy’s sister I believe) had been running around throughout the day asking me if there was anything I needed to just reach out. Kenny (Judy's son), the bartender, was set up for serving. The entire family was on top of it. They should run a TV series on Rescuing Brides or Operation: Wedding or something because it was all hands-on deck from the family. The ceremony was beautiful. Karli was a fantastic officiant. After the ceremony, we took pictures while our guests got drinks from Kenny. Kenny served and drinks happily and made great conversation with our guests. During the dinner, we were all sat in the Main House. The Main House isn’t the large wedding venue and was the perfect size for our 27 guests. The family brought out the buffet (which we chose BBQ). I’m so glad they didn’t just keep it out to get cold. The tables looked beautiful and matched the color palette (which wasn’t an easy one) that we gave Judy. Tables were called one by one. The photographer wanted some last pictures as I was about to grab food, so Judy made me a plate. All our guests loved the food—they thought it was delicious. We almost forgot about toasts, but one of Judy’s family members reminded us (we appreciated that). Then, we had our cake. It was the perfect size and it was so yummy. They gave us the top of the cake before we left in a container. During the dance, we had enough space to move around comfortably, while other members of my family hung out near the porch area. We had a great time doing karaoke and the porch was the perfect place for that. My uncle did break a chair when he sat on it. I apologized and Rae (Judy's sister) said not to worry and asked if he was okay. We did ask to pay for the damages but they told us not to worry about it. Once the karaoke was done, we hung out by the pool and chatted. The last day there, we had the breakfast buffet in the house and opened gifts. The buffet was so nice and such a nice way to conclude the trip. Guests thanked us for such a beautiful wedding. Many of our guests said they’ve never been to such a nice wedding. Many of our guests said it was a romantic vacation and wedding for them. Best of all, my mom told me that our wedding brought love and family together—which was our main vision for our wedding After everyone left, I cried because our wedding was more beautiful than expected. It was amazing. Everything was perfect. I cried also because it was over and I didn’t want it to be.

If you got this far in the review, I hope you consider Paniolo Ranch. It is an enchanting place that brings family together during special events like our wedding. Judy and her family work hard to put together a wonderful event where you barely have to lift a finger. Paniolo Ranch embodies the true spirit of Aloha and will leave your guests talking about it for...

My son booked this venue for 2 dates. 1st for a wedding, 2nd a reception. I can only say buyer beware. Things started out okay but ended terribly. The wedding was held in late September. It was still very hot outside despite being an evening event. After the ceremony the bride and groom went with the photographer for photos. The rest of us went to the house where dinner was to be served. We looked around for water as we were all thirsty from being in the heat. There were no beverages in sight. Two women wandered in and out not once acknowledging us. My husband finally approached one of them asking for water. She brought us a small plastic cup of water. There were no refills offered. When the bride/groom/and photographer arrived we seated ourselves. Judy came out and asked if we would all have our steaks medium as it would be easier for her. We agreed to this and reminded her that I have several food allergies and needed to make sure there would be nothing on my steak other than salt due to allergies. She said no one had told her there were any food allergies and the steaks had already been seasoned. I know my son had sent an email regarding allergies as I was sitting right there when he sent it. However, we've all had messages lost in cyberspace so I gave her the benefit of the doubt. I reiterated that I could not have anything on the meat other than salt and that I also had a dairy allergy so please do not cook the steak in butter. She said she would scrape off the seasoning and wash the steak before cooking it. We said that was fine. The appetizer arrived. It was not the appetizer we had chosen but instead was a shrimp cocktail. Several of us are allergic to shellfish - which Judy acknowledges she was aware of in an earlier review. She says she modified the menu twice to accommodate this allergy - yet she served us shrimp anyway. We didn't complain just passed the appetizers to those who could eat it. 10 minutes later a plate was placed in front of me with a steak covered in mushrooms and sauce and a baked potato with butter, cheese, and sour cream on it. Even if she never saw the email she was made aware in person that night. Shortly after promising to scrape and wash my steak and being told of the dairy allergy I had a plate in front of me covered in things I could not eat. Again I chose not to say anything as I didn't want to cast a negative pall over the celebration. Nowhere on the menu did it indicate the grilled steak was to be served with mushrooms or marinade of any kind. My daughter in law has a severe allergy to mushrooms. If mushrooms had been listed we definitely would have made sure Judy was aware that we were allergic to them. The evening ended, we thanked them for everything and left. 10 days prior to the reception my son called me having just talked to Judy. She informed them that they would not be doing the flowers, linens, or DJ as discussed at the time of contract. Her son Hunter had set things up with the kids but he was unavailable to talk with them now. In her reply to the earlier review she states my son was trying to finagle free linens, flowers, and a DJ. How is it "free" when they paid thousands of dollars to hold the event there. Who would pay thousands of dollars for an empty room with bare tables and chairs? She offered them fake flowers instead. She states she had given the kids a deep discount for last minute booking. She gave them a $1000 discount for booking both events there. We tried to find another venue but nothing was available. We felt we had no choice but to stick with the venue as it would be impossible to let everyone know of a last minute address change. The kids were disappointed. They chose this venue because everything was supposed to be included, I paid out of pocket for centerpieces and flowers. The kids bought a sound system to set up for the music and we made the best of it. Reading past reviews this seems to be a pattern. Judy has threatened my son with legal action if we don't remove these reviews. Is this also a pattern to keep her...