Kona Village, A Rosewood Resort — Hotel in Hawaii

Kona village review:||My husband and I travel to luxury resorts 3-4 times per year. Kona Rosewood Village is somewhat in a league of its own compared to the ones we have been to. While it is a beautiful property, it is very definitely in its infancy, and has a dramatic amount of work left to be a top tier property. However, it’s also clear they are trying. The GM (Daniel Scott) and Director of Hotels ( Mariajose Rodriguez) have both come from Las Ventanas recently, and it’s clear they want to turn this place around, and match the quality of Las and other high end Rosewood properties.||That said, I spent the first 3/4 of the trip quite unhappy and arguing with staff that had no escalation point until the GM returned mid week.||Arrival: 2/10||This was a dramatic short falling. We went to Four Seasons Hualalai the night before due to how our flights worked out, and that was a wonderful greeting quite late at night. They held Noio open for us, even though we were getting in late due to delays picking up our rental car, and didn’t once make us feel rushed. Even had us relax on some comfortable couches while getting us welcome drinks.||Kona Village, on the other hand, had no one to welcome us at a fairly reasonable time of around 6pm. The guard just waived us through the gate and didn’t tell us where to go. We happened to find the entrance, but there was no one to greet us. I had to wander around for five minutes poking my head into areas I shouldn’t be; shouting “hello” to get the front desk supervisor (Eduardo) to come out to help us.||Unfortunately, even once he did, he had trouble with their drink dispenser dispensing the welcome drink, and couldn’t get a bellhop to assist us. He ended up telling us to just leave our car keys with them and go to the bar to get a drink while waiting for them to get someone. It took 30 minutes or so before they came back to get us and half heartedly show us to the room (no property tour, and forgot to inform us that we could text for assistance with anything. Also forgot to assign a butler to our room)||Room: 1/10 and then 9/10||This is what basically ruined a large portion of the stay for us.||We were in a tree top room. I specifically booked this room as I absolutely love hanging beds. The motion of the bed gently rocking is super relaxing while reading a book and watching the sunset. The first room had a bed on the lanai with hanging mounts up top, four large ropes “suspending” it, and a tether under it. However; the ropes had either stretched over time, or it was installed wrong as it was just sitting on the floor, instead of hanging.||This should have been an easy fix. The four ropes are sized via three simple to adjust bolts/clamps each. Maintenance could have come and resolved this in probably a half hour. Instead, we spent the majority of the trip repetitively asking for it to be fixed, without any visible sign maintenance ever looked. We were even told conflicting information on it by the front desk manager, the director of rooms, and the concierges. Sometimes we would be told they would work on it and other times told that it was never supposed to be hanging.||The only way I finally got it resolved was by sending photos of the promotional material showing that, yes, it is a hanging bed and should have hung.||It was at this point I finally managed to escalate to the GM (Daniel). He had us moved to the “prototype” room (#109) that happened to have this installed (mostly) correctly. ||From that point the reason I’m not giving the room a 10/10 is simply because there were some minor mechanical issues they had to fix once we moved into the room and the outdoor shower was super temperamental (but relaxing!).||Food: 5/10 breakfast; 7/10 lunch, 10/10 dinner||The breakfast buffet honestly was just not good. Everything on it was either luke-warm, or one day, totally cold. For some reason it seems like they don’t have the hot foods in any type of heater, just in cast iron pots?||The pastries on the breakfast buffet were pretty mid level quality; as was the pancakes/waffles etc on it. A lot of the pastry/pancake items tasted like something I would get at a Marriott or similar.||The odd part is that the ordered breakfast food is much nicer and much higher quality. For instance: the breakfast market has fantastic croissants, but the ones on the buffet have little flavor. The pancakes we ordered during the “make good” breakfast were wonderful, thick, and fluffy. The ones on the buffet are essentially McDonald’s silver dollar pancakes level. The ordered French toast is also fantastic, and there is no equivalent on the buffet (the buffet food doesn’t rotate much on a day by day basis: they seem to have two setups about 90% the same that are rotated between)||For lunch:||Food and menu were ok. The variety was a bit of an issue after a week, but if you were doing a split stay, it would be perfectly fine.||I’d say nothing stands out as a pro or negative for lunch aside from the excellent onion rings as a pro, and the quite dirty pool menus as a negative.||For dinner:||This was absolutely wonderful. We did dinner at Moana, Kahuwei Smokehouse, and Paniolo night.||The Zarenado we got at the smokehouse was probably the best single entree we had all trip (including Browns Beach House and Merrimans).||From the marketing materials we were very confused by what Paniolo night would be like and if it would be worth $250 per person. However, it was honestly a great value for the price and quite a bit of fun: to give an idea of value: they tried to push a tomahawk steak on us for a table of four… The dinner was oddly devoid of the “cheap fillers” buffets usually have. Lots of high quality cold shellfish; Kanpachi, poke, Short ribs, Tomahawk steaks, tenderloin, lamb chops; Mac and cheese, drinks, and a bunch more. They also have a local band and dancer come to perform Hawaiian music throughout the evening. It really was a great experience down on the beach watching the sunset and listening to the music while eating great food! We even laid out on our Lanai (on the hanging bed ) after to continue listening and relaxing.||Butler service: 10/10 once assigned||Giuliana, our butler, was absolutely fantastic. Amongst the best we have had at these resorts. She was assigned to us when we finally were able to chat with the GM (Daniel) on our 6th day. From the time she was assigned to us she texted on a fairly routine basis to ensure everything was going well, arrange small things like golf cart rides, and have little surprises in the room.||Honestly, I can’t think of a single critique with her services once she was finally assigned.||Pool service: 10/10||Service at the pool was great. The adults only pool had 3-4 employees running around at any given moment. Cold waters in coolers, and constantly asking us if we needed anything. Honestly, very little in terms of critique or concerns here. We were quite happy with this.||Housekeeping: 3/10||To put it bluntly: Quite poor. My gut tells me this is to do with the fact it’s subcontracted out to “Malaki services” or something similar. In full disclosure: I shared this with Daniel and he stated that calling out the subcontractor alone negates the fact that they have issues internally they need to resolve as well, and blaming the third party alone would be misleading.||We first noticed they might be an issue at check in when there was a fairly large spiderweb at the desk we sat at attached to the lamp there.||Either way: clothes were rarely folded if left out, we had drink cups half empty sit in our room for three days before I asked specifically for them to be cleaned, there was trash under our “hanging” bed in the first room(that remained for several days), and leftover open milk container from a previous guest that stayed in the fridge the entire time we were in that room (despite us asking on no less than 5 occasions for it to be removed, including to both a supervisor and manager). We also had our sponges show up on the floor when we came back to the room most days.||Elsewhere: the loungers at the pool had large amounts of crumbs in them, and the side tables opened and were filled with bugs/trash/etc. (they may want to screw these shut?)||The weirdest thing they did was nicely lay out used towels on the hanging bed that clearly had sunscreen marks on them from being used the day prior, instead of replacing them.||The issue here is that little misses in this area make you question the cleanliness that you can’t see.||Accessibility: 10/10||The resort absolutely excelled at accessibility. My husband’s parents have difficulty with long walks and steps, and the resort went out of their way to make sure they got placed close to the Adults pool, and always had buggies whenever needed. When walking back from the buffet, staff would stop them and offer to carry their plates. The staff always went out of their way to make sure they were comfortable and got assistance.||I really appreciated how much they cared for this, and if it were not for the issues we had, would have absolutely made the stay.||I can easily contrast this with the Fairmont where we went to dinner the last day at Browns. At the Fairmont they just vaguely pointed and said “go there” for the restaurant that was quite far from the entrance. If that were at the Rosewood Kona Village, a buggy would have been summoned and they would have been taken there without a need to walk.||Spa: 5/10||This one is odd: we did two treatments:|The Mahina Ritual: this was absolutely fantastic. Great value at $1,200 for about 2.5 hours of time at the spa for my husband and myself. If it were only for this one, easy 10/10.||The treatment started with full private access to the cold plunge, hot tub, steam room, sauna. They tactfully knocked and made some noise so we would know when they would come in. It was followed by a wonderful 60 minute outdoor massage. I had a male masseuse I liked (his treatment was great, although bedside manner was oddly lacking, and I tend to prefer a more “rough” and “deep” massage), and my husband had a female masseuse he liked.|This was followed by an hour in a lounge with total privacy and a hot tub, two large desserts, champagne, cheese board, and hummus.|This was ended by a gift from the spa of some sleep time face creams.||Based on this we were quite looking forward to the hot stone we were to end our trip with.||I requested with our butler to have the same masseuses, and she confirmed it had already been requested, but my husband would have a different one as the primary was off on Friday. This would have been fine, however, when we got there it turns out they swapped our masseuses. I ended up with the female and he ended up with the male.||We couldn’t even point this out to them and have them correct it, as my masseuse came first and separated us, despite the fact we thought we booked a couples treatment room. (I assumed there was a last minute schedule change which is why I didn’t say anything on the male—female swap)||My husband absolutely hated his masseuse. There were both major and minor issues:||Minor: The guy did some weird things such as not covering my husbands eyes while he was face up, not taking the robe down for him at the end, and not taking the leg support out when flipped over(so his legs had to be at a weird and very uncomfortable angle).||Major: His hands were quite rough, which while I actually liked in my treatment, my husband absolutely disliked immensely. He felt the treatment was very chaotic and poorly done. He told me as we were leaving the spa he had seriously contemplated asking the guy to just stop and end the massage half way through. He only didn’t do this as he dislikes confrontation.||My masseuse wasn’t great for me either.|I prefer a very deep massage, and she couldn’t keep up with the pressure. She asked me three times if it was good, each time I told her to go deeper. She would go deeper for maybe 30 seconds, but then go lighter again. She also seemed to only use the hot stones about half a dozen times over 90 minutes, whereas my husband’s masseuse used it constantly.||When we left the treatments and went into the changing room, one of the towel bins was overflowing, and the showers all had dirty towels in them. ||One last note: I did forget my wallet in the locker there. They handled that wonderfully by calling about 15 minutes later and offering to either bring it to the Browns Beach House we were headed to after the treatment (at the Fairmont, 30 minutes away), or bringing it to my room. This was a surprise, and appreciated.||Make-good effort:||It was quite clear from the moment I met with Daniel that he wanted to fix this situation. The problem is, my first interaction with a fix he provided was the room move they did for us (to fix the hanging bed issue). This may have been the worst room move I have ever had. It made the rest of the trip a bit chaotic when needing to find anything.||Given the volume of hotels I’ve stayed at, I’ve had occasional mechanical issues resulting in a move need, or split stays for different room types. Any luxury place I’ve been to will move everything as close to identical as possible. So it feels like we never moved.||Here? They took everything off the hangers, and from the drawers, and threw it haphazardly either into our suitcases or laundry bags. They also forgot our sponge, snacks, and a few other odds and ends.||When I told Daniel about this, to his credit, it was clear he was appalled and mentioned the proper procedure is for them to take photos of each and every drawer, and move everything identical, then compare photos to ensure nothing is missed.||We ended up living out of a suitcase for our last couple days post the move, as we really didn’t want to waste time reorganizing everything again. From this we were never able to “fully” relax, despite the hanging bed finally working(which I loved and used each day). Having our room be a disaster was quite frustrating, but at this point we only had a couple of nights left and were too frustrated to re unpack or deal with the heavily wrinkled clothes.||They also did not move our extra pillows over to the new room. We had to call to get extra pillows again. This was a bit frustrating for my Husband who had just found the right combination of pillows in the other room to be comfortable. The hotels standard down pillows seem to essentially collapse into nothing throughout the night and you have to stack multiple pillows together to get any height. I’m hoping over time they will have something like the pillow menu at Las Ventanas.||Aside from that, it was clear he had made the various directors aware of the concerns, as many came out to speak to us to try to ensure problems either didn’t exist or were rectified quickly.|——|Chef Robert, for instance, the head of the culinary program; made us a wonderful over the top breakfast. It was quite tasty and well done. ||Oddly he insisted our lunch would be on him that day and he would “take care” of making it special, so I texted him what we wanted around lunch time and he came over right away to talk to us. That was amazing, but….we got served cold food, they forgot our dessert, they forgot to bring the extra ketchup when we asked for it, and we were charged for it as well (which would have been fine, as we did order the food, and would happily pay for what we order, but he told us we wouldn’t be charged that day).||On departure he had continental breakfast kits made up for us, which was also a nice touch.||———||The spa manager spoke with us before our treatment and wanted to make us sure he would make it special, and for the first treatment they really knocked that out of the park (see that section for details). The second left a bit to be desired.||As mentioned in that section though, he made quite a generous offer when I forgot my wallet in the changing room.||—-||Mariajose (the hotel director) met with us several times, and was exceptionally friendly and helpful as well.||They also proactively tried some options to make it right on the bill as well. And made it clear they want to fix these issues and this shouldn’t be the standard of the property long term.||As I mentioned at the opening, Daniel (GM) made it quite clear that he knows he has work to do and is up for the challenge. It’s just that I’m unsure how long this will ultimately take, as it’s a continual learning experience.||As a note: he made it clear he wants guests speaking up if they notice something, as for every one guest that says something: a bunch will just not say anything about the same issue, but either never come back or write off the brand entirely.||Overall, Rosewood Kona Village has a fantastic hard product. The architecture is wonderful and it really feels like a little island resort reminiscent of some we have been to in the Maldives but on a bigger scale (and only a 5 hour flight from home!). The service and the pool and restaurants are pretty good as is the lunch and dinner food. I have no doubts that with time and with the new GM at the helm this will turn into a must visit property for luxury travelers. It’s just that, that time is...

Kona Village is a beautiful property with great food and service. First, the good.

We stayed in an Ocean View Hale over July 4th. The room was gorgeous. A staff member gave us a tour and walked us through how everything worked in the room. We loved watching the geckos in the outdoor shower.

The food for the July 4th BBQ was delicious and a good value. We liked the complimentary fresh fruit available in the morning as well. Although it was mainly apples and oranges, I got a mango that was one of the best mangoes I’d ever had.

We liked that the property is self sustaining and preserves cultural landmarks of the original village.

The pools are both great. The adult pool is large and has a lap pool adjacent. It is surrounded by cabanas that are first come, first serve. They also stock free water bottles with ice in coolers.

We didn’t swim in the family pool, but it also looked great. It’s very big and had multiple different areas (a baby pool, side tubs either for kids or adults, I don’t remember). They had free shave ice and coconuts.

The property is huge and has free bikes all over to get around. The pickleball court and tennis courts are well maintained. There is both self parking and valet parking available.

The hotel also gave us a cake to celebrate our anniversary, which was very nice. All staff we interacted with were very kind, personable, and happy to help us.

So much was good, but there were a few things that had room for improvement.

First, some of our requests fell through the cracks. We asked the front desk if they could send another blanket to our room as we’re used to heavier blankets at home. Housekeeping tried to deliver it, but we had the “do not disturb” coconut out. They texted us to ask when we’d be available for them to redeliver it. We brought the coconut in, texted back that anytime would work, but never got the additional blanket. Not a big deal.

We also tried to reserve the pickleball court. We asked the front desk in person, and they said they’d check and get back to us. We left, didn’t hear anything back for a bit, so we texted to ask if we could reserve it. We never heard back, so we went to the courts. We were able to use one often the tennis courts for pickleball so it worked out alright.

We ate dinner at the casual restaurant at the resort, and I ordered a burger. When it arrived, it was super undercooked (rare). Our server was very gracious about it and had the kitchen remake it. In the meantime, she gave us chips and guacamole for free, which we appreciated.

The bikes could use some maintenance. The hand grips have degraded on a lot of them and leave a sticky residue. Many of the bikes are run down, but I’m not surprised considering they’re exposed to salty ocean water, rain, and strong sun daily.

There is some room for improvement with housekeeping. Housekeeping was inconsistent throughout our stay. Sometimes our room would be refreshed, totally clean, and restocked. Other times, it wouldn’t be cleaned. Or if it was cleaned, we wouldn’t get new towels or coffee pods. One time the coffee pods were restocked and we only got decaf. These are all small things but they add up.

It’s a huge property and rooms are spread far apart, so I could see that making housekeeping more difficult to manage. I also think that the “do not disturb” coconut/low tech concept is a good idea in theory but might contribute as well.

This last one isn’t really a critique, but more so a recommendation. We don’t drink alcohol and let the hotel know prior to our arrival. When we arrived, we had staff recommend where to get alcohol, where the bars are, etc. There was also alcohol in our room. At other nice resorts, they have replaced the alcohol in our room with NA options, given recommendations for mocktails or coffee bars, etc. It is a small gesture that has really made us impressed with the service elsewhere, and it would be really nice for Kona Village to adopt this for other NA guests in the future.

Overall, we’d absolutely come back and had a...

Our experience at Rosewood Kona Village was outstanding. Overall (despite a few service lapses) this was a spectacular trip that met + exceeded our expectations. I had been looking forward to this "birthday" trip for MONTHS and spent hours researching, discussing, etc.

The hotel + grounds - simply Breathtaking. The landscaping was gorgeous and so well done, including the large putting green grassy areas that were so lovely and incredibly calming. I especially loved the placement of the majestic Ki'i (tiki's) throughout the property and how there was just a beautiful and organic "flow" to the property once you had your bearings.

Our greeting from Far at reception really set the tone. She was so lovely, gracious and warm in the most genuine way. The sincerity of her welcome, acknowledgment of my birthday and overall excitement with seeing us excited to be at RKV made for the best sense of ALOHA immediately upon arrival.The sense of place here is phenomenal. I felt "it" immediately and could not have been more pleased/relaxed with our choice of RKV. We stayed in a TREETOP Hale The layout was perfect for us and all of the details were on point (artwork, small ceramic object d'art, linens, art + design books, etc)HUGE bathroom and although we are "shower guys" I took a bath in the beautiful tub almost every night! So incredibly comfortable with a thoughtfully placed bath pillow + calming local bath salts to truly relax.This really must be one of the most beautiful room products in all of Hawaii. Unforgettable.

Service has been a work in progress since the opening and I really feel they are getting there but definitely not consistently "there". We Service for the most part was good, with the intentions and vocal response always "YES" and full of sincerity but fails occured. Mostly small things.

As we read (and were expecting) the food and drinks are VERY good but also quite expensive. Typical Rosewood pricing and we certainly adjusted to this but be prepared and let go! MOANA for breakfast ending up being our favorite meal time/venue of the entire day/trip. This gets a "10". The first day a few services fails, but from then on we were happy to be served by Mollie from Massachusetts every day. Another STAR and her service level should be commended. Breakfast became a highlight not only because of the food but because of Mollie. We literally worked our way through the majority of the menu and loved almost everything from classic breakfast fare all the way to the Bento Box experience. The pastries each day were lovely (especially the malasadas (simple + yummy!). Through our TA we had a $150 breakfast credit each day and this felt very fair and more than enough to have a filling/lovely breakfast. In fact, we almost always skipped lunch since we were so satisfied with breakfast.We enjoyed the special dinners of Paniolo Night and Island Roots but would probably only do Paniolo Night again and eat more lightly. These are expensive options, but given the quality + volume of ingredients not a deal breaker for holiday special event dining.

KILO KAI (water sports) - SPECTACULAR! Every team member there was 5 stars! We participated in a number of free and paid activities and each was incredible. The guys made a point of knowing our first names and greeting us all so sincerely throughout the week. So memorable and a highlight for us talking story with them and hearing their pride + knowledge with the island/history/mythology. A big shoutout to management for including SO many activities as complimentary felt so ALOHA and actually encouraged us to get involved with the paid activities. I hope this never goes away.

In the end we truly loved our stay here and will be planning another trip in 2025. We did walk over to the 4S next door and while we appreciated the product they offer (and we did hear from a fellow guest that was staying at KV and then moving to 4S that the service at 4S is consistently 100% on point)....ultimately for us, KV...