The Kahala Hotel & Resort — Hotel in Honolulu

Our family was referred to this resort by a family friend, and after a stressful year, we decided it would be the perfect place to unwind and recharge. Upon arrival, we were warmly greeted, and the check-in process went smoothly. The lobby, with its stunning chandelier, immediately caught my attention.

Room The room was impeccably clean—absolutely no dust in sight. However, we weren’t happy with the bed placement, as they were positioned awkwardly right by the entrance. On a positive note, the room service staff were excellent and very attentive.

However, the mattresses were extremely uncomfortable. They were old, sagging, and gave me significant hip pain. For a hotel of this caliber, the quality of the beds was unacceptable.

Food The dining experience was disappointing. The food was average and felt overpriced. For example, being charged $7 for a cappuccino or latte that wasn’t included in the buffet price was surprising. Speaking of the buffet, the options were quite limited considering the price. The dining tables were wobbly, and though our server was polite, the attentiveness was lacking for a 5-star establishment.

The Italian restaurant was a more positive experience. The service was wonderful, and while the food was good, it wasn’t extraordinary. It’s worth trying once, but I wouldn’t rush back.

Atmosphere The overall atmosphere of the resort was pleasant, but I was uncomfortable with the dolphins kept in the pond. Watching them perform tricks was cute, but I’m not a fan of keeping animals in captivity for entertainment. Because of this, I chose not to participate in any dolphin-related activities.

Location The location is fantastic—very private and luxurious, with a beautiful beach setting. However, I’ve stayed at other hotels with their own coral reefs and abundant marine life, which made for great snorkeling. In contrast, Kahala’s beach was quite dull and didn’t offer much in terms of activities.

Staff The staff were generally respectful, friendly, and energetic throughout our stay.

Some dealbreakers On our last night, I had a frustrating experience. There was a loud noise coming from the vent above the entrance door, which kept me awake. Since the beds were positioned by the door, I was the only one disturbed while the rest of my family slept. Needing rest before our flight the next morning, I recorded the noise and went down to the front desk to report it. While they offered to send someone to check the vent, I declined since my family was already asleep. Instead, I asked if I could sleep in another room for the night. However, they insisted that the entire family would need to move, which didn’t make sense to me. I just needed a quiet place to sleep for a few hours before checking out. Their refusal to accommodate me really ruined what should have been a relaxing final night. As a result, I didn’t sleep at all and had to endure our flight the next day exhausted.

On the morning of our checkout, I also noticed mold on the ceiling next to the AC vent. This was extremely disturbing, as we had been breathing in moldy air for four nights in a room that cost over $800 a night. I brought this up at checkout, but the front desk simply apologized and only compensated $800 and did nothing further. I would have appreciated at least a 50-65% refund pf the overall room charge as exposures to mold is serious health hazard and nobody who pays that much for a place should have to deal with paying for it. Totally not acceptable.

Overall Rating These experiences are why I believe this hotel deserves 3 stars. I’ve had far better experiences at other 4- and 5-star hotels, and this resort fell short of those standards.

In my opinion, the Kahala Resort is not worth the price they charge. I didn’t get a single good night’s sleep due to uncomfortable beds and exposure to mold. Their lack of response to serious issues shows they are more focused on profit than delivering a luxury experience. I would not recommend this resort to anyone looking for a genuine...

If you are looking for a place that has a five star location (and a private beach), a mostly five star view, and want to swim to with dolphins, this is your place. BUT, just because a place advertises it is a five star resort, doesn't mean it is and this is not a five star resort. If you want to stay at a place that pretends to be a five star resort, this is your place.

When I stay at a place that bills itself as a five star resort, especially when I am paying $732 a night ($5k overall) I expect everything to be five star, from the service, to the food, to the rooms, to the decor, to the ambiance, etc.

First, the good. The only good is the overall exterior resort ambiance. A beautiful setting on the east side of Diamond Head Crater that boasts a private beach and swimming with dolphins, for a fee of course.

Now, the bad. Where do I start. I'll start with the service. Bluntly put, the overall service sucked. I expect prompt and pampering service if you advertise as a five star resort. Valet/Bell service was extremely hit and miss, depending on the shift. The morning shift was definitely on top of things and were courteous and professional. The evening shift, with the exception of Jeffery, completely lacked cordiality and professionalism. For instance, I called ahead to have my car ready when going out for dinner. The car was ready but when I approached the staff to ask who brought it down, I first had to wait for them to finish their personal conversation and secondly, when I was attended to, I was rudely asked if there was a problem. I answered no problem, that I wanted to tip whoever brought my vehicle down and their demeanor changed. Time and time again in the evening, either when leaving or coming, Valet staff were just rude and not friendly or engaged in personal conversations. This also included one of the managers, James, who was time and again apart of being a staff distraction instead of providing superior service.

Second, pool staff and Seaside Grill. The pool staff that man the cabana lack courteousness and professionalism. If you don't want to be there to assist, find a different job as you do a disservice to this alleged five star resort and take away from the overall ambiance. As for the Seaside Grill staff, what is the use in giving guests pagers to use if no one responds to it and you still have to get up and walk to the bar and grill in order to order food and drinks. One staff member, he was from Boston, took our order once, and then completely ignored us. On top of that, the food (chicken tenders and nachos) was extremely subpar and overpriced.

Third, our room, #211. The view from our room was outstanding. Complete ocean view room right over the dolphin ponds. If only we could have slept on the balcony. The room itself is so so so outdated, by at least a couple of decades. Old carpet, old stained and scratched tile flooring in the bathroom, old paint, it was like stepping back in time. On the third day of our stay, our room started to develop a dank sour smell. On the fourth day, our room smelled like a swamp. I called the front desk to handle. Engineering came up and confirmed the smell. I then received a call from James, the manager I earlier referenced. He assured me it would be handled and encouraged me join my wife at the pool and he would update me via my cell phone: I was never updated. Instead, when we went back to our room the swamp smell was gone, however, in its place was an overwhelming floral smell. I made contact with management again as the smells went from one extreme to another. Management decided they would put an ozone machine in our room but it would need a couple of hours to work, which we agreed to and went out to dinner. Upon returning, all smells were gone, but this was temporary as we woke to a swampy smell again. Fortunately we were leaving on day five, but not checking out until 4 PM.

Plumeria restaurant is decent at best and the spa and treatments are nice, but the spa itself needs updating.

I do not recommend and will...

The Kahala Hotel & Resort is beautiful and probably one of the most luxurious resorts I’ve ever stayed at around the globe. Before our one-night stay at the Kahala, we spent a week at Turtle Bay Resort on the north shore. Two very different resorts with their twist to make them both amazing resorts.

The Kahala is clean, the staff was friendly, and the rooms were very spacious and beautiful—our room/balcony overlooked the CC golf course and we could see Koko crater and the ocean. Did I mention the bathroom in the room has a bidet—definitely adds to that luxury feel. One of my favorite parts of this resort was the hallways covered with images of famous people, family, and couples who stayed at the resort—that was pretty interesting. But when you walk down the stairs, you see a wall covered in orchids—that was so great!

The pool was large with lots of very comfortable chairs and the beach was calm and nice. They have a dolphin pond with about 3-4 dolphins right by the pool area. I am not sure how I feel about the captivity of dolphins at a resort because the pond was not very deep or big at all. I know they are likely well-taken care of by the staff but still, part of me thinks it doesn’t seem right (reviewer opinion, only).

While in our lounge chairs we ordered an açaí bowl which was very tasty and came in a half-cut pineapple—a nice touch and later ordered a Frozen Mango drink (non-alcoholic) which was so good and refreshing, I could have drank those all afternoon! The staff around the pool were extremely nice and welcoming too. They truly exhibited that aloha spirit.

However, we did experience one major issue during our stay at the Kahala. While we were sleeping—we were suddenly woken at 12:40 AM by loud pounding in the room above us. We thought it was kids but then we heard arguing between a male and female guest. I called the front desk and they said they would handle it. Five minutes later the yelling got louder and the couple moved to the balcony—I walked outside on our balcony to see what was going on and heard the male escalating the argument, which turn violent with the female. I immediately called the front desk again and told them the situation, and advised them to get security or Honolulu PD ASAP (I’m retired law enforcement). The violence and screaming eventually stopped, but they continued to argue in a lower tone, and could also hear them going back and forth from the room to the balcony as they were pounding the sliding glass door. This continued for about two hours. Eventually, they must have fallen asleep allowing us to fall back asleep—getting maybe a total of 3 hours the whole night. We never got a call from someone at the front desk, heard a peep from a manager about the situation, or asked how we were doing. I had to inquire at the front desk to confirm the female was okay. The concierge (not a manager), advised us security handled the situation and all was okay. A check-in with us by management should have happened. For $700+ a night, I should not have to worry about violent arguments happening and getting zero sleep.

And that's what truly disappointed us with the Kahala. If that incident was handled differently, I would’ve given the resort six stars.

We would love to come back to the Kahala in 2023, but hope management hears this concern and steps up to make sure any future incidents that may affect guests’ experiences, are...