Kona Town Surf Adventures — Local services in Hawaii

Took me a minute to decide if I wanted to write this or not. I would give it 3.5 stars if google would let me. I booked a lesson the night before for an available slot. I received an email around midnight letting me know they could not accommodate that time, which I didn't see until the next morning. I had booked at night, but the hours online say 24 hrs. Was slightly confused why I was able to book a slot that wasn't an option, but also understood it was the night before. However, I didn't hear back from anyone with the company until about 20 min before my lesson was supposed to start, which I was supposed to check in for 15 min early. I tried driving down to the scheduled location to talk with someone, but no one was there. Understandable, but still frustrating since my payment had been collected. When it was time for my lesson the instructor was late and I had to ask if they were my instructor because they never introduced themselves, talked anything about surfing, or asked more than what I was doing there. About 10 min into my scheduled lesson time I was finally given reef shoes while the instructor went through and matched other shoes together while I stood there and waited. The instructor even let me know he was matching shoes together while he was waiting on me to get ready, I kindly informed him that I was ready, and he continued to match shoes together. He then excused himself to go get a drink from his truck, again would've been a non-issue if he wouldn't have been matching shoes, but was just weird at the timing of it and why his water wouldn't have been at the surf van with him. At this point I was ready to be done and ask for a refund because I was very frustrated by my whole experience. But they already had my money, I wasn't sure I would be able to be refunded, and I had booked the experience because I really wanted to learn to surf. Once we got into the water things got significantly better. And I did learn how to surf, so the instructor did know his stuff. It was just a frustrating experience getting there. And I had booked for a day with a larger swell than what I was rebooked for, but that's part of being at the mercy of the ocean. Learning how to surf, solid experience. The getting to that point experience, no...

I booked 3 days of lessons because I'm not overly athletic and sometimes it takes me a few days to figure out a new activity. Also I'm in my 40's (a little pudgy, if I'm being honest) and I just wasn't sure how well I'd bounce back from everything so I wanted to be sure I gave myself enough time. Each lesson was amazing and all 3 of my instructors had valuable tips and guidance for me that went a long way toward making me feel comfortable and informed. In order of appearance they were Matt, Pelika, and Kade. Matt had a tough job because I had never even touched a surfboard before, but he had just the right balance of encouragement and push I needed to get me to stretch for better results every time. Pelika was my instructor on my second day and his easy demeanor and solid guidance had me finding my feet and keeping my feet almost every time I attempted a wave! Which is far better than I thought I could hope for. On the third and final day my instructor was Kade. With the first 2 days under my belt already I felt ready to attempt more subtle control moves rather than just trying to keep my feet for as long as I could. He had me actually turning the board to guide it how I wanted it to go and using some measure of real control out there as well as learning how to better read the waves as they approached. All together it was an excellent experience and well worth the cost for the private lessons. I'm even looking into buying a surfboard of my own now because it was such a positive experience for me and I'm looking forward to doing more surfing in the near future. I highly recommend Kona Town Surf Adventures. The booking process was easy and the staff there is very responsive any time I had questions. These are just people who really love what they do and it...

We booked through our hotel for a private lesson for one person, and the day before increased to a semi-private for two before having to drop back down due to an injury. In both scenarios they’re sending 1 instructor in the van, and cost is identical to them. They refused to honor the original booking, and charged us for two people. Almost worse, they showed up 30 minutes late. Avoid if you have other options.

EDIT: I stand by every word of my review (given the response, which I've saved as I suspect you'll update it).

Ask your own driver whether he arrived late — he apologized when he got there and blamed the detour. I've also attached a chat with the Four Seasons, with a timestamp of me confirming when he arrived. In terms of being in the right place: We spoke with the Kahalu'u Bay Surf Shop at 8:30am, who said your van hadn't arrived yet, and confirmed we should wait at the stairs (which we did) until they arrived. They arrived at 8:51am, so 21 minutes late to be specific.

In terms of my injury, I had ACL surgery in the spring, so not "last year". (Where do you even get this incorrect information? Just making things up as you go?)

The partial refund, which the hotel provided because they apparently couldn't trust you to do so, came in a few minutes after I posted my reviews. While on the topic: you never addressed the fact there was no change in your cost or staffing of the lesson?

Lastly, we've had an absolutely wonderful stay at the Four Seasons with pleasant interactions with everyone. The only issue we've had is with your business. I can guarantee that a resort such as the Four Seasons would not comment on a guest, let alone say something like you claim which is...