Outrigger Kona Resort and Spa in Kailua-Kona, HI

Loved this resort. Rooms were clean and comfortable. The service was top notch and staff throughout the resort were very friendly. The restaurant on site was fine but a limited menu, so you may want to rent a car to find other restaurants for extended stays. We opted for the "club level" rate which we would highly recommend, as it includes valet parking. The other huge benefit was it includes a full hot breakfast buffet and happy hour cocktails/appetizers (including heavier appetizers if you want to make this your evening meal). The staff in the lounge were fantastic--Sharlaine, Tessa, Fred, Tyler, Pua, Maria and Celeste are a wonderful team, attentive to all your needs.

We stayed here May 7-14 with another couple. Overall I’d say the Outrigger Kona is more of a value resort hotel versus a true “luxury” hotel as they market themselves. Hence they had large tour groups here as well as a blend of seniors and young families. Nothing wrong with either of those things — just an observation since we stayed at places like this when we had young children but it’s not ideal for a couples anniversary or honeymoon in my opinion. Especially given the lack of a good restaurant and bar. Here are my pros/cons. Pros: - The property faces west so you can see amazing sunsets from the poolside or balcony - Lush grounds with tropical trees and flowers everywhere - Nice large pool with a water slide and a sandy shallow area for kids. At 1pm they do a waterslide contest where fastest person down gets a trophy - Live music each night at poolside bar — mainly a person on a guitar singing and they were good/enjoyable - They recently remodeled the rooms and common areas - new tile, wood, paint, carpet, decor, etc. - They are located right next door (walking distance) to the place (unaffiliated with the hotel) for snorkeling with the Manta Rays and getting the boats to go snorkeling down the coast - While not part of this hotel review the Manta swim is one of the coolest things we’ve ever done on vacation. It’s at night and they use a light to illuminate the plankton and draw in the mantas for natural feeding. It gets my highest recommendation. There are several outfits but the best is Sea Quest. - They have a good quantity and quality of activities - Yoga facing the ocean, Lei making, cultural walk, Ukulele playing, etc. The woman Nani who ran them was wonderful. - Several of the staff were delightful - especially Mike the bartender at the pool bar and Mansoor and Jade the servers at the pool (Mgmt, you need to give them raises) - The drinks were reasonably priced (reasonable for a Hawaii hotel that is) Cons: - It is an older property (guessing built in the 70s?). It looks pretty well kept up and as mentioned above they remodeled much of the hotel, but that said they didn’t address the main structure where you can see chips and cracks in the stucco that has simply been painted over (see pic) - The adult pool is in the middle of the hotel next to the restaurant and main walk way so it’s not very quiet and there is no view of the ocean. The main pool faces the ocean and is quite large but is also very busy with kids yelling/splashing - There is only one restaurant/bar and it’s located in the interior of the resort (see picture). It’s more like a breakfast place but is also the dinner restaurant at night. The food is okay (just okay) so we drove to Kailua-Kona (15 mins) to get most of our dinners. Similarly the bar is located in the main dining area and also serves as the place you get coffee and order to-go food. It has a few high top tables facing the diners so the vibe isn’t great. So the dining/bar scene could be better. Speaking of that, the hotel has a great dedicated restaurant/bar area facing the ocean/sunset but it is not in operation. According to staff the hotel did a deal with Dukes to open a place there but it’s been years and no progress has been made on getting it built/opened. That’s a shame since it would be one of the coolest happy hour spots on the island if it was open. - As I mentioned in the “pros” section some of the staff is great, but the problem is they are short-handed so there are times when service can get overwhelmed. For example on Saturday night at the restaurant/bar they didn’t have enough staff so they were not seating people despite many tables being open — hence there was a long wait with people milling about - It’s a minor thing but a to-go coffee is $8 and there are no free refills — that’s the hotel putting profit above guest experience and not right for a “luxury” hotel as they market themselves - Speaking of guest experience that is not luxury level, they make you turn in a special plastic key in order to get a thin pool towel and then you have to return the towels to them to get your key back. You have to have that key at checkout or you get charged. That’s not the type of experience in a true luxury hotel. - They offer a Luau two nights a week (it’s run by an outside company). My wife enjoyed it so this could go up on the “pros” list but since I’m writing the review I’m putting it as a “con” with the reason being that they tricked it up too much beyond the traditional things. They started with the story and dances of the early Hawaiians but then quickly moved ahead to the flapper era and then had a section celebrating the firemen of the island - clearly just for the guys to take off their jackets and flex for the ladies in the audience. They end with a fire dancer who was excellent but just one guy versus other Luaus we have done on Maui with a whole bunch of fire dancers. - Another minor but annoying thing was the WiFi kept dropping out so 8X a day you’d have to reenter your name and room number in the pop-up in order to reconnect. Not the end of the world of course but not typical for most hotels where you enter your details once and remain connected throughout your stay.

We had a good stay at the Outrigger Kona - some aspects I'd love to highlight, others that would've improved our stay to a 5 star review. Pros: - Location: The grounds are beautiful, and we had a great time wandering the area and seeing all the different flowers. - Room: We had a joined room with plenty of space and a beautiful view. - Price point: Bang for our buck vs. Maui/luxury resort prices. - Lounge access: This was the ultimate highlight. The breakfast and happy hour buffets were enough to make meals. The staff was incredibly friendly (Sharlaine was wonderful), and it was so nice to have this as an option. It was flexible and easy, and helped us maximize our time there. Cons: - Activity organization: We were there during Easter. They had special events organized for the holiday, but they weren't described or organized well and ended up becoming just a frustration to our kids. I wish we hadn't wasted time trying to figure them out. - Included amenities: We were looking forward to paddle boarding since it's included in the resort fee. However, they only had one paddle board for the entire resort, and we were told we wouldn't have any chance of renting it even though we inquired first thing in the morning. That was pretty disappointing. - Decentralized customer service: It's difficult to get help specific to the hotel. They have centralized customer service for all Outriggers, as well as AI voice support, and it was difficult the couple of times I called. - Lost bag/housekeeping: We left a packing cube in the hotel room. We realized it as soon as we got to the next hotel and called/emailed. They claimed it was never located, but I find that hard to believe. Left a sour taste in our mouth since we noticed it so quickly and it "disappeared". Overall, I'm not sure I'd stay again which is a bummer since the hotel grounds were beautiful and has a lot of potential. But, if you do stay, I'd highly recommend staying in a room with the lounge access, it was well worth it.

Very nice facility just south of Kona (8 miles). Close to all of the Kona Coffee farms, Huge rooms, Amazing views, Helpful and friendly staff, Beautiful grounds, Pool complex is superb... price is affordable for a major resort. Food, snacks, drinks are expensive - but that's Hawaii. Quiet and relaxing - not the hustle / bustle and crowds of a Honolulu resort.

Tessa at the V/47 lounge was so sweet and helpful! She made us feel very comfortable and gave us some great tips about what to see and do while visiting the island. The resort is beautiful and highly recommend paying for the lounge if able! Loved Outrigger.