Kings' Land and other Hilton Waikoloa properties
This is one couple's impressions of all four of the Hilton properties and affiliates at Waikoloa Beach Resort. Moving from the beach front inland, these are: (1) Hilton Waikoloa Village Hotel, (2) the Bay Club at Waikoloa Beach, (3) Hilton Grand Vacations Club at Waikoloa Beach Resort, and (4) Kings' Land by Hilton Grand Vacation Club.
Waikoloa is about 25 miles north of Kailua-Kona, on the west side of the Big Island of Hawaii. All of the Hilton properites at Waikoloa share a free shuttle bus system that circles around the resort area about every 30 minutes. There are two shopping centers in the resort area, with upscale shops and restaurants. The Queens' Shops area has a nice market and a food court in addition to other shops and restaurants. We thought that the Macaroni Grill at the Queens' Shops was the best sit-down restaurnt for the money. Roy's at the Kings' Shops is also one of our favorites.
We stayed at Kings' Land for the first time in February 2010, and we have stayed at all the other Hilton properites over the past eight years. We are owners of HGVC weeks at both HGVC at Waikoloa Beach and Kings' Land.
The Hilton hotel is located at the waterfront of the Waikoloa Resort area, and although it doesn't have a beach of its own, it has an ocean-fed lagoon with a manmade sandy beach on the inland side. The main beach in the Waikoloa Resort area is Ananaeho'omalo (or A-beach, for short), which fronts the Waikoloa Beach Marriott, south of the Hilton Waikoloa Village Hotel. The Hilton here has often been described as a "Disneyland," owing to the train/tram and the canal and boat that transport visitors and residents along the mile-long expanse of the hotel's towers and its wonderful lagoon, pools, and other recreational facilities. We have very much enjoyed staying there, and we still love visiting the hotel's facilities, but we are devoted condo and timeshare vacationers.
The Bay Club was developed before the creation of Hilton Grand Vacations Club--initially built as full-ownership, and possibly full-time residences. We're not sure when it became affiliated with HGVC, but it was before the development of HGVC at Waikoloa Beach Resort--the first Hilton purpose-built timeshare resort at Waikoloa. The Bay Club has 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom units, all of which are quite large in comparison both to the other HGVC units at Waikoloa and to timeshare units almost everywhere else. The wrap-around lanais (patios or balconies) are particulary attractive. An interior rennovation to the units is planned beginning in June 2010 that is supposed to cover all Bay Club units over the succeeding 9 months. We stayed there for two weeks, in a 2-BR unit, in February 2009 and found our unit to be in excellent condition even if it was a few years old. Our 2nd floor unit had a nice view of the 18th tee of the Beach Course at Waikoloa and a sunset view over a bit of blue ocean in the distance. All of the 1-BR units face a parking area, but most of those on upper floors (3 floors max) have at least some view of golf course of resort grounds. There are three types of 2-BR units, the largest of which have the equivalent of two master suites, with each (as well as the living room) having direct access to the lanai. We viewed the "remodel" unit at the Bay Club in February 2010, and it looks very nice. The nicest upgrades are to the kitchen appliances and counters and to the bathrooms, but new decor and furniture for both the indoor and outdoor living spaces are included in the upgrades. They have already upgraded the pool furniture and are in the prcoess of reconstructing the decorative pools and landscaping. The central pool bar and "snack" bar has recently been reopened under Hilton management.
The HGVC at Waikoloa Beach Resort has an alternate name--Kohala Suites--that is used by most of the staff and locals at Waikoloa, for obvious reasons. We stayed there most recently in February 2007. Kohala Suites has only 2-BR units, in three levels or grades. The standard 2-BR units are either on the ground floor or on upper floors with less desireable views. The 2-br plus units are on the second floor and have nice golf course views. Ours also had a bit of a glimpse of ocean. The 2-br premier units are on the 3rd floor and have correspondingly nicer views. It appeared to us that all the units are essentially the same size. The Kohola Suites units are nicely furnished and have balconies or patios with a table and chairs and a lounge. The resort is directly inland from the Bay Club, and when we were staying there the Kohala Suites lobby was used for checkin for the Bay Club. There is a nice central pool and clubhouse at Kohola Suites, which at least at one time was also available for use by Bay Club residents. We were told that the Bay Club no longer has access to the Kohala Suites facilities by the HGVC sales people on our visit in 2010, but we don't know how much to trust the statements of sales people. One of the nicest benefits of ownership (or residence?) at Kohala suites is free access to the lagoon, pools and other recreational facilities of the Hilton Waikoloa Beach Hotel. You also get free self-parking at the Hotel. Bay Club residents do not get this free access, but one can purchase a day-pass for access (around $100?).
The Kings' Land HGVC property is the newest and is very nicely designed both inside and out. The central pool is quite expansive and includes a wonderful kids pool (with sandy beach), a teen-centered pool with volleyball net and slides, a "lazy river" pool, and a large "adult" pool, with some lounges that sit on a ledge within the pool (in about 4 inches of water). All of the Kings' Land pools are saltwater, and they are really wonderful. This feature alone might justify the higher points cost of Kings' Land stays--but maybe not if we aren't bring a bunch of kids who would get more out of it than we do. The central clubhouse also includes a large public room and a covered but outdoor "bistro" and bar. There is a second "serenity" pool area between buildings 3 and 4 (we were in building 4), which is small but nice, but it has no umbrellas or shade other than the wispy and fleeting shade of palm trees. The 2-BR units at Kings' Land are about the same size as those at Kohala Suites but have a different layout. Kings' Land also has 1-BR units and a few 3-BR units. One of the most attractive features to us of the Kings' Land units was the upholstered sofa and easy chair on the lanai/balcony. These are quite nice, but turned out to be a bit firm. We took a couple of naps out there, but we missed the availability of an eating area on the lanai. You could bring pupus and drinks out to have on the coffee table, but it wasn't very convenient for a breakfast. The lanais seemed to be even a bit smaller than those at Kohala Suites, which are already a lot smaller than those at the Bay Club. And we found the unusual kitchen/dining area layout to be much better to look at than to use. In particular, the lighting in the kitchen was very poor. We wished the lighting on the street-side, entrance corridors were more subdued, and some of those watts were brought into the kitchen.
Kings' Land residents also have access to the Hilton Hotel facilities, but the pool area at Kings' Land might make this access not so much of an incentive as it is for Kohala Suites residents. When we purchased here (pre-construction) we understood that Kohala Suites residents would have free access to the Kings' Land facilities, but the HGVC salespeople (when we spoke to them in 2010) said this is not the case. Again--I don't know whether to trust what the salespeole say. The resort has 8 buildings open now (although building 6 looks like it is only for offices or showplaces), and buildings 9-11 are almost completed. Another dozen or more are visible on the Waikoloa Resort plans, but nothing other than rock and dirt moving appears to have been done for that construction. Kings' Land runs inland from the Kings Golf Course clubhouse along Waikoloa Beach Drive. It appears that this road will eventually connect with the road up the hill to Waikoloa Village.
Each of the Hilton timeshare properties at Waikoloa has it's own special attractions. The Bay Club has much larger units and especially wonderful lanais. Kohala Suites units are very nice, relatively new, and have the attraction of access to the Hotel facilities. Kings' Land has quite nice units also and a great pool area. But one of the biggest downsides of Kings' Land is the "points" cost to stay there. A 2-BR plus (2nd floor) unit at Kings' Land is 12,600 HGVC points in platinum season; a 2-BR plus unit at Kohala Suites or the Bay Club is 8,400 points in platinum season. Other Kings' land units and seasons also take about 50% more points than corresponding units/seasons at the other Waikoloa timeshare resorts. Unless we want a 3-BR unit, we will probably be using our points to stay at Kohala Suites or the Bay Club in the future. Initially we thought the Kings' Land property and units were much nicer than the other timeshares, but we now don't feel that they are 50% nicer if we are using points to stay there. We note that many of HGVC's other recent developments have similarly inflated point costs/values.
If you are a HGVC owner you may be able to get a real bargain at any of the Hilton Waikoloa timeshares (and other HGVC properties) by using "open season" rates. You can only take advantage of these 30 days in advance (or less), but we have used these rates to great advantage to extend our time at the timeshare resorts at Waikoloa at prices that are less than half what we would have to pay for "discount" room rates at hotels in the area.