Kohala vs. Kings' Land

[giowop]

Hello all. This is my first post so go easy on me! There are some threads on this from a couple years ago but looking for more recent info

We are considering eventual purchase into HGVC, and I'd like to personally THANK this forum for preventing me/us from buying from HGV itself. AMAZING insights! But on to my specific request:

We have a VIP (Vacation Introductory Program) trip we would like to use Hawaii and are deciding between Kings' Land Phase I and the Kohala Suites. It would be a 2-bedroom suite for a week. My wife and I have 2 teen/post-teen daughters who are content being either lazy or active, depending on their moods. I'd welcome any recent observations especially based on:

1) Facility
2) Room size/niceness
3) Access to other facilities (I believe both KL and KS have access to everything at the Waikoloa Village Resort?)
4) Proximity to other features of the resort
5) Views (if any)

Thanks in advance!

 

[1Kflyerguy]

Welcome to Tug!

Both of these are nice resorts, and i think you will be happy at either.

As for the resorts, to a certain extent it depends on what you like to do while on vacation.

In my opinion Kings Land has more of "resort" feel than Kohala suites. You are correct that you will have full access to the large Hilton Hotel pools while staying at either resort.

The pools at Kohala Suites are nice, but nothing out of the ordinary. Kings' Land had multiple pools with waterfalls and slides, etc. The pools and slides are not as large as the hotel pools, but they are still very nice. Since our kids are grown we rarely venture over to hotel if staying at KL. Even when our son was younger, it nice to have a really good pool in walking distance.

In addition the pool bar at KL is much nicer than Kohala.

I think the lanai's are larger at Kohala Suites.

As for room size, i think the 2 bedroom at Kohala suites is very similar in square footage to phase 1 at KL. The phase 2 rooms at KL are noticeably smaller.

Both resorts and the hotel are very close to each other. Depending on your energy level, you can walk between them, though I have never done that.

The views are similar for both resorts, typically golf course / lava fields. Some units at each resort face the road, which is not ideal.

We stayed at Kings' Land two years ago on VIP package and had a great room assignment in phase one. I believe the VIP rooms are always ground floor. That limits the view, but really opens up the lanai as you can just walk out onto the grass. Our favorite place to stay on the Big Island is ground floor room in Phase at Kings Land.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

We stayed at Kings' Land two years ago on VIP package and had a great room assignment in phase one. I believe the VIP rooms are always ground floor. That limits the view, but really opens up the lanai as you can just walk out onto the grass. Our favorite place to stay on the Big Island is ground floor room in Phase at Kings Land.

Datapoint: we were on a VIP at Kingsland and had top floor (requested in advance) in Phase I. Our first room assignment was the disabled unit, which would not have been a problem, but many of the appliances (dishwasher, washing machine) did not work. Staff was extremely slow in responding to the problem and wasn't able to fix. Compared to Lagoon which replaced a broken microwave within an hour by installing a new one in their inventory, this was disappointing.

I got the sense this unit was only used when they were overbooked.

The second room was fine and was also on the top floor but it was a hassle to move our belongings and disrupt our trip. I presume if we had opted for a lower floor or phase II they could have moved us sooner.

The balcony on the Kingsland unit had a nice view but was very windy so we did not sit out there much. Perhaps the Kohala (and Bay Club) lanais are positioned better so they are shielded from the wind?

We loved the access and large number of bbqs at Kingsland. Never stayed at Kohala so cannot comment on the bbqs there.

Kingsland also had more resort feel with the pool amenities and a free Hula show. You can walk over there from Kohala and use the amenities, I believe.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

Datapoint: we were on a VIP at Kingsland and had top floor (requested in advance) in Phase I. Our first room assignment was the disabled unit, which would not have been a problem, but many of the appliances (dishwasher, washing machine) did not work. Staff was extremely slow in responding to the problem and wasn't able to fix. Compared to Lagoon which replaced a broken microwave within an hour by installing a new one in their inventory, this was disappointing.

Kingsland also had more resort feel with the pool amenities and a free Hula show. You can walk over there from Kohala and use the amenities, I believe.

We had one of the disabled accessibility units a few years ago, the big difference i noticed was that our unit had a giant Jacuzzi tub and no shower.. While i don't mind a Jacuzzi, i did miss not having a shower for the week..

As for broken appliances or items in the unit. We have also had fantastic service at Lagoon tower and kind of hit or miss at KL.

 

[Sandy VDH]

If you are interested in room size and lanai then i would pick Bay Club.
If you are interested in grounds and pools and access to HWV then I would pick Kingsland.
I would NOT pick Kohola I would option for either BC or KL depending on what is important to you.

Now KL has units that are way more points that KS or BC, but you can find the smaller units in phase 2 or 3 that are the same points at the BC or KS units. But if you have points to burn you could go for a larger KL unit.

 

[brp]

If you are interested in room size and lanai then i would pick Bay Club.
If you are interested in grounds and pools and access to HWV then I would pick Kingsland.
I would NOT pick Kohola I would option for either BC or KL depending on what is important to you.

As someone going to Kohala, I will give a slightly different view.

I don't like the setting at Kingsland. Yes, the pool is nice and the pool bar is the best of the bunch. It feels like an isolated enclave (and some may like that) too far up the road for me. While Kohala and BC grounds are not as interesting, I can look out and see more of what's around me than just the next building in the line (this said by someone who has not been in a KL building, but jus the feel of the place. Both BC and Kohala are more intimate. A snaking row of buildings, but not staggered. And the location is better. So, KL would never be for us, especially at more points. Just not enough to offer.

I do like BC over Kohala, for the reasons mentioned. We're going with family, and the access to the HWV pools is a nice add, even though comments in at least one other thread indicated that, since the lagoon is technically "public" land, one could just walk on (and that's really the only one of the HWV pools worth it ti us).

But this is why they have three locations!

Cheers.

 

[Twincheryl]

We have been to both Kohala and KingsLand several times and have decided KingLand is much more to our liking. Several times we had trouble getting a lounge chair at Kohala and like to sit in the shade more than the sun. Never had a problem at Kingsland by the adult pool. We like that you can get lunch or a snack at KL and the chairs by the bar are quite comfortable. We always try for Phase 1 so we are close to the pool area. We’re not much for the big pool at the Hilton but sometimes take advantage of the shuttle or free parking and have dinner or walk around a bit. You really can’t go wrong with either property... as others have said, it’s how many points you have to spend and what vibe you like.


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[jehb2]

I have 2 teen/post-teen daughters who are content being either lazy or active, depending on their moods.

This made me smile.

 

[rickandcindy23]

We stayed back-to-back in units at Kingsland and Kohala, and Kingsland is just better for kids because of the pools, but I liked the layout better at Kohala.

I hope you didn't pay a bunch of money for this introduction into Hilton. You should absolutely NOT BUY developer points. Resale is so much cheaper. Don't buy anything without looking at resale.

 

[brp]

We stayed back-to-back in units at Kingsland and Kohala, and Kingsland is just better for kids because of the pools, but I liked the layout better at Kohala.

This is a big difference. We don't have kids and we don't spend a lot of time at pools. Even when we try, we get bored and leave and do something

Cheers.

 

[alwysonvac]

Here are some youtube videos

HGVC Kings’ Land

HGVC Kohala Suites

 

[alwysonvac]

Bay Club

Hilton Waikoloa Village resort

 

[giowop]

I hope you didn't pay a bunch of money for this introduction into Hilton. You should absolutely NOT BUY developer points. Resale is so much cheaper. Don't buy anything without looking at resale.

Details for those who care: We paid $1700 for 7200 one-time use VIP (Vacation Introductory Package) points which would level out to about 7 nights at a selected number of locations. Note, this was NOT a buy-in to actual permanent points. But...This locked us into the prices they offered us at our sale presentation for 18 months. Should we have decided to buy in to HGVC within the 18 months, that $1700 would have been credited towards our sale. Thank the Lord that in between this VIP purchase and us returning home, I discovered TUG and the insanity of buying into HGVC through Hilton itself. Their sale offer got ultimately whittled down to $13,000 for 1600 annual points at the Elara in Vegas. Just one cursory search on the TUG marketplace showed me 3500 points at Elara for $3000. Needless to say we won't be taking HGVC up on their offer. Thanks, TUG!!

When I paid the $1700 to HGVC (on my AMEX Hilton Aspire), I instantly got the $250 resort credit so that knocked it down to $1450. I checked what it would cost to do a week at KL on our selected dates through Hilton Honors web site and it priced out to about $2500 for our 2 Bedroom. Now, you might all be able to say it was still a waste of money, but for us it saved money and also gave us just the extra amount of time to not jump into something silly. It's the second HGVC sales pitch I've been on, and now that I know that if we do ever buy in, it will be via the resale market, I'm very content to let them continue to wine and dine me/us -

Sales Pitch Trip #1 - 3 nights at Elara Vegas for $200
Sales Pitch Trip #2 - 3 nights at Trump Vegas AND a 4-night cruise for two to the Bahamas on Royal Caribbean for $500.