SERVICE -- 👎 bad
No early checkin, nor on time. Late checkin (by a few hours) seems to be the norm so prepare to walk around the property or enjoy a marathon wait in the lounge.
Extremely indifferent & unproductive conversations over phone with the receptionists & restaurant staff. There is a virtual concierge via SMS, but no one pays attention to this or cares to respond & typical keywords do nothing (I don't see any value of having this system).
Phone calls occasionally went unanswered & required multiple attempts.
Multiple concierge touch points, but in practice the staff aren't setup for success, trained, or invested in earning/redeeming your business.
Yet another property lacking any understanding or training in the concept of hospitality & service.
Laundry (sans dry-cleaning) services are available, but it's a bit of a lottery with 3 (out of 4) washers & 8 dryers allocated to the entire tower. One of the washing machines had very intense mold!
ROOM [1BR, Resort view] -- 👍 ok
Spacious but incredibly dated furniture with a dreary color palette of green, brown, & yellow
Low cleaning standards with surfaces dirty to the touch; sticky surfaces & ants [wet bar]; crumbs on table; stained curtains.
Phones regularly malfunction (line continues ringing after being answered...).
The wooden work desk has seen better days but there's a huge glass overlay on the surface with ample room for planning & organizing ideas. The desk chair is also ergonomic and rolls.
Lots of drawers, cabinets, and closet space for personal items.
Comfortable for 2 or more.
BED -- 👍 ok
Really small (standard size) pillows on king size bed.
The mattress could use a refresh but the bedding was clean, comfortable, & cozy.
Sleeps well without the AC on; of the 2 working vents in the unit, one is facing directly at the head of the bed. Not ideal if you're sensitive to noise or dislike the constant pressure on your face.
TV -- 👍 good
2 large 50" flat screen LG TVs on swivel bases. No apps or additional functionality outside basic programming, but the ports are accessible for connecting other devices. There are also PS3's configured to play DVDs if feeling nostalgic.
BATH -- 👎 ok
Bathroom is only accessible through the bedroom.
The tile work is nice & the bathtub has great depth for a soak and bath bomb ( bath salts were the only thing we found on the island in walking distance).
Great water pressure in the shower with a 6-spray pattern shower head, but ours was dirty & overdue for a replacement (a ring of dirt around the nozzle).
HVAC is a disaster. No ventilation & vents have never been serviced/cleaned by the looks of it. The bathroom is lacking a manual or auto exhaust of any kind.
The closeted toilet is especially bad and becomes a hot box after a few minutes, pile on the weak water pressure & slow flush.
Bath robes have a nice design, but the material isn't comfortable or what you'd expect in terms of weight or texture for a high-humidity environment.
Odd lack of hooks, bars, or drying racks to encourage towel reuse or simply hang a bathrobe while showering.
FOOD -- 👎 poor
No minibar, room service, or UberEats/DoorDash options. Mini coffee bar in the room.
Unusually difficult to obtain water from eateries or the property & just a single water station per main entrance. Really suboptimal for such a large property, so fill up frequently when leaving the room.
No call-ahead takeout or room service (except pizza delivery), so every meal is a bit of a walk.
Generally amusement park quality food (low effort & overpriced sit-down dining); unappetizing presentations, dirty shrimp & cheap condiments [lagoon grill]. Quality & correctness was also an issue (had to place the same order multiple times for pizza) [Nui Italian].
Various places regularly run out of ingredients well before closing and simply drop the ball wrt encouraging repeat business... [market place, Juice bar, etc].
Powder/reconstituted eggs served at the breakfast buffet. I witnessed a number of people steal pastries from the breakfast buffet, so those must be good, but cannot confirm.
Food staff are not equipped to navigate conversations about dietary restrictions.
Finding WHO to talk to or WHERE to get nutrition information is difficult.
Wi-Fi -- 👎 bad
Poor QoS and frequent disconnects on mobile devices. This is a huge problem because cellular networks are frequently too congested to function (in or outside the property), despite having full bars and experiencing no obvious dead zones.
When connected, the actual performance is.... abysmal:
6-15 Mbps download
1-3 Mbps upload
Not workcation friendly, so forget about multitasking or video conferencing. Coverage in the rooms is also spotty.
NOISE -- 👎 poor
Sound isolation between neighboring walls seems good. But you're at the mercy of upstairs guests and kids running outside the walkways as noise leaks significantly in from the entrance.
There was drilling/construction above us from 9 am onward during the weekend.
VERDICTS
Final Price: $153.11/night
Was it worth it: no
Best part: views
Very disappointing way to spend time in Hawaii. I do not recommend this location.
1/5⭐️
(To think that people have timeshares here...)
@mrstaycation
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