Mauna Kea Beach Hotel

Tonight we went to the Clambake at the Mauna Kea. I understand it’s something special they do every Saturday by the beach. All I can say is it’s worth every penny! From the chilled shrimp and oysters, to the perfectly cooked lobsters, clam, mussels, mahi mahi, prime rib and more, everything was served perfectly! The items that were supposed to be chilled were chilled - and those that were supposed to be hot were actually hot which is very hard to do on a large buffet. If you wanted rare prime rib you got rare prime rib, but if you wanted it cooked more they could do that as well! It was our first time trying the Clambake but if we lived here on the island it would be a regular Saturday night place to go! And the Service - it was also very professional but very friendly as well! If you haven’t tried it - I promise you won’t be disappointed!

As many people have told us, this is a beautiful resort hotel. The history of its development related to Hawaii tourism is fascinating. The art work bringing various Asian pieces is amazing and shows Laurence Rockefeller's vision of bringing the West and East together in the middle of the Pacific is also remarkable. The white sandy beach is amazing although I could do with a few less umbrellas on it! The food served at the restaurants have all been delicious. We wondered why there is no wait service for food and beverage around the beach chairs - this also causes a wait sometimes for a table at the restaurant and bar on the beach. Seems like a lost opportunity for revenue enhancement for the hotel. While it is difficult to maintain some of the metal structures within the hotel, they could use better upkeep of the steel straps on the railings as well as the metal bathroom fixtures. The staff are all very attentive, friendly and helpful.

I was exhausted and looking for a last-minute 3-night getaway from San Francisco to a warm location. Being pregnant, I ruled out Mexico and the Caribbean, which essentially left us with Hawaii. After looking at weather forecasts, we chose the Big Island and booked our tickets with less than a week to go. I hate staying at large hotels and landed on the Mauna Kea after reading a few recommendations on the Andrew Harper site. Although the hotel is a Marriott property, it is part of the Autograph Collection and has more of a boutique feel. We had a beachfront room, which was in a different wing of the hotel. The location had its pros and cons. It was very convenient to get to the pool and beach, but quite a walk from the parking lot and restaurants. That said, the rooms felt new and were well maintained. The room had a partial ocean view (seen through the palm trees and past the lawn). Aside from the hotel's beach, the Mauna Kea is located near some other pretty beaches, like Beach 69. The service was very good, particularly at check in. The main downside of the hotel was the food quality, which we did not feel was up to par for a hotel billing itself as a luxury property. We found ourselves grabbing snacks from the convenient and very reasonably priced store in the main building and going out for meals after dinner the first night. Overall, we had a very relaxing stay and would recommend it as a solid choice on the Big Island, but wouldn't be dead set on returning. For a similar price point, you'd get a lot more bang for your buck elsewhere.

We stayed at the Mauna Kea villas and were given access to both the Hapuna Prince and the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. The pool leaves a lot to be desired, especially as compared to the Hapuna Prince which offers both an adult's only pool and a huge children's pool. Part so the hotel exterior look old and tired and in need of maintenance. Other areas of the hotel, such as where Manta is, are perfectly manicured and very well maintained. We did not stay at the hotel, so no comments on the rooms.

We returned to Mauna Kea for the third year in a row, this time with our 9 month old baby, so we stayed at a vacation property on the resort, with access to both the Mauna Kea and Hapuna properties. The beach at Mauna Kea is the selling point of the hotel, so it is disappointing when you arrive at 8.30am to find every lounger taken with belongings but no one there. My family took towels and set up on the sand in the shade of a tree, and after about half an hour one of the beach guys found us some loungers and an umbrella. He was obviously as frustrated by the situation as I was - and reading these other reviews it seems we weren't the only family that had this issue. I get that the hotel is full but if you can't provide enough loungers for all the guests there needs to be a way to accommodate everyone. It was so frustrating to see loungers 'taken' but people not arriving to sit on them until midday. We have stayed at other resorts where a lounger left untouched for 2 hours is cleared for other guests - it would be easy for the hotel to do this by folding down the vacant loungers every hour - any loungers still folded two hours later could be cleared. If clearly communicated I can't see any guest having an issue with this - the process at the moment just encouraged people to take loungers they aren't using. At Hapuna there were always plenty of loungers available as the resort was still having some construction work done, trips to the beach there were far more relaxing and enjoyable for all and I was relived to have the choice to go there. The kids pool there is also much nicer than the pool at Mauna Kea.