The view is breathtaking, the rooms were spacious and has a great view of the ocean. One of the best vacation we have had. The price is up there but theres a reason, and you definitely get your money’s worth.

I think the word is already out that the Mauna Kea is a great spot for families with kids (beautiful bay with floating docks, beachfront rentals, pool and hot tub, all within a hop skip and a jump from each other), but there is something new we discovered this year - a daily face painter/henna artist! My 7 yo son is obsessed with face paint, so we were there in line every day, amongst teens and grown ups, also getting henna and jagua tattoos. The artist, Cynthia (cynthi.art) is incredible - a fine artist, working with face paint and henna as a medium. We hope she is still there on our next visit!!

We live on the BI and know this resort well, so I think I can offer a critical but fair review. Beach is one of the best in Hawaii. Hau Tree staff excellent. Room adequate although AC was fluctuating quite a bit at night this visit. Big negative … Spring Break. Sorry, loud kids not our thing. Seeing kids in diapers in the hot tub … er, no. Beach chairs - snagged and held by people not even there. No beach chair service. Lunch at Hau Tree no seating, all full. Too crowded. Staff did the best they could. Manta … so disappointing. Were able to get a seating with short notice for dinner so that was great! But server mediocre. Asked to share some items and had to ask for plates. Top end server would have asked us if we needed. Ordered a second glass of wine and came 15 minutes later after we were done eating. We are not very demanding. Not sure why service was so bad, not crowded at all. Except near us a very large table of drunk obnoxious people. Maybe that was who they cared about … were they home/condo owners?? Salads overdressed and goopy. Scallops were nicely cooked and fresh but over salted. Next time we’ll just go to Copper Bar. So yes, beach awesome. Crowds with loud kids not awesome. Manta mediocre. Hau Tree and bar staff there were excellent and food was ok there. Front desk staff, valets and luggage folks were quite good.

Rooms are average, dated in need of a major facelift. The rooms were very clean and beds were comfortable. It was nice to have the balcony. The restaurants and bars close by 9:00 pm during the week. There was a lot of confusion around reservation for some of the restaurants. We ended up ordering from the bar and taking our food out on the balcony. The beach was lovely ( nothing to do with the hotel) There were ample chairs for guests. The people were friendly and accommodating when you actually saw someone. For a 1000.00 a night you would think that the hotel would offer a few more amenities such as having a restaurant or bar open past nine during the weekdays. The café/gift shop was great for early coffee and pastry ! For the money it was underwhelming.

We did a photoshoot with Pacific Dream Photography! Had the BEST experience with Cynthia! We had a big family photoshoot (13 people and 3 kids!) and she was accommodating and playful the whole time. We got beautiful shots we’ll treasure forever :) highly recommend!! This hotel is truly something special - definitely plan a trip out!