OUTRIGGER Kona Resort & Spa

My wife and I just stayed here for 13 nights. I am going to piggyback on many other reviews, that this resort is a mixed bag. There are some nice things, and some very concerning things. First, the positive. The pools are amazing. Very clean, plenty of room for everyone, just top notch. For the most part, the entire staff on property, was friendly and welcoming. Now the negative. First and foremost, there is NO SPA. I cannot for the life of me know how a company can brand itself as outrigger Kona resort & Spa, when there is no spa, and from what I was told the spa may never reopen. The manta ray viewing deck, that Outrigger advertises, is closed and under construction. But that doesn't stop them form still having a sign there. The resort advertises itself as having fully renovated rooms. This is false. I would call the rooms, refreshed, certainly not fully renovated. The carpet looks to be 20 years old, the slider to the lanai is very old and did not close properly, and the shower had a shower curtain, which is fine, however, in the past it had a sliding glass shower door that was removed, but somehow the contractor didn't remove the frame for it. Very strange. In my opinion, I would not consider this a 4 star resort. There are many little things that are missing here. For example, there is no room service for food, but if you order food, and go pick it up yourself, the resort will charge you an extra $2 for that. This is ludicrous. Also, no microwave in the room. Even 2 star hotels give you this. No complimentary coffee anywhere on the property. Again, not something you would expect from a 4 star. Overall, not a horrible stay, but not was I was expecting. Robert Wilson

What a wonderful resort!! The staff are amazing and so helpful. We booked a club level room and are very happy with the extra amenities. Sharlaine and Tessa were exceptionally kind and provided helpful information about resort activities and local sites.

Beautiful hotel, lovely big rooms. Beautiful grounds, very green, but also black lava everywhere. The pool area was great, a family pool & an adult’s only pool, loads of sun beds. Free paddle board hire once a day (had to walk, with it, down the road to the bay adjacent to the hotel). On-site restaurant, but it was very expensive - $33 pp for breakfast! & a really good on-site shop/takeaway café. Games room. Nightly entertainment such as singers etc, but the real evening entertainment was watching the boats outside the hotel, for the swimming with manta ray trips. Food trucks visit the hotel car park once a week, really great choice of some local food, shame it wasn’t more than once a week. The downsides were that there’s nothing really around the hotel, definitely recommend hiring a car at the airport (big car park at the hotel), as the free bus to get to the local mall & Kona was a bit sketchy. If you hire a car whilst you are there (like we did) you have to go into town to pick it up/drop it off. The manta ray viewing platform was being dismantled & there was work going on at the hotel. The spa was also not open.

Excellent service and food. Zach and Tessa took very good care of us! The lounge is big and has plenty of indoor seating. The tiny outdoor space could be much larger as this is Hawaii and you want to be outside! The chair covers inside need cleaning badly and detract from an otherwise good experience.

We spent four relaxing nights at the Kona Outrigger. Our room had a beautiful view overlooking the large pool and gorgeous ocean. It was large, very clean and comfortable. We made use of the balcony every evening watching the sunset. This area of Kona does not have any beaches, as it is on the volcanic rock area. This does, however, make for very clear water. A short walk from the hotel is a small harbor where you can schedule snorkle trips. Extremely convenient. We took the night time Manta Ray Snorkle and it was fabulous. You can watch the Manta boats and their lights every night from your balcony, but being on the boat and swimming with these magnificient creatures is unforgetable. Having a room overlooking the pool an the ocean did make for noise nightly until 10 pm as people were enjoying the beautiful ambience. The restaurants on property were reasonably priced and almost daily there were farmer's markets and/or food trucks right off the parking lot. The staff was friendly and helpful, especially Michael in reception and Nani in guest services.