Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii

The resort hotel is located about an half hour north of the airport in Kona. The outdoor landscaping is awesome. The grounds look like you’re in paradise. There’s a beach that’s part of the property. You can rent snorkeling equipment, surf boards, kayaks and other water equipment. The snorkeling was a lot of fun with numerous schools of beautiful fish you could see. The food at the restaurants was expensive but there's a grocery store and other less expensive restaurants that are a walking distance away. The interior needs a little TLC. The carpet looked like it was overdue for a shampoo. The room needed a little more cleaning. It was dusty in some areas and the bathtub and floor in the bathroom were dirty. It took a few minutes for the shower to warm up. For some reason because of the humidity the door to exit to the hallway was sticking. I and my boyfriend had a hard time opening it. The chain lock was hard to use too. We called maintenance. They made adjustments to the hinge which helped a little. We had a garden room with a doorway to the outside. You could see people walking on the walkway when sitting there so it wasn’t very private. The staff at the resort were all very friendly and helpful. All in all we enjoyed our stay but I think we will select a different hotel if we ever return to the Big Island.

We stayed for 4 nights in an ocean view room (mostly golf view with a bit of ocean) The room was spacious with great air con, very comfortable bed, tea/coffee making facilities, fridge, good toiletries a shower that’s good but takes quite a few minutes to get warm.. We were in the north block and our nearest lift wasn’t working so we had to use the other lift which means if you’re by the pool it takes 5 minutes or so to walk to your room… not the end of the world but irritating. The pool was really nice, lots of sun loungers and umbrellas and great pool service. It’s a bit unnecessary though the staff coming around at 4.30 to take the umbrellas down whilst people are still using them.. that’s too early to do that when paying guests are sitting under them. The hot tub is really nice and relaxing by one of the little waterfalls. We ate in both Browns and Hale Kai, both served very nice food and had great service..Browns had two singers entertaining us which was nice. We also used Browns deli for morning coffees and pastries, very nice! The resort fee is pointed out when checking in and we were encouraged to use facilities to get our moneys worth.. well we didn’t receive a lei greeting. I even e mailed the hotel once I’d read through the inclusions to inform them that we were a bit disappointed at not receiving this and …. No reply… it included other things such a few water sports and coffee between 5-6.30am so we didn’t benefit from any of this. I just wish hotels would include this non optional fee in the hotel rate… The beach is a bit of a let down, it’s small, uncomfortable plastic sun loungers, no umbrellas and it’s not the prettiest.. I’ll attach a photo. We had a drink in the upstairs bar once which was nice with good service and a singer. The grounds are absolutely stunning! The beautiful array of plants, gorgeous waterfalls etc are immaculate.

The resort is lovely. On arrival we were disappointed as we did not receive a lei greeting despite paying the obligatory $48 per night resort fee. Why don’t these resorts include this in the rate seeing as it cannot be avoided? We are in both KAHAKAI BAR and Brown’s Beach Bar. Service in both was attentive and prompt. We also grabbed coffee at Brown’s deli in the morning rather than go for the buffet breakfast. Service around the pool was generally good. Watch out for the room description. We thought we had booked an ocean view but on reading the small print it was partial ocean view on an angle from the 4th floor. Lovely but be upfront as to trust you are offering Fairmont. Gym was good and not too busy. Car lot busy but easily accessible. Beach was so so not attractive and plastic loungers without shade or cushions so we did not use that. Housekeeping was efficient. We took advantage of driving out to Dennys for breakfast one day. Plenty of lingers around the pool. Elevator out of order in north block for our entire 4 night stay. Grounds were lovely and the hidden hot tub was a great find. Cloudy most days from 12pm onwards but guess it was that time of year.

Booked 2 ocean view rooms on the Gold Floor using American Express Travel Fine Hotels and Resorts with my platinum card to celebrate my sister in law's 50th birthday. Thank you Kallan, Jasmine, and Abbey for upgrading me to a premium ocean view room and a 2 Queen Beds Ocean View Suite for my sister in law. We ate at Brown's Beach House for dinner and absolutely enjoyed Neil Patel's off the menu drink concoction. We ate breakfast at both the Gold Floor Lounge and the Orchid Court restaurant. The Orchid Court restaurant does have more food selections compared to the lounge and I wish that the lounge had made to order breakfast for a more elevated experience. However, I do appreciate the hotel serving Kona coffee at both locations. Also note that alcohol is not included in the lounge. We ate lunch at the Khaki Cruiser which is similar to a food truck serving tacos. The Mexican food there was decent. Rented a beach daybed with shade for $150 for 2 persons. The rental included a soft cooler and ice pack with a couple of waters and cans of juices. We also played pickleball at the resort for $50 per hour (paddles are included). We had great conversations with Roberta and the owner Rudy at the tennis/pickleball facilities. Finally, I would like to recognize Estrella and Carmen with housekeeping and Danette and Christian with the lounge for exemplary service. Overall, I would give my stay a 5 star experience and highly recommend it. Mahalo Fairmont Orchid!

We decided to pick this resort for our 3 night stay before heading to Maui. It was an amazing experience. It started with them recognizing our 25th anniversary with a gift. The grounds are amazing and we never felt crowded. In contrast we stayed at the Grand Wailea in Maui. While nice, we kept saying how much we enjoyed the Fairmont. When we go back to the Big Island this would be our place!