No beachfront view as promised. No aloha spirit. Manager uttered an apology but her tone was so loud that I could not hear the words, if you know what I mean.

No way to wheel in luggage either. You must carry each piece down several steps. (Isn’t there a national law to provide for wheelchair access? WON’T HAPPEN HERE.)

Hallway carpet was old and stained. Elevator had no inspection sticker. The worst thing is that there seem to be people living here.

Nice island to drive with many $50 hotel rooms. Why pay more? Avoid this place. This island is big so do not try to stay at one place or you will be driving home at night. Go to the volcano, stay at the Volcano House Hotel (ancient but cool). When finished in this area, pack it up and drive on to Hilo.

• Unit Type: 1 Bedroom
• Activities: Poor
• Amenities: Poor
• Unit Satisfaction: Poor
• Family Friendliness: Poor
• Service: Poor

This is a golf resort. You have to walk about a quarter of a mile or so to get to a public beach, and you have to walk through another resort to get to it. But once you are there, it is almost like a private beach, because the hotel behind the beach is closed, with broken windows, graffiti, and overgrowth of tropicals and shrubs.

The golf course is nice, well groomed. There are two pools, a large one by the activities center and a quiet pool (adult) with a whirlpool/hot tub nearer the entrance to the resort. You have to pay a surcharge for air conditioning daily if you have a key in your possession to use it. And you probably will. There was a TV in the living room, and in each bedroom. Tennis courts, restaurant on site. We used neither. This is for a golf vacation. Or shopping, maybe sightseeing, as it is centrally located on the west coast. This is not a resort for water sports or swimming, or beaching.

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Excellent
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

The walk to town was about a half mile. The week we visited was the week before the Ironman competition, so the streets were bustling, both night and day.

Our third floor one-bedroom unit had a dynamite view of the Pacific. Although the resort is set right on the water (you could leave your sliders to the deck open and hear the surf pound!), it's not swimmable. The shore is rough lava. However, we could watch the Ironman competitors from our balcony, practicing their ocean swims.

The unit was quite comfortable, with a small but serviceable kitchen with pantry, a combination living/dining room, a decent-size bedroom, washer/dryer and a single bathroom. The living area leads out to the balcony via glass sliders. The bedroom is on the opposite end of the unit. So those who like to go to sleep and awaken to the sound of pounding surf will have to sleep on the fold-out couch, unfortunately.

The decor was tropical and in good shape. The couch and dining room chairs were quite comfortable. There was a TV and VCR, although neither got much use.

The pool was sparkling and inviting, and the jacuzzi was appropriately warm. The gas grill area was well-designed, with lots of tiled counter space, a sink, and a roof for when it was raining.

Parking was covered, one level below the units. The management was helpful and checking in was easy.

Although the town was congested, excitement over the upcoming event was high. We found that because of that and the hospitable weather, October was an excellent time to stay here.

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Fair
• Amenities: Very Good
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Good
• Service: Excellent

The view from our balcony (a LARGE balcony) was spectacular. The ocean was just across the street. Our master bedroom included a welcoming old-fashioned (but brand new) claw foot Jacuzzi tub, double sinks, a gorgeous armoire, and Hawaiian accents throughout the rooms. The other bedroom was spectacular, as well. Loved the shower doors in both bathrooms. They were covered with bamboo! The washer/dryer in our unit was a welcome surprise to us, and every moment of our stay was magical.

This was our honeymoon, and we will probably alway compare future vacations to the beauty and elegance of our first vacation together! We can't rate this resort highly enough. A five-star rating falls woefully short. The people were so kind, as well. Our return flight schedule was changed because of terrorist fears and rescheduling after the September 11 attack on NYC. So, we needed to stay in Hawaii for an extra day (NOT a problem). The resort was so kind to find a place for us to stay for the extra night. We can't wait to go back!

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Very Good
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Very Good
• Service: Excellent

Great Fish Taco at Lulu's is a must. :)

Took a glass bottom cruise, went to swim with the dolphins, and saw the volcano at dusk with orange lava flow. Fantastic experience.

• Unit Type: 1 Bedroom
• Activities: Excellent
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

Keauhou Shopping Center is right across the street from the resort, too. In it was a grocery store and theatre, as well as many other small shops.

The resort is also very close to the end of Alii drive so there's a little side street that leads right up to the main highway. That was very convenient for buzzing into Kona without the bumper to bumper slow traffic on Alii drive. That also made it convenient for heading down the coast.

Best Things About the Resort:
Location is probably the best thing about this timeshare, although even if it was somewhere else I'd still think it was great. I felt very secure and relaxing here. I also really liked that the units were well maintained and clean, as were the grounds around it.

Resort Experience:
The condo has an open floor plan with the kitchen, livingroom and diningroom flowing together nicely. The tv was built into the kitchen counter which was rather a neat use of space, but also meant it could only be seen from the livingroom. One wall of the livingroom was a mirror which also made the area look larger. The carpeting, furnishing, and counters where in shades of white and off white---and very clean. The diningroom table had a glass top. We had a lanai that over looked the golf course and the lanai had a lounge chair and table and chairs on it.

The kitchen was well equiped with everything including a dishwasher and washer and drier. It also had a microwave, plenty of dishes (all matching) and flatware. There were 2 containers of dishsoap and a small box of laundry detergent in a hostess pak along with teas, coffee, sugar, creamer, salt and pepper, and probably a few things I'm forgetting now.

The bedroom was large with a king sized bed in it and armoir with a large tv in it. The bathroom attached to the bedroom had a shower/soaking tub combination (something I really enjoyed). They supplied beach towels as well as bath towels. In fact, after we checked out, they let us keep a couple beach towels for the rest of the day and return them on our way to the airport (and use the pool and shower area in the complex).

The grounds were beautiful. There was even a botanical walk next to the main swimming/jacuzzi area. I'm not a golfer, but I think I would have been very pleased with the course if I was. The resort is quite large--like a regular subdivision. Parking got a little tough sometimes, even though you had to have a parking permit in the resort.

If you wanted air conditioning, it was extra---but only about $40 for the week. It is set up to only work if the sliding glass door to the lanai is shut---they won't let you air condition the outside!

(A note about the lighting in Hawaii!!!! Don't expect a red vehicle to look red at night!!!! The lighting is with yellow lights and the red truck we rented looked gray at night. Took awhile to find our truck the first night!)

• Unit Type: 1 Bedroom
• Activities: Excellent
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

THe unit had a kitchen with a counter between it and the livingroom. In the kitchen were all the usual appliances, including a dishwasher (which didn't work). The dishes and silverware were a hodge podge assortment. The livingroom had a nice couch and a tv stand with a a decent tv on it. There was cable tv. There was also the air conditioner unit in there. Also in the living area was a small table and a couple chairs. The bedroom was right off the livingroom and had a large sliding door to close it off from that room , or open it up to it. That was nice for letting air conditioning into it. From the other door in the bedroom (towards the kitchen), there was a vanity area, then a bathroom with a tub/shower combo.

They do spray for bugs regularly, but we did see several tiny bugs in the bathroom area. I think they were getting ready to spray again.

I wouldn't consider it a dive, but certainly not a resort! For a family looking for something relatively cheap, a kitchen, and in Kona, it is probably ok.