On a recent Frequent Miler on the Air, Nick and Greg discussed “Hawai’i on Points.” As part of that episode, they talked through many great deals on lodging that can be had through programs like Wyndham/Vacasa, Hyatt and even, to some degree, Hilton. When they got to Marriott, they simply said, “meh, there’s no value there anymore.” I think their mostly right, but there us one property worth considering.
For years, the Westin Hapuna Beach was one of my favorite hotels in Hawai’i, a combination of superlative location, beautiful grounds, terrific elite recognition and (most of all) marvelous value at 35K points per night. The elite recognition isn’t as good as it used to be and the points price has doubled, but it can still check many of the boxes for a solid Hawai’i vacation.
Westin Hapuna Beach Bottom Line Review
There’s lots of quibbles about the Westin Hapuna Beach: some of the rooms are worn, elite benefits (and breakfast) have slowly deteriorated over the years, the location is not very central. That said, it’s hard not to enjoy a stay here. It’s on a marvelous beach. It’s open, airy and laid back. There’s good hiking and restaurants nearby and the nightly sunsets are exactly what you came to Hawai’i for. Marriott’s new dynamic pricing has awards pricing over double what they used to be and you now have to pay over $100/night for various fees and parking. It’s certainly not a screaming deal anymore, but it’s still a good option for points stays on the Big Island Thumb’s up.
- Price: The prices here have been increasing since Marriott’s move to dynamic pricing. Currently, the points price is between 55,000-70,000 points most nights, while cash prices hover around $500-600/night for much of the year. (note that when I first researched prices before original publication, it was over 100K every night of the 2023…hopefully that was just an inintential gltich as pricing came down quickly thereafter).
- Value: When we stayed here last year, it was still an excellent value, if not quite the insane deal that it used to be when it was 35K/night. We booked five nights for 240,000 points (including the fifth night free) and the cash rate for standard rooms was ~$800+tax/night. We value Marriott points at 0.8 cents each and this was almost double that.
- Location: I’ve been coming to Hapuna and Mauna Kea beach for almost twenty years and it’s a delightful stretch of sand. It’s on the Kohala Coast, which is 35-40 minutes north of the airport and 45-50 minutes from Kona proper (can be more with traffic). I love the location because it’s close to some fun hiking on the North Shore/Hamakua Coast and is only about 15-20 minutes from Waimea, which in my opinion has the best concentration of restaurants on the Big Island (with the possible exception of Hilo). It’s difficult without a car, however, as nothing is within walking distance.
- Room: I was upgraded to a 475 sq ft Premier Ocean View Room with a marvelous balcony that had both a cocktail table and a day-bed. The best views are on the higher floors of the the South Tower on the side that’s closest to the lobby (further out, the beach is obscured by the vacation residences below). The room itself is comfortable, if unexceptional. They do provide probably the best complimentary water bottles I’ve ever had in a hotel.
- Parking: Self-parking is $30+tax/night; valet is $40+tax.
- Resort/Destination Fee: $37/night + tax. If you are an elite member and ask for a reduction due to overlapping benefits, they will take $5/night off. But, you must ask, as the front desk agents are instructed not to proactively offer it (which is pretty chintzy if you ask me).
- Internet: Spotty. Good in the central areas, but gets worse the further you get from the main lobby and common areas. I’ve been told that rooms at the far end of each tower can have problems streaming.
- Service: The front desk agents are very good at providing Aloha, going above and beyond in making sure that we had a welcome amenity and a room with a view that we liked (they have photos from the balcony of every room on their computers). Breakfast service is quick and efficient (there are servers that have been there since the first time we went ten years-ish ago) and housekeeping is good as well. The only complaint is that the lifeguards will start picking up beach chairs about an hour before sunset, and the noise and exhaust from the ATV that they use to collect the chairs is a bit off-putting for enjoying a quiet sunset.
- Turndown service: Nightly.
- Dining:
- ‘Ikena Landing: Open-air Breakfast restaurant with sweeping views of the grounds, ocean and coast. Open for breakfast weekdays from 6:30-10:30am and weekends ’till 11:00.
- Naupaka Grill: Pool-level restaurant that’s open all day and is the only option that’s open for lunch. It’s also the only on-property restaurant that’s open for dinner on the days that Meridia is closed. Basic bar & grill food with a full bar. Open everyday from 10:30-9pm.
- Meridia: Very expensive Mediterranean restaurant that’s only open for dinner. Nice ocean and sunset views. Open Thurs-Mon from 5:30-9pm. Closed Tues/Wed.
- Piko Coffee and Bar: Located in between the lobby and ‘Ikena Landing, this has similarly lofty views. In the morning, it’s a coffee bar with light grab and go food. It switches to more of a bar atmosphere with small bites during the afternoon. There’s often relaxed live music from about 6-9pm or so and it’s the last bar open on-property. Open daily from 6am-10pm.
- Mauna Kea Beach Hotel: There’s additional options at the nearby “sister” property, Mauna Kea Beach Hotel (it’s possible to walk between the two beaches via a trail over some rather jagged lava rocks). There is a complimentary shuttle that connects the two properties during dinner hours.
- Spa: Hapuna Spa by Mandara is a full-service spa on the adult pool level that shares a space with the fitness room.
- Fitness Room:There is a decent fitness area located across from the spa. It has a large stretching/yoga area, treadmills and Peloton bikes, as well as enough weights to do a circuit. Rarely busy when I’ve been there.
- Marriott Titanium Benefits:
- Room Upgrade: I booked a standard room and applied suite night upgrades that were expiring at the end of the year. By the time we arrived, the highest category that was left was a Premier Ocean View (which is what we got). In previous, non-holiday stays, I’ve had some excellent suite uprades.
- Free Breakfast: Served in ‘Ikena Landing and, frankly, quite poor. When we first started going to this property years ago, Platinum and higher elite members received the full hot buffet OR they could order off of the menu. During the pandemic, the buffet wasn’t open, so everything was off the menu…which overall is good quality. Now, they just give you the free (mediocre) pastries & fruit that’s provided on arrival to every table and add your choice of a box of cereal, oatmeal or a tiny yogurt parfait. I’m not a big fan of loading up on pastries, and these leave much to be desired anyway, so it really wasn’t much of a breakfast for us. They also give you the option of upgrading to the (again, fairly mediocre) breakfast buffet for $25pp. There is no option to upgrade to a menu item, which is what we would have preferred.
- Late Checkout: Given 2pm at check-in, was able to extend to 4pm the night before check-out.
- Would I stay again? Probably, but I’m not hurrying back. I’ve been here several times over the last 8-10 years and the property and elite benefits have worsened, while the parking, fees and points pricing have steadily increased. It’s still a lovely place to stay, but it’s not quite the no-brainer that it used to be.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Beautiful property with marvelous views throughout.
- Only hotel on one of the best beaches on the Big Island.
- Good location for those wanting to be out of the hubbub of Kona.
- Service is very good, overall.
- Lots of very good restaurants within 15-20 minute drive.
Cons
- A car is necessary if doing any exploring outside of the resort.
- Resort fees+parking+taxes add up to $100+/night…on an award stay.
- One of the worst Westin elite breakfasts around.
- Overall dining choices leaves much to be desired (and are very expensive for the quality).
Image Gallery
Westin Hapuna Beach Premier Ocean View Room
Westin Hapuna Beach Pool and Beach Areas
Westin Hapuna Beach Restaurants
Westin Hapuna Beach Common Areas
Westin Hapuna Beach Fitness Area and Spa
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Westin Hapuna and Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay remain my two favorite hotels in the US. The multi-story open-air architecture of Hapuna is stunning and dramatic and blends in the surroundings perfectly. Amazing architecture. Hapuna Beach is sometimes rated the best in Hawaii and even though there’s a public beach next door the distance from town means it’s usually almost a private beach. Three times I’ve been the “balcony” was huge. I do hate the “vacation” building in front now, but you just sit back on the balcony where you don’t see it under you. I have 5 50K certs but when looking last month it was impossible to find nights under 65K. Marriott’s awards are getting ridiculous. What amazes me is that so few people take the drive up to the observatories close-by. When it’s not snowing it’s a world-class amazing view of the beaches and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Question- we’ve stayed here a number of times in the past five years and I hadn’t seen a “club seating area” sign on the beach before? Is that new? Does it include a lot of the chairs especially to the right as you face the ocean? That is by far the better seating area as it is closer to snorkeling and generally quieter since it is further from the public beach park area. Thanks! We are going in July (splitting time between here and Fairmont) over 10 days.
This was the first time that I had seen it as well. I’m assuming that it’s supposed to apply to the owners of the residences, but normal guests were able to sit there without issue.
The hotel sells what I would call a country club membership to locals. Members get to golf and enjoy the facilities of the resorts (I’m pretty sure a membership gets you the same access to Mauna Kea Beach Hotel facilities and Hapuna facilities). You’ll notice at the MKB hotel, there’s a “members” beach chair section nearest the end of the beach nearest the Manta restaurant. It’s not a particularly large section of chairs.
Their platinum breakfast is dismal. Some of their staff shouldn’t be working in hospitality. The power went out during my stay. look elsewhere.
Any thoughts on the sister property Mauna Kea if you’ve stayed there as well? Cash rates are consistently over $1K a night and the default points rate seems to be 103K, but there is quite a lot of availability for nights in the 70K – 80K range even during summer travel for families bound by school schedules. I’ve been eyeing that as a potential stay next summer since I love historic properties. It’s out of range of the 50K certs but with 5th night free seems like a good Marriott point valuation for a high end property.
I’ve stayed at both and like Westin better for the price. If you like snorkeling, the Westin has far better reef right off shore and along the right side. The pool at the Westin is a thousand times better than the basic round pool that is too small (one family can overtake it if they are rambunctious, seriously) at the Mauna Kea. We also had a LOT of bug problems at Mauna Kea (giant spider coming out of the vent in toilet area and multiple cockroaches despite no food in trash crawling on the floors) in the room and no apology or help when we asked for help. You can always walk or take the shuttle over for the food at Mauna Kea, which we did like a lot!
I would agree with Lara. Even though it’s more expensive, I actually prefer the Westin for the same reasons. I don’t think I’d ever stay there instead of the Westin if I was looking at both.
Wife and I love the Mauna Kea. I find the waters of the beach to be consistently calmer than Hapuna due to the beach being more protected in the bay. From the beach wing, it’s a super-easy walk between the room and the beach. The slope of entry into the ocean is very gradual, which is great for little ones. Snorkeling is actually quite good if you head out of the right side of the bay by the luau grounds (granted that’s a decent distance out). If you have your own snorkel gear, you can snorkel with Manta Rays at night for free just by taking a very short swim from shore to where the lights are shining down on the water. The paid tours from the hotel do the exact same thing. The manta ray experience is worth a stay in itself. The architecture is impressive, and there’s beauty everywhere you look. Vibe is super peaceful and laid-back. We tend to go in high season and it never feels crowded. Pool is on the small side, but it tends not to be crowded because the draw here is the amazing beach. I think it’s a solid value in the 70-80k range with 5th night free. Sadly it seems it’s never in reach of topped off 50k certs.
The new Marriott no categories award chart seems to make results like this common. I was looking at Raleigh NC for June and the hotels were offering about 1/3 cent value per point.
I can hope it will change before I have to book.
With just a quick scroll through of the award chart you can see the average price is around 67k/night and the highest is 74k/night. Not even close to 110k stated in the article.
Yep, you’re right. That’s completely changed since I was searching over the weekend, when there wasn’t a single night below 100K for the rest of the year. Hopefully the rates showing now are what they will be going forward.
Yep, I’m seeing multiple opportunities to use the 5 free night cert bonus with some top ups here. 294K points for 5 nights.
Can anyone compare it to the Hilton Waikoloa Village which is in the same vicinity? Traveling with a family with two kids 8 and 10.
I have stayed multiple times in both Westin Hapuna and Hilton Waikoloa Village but always over Christmas and New Year. Hilton is a big resort with its own train and boats circulating through artificial canals. I think some kids may like that There is a lagoon connected to the ocean with a sandy beach – a great place for kids to get into water as there are no waves. You will find swimming pools with slides and dolphinquest.com/big-island-hawaii/ is on propertry. However, beach is non-swimable from the ocean side and you will be paying for cabanas etc. – the place has a little of shade. Also, pools can be busy.
Hapuna has a gorgeous beach but waves could be huge in winter. The views are great and it feels much more relaxing. So, if you plan to hang around beach and the pools – then I will take Westin every time. However, if you up to exploring the Big Island (and you should!) – Hilton would also work. Note that there are quite a few restaurants just 5 min from Hilton whereas Westin is much more isolated. But if you have points with both programs, I suggest staying with Hilton first and then moving to Westin.
We stayed at both properties, along with 2 nights at Volcano National Park last year. We loved our stay at Westin, and the Hilton was underwhelming. The view from the lobby is stunning, and the access to the beach is perfect at the Westin, while there isnt a good swimming beach at the Hilton. We were upgraded as Titanium to a lobby level ocean view on the south building (the best spot) at the Westin, while Hilton asked us to pay an upcharge for the right to be upgraded to a partial ocean view, which we did, and the kids did enjoy the view of the dolphins directly below our room.
I enjoyed both properties, but I dont think my wife would want to go back to the Hilton, just because of how big it was. The nice part about the Hilton is it is located in Waikoloa Village, so there are many great restaurants nearby that are much less inexpensive (nothing is cheap in Hawaii, but decent value). Plus, you are super close to Lava Lava Beach Club, which is one of our favorite restaurants on any of the islands! The worst part about the Westin is it is very isolated, there are no restaurants nearby aside from the expensive on-site ones affiliated with the hotels, your closest options are Waimea up in the mountains or back to Waikoloa Village. But the views and the vibe are so nice and laid back, it really is wonderful up there. Like others mentioned, the breakfast benefit is not great, but if you can handle that, I think you will enjoy the Westin a lot more than the Hilton.
The Hilton is good for kids and if you really would rather be at DisneyWorld. They have a fake lagoon with mini boats and tubes and a train, giant random statues and a captive dolphin area.
The first thing to know about the Hilton is if you end up in the Ocean Tower, it’ll take you a legit 30 minutes one way between your room and the parking lot, regardless whether you walk, take a tram, or a boat. So each time you go off property, you lose an hour just getting between your room and car. There’s no “real beach”, just a small cove, though there’s a bunch of pools. Not all are heated. Food is insanely priced. If you want to stay in Waikoloa, I’d take the Marriott over the Hilton as it offers a very manageable size, easy access to a nice beach, and is walking distance to good restaurants in the kings/queens shops. I’d take the Hapuna any day over Hilton Waikoloa.
Hard products are showing wear and tear and soft products is on the downward spiral every year we visit. After our last visit we have decided we will not go back. Too many other resorts on this planet offer much better value.
Disappointments from our last visit: landscaping crews woke us as early as 7 am daily with their ATV vehicles and loud chatting right outside our room. 2 times we found human hair in our sandwiches ( the hairs are so long and bundled, it’s hard not to see it or unseen it in our head even months after we ck out). Nickel and dime everywhere, I rarely see this in a resort charge average $1000+ a night. Had to fight for the beach chairs on the wknd. Like the review mentioned, crews take away all beach chairs way b4 sunset. Wanna enjoy the beautiful sunset kohala coast is famous for? Go somewhere else. Restaurants food are tasteless and way overpriced.
Front desk’s attitude are getting colder and colder each year. Annoying and tacky bait and switch timeshare offer from the hotel.
Great and very thorough review! Any hidden gems for restaurants on the Big Island you can share? TIA!
Not a restaurant per se, but there’s an ice factory in Hilo (Hawaii Island Ice Distributors) that sells excellent paletas out of a side room during the day. Lots of different flavors.
Also Mt View Bakery (in Mountain View) has awesome mochi donuts and other baked goods. Worth a stop if you’re passing through.
Just remembered one more. Suisan fish market (by the public docks in Hilo and very close to the ice factory) has top notch poke. It’s a deli with some tables outside, not a sitdown spot. Be prepared to wait in line for a while if you go during meal times.
Thanks again for the recommendations of hidden gems! If you are ever in South Kona, I recommend the Kona Grill House 10-6 only Monday thru Friday.
Nice review, and those pictures are of incredible quality!
I agree I’d have a hard time throwing down over 100k bonvoy points/nt to stay here, despite how beautiful it is. Trouble is, on the Big Island, if you want to stay directly on a truly awesome swimming beach, you are pretty well limited to the Hapuna or Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. If Hapuna is now charging north of 100k, I don’t think I want to know what Mauna Kea is charging.
Just as an FYI, it looks like those rates were some kind of glitch. Later in the week, pretty much the entire year was pricing at 55K-75K per night.
That’s a relief! Great to see Hapuna back in occasional striking distance of 50k certs!
Thanks for this review. I share many of your opinions of Westin Hapuna. It is a stunning hotel architecturally, with a good, if aging, hard product, and one of the best resort beaches anywhere. I had the same nickel-and-diming sense you had of this property; while I enjoyed the resort at the rate I booked (40k/night prior to dynamic pricing), I didn’t envision going back.