An Outstanding Stay at a Beautiful and Luxurious Hotel!
Written: Mar 31 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Understated elegance with beautiful facilities and nice perks.
Cons: It's a drive to find a meal if you don't want to eat at hotel.
The Bottom Line: Stay here if you're visiting the Big Island.
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| traveldealguru's Full Review: Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel |
I got this hotel on Priceline for Easter of 2005 with a bid of $185 per room per night.
When we arrived, we were floored. The hotel is beautiful - and the epitome of understated elegance. It is very quiet and peaceful. If you're looking for hot nightlife, go someplace else. If you want to relax in a soothing environment, this is the place for you.
The rooms are plush with bath robes and slippers, a fridge in every room, complimentary bottled water refreshed daily, a large bathroom with two sinks, and unbelievably beautiful balconies. Every room faces the water - but some of the views are more obstructed by trees and other buildings than others. The porches have big double screen doors and the main room doors to the outside hallway have an outside wooden louvered screen door - so you can have a breeze blowing off the ocean entirely through your room. The louvers/slats on the screen door to the hallway mean it blocks people from looking into your room and it has a lock if you want to sleep with this breeze. (Of course you can also just close the main room door if you're uncomfortable with just a screen door to the corridor for security.) The hotel lobby and corridors are just about silent after 10:00 at night. The hotel is fairly new and so the facilities are clean and fresh. The lobby is huge and breathtaking.
Hapuna Beach is the ideal location for a hotel. We looked at a number of hotels in this area and this beach is by far the best. It is a soft white sand beach and is very comfortable for swimming. Snorkeling is okay here - but there are other places that are better. It's a great place to be in the sun and enjoy the ocean.
A good find nearby is the "King's Shops" about 10-15 minutes South of the Prince Hapuna Beach. If you take highway 19 South of the resort, there is a stoplight with a gate to "Waikoloa." Turn into this area and the Kings Shops are down a bit on your right. (FYI - this is the same gate entrance if you were going to either the Hilton Waikoloa Village or the Mariott. It is one stoplight south of the Blue Hawaiian Helicopters landing pad.) The Kings Shops have a Shell Gas Station, a number of beautiful stores and galleries, some great restaurants if you want to eat away from the hotel including Merrimans which serves Mediterranean Food, and a food court with Subway, Dairy Queen, a Mexican restaurant, etc. [Tip: We had a problem with insects at the expensive upscale "Roy's" Restaurant at the King's Shops. The food there was great but we wouldn't return after our waiter smeared the bugs on the wall to kill them and then never returned to wash them off.]
The food at the Hapuna Beach Prince is very good, although expensive. The Reef Lounge in the lobby is beautiful and has live entertainment at night - mostly soothing jazz or traditional Hawaiian music. The hotel decor is great - wood tones with dark slate tile floors in the hallways.
If you want to relax and unwind, you will be thrilled to stay here. Although I found a great deal for the room quality here, I would pay full price to return.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
traveldealguru
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
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