Courtyard by Marriott King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel

Beautiful beachfront property in the heart of Kona.

Pros
-Walking distance to many shops and restaurants
-Private small cove with lounge chairs and umbrellas
-Fitness center, pool, and game room on site
-shave ice, shops and art gallery onsite
-breakfast Buffet with large selection
-spacious rooms with balcony

Cons
-more basic hotel with some outdated features
-many rooms have parking lot or tennis court views
-ac unit can be loud
-we had trouble with shower and water temperature staying really hot but they did respond quickly and tried to fix
-can get loud at harbor with locals, cruise ships etc

We paid an extra $1,000 per room for 2 oceanfront rooms for a week, so $2,000 more on top of the extremely high rate already. Which you can see was a corner room 2nd story, next to the stair case with 60% of the view being the ABC store roof.
They say cruise ships dock on Wed & Sun only, in reality cruise ships docked 4-5 days out of the 7. Releasing 1,000s of people off the boat who clog every place around from the little bay to the restaurants and stores. .And you get to stare at a giant cruise ship for half the day.
At night it's not safe to walk more than .01 mile due to the transient issue.
Snorkeling a disappointment here due to the all the boats and constant fishing. Much better snorkeling 10-20 mins away in either direction.
they also advertise first come first serve chairs and umbrellas.. what they don't tell you is 10 for the entire hotel (lol) the person running the shop is extremely rude and will refuse to lend them out so they can charge cruise people for them instead whenever possible.
If they offered me 50% off I still would not stay here again, that's how bad and overpriced this place was.

Location: 10/10
Pool bar and grill staff: 10/10
Cleanliness: 2/10
Amenities: 1/10
Hotel Chain: -5/10
Our room on the fourth floor was filthy. Crumbs and spills on carpet, sticky/dirty balcony glass door, and the bathroom hasn't seen a good scrub in years. The bed mattress doesn't have a protector, just a flimsy sheet that does not stay put. The door on the fridge cabinet was rotted and the whole furniture piece is falling apart. We had coffee once and were not able to order room service. The app has it as an option, but it doesn't work. Pay for a room w a view and a balcony? Don't bother unless it's a front view otherwise you'll look at a roof line and a smidge of ocean. As for the balcony? The hotel is a smoke-free building but the guests smoke on their balconies. Rendering them useless to those of us who hate the smell or have asthma. Smoke right at your door will make your room smell like an 80s HWY 66 motel.
The beach is wonderful! All 50 yards of it. It is a public beach which isn't a big deal to us but it's pretty crowded, especially when a cruise ship docks for a couple of days. The ship engine smell is also gross. It ruins a perfectly good morning on the water.

We had so many other tiny issues that it honestly became a bit of a comedy for us .

The location is fabulous, most of the staff were helpful and super friendly. The pool staff is amazing and I cannot say enough good things about them. I heard some complaints about the pool but we found it to be very nice.

As i go through my bill, I'm noticing several fees for the most ridiculous things. Visa payment? Fee. Marriot credit? Fee to apply their own credit.
Just a terrible marriot.

Great calm beach. I'm not sure if this is a public beach, but this is on the hotel
property and In think we had to pay a small parking fee . But you enter beach through the hotel and we weren't questioned or asked if we were guests . The beach mid day was full, we did find space for blankets . Make sure you bring reef shoes as there are many rocks buried in the sand as you trek out to deeper water . it was crystal clear the day we were there . It was cool seeing the Mighty King Kam original beach retreat . So glad this has been preserved . We met some other nice people on the beach who were also from So Cal . it was a clean beach and an enjoyable day . I recommend this beach when others are closed due to shark activity . That's why we came up to this end of town. The other beaches deeper into kona were closed due to shark activity

As time goes on, I have time to reflect on some of my favorite hotels have stayed at.

The King K has a special significance to me since its parking lot has been the start of the Hawaii Ironman World Championships for years.

As you walk in the front of the hotel, you are warmly greeted by a " Mahalo" from their friendly front desk .

Their rooms are spacious, set with a small fridge and microwave. The view from the balcony overlooks the beautiful ocean .

We were lucky enough to have breakfast daily at their buffet restaurant downstairs with a view right on the water. With made to order delicious omelets and staff that remembers your name from the day before , this Marriott has 5 star customer service.

You can even swim right at their small lagoon that enters towards the ocean and see the structure that was in the Kevin Costner movie Waterworld .

We were able to rent SUPs right from the beach at King K and made our way out to the water where dolphins swam under our boards.

I have stayed at King K 5 times during Hawaii Ironman week while being Ironman media and have loved each visit to this beautiful and spiritual island.

Return: without a doubt

Good location on the beach "in town." It does get some cruise ship traffic.

Nice beach, which is on property. Tasty restaurant and decent breakfast (but $$$). Disappointing that the breakfast isn't complimentary with any status. Better options just down the street.

Fun luau option, which is convenient, but lots of outside traffic attending on those days. Not a daily event, so plan ahead if you want to attend.

Property is a bit dated. Huge too.

We used our free night stay and we enjoyed everything this resort had to offer. Love the direct beach access to the resort. My family also loved the beautiful infinity pool located right next to the hotels outdoor restaurant. Any pool next to a bar always brings vacay vibes for me and their li hing margarita is one not to be missed!

Upon check-in we were greeted with shell lei's and complimentary reusable bottles with the hotel name one it which doubles as a souvenir. And access to filtered water, which in my family's opinion tastes even cleaner, and crisper than other bottled water from the mainland. A major plus!

The had a standard 2 queen bed room with a balcony that had views of the beach on our left and parking lot on our right. The decor throughout the resort and in our room was beautiful and definitely brought Hawaiian vibes which I appreciated. The room was clean and bathroom was more up to date with shampoo, conditioner, and body wash installed into the shower. The proximity to many restaurants and shops is what my family and I are always looking for when deciding on where to stay and this is in the heart of it all. I highly recommend this resort to those wanting to stay in Kona. Wished we stayed longer but we'll definitely be back!

Excellent resort-style property in Kona! The hotel is in the heart of the town, and has a lot going for it. Definitely a good location, as well as easy beach access, good hotel parking, and modern rooms that are well maintained.

My room had a small, private balcony that was nice for sunrises and sunsets when I wasn't already out. Furniture didn't show any signs of significant wear, and beds were fine - not the best, but certainly not the worst. Temperature control was phenomenal, and the bathroom was good, plenty of counter space.

The fitness center leaves a lot to be desired, it only has three treadmills, a few other cardio pieces, dumbbells, and just a couple of exercise machines. It does have a squat rack, but the lack of basic workout machines was pretty disappointing.

All in all a good place to stay! You'll certainly pay for the resort experience, but they do try to make sure you get value for such high rates.

The ONLY hotel to stay in when you're visiting Kona for the first time! I did SO much research before my visit so y'all don't have to. The staff here are so friendly and the lobby smells AMAZING, walking in it instantly made it feel like "vacation time!" I wasn't planning on renting a car so I wanted to be as central as possible. The big island doesn't have beaches like Honolulu does, there's a lot of rocks and cliffs and they are really tiny but the Marriott has their own private beach and they give you a ticket for two FREE chairs, umbrella and snorkel gear you can use everyday but also kayaks and puddle boards available for a super reasonable fee. The little lagoon had a TON of tropical fish and an easy launch point, that alone makes it super worth it. I highly recommend getting the ocean front room, it had the most gorgeous view of the beach and pool and a balcony that we ended up using A LOT. The room was okay, nothing special and I'm pretty sure the two "queens" were more like fatter "twins" but it was clean, updated and had everything we needed. After all, if you're in Hawaii why the heck are you in your room?! There is an ABC store (kind of like 711) in the lobby of the hotel so if you need food, booze or souvenirs you don't even have to leave the property. There were a couple restaurants we planned on going to and the farthest walk we had was 15 mins and it's a joy, you walk along the water the entire time and get to take in Kona, I couldn't recommend it enough.

They classify an ocean view as a view of the ocean and lots of parking lot and tennis courts. Yea we can see the ocean but it's partial. Super disappointed