Don't stay here. No no no no no no no!

What a wretched place the King Kamehameha Kona "beach" resort is! I would not ever consider staying there again.

My room (and the entire floor it was on) smelled musty. The furniture was poorly conceived. In a room with two double beds there were exactly two drawers. My room mate and I were forced to live out of our suitcases for a week because we had nowhere to put anything.

Staff was pleasant enough, but not at all helpful. They gave me no help at all with my lost luggage claim. They were slow as mollasses in everything that they did, causing LONG lines at the front desk. Housekeeping did not provide enough towels. The first day we had three of everything but after that we kept getting fewer and fewer towels each day.

I could not get late check out because my room was re-booked. The front desk told me that my luggage (and my computer, and all of my dive gear, and my underwater camera etc.) would be held in a secure room until my departure later that evening. When the bellman came to get it he told me that he was going to leave it "chained up" in the lobby (where anyone who wanted to could go into it and removed things!). When I protested he finally put it in the locked room.

Service in the restaurant is abysmal. It took me over half an hour one morning to get a single paoched egg and some dry toast. There were less than ten other active tables in the restaurant at the time.

The "beach" is a small strip of sand on a harbor that has boat traffic all day long. Amenities are minimal. Rooms have a small refrigerator and an ironing board, but no hair dryers. This wouldn't bother me one bit in an inexpensive hotel, but the King Kam is not inexpensive. The Royal Kona Resort where I stayed last winter, charges similar tarriffs for a much nicer guest rooms and common spaces. They even provide beach towels and hair dryers, unlike the King Kam.

The only thing that the King Kam has to recommend it is a location near the pier where several of the scuba boats pick up their clients. This isn't really much of a plus as most dive ops will drive you to the pier from their shop. Don't waste your money on this place. My recommendation would be to stay at the Royal Kona and use Jack's Diving Locker as your dive op (More about Jack's in a later thread). Jack's is located right across the street from the Royal Kona and will bus you to the pier in the morning.

If you want to stay at a fleabag, stay at a place that charges fleabag rates. If you want to pay for and enjoy a first rate tourist class hotel, avoid the King Kam.