Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club

Fun an extlting,thank you,did not want to leave,wood want to come back,

We picked this properly with very little planning. I knew of the area from being here in the past (years ago) for meals. Paid probably retail for our King sized room. It was a ocean view, but come to find out that it really faces the pool and not much of the ocean. I needed to be higher to see the actual ocean. I was on the 6th floor. Higher floors are supposely reserved for the time share people. So, right off the bad, I felt like a second-class citizen. But, I do have to say that the staff have been tremendously helpful and as accommodating as they can. We loved the fact that it's quiet, and away form the craziness of Honolulu and Waikiki. This is a great place to relax. But, we weren't too impressed with the food. We didn't go to Chuck's, since the description doesn't make it sound too special. And the Long Board place was just averge bar food type, with ingredients probably all purchased from Costco. Plus, we weren't surprised with the high cost since it's on the hotel property. So, what we ended up was to drive outside of the property--as far as back to Honolulu for the real good island/local foods. We didn't mind that at all, since once we get back to the property, we get to relax. The gym was nice, and we really enjoyed the walking path along the laguns and outside for running. Of course, the Oahu weather was simply gorgeous, even though it was a bit windy around the end of the year. Lastly we weren't too impressed with the lagoons. They sure all look very nice. But, we went into the water and it smelled funny, like sewage smelling. And the water felt stale for some reason. It just didn't feel like the real ocean water. For real Hawaii ocean experience, we went up to North Shore a couple of times and that was 10 times better. But, if you just want to layout on the sand near your room, the Lagoon is the best bet. Just don't into the water and expect fresh ocean water. If you want some quiet time for a couple, this may not be the perfect place because there are plenty of kids and it gets very noisy during the day. But, if you do have kids, bring them! All the kids seemed to be having a great time in the pools. Anyway, over all, this property is a great get-away from the busy Honolulu. Very manicured and nicely maintained. When coming here, you may also want to compare with the other properties like JW or Disney. And if you're a time-share person, it's better value than a "hotel" person. We enjoyed our times here.

The hotel property is beautiful and clean. It is a perfect setup for children. It is a very private location. If you are looking for overwhelming service this is not the place but the staff is very nice and helpful.

We are Honolulu residents, but do not enjoy the overuse fo fireworks associated with New Years Eve in town, Here we had a lovely display without the war zone atmosphere. Chucks is a favorite of ours since our dating years 1963 -1966, and the breakfast buffet was perfect.

Had a fun family reunion here. A bit far from town for the singles, but other than that just right.

We had a fantastic time while in Oahu. The Marriott Beach Club is beautiful and well kept. The scenery is not to be beat. There's a nice little boardwalk between the 4 different lagoons which is very nice. Even the prices at the shop at the hotel are not too bad. It would be nice if there were a few more reasonably priced restaurants in the area, but that's what is nice about having a kitchen in the room. Roy's at the nearby golf course is absolutely not to be missed! We ate there twice and everything we ate was amazing.

Several independent shuttles go from the airport to the resort, none was available when we arrived. The quote for a taxi one way was $100. Relatives came last minute and took us to our hotel. It was the wrong Marriott, as we discovered, but soon got a shuttle to our Marriott destination next door, the "Beach club". Our room was in condo tower for time-share vacationers, the smallest model, with a micro and refrig, good to reheat left-overs, but not actually prepare a full meal. The room's decor was an island motif,really nice, but dresser drawers were fragile. The bed was great, very comfy. I brought my own pillow (they had plenty, but I always prefer my own). Ko olina is lovely, but few resturant choices, we had a buffet breakfast at the Beach Club every morning. It was yummy, but after day four or five, choices were always the same, a little boring. Quiet pools and hot tubs for adults; fun pool areas for children too, including one sand side pool for toddlers who like to dig in sand. The muli-level rock edged pools with a water tunnel were my older grandchildren loved. Differnt offerings of daily activities for children, small extra charge, and for adults too, for example, yoga and hula lessons. A flat mile long walking path along beach lagoons, limited parking keeps the beach areas from getting overly crowed, there are lots of grassy areas to lay down a towel, or set up beach chair. The marina had the boat from the Pirates from the Carribean, so the grandchildren were interested in seeing it, a new gift shop just opened there, not fully stocked yet, and high priced. There was a fish tank in the gift store that our youngest grandchild enjoyed.

We are owners at Marriott's Maui Ocean Club and a regular hotel guest on this trip. As such, my comments are based on high expectations. As is customary for Marriott, the staff is best in the business. Every single associate is attentive without being intrusive, always helpful and treat you like ohana. The grounds were beautiful. Clean, well-appointed pools for all ages. Plenty of lounge chairs such that we didn't have to wakeup at the crack of dawn to reserve one. The "semi-private" lagoon was great for swimming and snorkeling. Our room (1BR penthouse in the Kona tower) was dated and need of updating (still clean and well-kept by housekeeping). Things like showerheads and patio furniture were still in place beyond thier servicable life (Marriott standard anway). The resort was JW on the outside, Courtyard on the inside. The location of Ko Olina is a bit rough. We found it a bit too secluded for it's own good. There are only three resorts there now. Aside from the on-site restaurants (which are few) not much has been developed to cater to guests. Dining here is limited and costly. Costco, Safeway and Target are 10 minutes away in Kapolei, so you can stock-up on items to prepare yourself if your room has a kitchen (every room but studios). The rest of dining in Kapolei is mostly typical quick service and fast food found on the mainland. As an aside, we took a Vacation Club (timeshare) preview to get some freebies. As is customary with MVC, the sales guys are very laid-back. We were done in about 30 minutes.

The hotel was fantastic, but other aspects of the trip were an issue, specificly the Go Oahu Card and the Honalulu Meal Ticket.

My kids enjoy the lagoon pool which was close to the building we were in. While the KoOlina resort is in a great location away from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki, there are no affordable restaurants in the resort and we had to take a drive to Kapolei for meals. So, without a kitchen in the condo and selection of restaurants in the resort, we had no choice but to eat and pay for very expensive breakfast. We feel that as captive guests, the hotel/restaurant takes advantage of that. Also, the check-out time was early at 10am relative to normal 12pm hotel check-outs.