Hi All . . . we stayed for 10 days at the Wyndham Kona Village (July 2021) and here's my attempt at a helpful review to those considering this as one of your options to stay on the big island of Hawaii.
On the Positive Side:
The Wyndham Kona Village is just 1 mile south of the main eating/restaurant area of Kona. You could walk to town or a smallish beach (not as great as beaches you'd want to drive to north or south). The place is a timeshare property so specific units / locations may vary but all have 24 hour front desk support, a helpful staff that put on programs the Day 1 program where they point out areas on a big map and recommend drives and adventures is very helpful. The Concierge desk will recommend helpful locations to visit. (of course know there is a push to get discounts if you sit-thru a short time share presentation, can we schedule that for you . . . ;-) I declined and thankfully they were not pushy about that sales tactic.
LOCATION - really this is a nice jumping off point to the whole island, my family really enjoyed the snorkeling south (less than 45 mins drive) and the amazing white sand beaches (less than 45 mins drive) northward. oh and the Drive is part of the adventure it's beautiful. One of the joys of the island is driving around and seeing the terrain change from coastal, to lava fields, to rainforest in less than two hours! we took longer day trips to the Volcano, South Point, the Waterfalls north and Hilo, and spend a full 6 days doing beach things, boat trips and snorkeling.
The resort has two pools and two hot tubs that we enjoyed early morning or sometimes in the evening. the lower pool/hot tub has a nice island theme with a lava rock décor that is really relaxing
The unit has a full kitchen with dishes, cups, flatware, coffee pot, dishwasher. it also has a full size washer/dryer and ironing board / iron for you to wash out swimsuits or clothes.
ProTip with Covid limiting the hotel gear rental many people will buy beach items like chairs or snorkeling gear - and when they check-out they will leave it in a community box near the front desk or beside a tool shed around the corner from the front desk. The Concierge tipped us off on Day 1, and by Day 3 we had found terrific beach chairs to use the rest of our trip (never scored the Snorkeling gear, but you may be more lucky)
Would I stay at this Wyndham again? I would say it's a good place and a good location that I would consider again.
On the full disclosure side there were a few things I didn't like or could be better.....
First, this is the first airbnb I rented where I was never contacted by the owner it was always a 'co-host' from a real estate company. Perhaps this is the way airbnb works now post-Covid but I always enjoyed places where you can hit up the owner for local info and sometimes get to meet them. so this is a Timeshare situation, in a timeshare village. Your place is private, the furnishings are clean but a little dated (I would say 'vintage bungalow') The messaging from the owner was confusing to me because they don't pass your name on to the resort until 10-14 days prior to the trip - for me that was stressful as I had two senior citizens (my parents) and my 9 year old son. This was a big and expensive trip for our family and I almost cancelled prior to the trip because of confusing communications. In fairness, the primary contact did respond to me several times with all my questions.
Parking at the Wyndham is ok, you will not have a private spot right in front of your door so at times we had to walk to a lower parking lot.
We had a few things go wrong with the room: faulty fire alarm, flickering lightbulb and a broken coffee pot. I will say the front desk fixed all these in less than a few hours - they are open 24 hrs so you can call and request more towels, laundry soap, or repairs and they send a person to fix things quickly. I wouldn't fault them on the response.
As for location, the ad does not claim to be ocean view or beach front - so if you are lucky (we were) you will get a peek-a-boo view of the ocean and coast from your Lanai but don't expect to watch the sunset from your Lanai. for that you'll have to walk a bit or plan to stay at the beach until sunset (which is really a better option in my opinion)
in the end, I would consider staying here again of course depending on alternatives and pricing. If a timeshare type of lodging with the associated staff (there are positives and negatives) is your idea of a good time then go for it.