Diane is a great host! She is super responsive and answers all questions quickly! She 'upgraded' our original reservation to a property that was on the ocean-side of the street.
The property I originally booked was the Club Wyndham Kona Hawaiian Resort, and we ended up at the Club Wyndham Royal Sea Cliff resort, which is about 0.25-0.5 mile away, on the ocean front. Thanks for the no-cost upgrade opportunity, Diane! :)
We had a 2bed+2bath condo with an 'ocean view'. The view is not bad, but you mainly see the parking lot and a sort of 'window' view of the ocean (can't see the beach, just a portion of the water and the sky....which is still nice. Our original booking was just a garden view and not near the ocean.)
The condo is very spacious with a large lanai and outside breakfast table.
The TV's are a little small, but we hardly ever turned them on.
The master bedroom with a king bed is gigantic and could be a whole hotel room on its own.
The 2nd bedroom is smaller and has a queen bed (which we thought was pretty small, but we're used to king beds).
The 2 bathrooms are both inside the 2 bedrooms, and this is slightly inconvenient for anyone staying on the couch bed in the living room, but was OK for our group.
The living room is very large and we requested a roll-away bed which was provided at no extra charge. There were 5 of us in the condo, and 3 of them wanted their own beds, so we requested the roll-away.
The kitchen has pots/pans, etc. but no 'starter' cooking oil or anything, probably due to COVID issues, so if you plan to cook, stock up first.
The washer/dryer were very convenient for washing clothes and drying bathing suits.
The dishwasher worked fine!
The only problem we had with our particular unit was the stovetop vent (extractor fan is under the microwave) didn't actually vent anywhere except inside the condo, so we set off the fire alarm when cooking breakfast, even with all the windows and doors open. I think maybe it was a problem with our particular condo and we reported that to the front desk. Everything else was perfect!
The staff at the Royal Sea Cliff are super responsive and even when we requested items like fresh towels (beach and bath) after hours, they found a way to get us what we needed!
They also have a storage room full of beach items: beach chairs, mats, boogie boards, umbrellas, coolers. You can borrow any available items for no cost (items are signed out to your room# and you bring them back when you're done.).
There are 2 pools on the property in 2 separate areas. One area is for families (with kids) and the other area is a 'quiet' area that also has a hot tub. These are both on the ocean front, and it's a great area to sit and watch the sunset.
There are BBQ's available to use, but we never used them.
The property is within a 20-30min walk (about 1 mile or less) of Kona town shops/restaurants, and there is a cute coffee hut (Green Flash coffee) right next door, plus some other small markets which are close by, too. Mostly we used our car to get around. There is plenty of free parking at the resort.
Honl's beach (small rocky surfing beach) is even closer; a 5-10min walk.
Magic Sands beach park is about 2 miles South of the resort; we drove and parked there.
There is an activity desk at this resort, and the folks there can help you to plan and book some activities. This is also where you can go to check out beach equipment from the storage room.
Oh, and yes, you can book a timeshare presentation, too! This will get you some discounts on some activities, and the presentation I went to really only lasted 90 min. like they promised. It was interesting and our salesman was actually fun to talk to, but in the end we did not purchase any Wyndham Vacation Club points and they did not try any uncomfortable hard sales tactics. The vacation club can have value for some folks, but not for me and the way I usually book trips. Anyway, I am not recommending the vacation club, just mentioning that if you like to go on the expensive activities like luaus, snorkel cruises, waterfall ziplining, etc., you might consider going to the 90 min presentation. The discounts can add up if you have a large group in your vacation (only the 'head of household' adults need to go to the presentation)....multiply that discount over many people!
In summary: Diane is a perfect host, and this condo is an all-around great place to stay for any Kona vacation!