This last year has had many challenges. Mostly health related. So, my wife and I had hoped to start off the New Year 2024 with something special. We decided to take a trip to Hawaii, to relax and see the beauty of the Hawaii Big Island. In the past, we have been to each main island at least once. Each vacation spot was at hotels/resorts with beach front exposure, calming breezes, sunshine, and outside room to explore. We both love the sound and feel of the ocean and have spent many hours just enjoying the water and shoreline of the various islands. For our recent trip to Kona, in hope of making this trip special for my wife, I paid the extra amount to upgrade our lodging to an “Ocean Front” room. Our flight went well, got our rental car without much trouble or delay, and made our way to the Courtyard by Marriott King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel for our upgraded lodging. We checked in after 4:00 pm and made our way to our room with anticipation. Our room was in the East Tower. The first thing we did when we entered was to go out on the balcony, aka lanai. Please imagine our disappointment, when we looked out and saw that our Ocean Front room view consisted of a straight-on view of the active small public parking lot, the active Kailua-Kona concrete pier, and the local public restroom. No green grass, no sandy beach, no ocean sunset, only concrete and swarms of individuals. Obviously, our definition of Ocean Front differs from what Courtyard by Marrott calls Ocean Front. We did not unpack our belongings. I went to the front desk and was told that this was not a mistake, that our room is classified as Ocean Front. While I was standing there dumbfounded, the desk clerk walked away. Another desk staff member saw me standing there, and asked if she could help me. I explained my disappointment, and she validated that our room is the closest thing to Ocean Front that you will find in the East Tower. So, I asked if you have Ocean Front rooms in the West Tower (the tower that is used to deceive the public in their brochures and website). She stated that she could not make that change. This is what I learned after spending five (5) nights in the East Tower, Ocean Front room. I learned that East Tower means never ending traffic noise from the main street which is used for “cruising” and competition who has the loudest bass and boom speakers late into the night; that the homeless aka unhoused like to disagree among themselves, yelling and cursing throughout the night; that they use the public restroom and the surrounding bushes / trees / buildings outside our balcony, even when the restroom is locked up at dusk; that the large metal garbage bins are picked regularly at 3:45 am with the banging and beep, beep, beep backup sounds; that the hotel and attached ABC store receive early morning deliveries with the same beep, beep, beep back up warnings; that the clanking (like a 1960 Chevy pickup running on 5 cylinders) of the AC fan (which we ran all night), was unable to block out the noises from outside. Our recommendation for others is that if they tell you at check-in that we have placed you in a room in our East Tower, please run, please run fast. You can of course try to change to West Tower. Good luck. We headed back home very disappointed knowing we had spent a large amount of money for a trip that will always be filled with negative memories.…
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