Overall good experience at KBH.

Great location between Black Rock and Whaler's Village. Pool is very accomodating for young children with 40% of pool 2-3 ft deep.

Check in was okay, had to wait till 3:30pm. Clean rooms, grounds, friendly and helpful staff.

Rooms: Had ocean front room 5th floor in Kaua'i wing. Great view of sunsets, better sunsets on the beach. Clean room with basic hawaiian decor. Double beds for parents and both kids (2 and 5). Balcony was great to relax on.

Grounds were well kept. Beach towels are located at the Trilogy shacks. The Tiki bar/grill had general bar food with drinks that are reallly strong!! Plenty of lounge chairs and room at the pool.

Staff was very friendly and helpful. Kids programs included a Passport program that encourages kids to visit different venues and activities to receive a gifts.

Must do the orientation morning breakfast and lei ceremony at your checkout date. Great information and part of becoming KBH ohana.

Mixed Plate restaurant was good with some local food on Thu and breakfast was good with variety of foods. Not fancy, just good, decent breakfast.

Nightly ground activities with free shows of hula and music.

Access is easy to Whaler's Village, just walk on the boardwalk . 5-10 min walk.

Overall would stay there again. Not too fancy as some of the other hotels, but the aloha spirit certainly makes up for it at the KBH.

My husband and I got married at KBH in April 2008 and we stayed there for our 2-week honeymoon afterwards. We found all of the staff to be extremely welcoming and friendly. Everyone from the valets, bus boys, waitresses - everyone was very nice. The wedding coordinator was very helpful during our wedding planning process. The grounds are maintained to perfection. Our room was average. We stayed on a ground level room looking out onto the gardens and pool. Next time we would like a room on one of the higher levels. We bought the breakfasts with our packages. We grew very tired of the Mixed Plate breakfast buffet. Actually by the end of our stay, we didn't even want to eat there any more because we were so tired of it and the food was only so-so. The dinners at the Tiki Terrace restaurant were delicious and the entertainment was very good - especially the Saturday night band. The parking in the lot isn't very good and the spaces are very tight, so you definitely want to pay for the valet parking. Some of the best snorkeling is right on the beach there at Black Rock. Whaler's Village is a short walk away. We will definitely stay there again and bring our leis back with us. It's an excellent value for the money.

I booked the KBH about 9 months in advance. It was our honeymoon and I spent hours reading all of the reviews and still was very hesitant about staying there. I did not want to fall into the same situation as some of the other writers who got a non-updated room or got stuck in a gloomy part of the hotel being this was a once in a life time trip to Hawaii. So I thought it would be a no-brainer to get the Ocean Front room, as it was the most expensive one at 345 a night, which was the cost of a Garden View room next door at the Sheraton. For sure, these 54 rooms would have to be updated first compared to the 300 something other rooms in the hotel. I called many months in advance and reminded them that it was my honeymoon and I would really prefer an updated room. For nine months I would call every other month and re-confirm this information; “High Floor, non-smoking, up-dated room.” They did inform me that the sixth floor was updated and that smoking was allowed on the Lanai, but I clearly told them that the sixth floor would be fine as long as the room did not stink of smoke like some of the other reviewers wrote. They assured me that smoking was allowed only on the lanai.

Well,,,, the day finally came and my worst nightmare came true. They put us on the fourth floor which was one of only two other floors that was not remodeled yet. Plus, there were two other floors being worked on and totally unavailable in our wing. When you walked through the hallway you got that depressing feeling that people wrote about and there was a toxic like smell in the hallway of cleaner overuse. When we arrived to the room the description of “Motel Room” that was used by other writers was perfect. The sink was being held up by one of those old flimsy aluminum type bars, that we had to adjust a couple of times ourselves. The tub would not drain properly and the SCREEN DOOR WOULD NOT SHUT ALL THE WAY ALLOWING THERE TO BE A 3 INCH HOLE AT THE TOP OF OUR SCREEN WHICH THE FLYS and MOSQUITOS FOUND. The carpet was old and the bathroom floor had that Motel look to it. When we walked out onto the lanai, YES it was ocean front, but only 2/3, as there was a big yellow wall that came out to the right about ten feet and our view of the long stretch of beach in front of the Sheraton and Black Rock was obstructed, actually you couldn’t even see it if you leaned over. As you may or may not know, Black rock is one of the areas main attractions. At night we had to shut the glass door because of the damaged screen which was a shame and a real buzz killer because the sound of the crashing waves outside was so soothing and nice, but the glass door had to be shut because the bugs would have a field day with us coming in through the damaged screen. (My wife had three mosquito bites after the first night)

When you walked to the other properties you could see the difference and it only added to my frustration. Plus, all the other hotels are just as Hawaiian, they have the Aloha spirit, local employees and all the cultural activities that KBH had. Yes, I clearly understand that these hotels cost 100 to 150 more a night for ocean front, but after this stay and the great experience we had the week after in Kauai at the Sheraton, I would have preferred an updated Garden View room somewhere else, compared to the one we had.

I would like to conclude by saying I clearly understand that you get what you pay for and this is what we got for not staying next door. But then again, we were in one of the only rooms of the hotel that was not re-done and it was the highest priced room. This hotel is perfect for families or people visiting on a budget, but absolutely not for honeymooners. Even if you get an updated room there is no romantic feeling to this hotel what so ever. Every time you return back to the property from your day or night out you can’t help but notice the “Motel” look and feel. I am one of those people who like to make the best of every situation and am one of those romantic Italian guys who can make something out of nothing, but I feel compelled to give notice to all other honeymooners. If you are going to stay here you have to mentally prepare yourself to do so. Do not listen to the hype that the hotel markets and don’t waste your money on Ocean front as the Ocean view rooms on the 4th, 5th and 6th have views that are just as good. I did ask for an updated room after we checked in but the hotel informed me that it would not be possible until the 3rd night and they tried to use the “non-smoking” request as an excuse for giving me the room, but I made it clear to them many weeks in advance that an updated room on the sixth floor would have been fine since smoking was only permitted out on the lanai.

As for everything else we had a perfect time in Maui and even a better time in Kauai, but if I could do it again I would have booked the Sheraton next door.

My wife and I recently stayed for four nights. Three years ago we stayed at a nearby accommodation, and thought that it was tops. After staying at the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel, we preferred it over the other hotel. It has a great location, the pool was very nice, the grounds were very nicely kept, and the hotel staff were friendly and helpful. We both agreed if we return to Maui we'd want to stay at the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel again!