We booked a stay here through a vacation offer mailed to us. Paid less that $800 for 5 nights, with a rental car and $100 resort credit included. This was truly an outstanding deal given the prices in Hawaii. Kudos for Marriott for providing exactly what was promised - no huge tack on fees, rental car was ready and already arranged, and we were able to use the credit for a nice dinner at the other Marriott resort nearby.

The resort is amazing. Lots to do, very mellow atmosphere. We did go snorkeling in the the lagoons near the hotel and saw lots of turtles and other fish.

Studio room was on the smallish size, but was perfect for two. Nicely done and brand new, we had a nice pool/ocean view.

Really considered buying a timeshare except for two reasons. 1. We ended up with a selling agent that just didn't know how to close the deal with us. She kept on focusing on the view outside the sales suite, and the great deal it was and we kept on asking to actually SEE a full unit which we never got around to. After asking twice, we gave up and asked for our additional dining credits and left. 2. This area is largely untouched and not too busy, however, with all the construction at this complex and the Four Seasons next door I fail to see how it will remain this way in years to come. They will be adding thousands of units to the four lagoons.

This resort has it all. There are great beaches, great pools, and amazing grounds. The beds and pillows, however, were some of the worst I have had in a long time. After 5 days, every muscle hurt and I wanted to toss them off of the balcony. I have come to expect a very good product from Marriott and this was a disappointment.

My guess is that the remodel cycle will fix this problem with time.

I went to the Ko Olina Beach club to get engaged but had a horriable front desk experience.
They were rude, unhelpful and generaly disinterested in helping. The are quick to remind you that they are a 5 star facility but Ive had better service from a motor lodge.
-No one told us it was a time share
-Never was it explained that we would not have room service
-Never was it explained that for $400+ a night for an ocean view I would not realy be able to see the ocean.
-Nobody told us that there would be construction
-Never was it explained that we would have to pay $10 a night to park. Although the bitchy teenager at the front desk was happy to grind on the fact that I "was notified by email" What email? The one I recieved where it shows a different building from the one I was put into and creativly didnt show the chemical factory next door? Nope missy, it wasnt in that email.
-Never was I told that the place was wedged between a land fill, chemical refinery and power plant.
-No they dont offer late check out. Im sorry, I thought this was 5 star. Even though the reason I needed late check out is because an outing the hotel booked was delayed. I guess that was my fault???
-Nobody offered to help with our bags or show us to our room. I though it was 5 star.
-Im telling everybody, Never go to the Marriot, you will regret it and leave full of anger and hate and 4k poorer, like I did.

Brian Horn

We just got back from a 10 day spring break trip to Oahu and Maui with our two girls ages 10 and 7.

We stayed 5 nights at Koolina using their timeshare sales promotion, which was a great deal. The rooms are beautiful and new, the two pools are great for kids. Make sure to get the $100 upgrade to a "master" suite, 1 br unit with a kitchen/washer & dryer, it's very spacious. Granite countertops, tumbled stone in the bathrooms, nicely furnished. The non-upgrade lock off hotel rooms are small in comparison, but still nicely furnished. Go for groceries in Kapolei at the Safeway which is just off the H1 freeway three miles from the resort. The resort has alot of BBQ's which are well maintained.

There were lots of families enjoying all the amenities of the resort. The beach club facilities appear to be better than the JW Marriott Ilihani up the road. Go there for the morning fish feeding to get your souvenier laminated fish card. Be warned that there is major construction going on at this resort. There are five giant cranes on both sides of the property and the constant "beep, beep, beep" of the heavy construction vehicles. The area will be under construction until at least 2011. If you schedule your stay over the weekend, there is not much construction activity those two days, which is when you will want to use the lagoons, otherwise it is very noisy until around 5:00 pm when the construction stops. The noise is mostly blocked out in the pool area by the buildings, lots of kids and music. We had an "island view" on the 2nd floor, which wasn't horrible, but you could see cars going by. All our requests for upper level ocean view were impossible because they were fully booked. They reserve the bottom 4 floors for the sales promotions, if you are an owner or exchanging you have a much better chance for a high floor, ocean view. My in-laws had a lock off unit situated right over the parking garage with a view of the industrial area, think power plants, not Hawaii.

Anyway if you can get past the construction and possibly poor views, the rooms and resort itself is very nice. Koolina is about a half hour from the airport and honolulu.

Recommended stops:
- Polynesian cultural center on the North Shore, about an hour and 15 minutes of straight drive time, which is an all day event.Get an entertainment book for Hawaii and save $40 at the PCC.
- Dole plantation to check out the pineapples growing and get a Pineapple whip ice cream treat.
- Arizona Memorial. We stopped in after 10:00 and got tickets for 1:30 I thought they might have been sold out by then, but it wasn't a problem.
- Bishop's museum - planetarium show and the "Science on a Sphere" show were very good. Would have liked to have seen more.
- Hanauma Bay on the East shore for snorkeling with turtles.
- Train from Ewa beach nearby that runs through the Koolina property on Sundays.

Take an early walk along the lagoons, do your touring (or relax by the pool) during the week days then enjoy the sunset and happy hour back at the lagoons after the construction workers go home. The area will be great in the future (2011?), but for now "paradise is under construction" at this end of Oahu.