Kona Reef

We just wanted to let you know that your condo exceeded all of our expectations. We have traveled all over the world, but I donÂ’t think we have ever enjoyed a condo a much as yours. What a location and view. You are so lucky to own such a place and we are so fortunate that you let us rent it. We also loved visiting your coffee farm. Thank you again. We will be back.

Jim and Alice Gregerson-Newport, RI

Dave - We absolutely loved your place! Hope we will find you with space available next time we come to Hawaii. Dan was soooooo nice - showed us around the farm - he's quite knowledgeable as far as flora goes. We didn't need the ac - it was delightful listening to the waves crash on the lava rock. The fact that we didn't have your unit for the whole 9 nights worked out fine. Found a B & B in Volcano and a wonderful one in Hilo, one in Puako and then King Kam for the last night. Perfect. Did the Luau the night we left - our flight was at 10:30 pm - horrible time, but the luau kept us busy until it was time to go the the airport. I assume that the cleaners found everything in order. Only glitch - well actually 2 glitches - the screen door decided to get off track, and the smoke alarm went off for need of a new battery. Luckily it was late afternoon and not the middle of the night! Scared me half to death! (Sorry-KonaDave)We really enjoyed our time in Hawaii. Thanks again.

Marge Campbell-Tucson

Aloha, Staying at your vacation apartment was the most favorvite time for our American vacation. We were very hurried seeing all of America and was very much relaxing at the Kona Reef. The cost was very good, less than a vacation apartment in our country and so much larger and finer. Thank you very many for giving us many information for places to see and visiting your farming

Andreus and Nita Antone-Milano-Italy

I just wanted to let you know we thoroughly enjoyed our two weeks at your condo. The location was excellent, we consider it one of the best in the complex. The unit was very well supplied with all the comforts of home. If a bucket and mop, in good condition, could be supplied, it would make washing the floors and sundeck a bit easier. (Now we have them- Dave) That was my only suggestion, everything else was perfect. Hopefully, if we travel to Kona again, your unit would still be available and we have taken a card to pass on to anyone we know who is headed that way. Thanks very much.

Laurie Gerbracht-Canada

We are back in the chill of Iowa with great tans fading fast. Wanted to thank you for sharing your condo with us. We enjoyed our stay tremendously and hated leaving. We have been to Kona 3 times before but this so surpassed staying in a motel room. Thursday we drove out to your farm, but didn't find anyone around. Tiki Bar looks fun. I did pick up some oranges off the ground. Best orange juice I ever had.

Anyway, everything was great and we left only a couple of towels and the bedding to wash, dishes were washed and put away & took out the trash. Left a couple of paper backs on the shelf someone else may want to read. Sprayed every couple of days, so no trouble with ants. Assume you will be mailing the deposit refund to us.

Thanks again, will not hesitate to recommend your condo to anyone going to Kona and hope to return someday.

Gus & Mary Ann Wilhelm - Iowa

Hi Dave, Just want to let you know we had a great time In Hawaii and in your condo. We really liked your unit and especially loved the view. I want to thank you for the use of your condo. Ps Dan was great, hooked us up on the Fairwind and had a great time. (Dan is our farm manager-KonaDave)

Don Smith-Seattle

We absolutely loved staying at your condo in Kona (11/26-12/3). What a great location and great complex. We are actually curious when the "low season" is, in case we want to make another dash over to Kona in the coming year. Thanks!

Kate Blumenreich-Whidbey Island

Dave - thank you very much for the stay we just had at your Kona Reef condo. It was in very good shape, comfortable, well equipped, nicely furnished. We were very happy there and came home to Portland, Oregon to rain as usual. I wanted to drop you a note not only to tell you how nice things were but also tell you that you might be interested to know that the fan in the living room did not seem to ever completely turn`off. (Now fixed-Dave) I can't think of anything else that you might want to know other than folks are doing well to keep it clean and almost free of bugs. The birds were not even a problem. We enjoyed all the upgrades to the grounds, pool and the security was great. Thank you again.

Nancy Passadore-Portland

Dave, Sorry I didn't get back to you before we left but it was rather hectic planning our last minute trip to Hawaii...I just wanted to say the place was AWESOME! It was clean, had a great view and location, and I want to thank you again for letting us stay there...We even added another night-it was so relaxing!

When I come back to the Big Island, I will definitely try to stay here again!...Thanks again!...

Shannon Thomas-Irvine CA

Hi, Dave! We had an awesome time in Kona. It's very sad to be back in the cold in Utah. I told my sister that she would go through depression after coming home and I think we both are!

I'm sending you a couple of photos. We went to eat at the Big Island Grill before taking Joanne to the airport but it was closed on Sunday. So, since I didn't leave until 10:30 that night, I went to dinner at Bubba Gump. It was very, very good. Thanks for everything and we look forward to going back!

Angie Bodily – Las Vegas

Dave-We absolutely loved staying at your condo in Kona (11/26-12/3). What a great location and great complex. We are actually curious when the "low season" is, in case we want to make another dash over to Kona in the coming year Thanks!

Kate Blumenreich-Danville,CA

From the moment we arrived at Kona Reef Resort, we knew this was going to be a trip we'd never forget. The location is absolutely unbeatable — we're talking literally steps from the ocean, with the sound of the Pacific waves lulling us to sleep every night. We spotted dolphins swimming right outside our window on our first morning, and I honestly just stood there in disbelief. The condo itself was spacious, spotlessly clean, and had everything we needed — a full kitchen, laundry facilities, and a comfortable living area that made it feel like a home away from home rather than a cramped hotel room. What really set this resort apart was how easy it made our entire vacation. Downtown Kailua-Kona was just a short walk away, so we left the car parked and explored fantastic restaurants, charming boutiques, and lively local entertainment on foot. The concierge helped us book a snorkeling trip where we swam with manta rays — an experience our family still talks about. The hot tub at the end of a long day of adventuring was the perfect finishing touch. If you're looking for the ideal Big Island base camp that blends natural beauty, comfort, and convenience, Kona Reef Resort is it. We're already planning our return trip!

The location of Kona Reef is wonderful. The ocean is only a few feet away and the sunsets are amazing. You can walk to town to lots of restaurants and shops or watch the sunset from your lanai.

The resort location is right on the Kona seashore with a small sandy beach next door. It is perfect for a relaxed family vacation, swimming in the pool, BBQing outdoors and enjoying beautiful sunsets each night. The suites are fully equiped, with upgraded kitchens, bedroom amenities, a nice size living room with an outdoor balcony. Parking is free and the staff are welcoming in the "Aloha" spirit.

This resort has a great location and we really liked the resort. We were assigned B11, right next to a noisy, busy road. Waking up all night to car noise. You can’t hear the ocean in this room. Asked for a different room at checkin when we realized it was the unit closest to the road noise. Asked to be moved two more times during our stay which never happened. I would never come here again without an assigned unit away from the road or oceanfront unit.

Update for visit week of August 27, 2016: This was our second trip to the Big Island and Kona Reef Resort. No problems with this resort and recommend it to other families. Units are nice, clean and quite. We had a very nice view from unit # F24 (third floor) facing the ocean. Staff was very helpful on all inquiries about island activities. Pool area is nice with surfing and other ocean activities available directly in front of resort with access to ocean on the south side of resort from a small public swimming area. You can walk to a number of ocean side restaurants for dinner from this resort. Please read my review from September 2014 for other information. We will use this resort for our next Big Island vacation.

September , 2014 visit: My wife and I exchanged our points from KBC- Maui through Diamond Resorts and selected the Kona Reef Resort on the Big Island. We wanted to visit the Big Island to see the volcanoes and Kona coast. We stayed in unit C3 and were very pleased with our one bedroom unit. Staff was great and our unit was very nice, clean and we had a limited, but acceptable, side view of the pool and ocean on the first floor which is slightly below pool level. A second floor unit would have a better side view of the ocean and pool but with an exchange you may not always get the best location. The KR resort is a mix of conventional timeshare owners and full time owners. This resort has a very nice pool, BBQ and access to the ocean with surfers out every day in front of the resort. Night time was very quiet with the only sound of the waves breaking on the shore! You could even hear the wave breaks with your AC running. The only item causing us any problem with the room was the location of the window type AC unit located in the living area which made it more difficult to cool the bedroom area. The resort did offered a number of items for a very low rental fee like mask / snorkels, beach chairs and free coolers for your beach activities. The resort also had a Monday morning activities presentation with a number of tour operators attending presentation. Since we have visited the Hawaiian Islands many times, the only activities we booked was a two hour helicopter flight to see the volcanoes with Paradise tours and a fishing trip with Bobby Cherry on the Cherry Pit II boat. The helicopter flight is rather expensive but we did see 'red' lava flows, tremendous water falls, and some very beautiful sites on this trip. We highly recommend this activity when you visit the Big Island. I was concerned about booking a Hawaiian fishing trip since it tends to be an expensive boat ride but the Kona coast is beautiful and you do have the opportunity to have an exceptional fishing trip. When we met Bobby Cherry at 05:00 AM for our trip, he indicated fishing had been slow that week after a very nice tuna run in late August / early September. Bobby even brought some fish to the boat for our dinner if we did not catch anything. I selected Bobby Cherry for the charter trip based on his boat, price and phone conversation. Bobby has a 28’ boat that is very comfortable and safe. He does not use a deck hand and that helps keep the price reasonable. You can probably guess by now that we loaded the boat with fish catching 34 mahi-mahi with the largest fish weighing in at 35 pounds. We fished until we ran out of live, dead and cut bait staying out 10 hours for an 8 hour trip. Bobby said this was an exceptional day and he enjoyed it as much as we did! We will fish on the Cherry Pit II again!

We had a great vacation staying in a very nice Kona Reef resort; we are already planning a return trip to the Kona Reef Resort and the Cherry Pit II.

Absolutely brilliant. Review Submitted June 1, 2012 Date of Stay May 19, 2012 After reading other reviews and communicating with Denise and Bundy, the owners of the property, we already had high expectations. We were not disappointed. Everything is as described but even better, this was the most relaxing vacation we have ever had. The condo has everything you would want and it is all top quality, from the kitchen to the bathroom to the furnishings. The only problem staying here is that eventually you have to go home! We watched the maintenance staff spend 2 hours every single morning from 6am until the pool opens at 8am, cleaning the pool area and polishing the bbq grills, it was immaculate. It really is only a short stroll into Kona but feels miles away from the hustle and bustle and, therefore provides the best of both worlds. We will always remember our trip here fondly and can't wait to return.

We were supposed to spend a week but checked out after 1 night. Rented two one bedroom units to accomodate our party. Both located in bldg "B". Could not sleep with the sound of the cars from the roads which bordered both sides of this bldg. Glimpse of the ocean from the balcony but mostly overlooked a local "park" so there were all types of folks at all hours of the day and night. Unable to move elsewhere on the property since no other units were available but the staff tried. Bedding was dirty when we checked in and promised housekeeping never materialized the following morning. Units were outdated and did not feel clean. We lost an entire day of our vacation looking for other accomodations and moved to HGVC. Expensive lesson that all trades are not equal.

For true unit rating call resort manager at 808 329 2959 "Deluxe nicely upgraded unit" or Call me at 425-239-1000 to find out why Kirsa put the false review above. Call the unit at 808 329 1530 and ask who ever is there what they think. We use the same professional cleaners that the top resorts use. All furnishings are less than 2 years old. Kirsa demanded a discount because she said someone was paying less. We stayed at the resort in March 2003, Excellent location, next to a white sand beach and one block from the best restaurants and nightcubs in Kona. Nice pool and spa on the ocean. None of the units were more than 300 feet from the ocean. Ours was about 80 feet from the waves. The Cruise ships anchored right in front of the unit and there was always something to look at: the crashing waves, boats, canoe races, the submarine, ect. We even saw whales 150 yards offshore. Our unit has corian countertops and beautiful tropical furnishings. We will stay here again because we bought the condo. Aloha

David Andree

This is an older property turned into timeshares or sold outright to personal owners. It has LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION, is right on the ocean, steps to a sand beach which are hard to find in Kona - is compact, nice BBQ grills, pool and hot tub.

The probem - many of the T/S units are very very old. The check in T/S persons were "Aloha-NOT" and quite indifferent.

The first unit we had was downright gross, rust in the microwave, 'fridge, bathroom fixture was rusted out about to fall down, air conditioner rusted through, black mold in 'Fridge, old carpet, furnishings almost no kitchen set up.

When we complained, we were told that we could not move, Only after telling the resort we were moving to an owner owned unit and would resolve with RCI did the resort move us to a condo in better condition.

The worst thing -- on Christmas Eve ....the date we checked in, before we went to sleep - we found the sheets unchanged, full of hair -- with a man's dirty sock in the bed! We were washing sheets at midnight.

The resort claimed that they never had househkeeping problems before (even the dishwashing soap was watered down) - but other RCI members have stated the same conditions.

I would recommed this resort only the newer remodeled units - it is in a good location, and I would be right on the phone with RCI if ever to encounter the indifference attitude and horrible situation that we found on Christmas Eve.

I found that some of the RCI units -- should not be in the RCI program, the RCI management at the resort very non- hospitable, and overall - while location rules, the first unit was such a turn off that I am not sure that I would go back unless I knew and had a guarentee of the unit conditon.

Also, the check in Condo for other guests - was right outside our window -- it was filthy with an old 'fridge on the deck, and very bad language used right by our window. This resort has bad management - it could really be a great place to go - and it is sad to see this happening.