Monday, April 23, 2012

Mauna Kea vs Mauna Lani--1st trip to Hawaii

My husband and I are planning on visiting Hawaii in April and keep flip-flopping between Mauna Kea vs Mauna Lani hotel/resort to stay on the BI.





We do not have children and LOVE the beach--both swimming and sunning. We do not need to be entertained every second of the day and will probably split our time between lounging on the beach and driving and exploring the island.





Which is the better hotel for us? I%26#39;ve heard great things about the beach at Mauna Kea but great things about the hotel/service at Mauna Lani. Any insight would be much appreciated!





Thanks in advance.



Mauna Kea vs Mauna Lani--1st trip to Hawaii


I don%26#39;t know if this will help, as I don%26#39;t know much about who you are (tell us more!) - but the air of the two hotels is very different.





One was started by Rockefeller and has always appealed to old money and there is an air of wealth money and elitism about it that is palpable. And almost a colonialist or feudal feel about the way the staff is like ';family.';





The Mauna Lani has a very Hawaiian feel and you are aware there of the culture, the fishponds, the petroglyphs. Locals can fish there. The Mauna Kea tries to keep locals out and tries to keep its beach private (except that they were sued and so grudgingly allow the public a little space and poorly kept facilities.)





So there is a big difference in the social philosophy. I realize that people who are not ';money'; go to the Mauna Kea now, but the guests who have been going there for over 30 years are mostly privileged ... it is just in the air.





Not all will agree with me on this, but plenty will.





The view from the terrace at Mauna Kea is truly gorgeous, and the fine white sand is just lovely. Both places have swimming and sunning but it%26#39;s a bit of a walk to the small beach at Mauna Lani.





My gut feeling from your beach preference is that you%26#39;ll like the Mauna Kea beach better, for the physical beach.



Mauna Kea vs Mauna Lani--1st trip to Hawaii


Honestly, we are not old money at all. We are in our mid-30%26#39;s and love great service and a wonderful, real local experience.





I love a place with excellent customer service and an overall memorable experience. Would love to be on the beach or at least steps away.





My fear is that Mauna Kea will not be fully ready by April. Mauna Kea seems great in all aspects except for the beach itself. Would love more info.





Hope this helps!






Meant to say Mauna LANI seems great in all aspects except for the beach. Sorry, shouldn%26#39;t post when I%26#39;m tired:)




the Mauna Kea is totaly open and has been for several months after 2 years of work... even a new golf course.



Its beach is outstanding... poor snorkeling but all Kohala resorts offer poor snorkeling.... Mauni Lani dosent have that dood a beach for swimming it can get rough





Neither hotel will be cheap expect $500+ per night





Mauna Kea will offer the best weather and least wind




For me it is the Mauna Kea all the way for many reasons 1)location on the island is near perfect and very private. 2)weather is ideal, this is the last place to get the weather coming north south or west. 3)The views from the rooms are outstanding 4) the beach is the best on the island IMHO 5) those new beautiful rooms.. there will not be a tired room there. 6) Lack of crowds, MK is smaller, there are not all of those condos that feed into it and there are less children staying there.



As far as the ';feel'; ;o) if I accept the fact that MK has the feel of ';old money';, then Mauna Lani has the feel of ';New Money'; or shall we say ';Nouveau Riche'; IMHO ;o)



I think you get some type of money feel in any resort on the planet.



Please do not get me wrong, I love the ML and you would not go wrong at either place, this is a win win choice.




Take a look at this site - maybe it will help you - it is a virtual tour of Mauna Lani. The main photo shows you there is a manmade lagoon which nice for swimming and many snorkel from there. We did not, so I can%26#39;t speak of the quality or abundance of fish. In the frame #3, click on the red pin and it will pull up and pan the Eva Parker Woods cottage, when it pans past the cottage there will be a wooden walkway that head towards Beach House Beach, an easy stroll to what more people think of when they think of a beach.



panaviz1.com/customers/…index.html



As far as Mauna Kea goes, I have no idea -




Fabulous virtual tour of Mauna Lani LesRose - thank you! We are travelling to the Big Island in April and I am looking at possible hotels - hard to narrow it down!




%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;We are in our mid-30%26#39;s and love great service and a wonderful, real local experience.





There is NOTHING about the Mauna Kea that offers a ';real local'; experience. The decor is more Asian elegant. Yes, they have staff that have been there a looong time who recognize returning guests, and the staff (other than the bartenders on the beach) are friendly, but it is not a real local experience. It is training.





As for real locals who are not paid to be nice to you, the hotel is very rude to those who try to use the beach; the gate guards turn them away, and I know this happens ... and they are vibed away from coming anywhere near the hotel guests on the beach ... although you can walk down to the public end.





The Mauna Lani is not like that. It holds cultural events to which the public is welcome. There is nightly Hawaiian music or hula by the Lim family. (Sonny Lim is a Grammy nominated slack key player, who sometimes plays at the Canoe House there.)





That said, no resort will give you a real local experience. They are all artificial resort environments, although I think the Mauna Lani and Kona Village Resort do a great job of honoring the Hawaiian culture and environment.





If you want a real local experience, you will need to spend some time outside the resort, preferable in the small towns or Hilo.





The Mauna Kea may be a good fit for you, and I truly am not pushing you to stay one over the other, but I wouldn%26#39;t want you to fool yourself that it offers an authentic Hawaiian experience.





That was never its goal. Rockefeller wanted and got a first class hotel on the finest stretch of sand, fit for the elite of society. Times have changed and now it and the Prince are owned by the Japanese. Both sister hotels are very focused on providing wonderful golf, and the Mauna Kea also specializes in tennis.





The beach restaurant services are not very good, slow, expensive, and not much aloha. The Mauna Lani beach restaurant is casual and quite pleasant (not cheap either).





One would think that the Mauna Kea, with its great beach, would work on providing a great beach experience, but I think their staff focus is really on the golf and tennis.





What I love about the Mauna Lani grounds is they have these wonderful hammocks under the palms where you can lie and watch the ocean, as well as loungers. Sunning is good for an hour maybe, but then you start to fry. There are loungers in the direct sun down at the Beach Club beach.




Thank you everone so much for your great insight! We are carefully weighing each place and can%26#39;t wait to visit the island!!




I just want to add that if you stay at the Mauna Kea, there is a free shuttle to the Hapuna Prince Beach Hotel (they are ';sister'; hotels now). The beach at Hapuna is very, very nice if you are a beach person.





And I want to correct Hawaii Dan about the Mauna Kea being ';totally open for months.'; I was there on December 15 (walked over from Hapuna, then got the free shuttle back to the Hapuna) and everything was closed except for the beach (snort) and the tennis court. I couldn%26#39;t even go to the lobby, as it was closed. The ';grand opening'; was scheduled for December 21 or something like that, but they didn%26#39;t look like they were going to make it. Let me reiterate that not one single bar or restaurant was open, and I could see piles of boxes and furniture everywhere.





But I am a Mauna Kea fan, so I am not trying to discourage anyone from going there.





I do wonder what drinks they offered the people at the beach and how they kept them cold! I got my cold water from the tennis court area after a nice swim at the beach.

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