Is the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel the nicest hotel (or even one of the 4-5 nicest) hotels on the Kohala/Kona Coast? NO

Does it have great service, modern rooms, fabulous food, or is it immaculately clean? NO

Based on Trip Advisor reviews, is it at times crowded with "Priceline" shoppers hoping for "really inexpensive Big Island perfection"? IT WOULD SEEM THAT WAY

To its credit, though, the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel sits on one of the loveliest beaches in all of Hawaii--it's truly spectacular. If a beautiful, accessible beach is important to you, then you'd be hard-pressed to do any better.

Further, with its online "specials", you can get an OCEAN FRONT room at the Hapuna Beach Prince (with Breakfast) for under $400 per night. I'm not saying that's cheap, but it's a real Ocean Front (in the first 3 buildings right down on the water). No "partial ocean", no "ocean view", no "view from the balcony", etc.--a real Ocean Front Room--from ground level all the way up to Level 5 or 6!! A comparably-viewed OCEAN FRONT room at the Mauna Kea, the Four Seasons, the Fairmont or the other luxury hotels on the Kohala Coast would easily cost twice that amount ($800+) or more.

Further, if the facilities, service and food at the Hapuna Prince aren't quite up to your standards, just walk (20 minutes) or take the hourly shuttle to its sister property--the newly-refurbished, quite lovely, and very expensive Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. Monette's will set you back a couple hundred for dinner, but it's awesome. The pool and lobby bars are incredible, and the tennis courts occupy some of the most spectacular real estate on the planet.

In summary, the Hapuna Prince itself is a huge slab of concrete, it lacks charm, it is frequently full of last-minute bargain-hunters, and it has mediocre food, service and amenities. However, it's on a beautiful beach, with good deals on its real ocean front rooms, a decent fitness center, and an awesome adjoining sister hotel--the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel (where you can use most of the facilities and charge them to your room the the Hapuna).

Book your room at the Hapuna Prince knowing all of the above--the pros and the cons. If you're comfortable with the cons, then the Hapuna Prince can be a great value not to be missed.

I stayed at the Hapuna Beach Prince hotel on Wednesday night, Oct 21, 2009, and this was for a one night stay after a work-related visit on island. Overall it was a good stay, but not too special. Luckily, I got a $75 rate on Priceline which I felt was a good deal, although it was somewhat less great given the $15 parking charge (even for self-parking).

I arrived at about 7pm (so it was dark already), and I have to say the most striking thing was the tourism downturn and how empty the place felt. The review of this place in the Big Island Revealed guidebook is probably right -- this place feels a little funny. The place is sprawling, and they gave me a room that required a long walk down 3 sets of lonely dim corridors, despite the fact that, looking out onto the property, I felt like fewer than 1/2 the rooms were occupied (by their room lights) and I suppose they could have given me something closer.

In the main lobby area, there was a guitar player/singer playing to an empty lounge area, kind of sadly. It did have a few people in it after I got settled in my room and came back out though. Did I mention how empty the place feels? Although the furnishings are modern and high class, it just has so much space it feels strange walking through the place with so few people around. Obviously it was built with a different prosperous era in mind, but still.

The room itself was large and spacious. However, there was a slight smell (not overpowering) of mildew or mold (?), and you felt the air conditioner had better stay on the whole time or it would be moist in the room. Bathroom was nicely stocked and elegant, and everything worked fine.

The next morning the place had a nicer feel to it -- the view of the beach and ocean is very nice, and the bright light of day makes the place look a lot more cheerful, and relatively many more people were eating breakfast in the main dining area.

The only main downside of this place is that it's so far away from anything. For dinner, I drove to Waikoloa Village to just buy some stuff in the grocery store, and that's a 20 minute drive.

Overall, I would stay again here if necessary, but would probably try other places first. I don't play golf, but I looked at the golf rate sheet, and it was $175 to play 18 holes. wow.

My husband and loved this place. It has large rooms, a great pool, beautiful beach, friendly staff and great service. I especially loved the smell of plumera flowers around the beautiful grounds. The hotel is quite and there were hardly any guests there (maybe a little more than 30 guests).

The beach is beautiful. There are some waves, but they're not too bad. My husband and I had fun body boarding. Water was still very clear with no sea weed on the bottom. A big turtle passed by as we were swimming on the beach. The cove north of the beach did not have great visibility for snorkeling. There are fish and coral on the north side of the cove, but it was hard to see.

When we checked in, we were upgraded from a regular ocean view room to a premiere ocean view room. Our room and bathroom was large. Plenty of room to move around. The balcony included a lounge chair, tables and chairs. We had breakfast outside on the balcony our whole stay. The only problem I had was with the beds. The bed sheets were old and outdated. My husband complained about the space in the middle of the bed because the staff put two twin beds together to make it a king.

Also, I asked for a late check out. Check out is at noon, but I asked to have it extended to 2:00 pm. They gave us until 1:00 pm, we were happy with that. They said we couldn't stay till 2pm because our room was already booked for new guests. That puzzled me since there were hardly any guests at the hotel and the hotel has MANY rooms. But I didn't complain, after all they upgraded our room. =)

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner is expensive in this hotel. I was turned off by the $30 breakfast buffet. Make sure you have a car rented since the closest town is 15 minutes away (Waikoloa). The room includes a good size fridge, so my husband and I stacked it with bottled water, soda, snacks, fruits and sandwiches that we bought from the Waikoloa Village Market.

Last October we had our 6th stay at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel. We love it for many reasons: (1) its location on one of the best beaches on the Big Island, (2) the fabulous open air view of the ocean and local live music that welcomes you upon entering the hotel lobby, (3) being treated as guests at the adjacent Mauna Kea sister hotel, (4) the shady lawn overlooking the water which provides an alternative to the beach for lounging, (5) the views of the distant volcanoes, etc., etc. We like to relax at the breakfast area and read the NY Times digest and local papers that are provided. In addition, we've found the staff to be great, and we thouroghly enjoy strolling from the lobby to our room or to the beach. We love the excellent snorkeling opportunities at both Hapuna Beach and Mauna Kea, another top beach just a short walk north via a cliff trail or a path, by hotel shuttle, or 5 minute drive. The renovated and somewhat posher Mauna Kea is indeed more intimately built around its beach, but we like the Hapuna Beach for the very fact that the buildings are not so close to the shore. When you factor in the fact that the Hapuna is offered at a lower price point than the other top Kohala Coast resorts, we find its overall value and attractiveness compelling. Yes, now that the Mauna Kea has been renovated, it might be time for Prince Resorts to think about an update to the decor at the Hapuna, but we'll still continue to visit regardless. Note that while there is always live music in the lobby/bar area, this is a quiet resort best for those looking to spend their time on the property unwinding.