Featured

Enjoy Our Newly Added Hilton Resort Pool Pass For Up To 6 Guests.

We are excited to announce that we purchased the annual Hilton Pool Pass for our condo for up to 6 guests to use during their stay with us. It’s something we have wanted to offer our guests for a long time. The Hilton Waikoloa is such a fun property to visit when on the Big Island. The pools, slides, spas, and lagoon are all great for groups and couples. We also love walking around looking at all the artwork throughout the property. It’s like walking through a museum of art. Check out the Dolphins at Dolphin Quest. You can buy a package that allows you 45 minutes of in water, hands on time with them and a trainer. Plenty of shops to visit and restaurant and bar options. This property is sure to please, but I hope you don’t spend your whole time on the island at the Hilton as tempting as it might be for you to do given the deal of not having to pay for daily passes. There is just so much to see and do on the island overall and never enough time. I plan to share a follow-up post on our personal favorite things to do while we are on the island and share the map and distances.

Map of Hilton Waikoloa

HILTON POOL PASS ACCESS INSTRUCTIONS

Upon arrival, please park in the Hilton self-parking lot. Enter the property and check in at the Kona Pool Welcome Center located at the Main Kona Pool Deck. Upon check-in, present the access card provided as well as your parking ticket for validation. Obtain your daily wristband and towel card, each member of the party must be present and check in at the desk for wristbands. Towel cards need to be returned to the desk by 5pm.

INCLUDED WITH PASSES

ADDITIONAL PAY OPTIONS

  • Cabanas available, pricing is seasonal, please see desk for current pricing.
  • Lagoon toys available for rent: 
    • ​Stand-up Paddle Boards, Pedal Boats, Kayaks, Aqua Cycles.
  • Retail Available:
    • Snorkels, pool floats, goggles, apparel and sunscreen.
  • Food and Beverage options available:
    • Outlets are seasonal and hours of operation are subject to change.
      • Orchid Marketplace
      • Big Island Breakfast Buffet at Water’s Edge
      • Kona Pool Bar
      • Lagoon Grill
      • Nui Italian
      • Kamuela Provision Company (KPC)
      • Kona Tap Room (KTR)
      • Waikoloa Coffee

For Questions or to make advance cabana reservations, please contact Hilton at 808-339-1315.

HILTON WAIKOLOA VILLAGE 69-425 Waikoloa Beach Dr. | Waikoloa HI 96738 T: 808-886-1234 | F: 808-886-2900 | www.waikoloavillage.com

Featured

Reopening Hawaii: Inter-Island Travel Quarantine Lifted

We have some positive news to finally report. On 16 June the two week quarantine for inter-island travel was lifted. Legally permitted Short Term Vacation Rentals (STVRs) like ours can open up to host these travelers. For more information on inter-island travel procedures click the link below:

https://health.hawaii.gov/travel/interisland-travel/interisland-travel-procedures/

We hope that if all goes well with this new phase and cases remain relatively low that the state will consider reopening to domestic mainland travel earlier than 31 July. It all depends on how quickly the state government works to implement travel policy and procedures such as testing before or after arrival to Hawaii for those travelers. We will keep you posted on any new developments related to that. Contact us if you any other questions that you would like us to address related to Hawaii tourism and travel.

Aloha friends!

https://www.escapetokolea.com/

Latest on Hawaii Reopening Plans for Tourism Industry

We just posted the latest news on Hawaii’s reopening plans for tourism to our direct booking website. According to LtGov Josh Green Hawaii is on a path to reopen 1 October. Due to declining case numbers there is currently no reason to delay the reopening further. That is optimistic and positive news to finally hear after close to 6 months without a tourism industry. We plan our “Hawaii News and COVID-19 Status” page as new information becomes available to us. Click the image below to get redirected to our website for those updates. Mahalo!

Hawaii Reopening for Mainland Tourism Delayed Until 1 Sept

Aloha!  I’m posting an update for guests planning travel to Hawaii (U.S. Mainland and other countries).  After meeting with the Mayors, Governor Ige extended the statewide for quarantine from 1 August to 1 September.  On 1 September, travelers are exempted from the quarantine if they test negative within 72 hours prior to arrival to Hawaii.  We have worked to rebook our impacted guests coming from out of state to later dates.  We currently are focused on safely hosting local residents (kama‘aina) and their staycations.  Please reach out if you have any questions.

Follow the below links for further details on COVID-19 and Hawaii tourism reopening plans.

Hawaii Tourism Authority: https://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/news/alerts/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/

Hawaii Department of Transportation: https://hidot.hawaii.gov/coronavirus/

Hawaii Department of Health: https://health.hawaii.giv/coronavirusdisease2019/

Big Island Beginnings: Buying a Vacation Rental Home in Kolea

When we traveled to the Big Island Hawaii last month we had no idea that a month later we would be closing on a vacation rental home there. We knew it was our dream to retire there someday, but never did we think it would be possible to get approved for a loan even if we planned to rent it out all year long and likely never get to personally use it ourselves for at least the next five years since we will need all the income it generates to cover all operating expenses. They add up big time as I’m sure you may be aware if you’ve ever been blessed to host a home yourself. Paradise is not cheap my friend!

We took a huge leap of faith in purchasing this home. Being a host of a short term rental property comes with a lot of uncertainty. We had to consider the best and worst case scenarios and hope to hit a good balance the first few years and not lose a lot of money. Will our listing stand out and entice guests to book our home? Will they overlook the fact that we don’t have reviews yet and give us the opportunity to host their trip? All these concerns and questions keep coming up for us.

Regardless of the concerns we are still excited to be hosts and share our home. I look forward to guest interactions, building up a social network and growing our business brand. I look forward to building this blog and sharing insights, content, ideas and inspiration related to Hawaii travel and beyond. I would love feedback from our followers on topics of interest to you so that I can improve engagement features of the blog and our direct booking website at escapetokolea.com.

Stay tuned! Mahalo, Sharon

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