Sea Village Kailua Kona
This may not seem like "the worst resort" to many, but it was for us, considering the other places we've stayed at. It may also be considered as the a worst resort experience or a series of unfortunate events. But... It's our experience.
As a last minute attempt to utilize my points in RCI and to spend time with visiting family, I decided to make accomodations at The Sea Village in Kailua Kona. Before going, we were well aware that resort did not have any AC. However, it was an ocean front resort with a small but quaint garden and a decent pool, with celing fans in the room. It didn't seem like an issue with any of us.
Upon booking, RCI charged me $60 for the reservation. I smirked while I entered my payment and figured it was cheaper than full price. When we got to the resort, about 7:30pm, we found that the front desk remains closed after dark. To receive the key to the room, you must use the phone located on the outside of the front desk's office, right along the main road. Talk about having a screaming match, just to hear the person on the other end and to confirm my identify. The noise from the busy traffic on Ali'i drive is very loud! I constantly looked over my shoulders in the dark because I was there alone. Had I known the front desk was closed, I would've sent my husband to stand in the dark and "check in". Unfortunately, available parking was not near the front desk at that time. That was a total FAIL on the resorts attempt to offer convienece and safety!
When we got to the room, the fans did not work. Fortunately, the men in our party are contractors. They checked everything with an attempt to trouble shoot and possibly fix it, if it didn't require tools. The fan remote controls did not require batteries and there was no obvious reason that it was not working. It was assumed that it was an internal, electrical issue. Had they had the tools available, I think they would've really got to the bottom of it.
I picked up the room phone to contact "someone on site" but the phones were not working as well. No dial tone, no connection! I walked around the property looking for an employee and couldn't find a single person or custodian available that night! Really?! We all took a shower before heading to bed. Fortunately 1 ceiling fan in one of the rooms were working that night. The windows in the other room had the sliding door to the patio had to remain open all night. We woke up sweating and showered again before running out of the room. It really felt like we were in an oven!
In the morning, it was required that we go to the front desk and officially check in. That took about 40 minutes. I was the only person checking in and there were 2 employees behind the desk.
After notifying the front desk, we waited 2 hours for someone to come to the room. When I returned, their friendly custodian replaced the phone and could not find a problem with the fan. My husband explained the situation and suggested that the fan may not be connected to the electricals in the ceiling or may not be connected behind the wall plate because everything else was working properly. He then contacted someone who actually installed those fans. A few hours later, he returned and said that he was notified by the installer,that those fans had a battery located in the wall controls. When he removed the wall plate, low and behold, there was a place for a battery. To my luck, he also learned, a few hours after researching, that they do not carry that battery anywhere on the island. It had to be a special order.
As an act of desperation, I suggested that he remove the battery from an unoccupied room until the new one came in. To my surprise, due to recent renovations, the room we were in was one of a few rooms that had the same newly installed fans. Unfortunately, a few of the other units were occupied and the unoccupied rooms were also without batteries. The batteries were ordered and tracked to arrive the afternoon we were checking out!
Upon checking out, I was charged another $60+ for taxes. I believe I knew that at the time of booking but didn't feel like paying another penny after the gruelling nights in the sauna. It was the worst use of my points and $120 EVER SPENT ON ACCOMODATIONS and to boot, a mediocre office staff.
I believe the heat would not have been a big issue if we went at any other time of the year. What made it worse was the fact that Hawaii was experiencing a heat index of over 100 degrees that week, thanks to El Niño. We were sweating profusely all night.