Westin Hotels in The Big Island (Hawaii island)

A review of the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort: My family and I recently completed a vacation stay at the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort. Overall, the resort is wonderful with a few rough edges. The resort is located on the west side of the Big Island, about 30 miles north of the airport -- with ”island traffic” plan on 30-45 minutes if you need to travel down into Kona. This resort takes full advantage of its beach location, which is consistently rated one of world's best. Hapuna Beach is an amazing long crescent-shaped beach great for swimming and snorkeling (near the coral at the edges of the beach. We saw turtles, octopus, and a wide variety of fish). The beach is perfect for families with children, though the water can get a little rough if the trade winds are blowing. Check-in was smooth and efficient. My elite membership was recognized as well as my birthday during our visit. We were offered points of elite breakfast credit, which included continental breakfast for two in Ikena Landing. Upon arriving to our room, we were greeted with a lovely bottle of wine and assorted goodies for our celebration. Our room was clean and well-appointed. We were staying on a points redemption, so no SNA option. We had a ”partial” ocean view room but I suspect we were given an ocean view room because we had a wonderful view of the ocean and resort grounds. According to front desk personnel, the resort did have a handful of ”lanai” rooms near the ground level with no view whatsoever, including a small number of no-view suites. We had a spacious bathroom with shower and tub; also a wonderful lanai with a table & chairs along with a comfortable outdoor couch perfect for lounging in the evening with a beverage while watching the sunset. All service requests through the chat function were promptly met and taken care of throughout our visit. Note, this resort also had a free guest laundry facility with detergent and other supplies -- perfect if you pack light or just want to clean off your swimsuits before you head home. Our main gripe relates to the food & beverage offerings and service. The resort's dinner restaurant, Meridia, takes full advantage of the resort views and location. Unfortunately, that's about all it has going for it. For the price point, the food was marginal and service was lacking. For a similar price point, I'd suggest heading up-country to Merriman's for terrific farm-to-table food and great service. As I mentioned, we received elite continental breakfast for two at Ikena Landing, each morning. Upgrade to the full buffet was offered for an additional $25 per person. Prices were steep for breakfast. Servers were friendly but took a while to get food out at times. I would recommend, particularly families working within a budget, to try Piko Coffee Bar. Piko has much better coffee options throughout the day and also offers a variety of hot/cold grab-and-go options (at breakfast, eggs, hash browns and breakfast meats, pas