We stayed at Honua Kia for 2 weeks. The resort is OK but there’s nothing really special about it and there are better places on Ka’anapali for the same price. Some pros and cons of the resort:
Pros
1. Sliding glass walls in the condo. The walls in the living room and master open completely to the lania. This is a fantastic feature
2. The lanai is very big (relative) to other places on the island. The dining size table on the lanai is also a big plus.
3. Room layout. The way the condo is arranged makes for a nice, large living space between the two bedrooms.
4. Vitamix in the room. IDK if all rooms have this bit ours did and it was great.
5. Walking distance to Times Market.
Cons
1. Pools. The pools here are not great. Max depth is 3.5 ft and the water temperature is very warm.
2. Resort friendliness. For two weeks we walked in and out of the main entrance to the building. Only once did a single resort employee greet us. No “aloha”, “hi”, or “can I help you”.
3. Resort services. The services at the resort are very minimal and compared to other resorts almost non-existent.
4. Cleanliness. Trash disposal in the resort is through a trash chute on each floor. The chute produces a chimney effect that brings a constant draft of garbage smelling air onto each floor. The smell permeates the entire hallway of each floor. There were also daily examples of poor "policing" of the grounds (e.g. plastic cups half full of beer being left in public places for two days).
5. Lania furniture - It is plastic wicker and very uncomfortable. Some of the units in the resort have pads on the furniture. Some also have reclining lounge chairs (with pads). Both of these would have made the lanai and the condo much nicer.
6. Bad Beach. The beach in front of the resort is not good for much of anything. The snorkeling isn't great and it's very rocky for just playing.
7. Restaurants. Duke's is it. Overpriced bar food.
8. Resort activities. The resort offers little with respect to activities. We were at the resort over July 4th and most of the other places on Ka’anapali offered some type of events for the Holiday (Westin, Sheraton, Marriott, Hyatt, Ka’anapali Ali’i, etc). Nothing from HK. We didn't have little kids with us this trip but compared to other Ka’anapali resorts HK has no activities for little kids.
9. Small H2O heater. Our party of 3 frequently ran out of hot H2O
10. Shower size. Showers are really small for a place at this price point.