Kona Kai Resort & Spa, a Noble House Resort

Location: The resort is noted for its peaceful and scenic location, surrounded by sea views and situated on Shelter Island. Many guests appreciated its proximity to the marina and private beach, which offers a relaxing and serene atmosphere.(based on 1 review)

We walked in and were instructed to use the self service machine to check in, which didn’t tell us which building we were in so we assumed it was 2 since it started with 2. We then searched building 2, after no luck, we went to building one and the lobby told us that’s the building we’re in. We had 3 suitcases and were told there’s no elevator. After lugging our suitcases up the stairs, we walked into a room decorated for someone else with a cheeseboard and champagne. We called back to the desk after walking into someone else’s room and they told us to come back to the lobby. (We asked if we could know where the room is so we didn’t have to lug luggage back and forth and they were not helpful at all.) Once we got our new room, we walked into a room that looked nothing like the pictures. It also definitely was not the deluxe room we booked. The fake central AC on the wall should have been the first sign. The box unit AC was not on, so the room was boiling. Not to mention, the wallpaper peeling off the walls, moth holes in the curtains, headboards falling off beds, crusty old outdated furniture, and a single wall of cute wallpaper they use to market the place. The bathroom was extremely outdated and small. The toilet randomly starts running and there’s only one tiny sink. Absolutely no counter space. The resort is gorgeous, with less than helpful staff all around. There were no towels at the pool, so we had to ask a pool boy where to go and he led us to the fitness center. The fitness center then gave us 3 towels and said they’re still doing laundry so that’s all they had. We took the towels and headed toward the adult pool, only to realize we had to also get wristbands from the fitness center, so we walked back. We ordered drinks from the pool QR then checked with the bartender after 30 mins and they said not to use to QR since it disappears in their system. They were not apologetic, more so scolding us for doing something wrong. When we went to check out, the tv check out said unavailable. Then we used the self service checkout, which said “unable to check out”. Then we finally were able to check out with the front desk. Would absolutely not come back here unless it was with a day pass. Do not waste your money or your points.

This place is a train wreck of bad operations. The actual location of the hotel, and the actual rooms are fine, but something has gone off the rails and the staff can't operate a hotel. And I don't mean that in a small way. My wife and I paid extra for the room to be stocked with a few things like fresh fruit, a few drinks, and a "S'mores" kit (I thought it was funny when they offered it so I just paid for it as a surprise to my wife when we showed up, she likes chocolate). None of those things were in the room when we showed up. But it is so much worse than that. When we called the front desk 5 minutes after arriving, they couldn't provide any of those things until the following day. You know, the day after we had use for any of the snacks we wanted stocked in the room when we arrived so we didn't have to order DoorDash to our hotel. In the room, there were mysteriously no instructions on how to get onto WiFi. That was fixed by another phone call to the front desk who gave us the WiFi access point name (which wasn't the most obvious WiFi access point!!) and the WiFi password. Not a big deal (really) but just mysterious like nobody there actually can run a hotel. Or ever checked into a hotel before. Or knows anybody that has ever checked into a hotel. Or seen a hotel with binoculars from far away. Why wouldn't they put the WiFi info on the paper "card key holder" sheath like 98% of other hotels do? Why require a phone call to the front desk? The day we were going to show up, about 8 hours in advance of arrival they sent me a text message which I thought was WONDERFUL asking if there was anything they could do. And there was an error. It listed "check in time" of 4pm even though I had paid extra for an early check-in. So I responded to the text messaging thinking they were awesome for providing this additional communication channel, and... never heard back. LOL. So they pro-actively reach out and say "contact us here" but nobody actually reads the responses. In fact I sent 3 or 4 text messages to that number they suggested I text message and never heard back once, because it isn't read by any employee or human. After that I gave up and all future communication was face-to-face. Here is where it gets really bad. The card key access on the door to our room didn't work. But we walked in anyway, because the locks on the doors don't actually function. Their "failure state" is to just totally open the room to anybody who wants to come in. It's kind of a feature in this hotel because their staff doesn't know how to program a card key access to any room! Now this is not "fatal" because once you are inside the hotel room, you can flip that physical lever thingy that will defeat anybody coming into the room while you are in the room. It was perfectly safe, it just meant it was IMPOSSIBLE to lock the room when we left the room. No problem, just bring all your valuables with you to the pool, or when you leave the room for d