The Kahala Hotel & Resort Reviews

We had our wedding planned for The Kahala but due to COVID mandates in Hawaii we had to cancel. The team at The Kahala were great and their word was good. They gave us our deposit back since we had to cancel due to COVID. I can't say all vendors in Hawaii have been this great, but would definitely recommend here. Thank you for all your help and understanding during COVID.

We had a great wedding ceremony and reception at the Kahala Hotel & Resort; our family and friends were blown away by the beautiful site. They also loved how delicious the food was. Our wedding was beyond perfect! The event manager was very responsible and extremely helpful during our wedding preparations and on the wedding day. She even helped have a hotel room available for us several hours before check in! We were able to get ready and relax in our room before the ceremony, which greatly eased our stress. We would definitely recommend the Kahala Hotel & Resort to anyone looking for the perfect wedding spot.

when my husband and i were looking for vendors, we left several messages for appointments all around Honolulu. When we entered Kahala's property, we were greeted right away and got a tour of the place, and from then on we felt very taken care of. We still have yet to hear back from the other resorts we left messages with, and we got married 06/30/2018

We had our honeymoon here and it was breathtaking. Not only is the resort amazingly peaceful the staff is the nicest. We stayed in the dolphin lagoon section of the hotel and I don’t think I’ll ever stay in the towers! The hotel has a private beach, golf, dolphins, amazing food and is quiet in a residential area just 10 min away from the crazy, overcrowded Waikiki! I will never stay anywhere else on O’ahu and I’ve been to a lot of resorts on the island this is by far the best. Only thing I would recommend is making the kids use the kids pool since the adult pool is so small. We had a kid throw up in the adult pool and it was pretty gross!

Came here for my honeymoon. It was a dream vacation and location. Everyone was so friendly & helpful. The resort is gorgeous and the beach is perfect. We spent every day at their quiet beach. It is paradise.

My friends just had a wedding at the Kahala resort an. Grace chan and the event staff were wonderful. This is a very classy hotel and we were treated very well. The rooms we magnificant! I highly recommend the Kahala Resort for your wedding and honeymoon.

So far so good! The Kahala has been very responsive to all of our requests. We even get a discount to take a picture with the dolphins after the reception! So excited for the date!

The Kahala Hotel & Resort is a beautiful property located a few miles off of Waikiki. The staff is very friendly and the hotel is kept in immaculate condition. It is worth noting that the Kahala is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.

Our ceremony was held on the beautiful Kokohead lawn overlooking the ocean, and our reception was held in the Waialae Ballroom with views of the waterfall. Both locations were perfect to accommodate our 85 guests. There were also many sites on the property for us to take pictures.

We truly had the wedding of our dreams, and our guests had nothing but positive comments to say about the hotel and staff.

I had an intimate wedding of 70 at the Diamond head gazebo followed by reception at the Waialae ballroom. My planner (Tori Rogers) and I worked with Anna from Kahala and she was very responsive to all my emails and made sure all my requests were addressed from decoration, food and drinks order. They were also very accommodating in pushing back our reception ending time so we were able to spend more time with our guests. The food and drinks were excellent and you cannot go wrong with the Kahala hotel. My guests complimented on how attentive and professional the catering team was. I would recommend this site to any bride but note it can get pricey.

We had an amazing time at The Kahala Hotel and Resort. Our guests, who attended the wedding reception were not stop telling us the great time that they had and the spectacular view! The staff are all friendly and helpful, Kari the planner and Susan (one of the waitresses that I could remember). The experience is one thing that you can't get nothing. We were happily spending thousands of dollars during our stays. Everything is literally 5-star, from the food, services and to the environment.

We had our wedding reception under a clear top tent on the lawn right on the water. Six months later and people are still talking about how beautiful our wedding was and how amazing our venue and food was. We had AMAZING food and service. The Kahala does a fantastic job. Aimee, our coordinator, was extremely helpful. She knew what I wanted and respected our choices. She helped us stay within our budget while being able to serve amazing food and drinks. Its the Kahala and its reputation says it all.

Well, where do we start.

Aimee Graham was our co-ordinator /venue manager. She is amazing. Aimee knows all the ins and outs of the resort, she understood what we wanted and what we were trying to achieve.

We reside in Sydney australia,so communication can be tough, but we were glad Aimee was there to respond to our at times annoying emails lol.

The venue on the day looked amazing, the catering was 10 out of 10. Every guest that attended said, it was clearly the best food and venue they have ever been too. It was truly amazing.

We would highly recommend the kahala resort for any wedding. We only had a small group of 21, which made it beautiful.

Most beautiful wedding ever! Charles Keegan of the Kahala gave me my dream wedding. Everything was so perfect, I would swear I dreamt it if I didn't have pictures. Every vendor they recommended was top notch and the service, the stay everything was so amazing, it made me cry. The food, the wedding cake, everything they did was beyond perfect. All of my guests were overwhelmed at the location, everyone said they felt like we were in a painting because of the breathtaking beauty of the Diamond Head Gazebo, truly a dream come true.

Grace Chan was awesome. She was super fast and responsive to every phone call and email. She took care of everything and it was such a relief to work with her. The vendor list is very helpful as well. Beware if you do not use the photographer on the vendor list there is a $1,000 extra charge. Everyone said that the food was amazing. The ballroom was beautiful and the scenery around the hotel is excellent for photos.

What a dream come true! We had a fairy tail wedding at the Kahala Hotel and I could not be more pleased with every single detail. I worked with Grace Chan who is the catering manager there and if we had more people like her in this world it would be a much better place! She was amazing to work with, she responded to my every question very promptly with patience, and kindness. The hotel had a prefered vendor list and everyone I picked from that list was a delight to work with. My planning experience was amazing and our wedding exceeded our wildest dreams. I felt like a queen on our wedding day and it is all because of Grace Chan and the Kahala Hotel. Our guests were stunned, everyone said they had never seen anything more beautiful, never tasted better food, and never seen a wedding so elegant.

We had our cocktail hour and dinner reception here recently on August 27, 2014 at the Kahala O Ke Kai room. It was everything we ever dreamed of. We worked with Grace Chan, and she was prompt, very helpful and very accommodating to our requests. Everything was set up the way we wanted it before we even arrived. The view from the room was amazing, and breathtaking during sunset. The food was delicious (everyone said it was the best they've had at a wedding). We had a beef tenderloin entree and from what I saw, they cooked each one very evenly and perfectly medium rare. The service from the wait staff was also great. Drinks were always filled, and they didn't make any mistakes with special orders. We ordered a coconut sponge cake with mango filling for our wedding cake and it was so moist, soft and delicious. I was very surprised as how good it was and everyone loved it. The downsides with it being a hotel is that they have regulations on some things (ex. no sparklers, etc.) Also, you have to use a photographer on their list or pay $500 to use your own, resulting in less flexibility. However, the photographers on the list are some of the best on the island so no complaints there. I would absolutely recommend the Kahala Hotel to anybody looking for a beautiful venue with wonderful views.

The best customer service, location and food.. A bit pricey but worth every penny. Just be sure to look over the photographer list. To bring in an outside photographer will cost an extra $1000. Luckily, my first choice was available and on the list.. The catering manager (Jamie Ing) is the best.. Easy to work with, fast email reply, very hands on. Awesome place to get married!!

The Kahala is picturesque, scenic and perfect if you want a gorgeous Hawaii wedding that’s not in Waikiki. The customer service is excellent and the staff goes above and beyond to meet your needs and make sure you are satisfied. Our contacts there respond quickly to texts, calls and emails — at any hour of the day or night. We planned to have both our ceremony and reception at this location for easy access for our guests. The Kahala staff is professional on every level — and the food there is amazing! Stellar venue and amazing experience working with them.

We LOVED having our wedding here on 5/22/2010! They created our dream wedding and thought of little details we never would have considered on our own. Jamie Ing was a great coordinator. Thank you, Kahala! It was perfect. Wish we could do it all over again! :)

I loved getting married at the Kahala Hotel & Resort. The hotel itself was absolutely gorgeous and my wedding was perfect. The coordinator they gave me, Grace, was very helpful, responsive, and professional. Everything was top rate and I would highly recommend the Kahala to anyone looking to get married in Honolulu.

Everything went well with the catering staff. The room was very clean and neat. The food and drinks tasted excellent.

I had my ceremony on the Lagoon Lawn and my reception on the Lurline Lawn. The senior event coordinator that I worked with at the Ihilani was helpful throughout the entire process, although at times it was a bit difficult to get a hold of her. It turns out that a lot of people get married here! The location could not have been more beautiful. The only draw back of getting married on a resort is that other people at the resort can sneak a peek into our wedding festivities.

The Kahala Resort is the best place to have an upscale wedding. We had our reception there but you can also have the ceremony there as well as a package deal. We had it at the Maile ballroom, which is the grandest ballroom and fit a little over a 100 ppl in it. The service was amazing, the food was exceptional and the catering manager who was in charge of my wedding was impeccable. For a four-five star resort I wouldn't expect anything less. However, if you're on a budget, this is not the place for you. The Kahala is very posh and everything is pricey as expected with such luxury. We had a three course dinner with the sea bass and beef tenderloin as the entree. We also had an open bar the entire evening and had butler passed appetizers throughout the cocktail hour. I wouldn't have had my wedding any other way!

Overall, we are really happy with our choice to hold our wedding and reception at the Kahala hotel. We worked with Aimee Graham who was really great at helping us see our wedding through. She and the staff we've interacted with at the hotel have excellent customer service. The venue itself is extremely beautiful. We were married by the Kokohead Gazebo (though we got married off to the side by the trees) next to the ocean, beach, grass. About as private as a wedding at a hotel could be -- which was one of our main criteria.

The food is really excellent. Definitely some of the best wedding food we've had, with a price tag to match (starting around 70-125 I think, not counting drinks, cake etc). However, when we compared our food to other weddings we've gone to (even some with price tags of up to 250-300 per person) we felt that the food quality was really excellent and there was so much food that no one could go home hungry. Many of our guests told us that the food is the best food they've ever had at a wedding, and they were able to provide a range of food from Sashimi (which was really great Tuna) to Cold Chicken with ginger (also very much complimented on) to Cantonese style duck, prime rib, great ranges of salads, etc.

The value of this place depends on what you want. It is definitely more expensive in some regards than any of the other venues we saw -- so we tried to really save where we could. The ceremony fee starts at around 4200 and there is a 2,000 dollar room rental fee for the reception that isn't waived regardless of food/drinks purchased (on a Friday night). Prices vary for reception rooms, depending on size of your party, day of week, time of day etc.

Also they are slightly inflexible when it comes to certain things like having your own wedding cake. All food and beverages must be purchased from the hotel. Fortunately the food, cake, and beverages were all really excellent. Our wedding cake was Almond and Guava flavored cake with Passion Fruit filling. So yummy. The tropical fruit punch was also delicious and definitely worth having for guests who want non alcoholic drinks.

Overall, if you can handle the costs, I would definitely recommend this venue to anyone looking for excellent food, service, and a beautiful, semi private venue close to but not in the hustle and bustle of Waikiki. It was really a perfect choic for us, and we are so grateful to have been able to host our wedding there.

On a side note, if you plan on having a room or two there for your wedding, we highly recommend it -- the beds were the most comfortable beds I"ve stayed in at a hotel! We slept really well!

We had our wedding ceremony here in October. First off, the resort is stunning and has many great spots for photos. We were blown away with the grand lobby and dolphin/ray/turtle area. The beach is quite secluded and there is not a ton of sun bathers so if you want beach shots consider this over Waikiki. We did have a few fans during our ceremony but they were discreet and it was actually nice they were so happy for us. It's only about 15 minutes drive from Waikiki so we were happy with that. We had our ceremony at the Koko Head Gazebo which is more secluded than the other gazebo. It is VERY windy at Koko Head, so brides keep that in mind for your hair do.

I was a little annoyed at first because The Kahala requires that you use their preferred vendors. I had already selected a photographer but was told it would cost $1000 more if I choose to go with an outside photographer. In the end, I understood why they mandated their preferred list of vendors. Everything went off without a hitch and we are very pleased. I considered Paradise Cove during my planning stage but am very happy we went with The Kahala in the end. I will write separate reviews for the vendors we went with.

One knock is the catering manager we worked with seemed rushed and was not very detail oriented. Emails would go for several days sometimes weeks unanswered and I had to do a lot of following up. My face to face encounter with her also seemed rushed and she did not have the calming factor I was hoping for. I have higher expectations for a resort of this caliber. Perhaps they are understaffed and luckily since we had a very small, simple wedding this was not a problem for us. Their vendors are top notch and had everything under control.