hale koa

Planning a wedding to begin with is a very hard and stressful task. Knowing this, you would expect the people with which you are expending a lot of your money to help make the planning process a little more care free. We decided to settle on the Hale Koa because we had heard that the food was pretty good and, lets face it, that was our number one priority. We had been to too many weddings that had completely bombed on the dinner menu. So after hearing such high marks we thought it would be worth the cost. I also attended the Wedding workshop for hotels/venues at the wedding cafe and Hale Koa made themselves out to be such nice and flexible people that in the beginning stages of planning i thought my choice to go with the Hale Koa was an automatic one, and one that i would certainly not regret!

Sadly, I was wrong! The service was sloppy, the banquet mangers were inflexible and treated us as if we were "just another wedding" that they wanted to get out of the way and collect all that they could in the process. It was pretty sad. We went in so excited to talk about the details of our special day and all we kept getting back from them was "no" after "no" after "no". It was pathetic to say the least. The only time I really received a call from the hotel was never a courtesy call to find out how plans were going and how they could be of assistance, it was merely to collect their payment. They did nothing to make us feel special or feel as though our big day was just as important to them as it was to us. After all, we're dishing out a lot of money to this place to let it just simply go unnoticed. My family did most of the set up on the day of the wedding and the Hale Koa staff - namely Bev (the banquet manager) and Gina (the Banquet coordinator) - did nothing to support us in our efforts, it seemed as though all they were interested in was to find out how much they could possibly squeeze out of us. So thankful to say, our day turned out to be a success, but sadly that was no thanks at all to the staff of the Hale Koa.

So if you're looking for a place to plan your wedding where your special day is just another dollar in the pocket of a greedy establishment and the staff treat you like you're too dumb to know whats best for you, than Hale Koa is your place! If not, I strongly suggest looking elsewhere. Although other venues may seem more steep if you're on a tight budget, I'd definitely warn you to shop around very carefully before settling for a place who treats your wedding day as just another way to make money. I know I have told everyone I possibly could to steer clear of the Hale Koa and I plan to do so for a long time! I feel it disrespectful for them to treat people with such utter disregard. Believe me when I say the list of what they did could go on and on but I am choosing to stop here. I'd be happy to answer any questions that any of you may have if you desire to know more.

By the way if after this warning you still decide to settle with the Hale Koa, make sure that when you give them the final count you undershoot the number by about 10% of your actual count. The reason for this is because even if you gauge your actual number, and less than that number shows up, you will still be overcharged for the number that you gave them. Just a tip.