My family and I stayed at Palm Villas F4 for 8 days and loved it. It fit our family of five perfectly (4 adults and 1 teenager). We rented a golf cart and that made it very easy to run to the store or go to the beaches.
Location: Perfect! Right next to a historic area with lava tubes and fish ponds. It is a quick 10/15 min walk to the beach through this park. It is very close to the grocery store, coffee shop and tap house. The Mauna Lani resort area is beautiful and not overstated like the Waikaloa area. The pool area at Palm Villas is gorgeous and we used everyday! There is also a nearby hiking area.
Home: The house was clean, the bedding super comfortable and showers awesome. But unique to any property we've rented, it was little things that made a difference, the full size thick beach and bath towels, rice cooker, laundry and dish soap, BBQ, beach chairs, umbrellas and wagon - everything was there to make our stay comfortable.
Mauna Lani Beach Pass: Nice that they have the chairs and everything right there. The restaurant is expensive!
It is a low key snorkeling beach. 49 Black Sand beach is better for snorkeling - we saw a sea turtle! Hapuna (a short drive away is better for waves).
Waikaloa Pass: If you have younger kids, it would be great (it is kind of like Disney) but it wasn't our thing. We went once but would not go back.
Our communication with the property manager was excellent.
Thank you for a wonderful trip!