Last weekend I had a
fantastic stay at the Royal Hawaiian. I wasn't sure what to expect, particularly given my underwhelming stay at the Moana Surfrider last year despite so many FTers posting about the strong PLT recognition at that property. WOW...this property definitely exceeded my expecations (which admittedly weren't all that high) and I'm looking forward to more stays at the Royal Hawaiian in the future.
Valet parking had leis for arriving guests and that seemed to be a bit hit or miss...that was the only "miss" I experienced for my stay. I'd like to echo what many others have said about the remodel of the historic building. Every team member I encountered was warm & welcoming. I won't go too much into detail re my suite upgrade as it was beyond the typical PLT upgrade (and there were other items at work beyond my PLT status) in order to avoid raising expectations of other PLTs too much; I was in room 280.
A few items to note:
+ As a PLT, instead of being given breakfast, I was given a cert for lunch at Surf Lanai. The lunch offering included a choice of beverage (coffee, tea, soda, etc IIRC), a main and a dessert. The main had five or six choices including sandwiches and salads. The dessert was a choice between gelato/sorbet, bread pudding or a coconut tart (again IIRC). Be sure to notify the server before ordering if you have one of the certs as it is a slightly different menu from the Surf Lanai lunch menu.
+ Daily Resort Charge (at this time), $20 per day, covers the following: internet access in room, self parking for one vehicle, unlimited local & 800 phone calls, up to 60 minutes of long distance calls per day, two bottles of water in room per day, certs for a non-alcoholic Blue Hawaii at the Mai Tai Bar (two certificates per three night stay. In addition, children 12 & under eat free from the Keiki Menu at Surf Lanai (breakfast and lunch) and In-Room Dining (all day) with each paying adult. This is all outlined on a card provided at check-in.
+ Instead of the chocolate coins (previously mentioned) at turndown, they left a small package of macadamia nuts with bottled water.
+ Banana bread mini-loaf was waiting in my room when I arrived, as was a fruit plate. With the banana bread was a card explaining that this is a tradition at the Royal Hawaiian and included a banana bread recipe. The fruit plate included two bananas, two kiwi, two apples & a grapefruit.
+ On my way to breakfast at 7:30, I stopped by to save a chair on the beach and there were only about 1/3 of them taken at that point. When I got back to the beach around 8:45 there were still plenty of chairs available. I didn't pay attention to availability around the pool.
+ As a PLT I was able to obtain a 4pm late check-out as they did not have anyone checking into my room the evening I departed.