cblaisd

Please post your questions and/or reviews of hotels in Honolulu, Waikiki, and Greater Honolulu

Please also see: Oahu/Honolulu: Consolidated Honolulu Airport Hotel Thread

dfwdal

Will be spending a night in Honolulu before and after our vacation later this week in Maui.

We will only spending the night, but I've heard the HNL hotels are dumpy.

Is Waikiki the best option? I notice Priceline breaks down Waikiki into East and West. Which zone is closer to HNL? Is a taxi to/fr HNL the best option?

dhuey

Sure, go to Waikiki. I suggest a Priceline *resort bid for Waikiki West. I got the Sheraton for $101 last June. It's pretty nice. If you want to splurge for dinner, go to the Royal Hawaiian next door for dinner -- very fine dinning right at the beach!

A taxi should be pretty reasonable, as Waikiki isn't that far from HNL. Have fun!

cblaisd

Agree with dhuey, and a taxi HNL-Waikiki will run you ~$20-27, iirc, depending on the time of day. You can get it cheaper, though, going back to HNL by using one of the coupons/ads in the numerous coupon books (Honolulu Gold, or something like that) that in racks in the baggage claim area at the airport.

(And -- off-topic -- dfwdal what part of Ft. Worth? I grew up there)

[This message has been edited by cblaisd (edited 03-24-2003).]

dfwdal

Thanks for the feedback.

cblaisd: I live in the Westcliff section of Foat Wuth. S of TCU, N of Hulen Mall.

chazas

Doesn't really matter - pick a decent hotel and you'll be fine - you're maybe 5 minutes further from the airport at the Diamond Head end of Waikiki (east) than the Ewa end (west). (Any Honolulu resident would have to stop and think for a minute if you said "east" or "west" and even then might get it wrong!)

[Edited because I got my east and west backwards . . .]

[This message has been edited by chazas (edited 03-24-2003).]

badgerfan

My husband and I will be spending 2 nights in HNL the weekend before Thanksgiving. While we are there, we are hoping to see historic sites like Pearl Harbor.

Can anyone recommend any reasonably priced hotels that are not too scary? I've been searching around the internet and it looks like prices really are all over the place... and most of the lower priced hotels I'm seeing are not listed in my AAA book. For example, the Park Shore Waikiki has great rates... but I'm wondering if it's a decent place to stay?

Also, do you recommend getting a rental car in HNL? Or are there enough tours and buses to get around without that expense?

Thanks in advance.

dhuey

Definitely get the rental car. You've got limited time and the bus/shuttle coverage is not too good in Honolulu.

As for hotels, consider a Priceline.com bid. You might be able to get a resort like the Sheraton Waikiki for $100-$120 per night. See biddingfortravel.com for tips on how to bid on Priceline. If you don't want to learn about Priceline, Hotwire.com often has some good deals too.

cblaisd

Agree. If you were just going to stay in Waikiki then I'd say get a cab (and use a coupon from one of the booklets at the airport baggage area for a lower return) because the price would be about the same, not counting the parking -- which is pricey in Waikiki

Quote:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
As for hotels, consider a Priceline.com bid. You might be able to get a resort like the Sheraton Waikiki for $100-$120 per night. See biddingfortravel.com for tips on how to bid on Priceline. If you don't want to learn about Priceline, Hotwire.com often has some good deals too.

I just checked Hotwire for your dates. There are a number of 4 and 4 1/2 star hotels from $100-150 per night. Be aware that Hotwire tends to rate its hotels about a star higher than does Priceline. You can check the appropriate forum on www.biddingfortravel.com to see what hotels Priceline uses in Honolulu and their star rating.

(Hotwire also lists a couple of 1 and 2 star hotels at the airport. I suspect that one of them is the Best Western)



[This message has been edited by cblaisd (edited 04-12-2003).]

badgerfan

Thanks for the tips.

I will definitely look into getting a rental car then.

I actually ended up using advice I saw on another posting to use the Entertainment card discount... so I used that to get 50% off at an Outrigger.

FlyinHawaiian

The Park Shore is not that bad; a little long in the tooth. Great location, though.

Be aware that all Outriggers are not alike - they have some budget properties that I would shy away from; mostly the ones in their OHANA brand. They also have some very nice properties as well.

While I agree that a rental car may make sense, given your time contraints, I do feel that I need to plug Honolulu's mass transit, TheBus. I think that it gives pretty good coverage. For example, you can ride TheBus from stops in Waikiki and exit the stop in front of the entrance to the Arizona Memorial without having to transfer once. It's about an hour ride.

www.thebus.org

Also, as others have mentioned, don't forget the cost of hotel parking, which can be high.

[This message has been edited by FlyinHawaiian (edited 04-14-2003).]

slippahs

Please post your questions and/or reviews of hotels in Honolulu, Waikiki, and Greater Honolulu

Please also see: Oahu/Honolulu: Consolidated Honolulu Airport Hotel Thread

slippahs

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/desti...heretostay.htm

I'd also add the Sheraton Waikiki for the most popular amongst football teams. The Ihilani Resort for the most popular amongst Pro football teams (ProBowlers usually stay there). The Turtle Bay (ex-Hilton) as the farthest hotel. The Pagoda/Ala Moana Hotel as the most local hotel.

Surprised to find that the Hilton Hawaiian Village or the Ihilani did not make USA Today's list.

Enjoy.

aloha

jerseygirl

Will be going to KoOlina Vacation Club in Oahu but will need to stay one night in Honolulu.

Please send any suggestions about a good hotel in Honolulu that won't disappoint compared to the fabulous Ihilani and KoOlina.

carolinept

It depends on your price range. My votes would be the Sheraton Moana Surfrider and the Halekulani-both are sure to "wow" you with their service and beauty.