sdix

Hopefully they have changed their attitude toward beach chairs and who can have them and who can't (see previous RH discussions) I will never stay in this property again given the treatment I received a couple of years ago. There are too many great hotels in Hawaii.

flyalotlm

We used three nights of our FWN award last weekend at the RH and had an enjoyable stay. Great service at check-in and throughout our stay. Though we worked through our Platinum Concierge before we left, and stopped by the front desk the day before we were to check-in, we were still slotted for an upgraded to the historical wing when we arrived even though we had been requesting an upgrade to the Ocean Front Tower. However, Elizabeth, who checked us in, gracefully worked with us on upgrading us to a Tower room that fit our needs. We were prepared to accept whatever the lounge offered, and we used it frequently and with pleasure. However, it was disappointing that it did not offer more than pastries and fruit in the morning. Pineapple and something as simple as boiled eggs would have been a nice simple addition. The coffee was very good. The very relaxed and quiet atmosphere accompanied with great service and beach location made for an enjoyable stay. The pool and jacuzzi were more than adequate for our basic needs, and eating at the nearby International Marketplace made for a more local experience.

DCF

I've just had the first of four stays at the Royal Hawaiian over a five week period, and here's my feedback.

The next 3 stays are booked into the Royal Beach Tower while this one saw me upgraded there,which was generous.

I do love this property, but the tower room renovations have been minimal, which surprised me. They have been painted but not re-modelled, which is a shame: the Tahiti Intercontinental used to have similarly poorly shaped rooms which they gutted and totally rebuilt, whereas these tower rooms are largely untouched, right down to still having the rust in the bathroom closets.

The money has gone on remodelling the public areas, and that's a mixed blessing too. Reception is now individual desks in the old concierge area, which was fine for my late-night check-in but leaves nowhere to queue to check-out.

Similarly, I'd been wondering where on earth they could have located the Royal Beach Tower's new Concierge Lounge. Turns out that it is in the previously unusued outdoor area next to the elevators. The breakfast was passable though,so it's a small advance.

In stark contrast, what they have done with the swimming pools is a giant leap backwards. The Royal Hawaiian's existing pool in front of the Beach tower is now half the size, with too many sunbeds occupying the space where previously you could swim. The trade-off, supposedly, is the "new free-form pool with water slides".

The new pool is on Royal Hawaiian land, but what they don't tell you is that it is operated as part of the neighboring giant 1,636 room Sheraton Waikiki, to try to improve their chronic undersupply of beach and pool space. The new pool would be great if it was just for Royal Hawaiian guests, but there are three times as many Sheraton guests competing for space, and it is already overcrowded - and it's not even school holidays in the USA.

In other words, the Royal Hawaiian remains a lovely historical monument, and the renovations have slightly improved the public areas of the building while barely touching the rooms. Unfortunately, they have also seen a massive deterioration in swimming pool access, as the existing pool has been shrunk and the "new" pool has actually been handed over to the giant hotel next door.

ajnaro

The rooms in the historic wing have been totally renovated. The result may be please you, or not, from the aesthetic point of view, but the decoration of the rooms, as well as the furniture, is crisp and new.

From the various comments that have been posted in this thread it seems clear that the renovations at the Royal Hawaiian have turned out to be a failure. They have not made the hotel more attractive to many of its guests, and that's what counts from a commercial stand point.

awymore

Booking a room with points for an upcoming Honeymoon stay at the Royal Hawaiian. Generally speaking; money (points) no object, which room is better; Royal Ocean Front or Tower Ocean Front?

Thanks!

travelingmore

We stayed this week at the RH, on a free night award. Nice property, easy access to a very nice beach, and a lunch restaurant and also a bar, both right on the beach. Beautiful view of Diamond Head, pretty good sandwiches and hamburgers in the $18-20 range for lunch. Free Internet access in the Business Center - great for a higher end hotel, and the decor in our 3rd floor renovated room was very nice - room a bit small but comfortable. Had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory adjacent, right on Kalakaua Blvd., mid Waikiki. Only disappointment - no Starwood points available as the Plat. amenity ( apparently that is standard at Luxury group of Starwood hotels, and the amenity is the hotel's choice), only a bottle of sparkling wine - and no amenity was offered; we only found out about it by asking later, and we declined the wine.

smat

I was in Waikiki last weekend. Spent 2 nites at the Moana Surfrider and then had a reservation for 2 nites at the Sheraton Princess across the street. When I got there they were overbooked, and asked if I'd mind moving to the Royal Hawaiian! YES!

They only had a garden view room with 2 doubles. No mention of my Platinum status at checkin (a strange open air checkin air, with no place to wait....it was hot/humid as can be and took forever). And from reading the previous post.....I didn't get the champagne (I did see it being delivered to other rooms).

Room was SMALL. It was nearly impossible to use the desk, since the chair backed into one of the beds. Also, a severe lack of electrical outlets. There was a power strip under the desk, that I had to pull out to try and plug my laptop into. Wireless connection was incredibly spotty (worked one day, not the other). Bathroom was also very small. Nice high ceilings in the room, nice decor, and big flat screen TV.

Also, my room was at the end of a wing, and it was quite a long distance to the elevator, so not very conveninent to "run" back to the room from the pool or shopping.

Public areas were lovely....nice quilt shop in the hotel. The parking area is under renovation and the self park garage is shared with the Sheraton and a LONG way from the Royal Hawaiian (which isn't apparent when you are first arriving).

Best thing was the airconditioning in the room and huge ceiling fan. Definitely kept the room nice and cool.

My stay was nice but I certainly wouldn't have been happy if I'd paid full boat (approx $350) for this room. I was given my Sheraton rate of $125 since I was "walked" there. At that rate I was pretty happy.......

7Continents

Having just read this, it definately puts my stay a few weeks ago in perspective...If the Tower rooms are as described above and are considered an upgrade over the historic rooms, and the pool has been decreased in size, then the owners are obviously looking to the middle class market by making the super pool accessible to the large Sheraton next door. In addition, they are putting a shallow non-swimmable infinity pool and extra deck space at the end of the lobby along with new dining options in the Sheraton. Putting the fact that the RH used to have more pool space and that the great room I had now views the new recreation area between the two hotels that used to be RH owned space, I definately can not see it being worth the LC price.

opus2002

I am trying to book a four night stay during Oct 2010. I am a little confused with the rates...booking heading said "Average Daily Rate Per Room". So, if I stay four days, is the total 390x4 or 390x3 given the description below? I called hotel...they gave me different rates than on the website.

It says stay 3 nights, get one night free, during ????....I don't see Oct listed below.

********************************************

Taste Of Luxury - Includes Full Or Buffet Breakfat Daily. Minimum 3-night Stay.

Daily Rate per Room: USD 390.00

Rate Plan Description
Taste of Luxury - Includes full or buffet breakfat daily. Minimum 3-night stay.. 4TH NIGHT FREE, JAN,FEB,APR,MAY,SEP,DEC 10,JAN 11 AND IS APPLIED AT CKIN. INCLUDES DAILY FULL BKFST FOR TWO AT SURF LANAI..

heathpack

Had a lovely C&P stay for 2 nights at the Royal Hawaiian. We thought the hotel was beautiful and a very relaxed change from the frenetic scene in Waikiki.

Checked in at 8am and room was available. Had a 2nd floor garden view room with a view of the roof of the covered walkway on the first floor. Check-in attendant mentioned that we'd been upgraded- we're SPG Gold members- from regular garden view to something slightly better (maybe "royal garden view?"). We loved the decor. Room had a huge closet, king bed, desk, dresser, two easy chairs, small table, coffee maker, fridge, IPod docking station, and bathroom with walk-in shower (no tub). Only negatives were that we had nosiy neighbors and we could hear everything they said and did (including the Led Zepplin they played on their IPod), we almost asked to be moved but in the end did not bother. Fortunately, the neighbors kept reasonable hours, and we like Led Zepplin, so all was ok. Bathroom also had no retractable clothesline, so it was hard to hang swimsuits to dry.

Public areas were beautiful, with an airy, relaxed feel. We had a great final evening in Oahu at the MaiTai bar at sunset. Great live Hawaiian music, good drinks, and we split an order of very tasty chicken wings. There is a nice assortment of chichi shops, we only spent time in the quilt shop. Also was a business center in which to print boarding passes. We did not use the pool or beach facilities, as we were out both days.

We self parked and the garage is a bit far from the hotel. You have to walk out the front door, down the front drive, past the Sheraton entrance and into the garage. Next time we would definately valet it.

Location was great if you want to be in Waikiki. Nice views of Diamond Head, fairly easy to get out of Waikiki on the Diamond Head side of things. Lots of shopping and dining all around, but we did not explore too much.

The very best part of this hotel was the service. Every single staff member that we interacted with during our stay was exceedingly pleasant, helpful and gracious. The staff exuded a real aloha spirit. We were very impressed.

Overall we really enjoyed our stay and would stay again in a heartbeat. Two solid thumbs up.

H

stephem

I am hoping someone here can help, been on the phone several times with the Platinum line and they are less than helpful.

Bottom line is that we need a 2 room suite, in other words one with a bedroom and a real door separating it from the living room area (we will have our 11 month old with us). I'm an SPG Plat with a decent stack of points, so I thought about (1) using points to get a suite or (2) buying a cash room and using points to upgrade (we are actually within the 5 day arrival period for instant upgrades). The platinum agents keep telling me that for option (1) it's 40k points per night and it would just be to a garden suite, which they claim isn't 2 separate rooms. For option (2), it's 20k per night on top of the $250 paid rate, but again to the same garden suite. This garden suite is only $495 per night, so not really a good use of points, but that is not relevant because that room doesnt work for us.

So I know I can "buy" one of the 2 room suites for about $650 cash per night, but I'd really like to avoid spending that much and would like to use some points. Has anyone booked a 2 room suite here with any combination of cash and instant upgrade points or just with points outright?

Starwood Lurker

Well, they can only sell what the hotel places in inventory as far as awards are concerned.

This isn't possible in advance through the Customer Contact Center. You might try asking at check-in as an instant upgrade award, but no one at the call center has access to sell these suite types using Starpoints.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

stephem

You have gone from being a very nice guy to kind of snide. What was unhelpful was not at all related to inventory, it was confirming the configuration of the room they were quoting me. I was ready to pay $500 per night, but I wanted to know if it was 2 separate rooms. The first answer: "I guess you'll find out when you arrive." That is "unhelpful" I think even you would agree because my vacation would be anything but with our baby in the same room. So I hung up and called again and found someone more helpful who was willing to dig and find out the true configuration of this category of room and that it likely wont work out.

What a different experience from the Hyatt Diamond line, where they are happy to call the hotels I am looking at and confirm that the suites have 2 separate rooms, and even put a note in the reservation that this is a necessity. I guess Hyatt is just a better option now that I have a baby...

Starwood Lurker

My apologies if you took it that way and if I misunderstood what the issue was. But, there is only one room type attached to the suite award rate plan at this hotel and that is all that Platinum Concierge can work with. I'm glad you were able to find out what you needed to know, however.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

AndDee

Have a reservation in June for the Westin Moana, but the rates have come down at the RH so I am now looking at the RH for my stay.

Trying to decide on either the

• Tower Ocean Front
• Royal Ocean Front

Reading back in this thread, the Royal Ocean Front rooms have a new bathroom whereas the Tower rooms just a bit of paint etc?

Any other difference and which would you choose