Had occasion to stay for the first time at the Best Western Plaza hotel this week, after a sort-of misconnect.

The hotel is owned by the same folks that own the Ohana Airport Hotel. It too (like the Ohana) has been recently renovated, and the rooms have new furniture, carpeting, and bedding. The rooms are smallish, though. Pretty much like a standard 2* mainland Best Western.

The "high speed" internet (wired in room; wifi in the lobby) was abysmal. It was much faster to tether to my cell phone.

The place was doing a land-office rush business the night we were there following several UA ex-mainland late flights that caused folks to miss their neighbor island connections.

The shuttle runs on the hour and half hour, and the shuttle driver was very, very helpful and friendly.

The restaurant stayed open late to accommodate all the folks UA told the hotel were coming. There was no order-off-of-the menu, only a buffet (the UA voucher covered the salad/dessert bar only; it was $10 more for the hot buffet which we passed on). In one of the wonderfully quirky things that one learns to love discovering in Hawai`i, the "cold" salad bar included a big bowl of the best ahi poke I have ever eaten. I asked the restaurant manager about this and he said that the chef indeed makes it himself from an old family recipe. There were also very yummy oysters on the half-shell on the cold salad bar.

As with Ohana Airport Hotel, this is hardly a destination hotel; it is just fine for situations like ours or for needing a bed before an early flight and not to have to worry about the hassle/cost of getting to the airport from Waikiki. One caveat: standing outside the lobby, which is a few feet from both Nimitz and the overhead H-1 freeway, the noise is deafening from the traffic. If you end up here don't get a room that faces the freeway.