Doubletree Alana Hotel Waikiki or <link>
1956 Ala Moana Boulevard, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States 96815-1897
Tel: 1-808-941-7275 Fax: 1-808-949-0996
Check-in: 3:00 PM; Check-out: 12:00 noon.

AAA Hotel Diamond Rating: <> <> <>
Hilton HHonors Reward Category: 6 (40,000 points per night)

Anna Nguyen, Hilton HHonors Guest Service Manager

Location: easy walk to Waikiki, Ala Moana shopping Center, HWV, northwest of Waikiki about three blocks inland. Plenty of places to shop, eat (including some Rewards Network and some 1,000 points OpenTable locations).

Getting there: taxi from HNL, about $30. Robert's or other shuttles from the airport cheaper for one, but can take serpentine routing to get you there. Traffic can be a bear on the Honolulu expressways at times. (If you have your own vehicle parking is $27 daily, valet only.)

Otherwise: From HNL airport, take Nimitz Highway from the airport going east. Nimitz becomes Ala Moana Blvd. Left on Ena Road. Right on Kalakaua Avenue. Right on Ala Moana Blvd. Hotel will be on the right side, second structure from the corner. 8 miles, 15 to 30 minutes, traffic-dependent.

Property: Arriving on Ala Moana, you arrive at the Lower Lobby level (LL) walk up a short concrete staircase (bell staff available to help with baggage, etc.) or ramp, and take the escalator to the second (lobby) floor, where the actual check-in desk is.

Service and Diamond Treatment: We arrived late (about 10 PM) and were greeted warmly, with cookies - but the two bottles of water we were told were in the room were not. We were given suite 1718 (all even numbered rooms are mauka and have Mountain / City views, odd numbers are makai and have Ft. De Russy / HWV / distant Ocean Views). 1718 and 1717 are adjacent to the elevator banks and the housekeeping storage / service closet, and can be noisy - though the bedroom is buffered by the living room in the suites. (Housekeeping gets active about 8:00 and can also be noisy with slamming doors, etc.)

Staff are warm, friendly and laid back - it can be easy for someone to forget what they said you would get, response may be friendly but slow, etc. You are in Hawai'i, so it's good to let the "Type A" and wiki-wiki (hurry-hurry) attitudes remain back on the mainland.

The room: Suite 1718 has presumably been reconditioned, and refurbishments are ongoing right now; they are scheduled to be finished late January 2011. Until then, weekdays you can experience construction noise 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM, and today we have an announced water service interruption during those times to boot - by nine it sounded like the suite above us was being stripped of trees by a herd of rowdy elephants, whilst ably aided by Rosie the Riveter and a flock of pakalolo-crazed woodpeckers.

The furnishings are "spare neotropical" - dark woods, turquoise highlights, sofa / stuffed chairs and blackout curtains, cream textured walls, plenty of storage (two closets and chests), wet bar with Wolfgang Puck mini-hockey puck coffee coffee service, etc. A sofa - daybed - chair combo offers a spare (small double) bed, but there are insufficient amenities for that. There is a large-screen LG LCD TV in living room.

The bath is spacious, with a luxurious hansgrohe rain shower in the shower-tub, but there is insufficient surface area for toiletries for more than one person, and the door to the bedroom has a fiberglass insert that allows light. No amenities other than extended Neutrogena (the tiny cleansing and moisturizing cream tubes), and the usual "HH Collection" cotton toweling.

There is plenty of light throughout, large plate glass windows (morning sun can be bright!) with a lanai to look at the mountains and clouds (and traffic below) from. Soundproofing is about average - quiet at these altitudes at night usually, but when the keiki (children) next door awoke, auwe! we could hear them only too clearly. Day traffic can be heard in the room as well, but it's not overwhelming (it might be, on lower floors.)

The work surface is a glass table with lamp, two-line phone, Ethernet cable (but I am posting using the hotel's strong WiFi signal, $10.42 daily with tax, free for Diamonds). The chair is semi-"S" shaped and not very comfortable or flexible (too low for long use of the desk and keyboarding), the glass surface is not mouse-friendly (I am using the three-fold hotel service directory).

Restaurant: J's Restaurant itself (lower lobby) is low (I am 6'4" / 193 cm and find myself hunching a bit walking around, but it's psychological as the ceiling is a little higher than that), feeling a bit dark and stark. Staff is friendly and welcoming, but there's one bug guy who is headed for a sexual harassment suit if he's not a bit more hands-off (it ain't just the Spirit of Aloha, brah). Brekkies 5:30 - 10:30 AM, Lunch is offered 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM, and dinner / room service starts 5:00 PM and is all pau (finished) at 10 PM.

[B]Continental breakfast[B]: As Diamonds we were given two coupons good for the somewhat miserly Continental breakfast - you can add $5.00 if you wish to upgrade to a breakfast with two eggs your way and breakfast meat (we did not do so, as we are generally light breakfast eaters). The Conti brekkies here offers guava, pineapple and orange juice, a carafe of coffee for the table, honeydew and cantaloupe melon (ah, it's winter, but in Hawai'i there's sufficient warmth to assure ripe fruit!) and pineapple chunks, yoghurt, cereals, cottage cheese, a selection of breads including mini-scones, mini-croissants (awful!), bagels (we ain't in New York, don't expect NYC bagels!) with cream cheese, apple turnovers, and a selection of wheat, sourdough and white bread, butter and some jam packets. It's adequate, but not very tropical or bounteous, though the gracious waitress offered to bring boiled eggs out for us.

Summary: We use the property for short stays (we move to HGVC - HWV Lagoon Tower today, arriving there after 10 PM was a shortcut to "whatever's left"), and find it quite adequate. This ain't the Waldorf=Astoria, and it's a darn sight better than a Hampton. Our rate was MVP at $127 just before Thanksgiving, and our expectations were met. For a longer term or award stay, this would generally not be our choice Honolulu property.

Caveat: Refurbishment IS going on (theoretically over by Feb 2011) and it gets noisy here about 8:00 am weekdays. Worth $80 - 120, not worth your 40,000 point spend (especially compared to, say, Prince Kuhio or Embassy Suites). BTW, pets are allowed in this property (once you get them to Hwai'ii, of course.)