Originally Posted by
andset1191
Overall A credible alternative hotel in Waikiki, and a decent base if the true resort hotels are off scale budget wise. A solid 7/10.
Based on this review, the fact that this was 10k points cheaper than my usual haunts, and that the Hilton Waikiki/Kuhio sold out, I gave this place a spin this weekend. Pleasantly surprised, happy with the great service. Room on 17th floor, they were pretty booked up but I got a mid level upgrade as diamond. Waters and cookies handed to me at check in, some nice cold water in lobby with melon fruit flavoring for refills. No view to speak of and it is a little 7-8 min walk to the main drag of Waikiki, but for a slightly more business hotel, it worked out fine for me and my son for a spontaneous weekend getaway.
Breakfast is decent for a continental- three kids of fresh island juices, salami, pastry (guava bread!), oatmeal and congee, toast, cereals, fruit, etc. I didn't get the hot buffet outside - for 16 bucks to get eggs and bacon added on, I didn't bother.
Pool has no hot tub. Simply it's a cool-off lap type pool, we used it once.
The staff was excellent - went the extra mile. Valets helpful, let us temp park out front when we were just running in for bags, etc. The hotel does have a hospitality room (available first come first serve IF the property is not sold out). I went north shore, got saltwater and sweaty, needed to clean up before my late night flight home. Came back and asked for hospitality room... And they'd sold out. Arg! But the manager and front desk staff went extra mile and made another available - very cool, don't know if they did that for Diamond or just because they're nice, but I left some great feedback because that made the trip (who wants to start a 6 hour flight coated in sand and seawater?
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I was going to try the new HGI,but their restaurant isn't open yet and for 10k more I wasn't going to do some temp breakfast. I'll try HGI later in the fall.
I would not hesitate to come here as a good place to stay and base out of. If you want to sit in a nice room with a view of ocean, this isn't your property, but if you do an active Hawaii vacation where you're out a lot, this is a solid base.
Mahalo!