I just finished a weekend stay at the HHV. I booked this trip with Citi ThankYou points into the lowest room category Resort View Double Beds. I called the hotel and they were nice enough to add my Hilton number to the reservation after telling that technically I am not eligible for any benefits. A week before the stay I received an email that I could upgrade for $34/day to the Ali'i tower. Based on the many suggestions here, I took that offer. We ended up getting 1106 which is a nice room with partial full frontal ocean view. The balacony wraps around the building just enough to call this ocean front. We did not receive breakfast vouchers, however.

To my surprise Hilton ended up not billing us for the upgrade. I guess adding my number to the reservation may have caused that? Who knows.

The Ali'i desk did one tremendous favor for us. We were granted a late checkout at 6 pm without (!) having to pay the $108 fee. I would have gladly paid this fee as our flight was scheduled at 9 PM.

All in all, I found the front desk service and room at the Ali'i very good and above my expectations. I also found the Pupus served on Friday and Saturdays to be fully adequate for the occasion and our needs. The private pool also is a welcome change from the zoo that the HHV is.

The winner was the super late checkout. We have three kids and it would bhave been a pain to check out any earlier.