I love the The Hilton Hawaiian Village! I loved it a little more when Conrad and Barron owned it, but I still love this grand property. Sure there are better properties on the Island - but I keep coming back all these years later as I have fond memories of bringing my, then, young girls and their friends to the resort. This visit is different; it's an eye opener, I wasn't prepared.
I booked an Ocean Front and was notified upon check-in that I was upgraded to a corner Diamond Head view room. I was also notified that the only tower on the property that is open was the Rainbow Tower - oh, and none of the resort's restaurants or bars are open and parking is "self" - as they have no valet. Food is available across the street at the Rainbow Bazzar.
Record rain still coming down.
Gorgeous view, but wow this room and tower is tired.
I dropped my bags then headed out to the ABC store for water and supplies. I then picked up a Round Table pizza for an early dinner. I stayed in and enjoyed the storm and finalized meeting details and called it a night.
Honolulu had record rains during my visit. They recorded more rain in one day than my hometown gets annually.
I woke at 3am still on PST. I tossed and turned and stared at the ceiling until I decided to get up and go climb KoKo Crater since my meeting wasn't until 11.
I arrived at the trail head just before dawn. I was excited to to climb the 1058 railroad ties as I have climbed The Incline in Manitou Springs, CO with my daughters on several occasions when Mrs. Glasman and I are in Colorado visiting.
Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve in the distance - which was closed.
After my hour long up and back trek, I nursed my trembling legs by taking a drive out to see Robin's Nest of Magnum PI fame. Rumor has it, the compound will be the future vacation home of previous President Obama.
Time to head back to the HHV to get ready for my meeting.
We arranged to meet at Restaurant 604 by the Arizona Memorial for a working lunch.
...which claimed to have the Best Bloody Marys in Hawaii.
Ok, we will be the judge of that.
Wonderful bay front views from our table.
Adequate cocktail menu.
Workable Lunch Menu
Again great views. 😃 No photos of our meal as we had our work spread all over the table.
After a successful and extended meeting, my work colleague completed 604's contact trace form. We said our goodbyes and agreed to meet up in Dallas in April.
I then headed back to the HHV to explore the property and catch up on work.
After a quick change of clothes, I went out to explore a mostly deserted, but beautiful resort. Layers of dust in the Rainbow Tower Restaurant.
No beach towels... but a resort fee?
Rainbow Tower, est. 1968. Where we ALL were staying.
Hau Tree Bar, closed.
The famous beach front Tropics Bar.....
Pad Locked.
With 95% of the HHV stores closed and most vacant, Louis Vuitton wasn't one of them.
Tapas Bar - Closed and dusty.
I do love the posted timeline of the history of the resort located on the North side of the closed Tapas Tower. Better than Wikipedia.
Kuhio Tower. Closed. Dirty.
I could go on. I am so amazed at what this pandemic has done to our economy, especially Hawaii's! What is normally a bustling resort, is now a victim of our current state. I'm guessing the HHV is operating at 8-10% employment, that is 100's of local jobs. I don't know how they are keeping afloat. I cant wait to return in better times.
Next. Back to California; United really out-performs.