Originally Posted by
HNLbasedFlyer
Wait a second - things need to be put into perspective. Margarita_Girl booked a City View room - and while I think the City View Rooms actually give a decent City View at the SW - those pictures are not partial ocean view, nor ocean view - but ocean front. And ocean front unobstructed views of Diamond Head don't have many similar hotels to compare. I'll go off of the top of my head - You've got Moana Surfrider, Royal Hawaiian, SW (previous 3 under same mgmt), Halekalani (closed and at easily triple+ the price - but I do recommend) - maybe Outrigger Reef (certainly not good pools/oceanfront infinity pool), and the much farther away Hilton Hawaiian Village - that's it - unless I'm really missing something (maybe the military hotel/Hale Koa).
And again, I get Margarita's disappointment with a suite - but the photo's are bucket list worthy even for a repeat visitor - and the weather has been off the chart fantastic (compared to NYE). I suspect those photos were sent to others outside of FT
I do hope for her vacation - those picture/views have helped with the disappointment.
There are other hotels with somewhat similar views. I was just at the Marriott Waikiki Resort and had similar ocean/Diamond Head view, but from across the street. Also at the SW, that is not an oceanfront room - those rooms just face the water and virtually nothing else, the ocean/Diamond Head views are a premium category called "Deluxe Oceanfront" which are rarely bookable online. On my last stay, I had to email my Marriott Hawaii rep to get that view confirmed in advance rather than take a chance of seeing nothing but water from the oceanfront room that I booked, and I didn't get the warm fuzzies that she would be able to do that for me on all of my stays. Personally I would forgo a suite upgrade just to get a higher floor room with this very view, it's why I come to Waikiki in the first place - it's certainly not for the obnoxious drunken tourists screaming and setting off fireworks in the middle of the night.
The Halekulani is open and has been for some time, although yes, Diamond Head Ocean view rooms are in the low 800s per night - and I haven't been getting any great TA or Kama'aina offers from them, but once those offers get back to a more reasonable altitude, we might end up switching our stays over there.
The main complaint that
Margarita_Girl, and some others like myself have, is after many years - in some cases over 20 years of stay history, the owners and management have simply turned up their noses at us and stripped away even some of the more basic "nice touch" extras, aside from now losing any type of priority for a suite or view upgrade, and being served a breakfast that rivals what is found in some middle schools in Kansas. It's not just nickel and diming - just look at the breakfast I was served at the Marriott a few weeks ago - I mean a THIMBLE of yogurt? Why even both unless you're just purposely insulting a category of guests for fun and giggles.
It's just not the same experience that most of us SW old-timers are used to from Kelly and team, and even his predecessors.