cblaisd

It's not the Best Western I've stayed in but the Honolulu Airport Hotel 2 or 3 times.

It's a basic 1980s hotel. It's very clean in the rooms and the furnishings are very tired. Rooms are small. They are beginning a hotel renovation and I understand some rooms are now done. If all you are wanting is a clean room and a bed for a few hours, it's fine. The fact that it is has an airport shuttle is a plus too.

With $60 worth of cabfare back and forth to Waikiki, it's probably a wash for getting a Pricelined Waikiki hotel vs. the HNL Airport Hotel. But on the couple of occasions that I've had misconnects and unexpectedly needed an overnight, the ~$100 kama'aina rate beat what I could have done on Priceline + cab fare.

KosraeTV

It's an Ohana hotel now and they are under going a decent upgrade to the furnishings and such. It was a dump now it's not bad. I just stayed there two weeks ago and the items in my room were new. TA rate was 125 or so a night which I think is steep, their prices for both the BW and this hotel have gone up the past year. Ohana owns both. I dont' know what the kama'aina rates are but I'd bet you're looking at more then 100 a night now.

I agree that you'll pay 60 bucks for waikiki taxi trip (back and forth) so this hotel isn't that bad for a one night stay. As I normally have a 7 am departure I will stay at the honolulu airport hotel for the past year (for one night stays) but if I am spending more then one night then I will stay in Waikiki. I prefer this hotel over the BW because 1) BW's pick up service is TERRIBLE !!! As I land at 2 - 3 am in the morning the last thing I want to do is wait at the curb for two hours waiting on them to find or wake up their driver. The BW raised their prices even higher then the HNL airport hotel also. The shuttle driver for the HNL airport hotel is generally right on schedule and since I've had up to 13 bags in the past he didn't blink an eye at how much he had to transport and was very helpful. So give me that kind of service at a low(er) end hotel and I'll stay kind of loyal.

cblaisd

All sounds very much in line with my experience.

Kama'aina rate in October was $99; now it's $109-$119

slippahs

Could just be the difference between high season and low season pricing, perhaps?

cblaisd

Dunno. And my stay in October was the day after the earthquake and the reservation was made same-day. So I have no idea how all those factors interact.

KosraeTV

While prices at most hotels vary depending on the season, I don't think this is the case at the airport hotel and BW (but outrigger does change in the seasons). When Ohana took over their operations (or whatever happened) they (Best Western and HNL Airport Hotel) both had a price increase. The business rates went up, the regular rates went up, the Travel Agent Rates went up, everything went up. You also could book things through the BW TA web site and also go directly to the HNL Aiport hotel web site for items but now everything is through Ohana's web site and the HNL Airport hotel's old web site I can't even find anymore.

I know I've gotten the same TA rate at the HNL Airport Hotel and the BW no matter the season until they did what I assume was an across the board rate increase. I'm not even sure what the regular rates are anymore for either of them.

I know now if you go through Best Western and use their travel agent web site the HNL Airport BW does not qualify for BW TA rates and you have to go through Ohana's web site. I'm not sure what that means as far as other BW promo's go however it seems that this one operates by their own rules and reg's. Since I don't use priceline or others like it I'm not sure how they are being listed or at what prices they are being listed at under those programs but I would assume everything is higher in price now compared to a year ago.

But Ohana is operating more then a few hotels now and they are doing upgrades to a lot of them not just the HNL Airport hotel. They were having some decent prices on some places that were going through renovations but nothing near where I wanted to stay.

slippahs

Thanks for the in-depth analysis, KosraeTV. ^

cblaisd

I had a return from the mainland arriving at 5pm with a meeting the next morning in the Nu'uanu valley at 8:30 a.m. So I really just wanted a cheap (in Hawaii terms) place to stay without the hassle or expense of getting into Waikiki.

So I Hotwired and ended up at the Pacific Marina Inn.

Ugh.

Ugh.

The best thing about them is that they have a quick airport shuttle. The grounds are also suprisingly nice. But this is a hotel right out Paul Theroux's novel. The staff are wonderfully old-Hawaii and cheerful. Lots of locals about celebrating pau hana. But the rooms are dreadful, simply and awfully dreadful. Horrid bed, abused and cruddy pressboard furniture from the 1890s (it seems). You know you're in for a fine hotel experience when at check-in you are given both your key and the remote control for the tv. Did I say the rooms are dreadful? Very, very tiny. Very noisy window unit airconditioner with two speeds, off and jet-roar-level. But it's so high on the wall that even at 6"1" I couldn't read the labels on the knobs.

(Note: I might be *slightly* more charitable if UA hadn't lost my bag, promised it to me by midnight, and then delivered it to someone else in a hotel in Waikiki) Spending the night in a dreadful hotel room with no clean clothes -- my fault, I know, for checking a bag or not having a change of clothes in my laptop bag -- makes one grouchy

KosraeTV

Out of curiosity, what was the price? I've heard of a few locals from my area stay there too.

cblaisd

Well, here is the embarrassing thing: I Hotwired it for $96, with taxes and Hotwire fees total was $114. Then figured out the kama'aina rate was less.

KosraeTV

Ouch, sorry I asked. I was only trying to figure out if the hotwire and this place was better or worse then the HNL airport hotel.

OT alittle bit, but locals (my locals) who want to also wake up and get some things before their flights (meaning staying near Ala Moana) have stayed at (with what I hear roughly their reported advertised rates are):

Hawaii Polo Inn and tower - I think 70 a night - closest to ala moana
Aqua Marina - 120 a night
Maile Sky court - 90 a night (about a mile and half from ala moana)
Ambassador hotel of Waikiki - 90 a night

Taxi to Ala Moana area is probably roughly 40 - 50 round trip. I've never stayed at any of them nor recommend them, just have heard about these places.

After what you reported I'm still sticking with HNL Airport Hotel.

EDIT: most have stayed and returned to Maile Sky Court

cblaisd

Room is much, much worse. Restaurant (yes, I was too tired to go anywhere else) about the same (okay, not bad/not great) but with a more limited menu than the Airport Hotel.


I had a not terribly pleasant stay there. It's one of the few hotels in Waikiki where the rooms don't have lanais (which I think is one of the great treats of Waikiki hotels) -- and I got stuck in a malfunctioning elevator for an hour with a seriously crazy person who had (he told us) stopped taking his meds.

Good plan.

Next time I'm just gonna sleep on slippahs' lanai

GrizShel

This might not help you get a great room at a great price by the airport, but at least for Waikiki, they seem to be a great option for saving on bookings:

http://www.discounthotelshawaii.com/

Has anyone else tried them?

They don't charge booking fees of any kind, and they got me a room at the Aqua Coconut Plaza Hotel for $65 a night (seems like a perfectly ok place to stay).

jtkauai

The HNL airport hotels are really a mess. BW is the least messy I guess (haven't been for about a year, before their "remodel"), but the area and these hotels attract a lot of vagrants. Don't be wandering outside at night folks, this ain't Waikiki. We've sworn that the next time we come back in the middle of the night and are waiting for our first out flight in the morning, we're just going to sit it out at the airport (yes, that's how bad they are).

ps: cblaisd, we're laughing with you about pacific marina. it is disgusting (and yes, nice grounds). i trust you didn't even look out your window or step outside, as that is usually even worse even than what's inside the rooms. with any luck the police were around arresting people at the hotel, so you had them there if needed.

kaukau

Sounds yummy! We've got overnight kama'aina reservations at the Best Western Plaza Hotel, as it's oficially named, on 3/14, for $119.00, in order to make our 0815 Junkstar connection to SYD on 3/15, since we're flying out of JHM on WP the evening prior (JHM is daylight op.'s only, and the first flight out doesn't cut it). I'll post our experience. Has anybody found their airport shuttle reliable? I'm thinking we'll just cab it from the airport.