Fredd

There are a lot of other options, from the pho I mentioned a couple of posts back, right up to Alan Wong's, where we ate a couple of nights ago - see here and here for pictures and a brief description of our meal.

FWIW We're now staying away from the on-site restaurants.

Cheers,
Fredd

hiflyer66

That's a very irritating trend. You can't walk past a concierge desk at the HHV (or any other kiosk, on Waikiki for that matter) without getting accosted for time-sharing.

To the management at HHV, I say: good luck with that!

Unfortunately, they should, despite this rough period for tourism here, stick to their loyal customers and focus on what they do (once did) best...provide a great product in a beautiful setting.

linsj

That's not true. The new tower, Grand Waikikian, was built as a timeshare tower. They are not converting hotel rooms.

Fredd

Please quote me in context. What I said was:

They're either converting to timeshares or suffering financially or both. Still, the setting is marvelous, and our Rainbow Tower room is just fine.

I don't have a dog in the fight, but if you're saying that an entire new tower was built as a "timeshare tower," one could argue, if one wished to, that a higher percentage of the property than before now consists of "timeshare" rooms, i.e. it's "converting" to timeshares. @:-)

In any case, perhaps that explains such factors as the "concierges" seeming to double as timeshare appointment-makers. Perhaps the limited opening hours of Bali by The Sea and Village Steak and Seafood, coupled with the lack of customers in the shops that dot the property, support the opinion that they're not thriving financially at the moment.

I'm simply trying to figure why the property seems to hold some odd surprises for guests. It's a lovely property with some strange wrinkles for those of us who've stayed in other resorts and other Hiltons. Yes, I'll stay there again if the price is right, despite its imperfections

Cheers,
Fredd

gvaughn

As far as I know timeshare bookings are not done by on-site staff at all. In fact, most timeshare bookings are done online...but I'm fairly certain concierge staff are not spending their time booking rooms for timeshare owners

The issues you are seeing have little to do with timeshare...and a lot to do with the piss-poor economy we are in.

Fredd

The Concierge in the Rainbow Tower is seated right next to the folks who make timeshare presentation appointments. We were referred to them immediately when we went down for what we thought might be a Diamond amenity gift, we made an appointment and enjoyed the 90-minute presentation, and we look forward to the 20,000 points deposited in our account. I give them full credit for not accosting us as we walked by or anything similarly crass; still, the timeshare presence is obvious.

No, there are a few too many anomalies and glitches during our stay at this property to blame it all on the economy, although tourism is clearly taking a big hit in Hawaii as well as elsewhere.

avsfan33

Just completed an AXON (got in at 125,000) stay here from 2/20 - 2/24. "Comp" upgrade to Tapa Tower and when I asked politely about Rainbow upgrade, as I have always received as Diamond on paid or award stays, I was told that they no longer give that one for free but for $49 I could have a corner Rainbow Tower room. Mrs. avsfan33 and I decided to pay it as we really enjoy the view and fireworks from the Rainbow Tower. Front desk clerk claimed that corporate back on the mainland will not let them comp the higher end rooms now. Yeah right. Oh well, we enjoy it here and for $49 a night it was OK with us for this stay.

Only used the free breakfast buffet coupons 2 times and did not upgrade. It seems as though there aren't enough workers here, as we had to wait both times for a table even though there were empty ones. Most of the stores were vacant with the only exception being the ABC store of course. Whenever we stepped into a jewelry store the workers were on us like a used car salesman, but they do not want to deal at all.

We will stay here again, mostly for sentimental reasons, but if they continue to nickel and dime for everything like $24 for self-parking and the upsell on the rooms, we may end up trying out the Embassy down the road.

Fredd

Oh, and I did run across this in Post #1561:

About one-third of the hotel rooms in the newly opened Hilton Kalia Tower, 138 out of the total of 453, will be rebuilt [my bold] into 72 timeshare units, a mix of luxurious studio and condominium-style one-bedroom units.

http://www.waikikinews.com/02date/dateline.003.html

That sums up our feelings after one five-night stay.

Cheers,
Fredd

linsj

That's old news from 2003. I thought you were talking about current conversions.

Fredd

Timeshare sales are important at this property:

But Hawaii timeshares accounts for over 27 percent all timeshare resorts among the top 33 properties on the list. The Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas North timeshares, ranked 21; the Sands of Kahana Vacation Club timeshares, was number 24; Hilton Grand Vacations Club at Hilton Hawaiian Village was number 29... http://tinyurl.com/carwte

I'll leave it to timeshare fans or boosters of this particular property to debate whether the "newly-opened" Grand Waikikian represents a continuing and ongoing "conversion" of the property or simply an "increase" in the percentage of units that are timeshares at the property.

As for me, I don't really care but I continue to idly wonder about the causes, whether connected to the timeshares or not, of the sloppiness and deficiencies that detracted from our visit.

Why, to cite some examples, a bathrobe is considered such a very special amenity that it's available only in the Ali'i Tower and not the Rainbow Tower, why the tub in our paid-upgrade frankly crummy "garden-view" Ali'i room didn't drain properly until maintenance employees came to the rescue with a coat-hanger snake, why it took 12 hours for the air conditioning to cool the room down below 70 degrees, why nobody answered any of the "restaurant reservations" phone lines in the middle of the afternoon, why a concierge couldn't tell me when the restaurants are open without consulting a list because "they're always changing," why an Italian restaurant with decidedly mixed consumer reviews charges $49.95 a plate for Osso Bucco, why there was up to a 15-minute wait for a table at the breakfast buffets.

Just wondering...

Cheers,
Fredd

gvaughn

I think I may have misunderstood your quote in my last post, but am not sure. I now take it you were referring to people on the premise booking sales presentations (vs. actual vacation bookings)? If so...yes they do have staff do that. But that's been going on for YEARS...and I don't think it's very pushy at all, but YMMV. I had originally thought you were talking about timeshare vacation bookings.

There are lots of posts in these forums regarding the timeshare presentations, including info about how you can get a good amount of HHonors points in exchange for taking some time for the presentation - such as your post above. I'm not going to argue one way or the other whether or not it's annoying, or something you can benefit from if you play your cards right...but there are people on these forums who have taken both positions in these threads about that - and it's not something new.

I do believe that most of the idiosyncracies you speak about (other than the timeshare stuff mentioned above) are due to economic times...but that's just my opinion.

Fredd

Fair enough, and despite the negatives noted above (also just our opinion) we will happily return if the price is right - friendly staff and an absolutely gorgeous location.

gvaughn

adding additional units and calling it a "conversion" is a stretch in my opinion. But to each his own.


The Ali'i tower is considered a higher end tower. Not sure why...but it is.

You can either chalk it up to the Hawaiian way (like taking a siesta) or the economy. Not sure what timeshares have to do with it.

The economy is leading to staff shortages...I'm fairly sure it's been documented in these forums previously.

Again...it's the economy. Less staff per guests (ratio), and the fact that there are less options, makes the remaining available options more crowded.

Fredd

You mean like a real Hilton Hotel, with bathrobes in the rooms and a lounge open to Diamond Elites?

hiflyer66

Bad news today in the HNL Star Bulletin. Wells Fargo, under pressure, just canx'ed 11,000 room night equivalents for the month of May. And the hits just keep on comin' for the HHV.

http://www.starbulletin.com/business..._pullback.html