suite2suite

edgewood49

This is the way it has always been ! No change here

peteropny

bgriff

My 2 cents on this hotel: it's not perfect, but I think it's a decent option, especially considering that it's usually fairly cheap relative to other full-service properties in the area.

(For context I have stayed many times at the Westin Moana Surfrider across the street, and have also stayed at the Sheraton Princess next door and the Marriott Waikiki a bit to the east. The Sheraton Princess is probably a bit cheaper than the Regency, but is a much worse property. The Marriott is usually a bit more expensive and the Westin more than a bit more expensive, and all have their pros and cons, but overall the Regency is competitive with them.)

The good: big standard rooms, and the one I had at least was in pretty good recently renovated condition, especially by Waikiki standards. Good reasonably central location in Waikiki, not on the beach but separated from it only by a road. Japanese toilet (Toto Washlet) in the room. Pool setup is not great but again Waikiki grades on a curve.

The so-so: Regency Club space is small and sometimes gets crowded. Club breakfast is strictly continental, but I thought better-than-typical quality for what food was available: there was a nice smoked salmon display with all the fixings that seemed more Asian hotel club lounge than North American hotel club lounge to me (but most of my club lounge data points are Marriott/SPG rather than Hyatt so don't know if that may be brand driven). Similarly evening offerings were underwhelming by Asian standards but pretty good by North American standards, with a variety of nice salad options and veggies, charcuterie and cheese, soup, and a hot dish. I'd say just about getting into "potential meal replacement" territory if you wanted.

The bad: the property is huge and gets chaotic at times, and seems to be perpetually under construction in the public areas. Elevator waits can be long, but in theory is temporarily especially bad due to ongoing construction (on the one hand, said construction has been ongoing for years. On the other hand, crowded elevators are common at many Waikiki hotels, though admittedly this is worse than most). Gym is cramped and gets crowded, and stupidly is open to the elements (it's mostly enclosed, but there's no front door), meaning an afternoon workout could be much more sweaty than intended.


Still, considering that Waikiki is largely a collection of hotels that wouldn't even be able to stay in business at any other beach resort destination, never mind charge the sometimes eye-watering rates that they seem to command, you could do worse than this one.

MarkOK

After reading all the comments I was concerned, but I had a great stay here last month.

I was given a room on the top floor of the Ewa Tower with a mountain and city view. No upgrade to ocean view or suite given, and a vip guest manager apologized for that at check in, but they were oversold for the whole week. This I believe because there was no availability showing online for at least two weeks before the stay. Truth be told, I actually loved the city/mountain view (with a bit of ocean). (several years ago, I lived a few blocks away right above the green roofed catholic church for a year in a condo with a partial ocean view on one side and a full on mountain view on the other, and I always enjoyed the mountain view more).

We were asked a week before hand from the same VIP manager if we had a special occasion along with general questions about arrival times, and I told her that we were celebrating an anniversary just a few days prior to arrival but nothing else was special about the week. At check in she recognized our anniversary and provided a coupon to be redeemed for a free bottle of champagne at 'any restaurant' on the third floor (which we enjoyed with lunch the next day). When we got to our room, the room was decorated with flower petals throughout, a congratulations card was signed by staff, a bottle of champagne was on ice, and a gift basket was provided (coffee, jam, chocolates). Not sure what/if is related to globalist treatment vs anniversary vs a combination of both. But all of this felt very nice after spending the last few days on Hilo in a cramped room at the Doubletree which sufficed for sleeping but was otherwise completely lackluster in terms of hardware and service.

I saw the warnings about wait times for elevators but I never waited more than a couple of minutes for an elevator the entire week. I think twice on my way up, I had to wait for a second elevator, but that always came right away; on the way down, the elevator filled up a few times before it finished getting to all the floors, so not sure how those lower floor people were impacted but on top an elevator usually took 1-2 minutes to come.

Chromecast worked well, not that I got to Hawaii to watch TV, but I appreciate Chromecast when I need some down time.

Hardware was overall in good shape. The Shower handle moved a little bit on it's own (towards hot), but otherwise everything was great, including the Japaneses Toto toilet. Room service consistently came sometime in late morning/early afternoon when we were usually out to lunch.

Poolside service was great and we enjoyed the lunch food a couple of days -- nothing too special but was better than average for Hyatt poolside lunchfood (in my experiences). We didn't try the evening buffet, which is expensive -- it all looked great, but how much can you really eat anyways.

The pool deck was often busy but we always found a couple of chairs under an umbrella when we went, and always had room to fit in the hottub. The cabana rentals looked enticing but too expensive. Wish they would have an hourly rate vs just a day/half day rate as it would be nice to have a few drinks in the afternoon in one, but I won't use one for a whole half day.

The Regency club was okay. The breakfast was so-so, mostly continental like reported above plus miso soup and a 'hot dish' (which ranged in quality). It got busy in the morning but we always found a table. The evening food layout was average. I agree with the above that it isn't quite 'meal replacement' level, but there was a couple of days we had a late lunch (or big lunch) and the club food was good enough to keep us from needing to go out again, especially on chicken wing night. We never got charged for our alcohol in the club despite the price list and the logging of our drinks with our room number, and the wine pours were generous (though, the wine was just Canvas, if I remember correctly). The staff did try to close the bar a little early a couple of times, but once when we noticed it was about all packed up, we asked for a pour and they got the wine bottle out and filled our glasses happily. The club in the evening was fairly quiet when we went. The late desserts were nothing special, except one night when they had tiramisu. The main disappointment with the club was the frowning upon taking items form the fridge out of the club and the fridge was small and not well stocked anyways. I am not one to empty out a fridge, but it is nice to carry up a few bottles of fizzy water. The outside deck area I felt was essential to the value of the lounge. Great place to people watch and catch some night breezes. I would have been peeved if it was rented out (as has been reported before) as we found ourselves sitting out there most nights for at least a bit.

We had a late flight and asked for 'as late a checkout as they could give us'. Being a resort property, I don't think they are held to the 4PM check out benefit, so I just asked politely with no expectation. The front desk employee told us that our room was destined for another guest, but would check with someone, and after a minute she came back and said they would be happy to give us until 3PM. I was happy with that. And, this property was actually very strict about the WoH member line from what I saw. I got nearly immediate attention going to the elite check-in carpet whenever I went to the front desk, bypassing the regular line which was quite long a couple of times. (Whenever someone went to that WoH member line, the nearest front desk employee always asked if they were WoH members and if they weren't, they were told to wait in the other line).

Sure, this isn't some sort of intimate sand and sun beach resort property -- but if you love Waikiki for what it is, my experience with the HR is that it has great service, decent sized standard rooms, and a great Waikiki location.

The rate I snagged when I booked back in April was ~$180 per night. I'm not going to hesitate to book again on my next trip.

edgewood49

Great posting none too surprising is the downward movement in services, which started along tine ago with GS. I am however somewhat surprised at the apparent deterioration of the lounge and it's food offerings. Given that this is an Asian owned property and has a long history of catering to Asian travelers that surprises me. Witness say Guam Hyatt or any of the others in the region. The crowding comes in greta part to the hotel "selling or including" the lounge access to visitors. Food and beverage is been in a steady decline from the day the property was sold to GS with the hotel limo the first to go. Sad but it will continue until there's a slowdown in the economy and people get more selective on their travel/spend as surly as the sun will rise today the slowdown will come.

jxwo

I recommended the HR Waikiki to a friend, who booked his stay direct with no Hyatt membership. They offered (and he accepted) lounge access for $20 per night!

edgewood49

It's turned into a numbers game, the more they sell the more diminished the product becomes not realizing that there are many of us book this property for reasons one of which is the lounge, sadly like most on the beach it's becoming a thing of the past!

Sad as I really hoped the new ownership would bring the property back. I still think the Colony in it's time was one of the best restaurants on the beach to dine.

thekaica

I learned that management is considering major cuts to Swim and Regency Club staff. For Swim, they were going to eliminate the servers. This meant that guests would have to place their food and drink orders with a bartender. They've delayed any decisions until next year.

For Regency Club, they are cutting the number of hours per shift. Apparently management doesn't understand how busy it can get a times given all the up-sells. Supposedly the changes mean the staff are only to handle food and drink related tasks. This means guests will need to see the front desk for anything else. Apparently any decisions have also been delayed for now.

I've gotten to know many of the staff and they are a BIG reason I keep coming back. It does not appear management is seeking guest feedback so for what's it worth, please consider writing the GM if you think this is a wrong direction to take.

MarkOK

I am pretty sure I would never order anything poolside if it wasn't for a server that comes by every once in awhile. Ask if I want an alcoholic drink and I very well may, but I won't get up and out of my book to seek it.....

edgewood49

What about Barbara ? I think the union will have a lot to say about this, they're not going to allow jobs to be lost. Having said all this it's just another sign of costing cutting ( one has to pay for that huge housekeeping contracts as well as "equity capital's ) investment, There's a slow down coming watch what happens then

AirbusFan2B

Barbara is the utmost in hospitality in Waikiki and she does HR Waikiki such credit! It’s astonishing management would consider cutting SWIM service. We come in on a 10-hour flight and want as much service as we can get. If I have to run to the bar myself, I could stay at Hyatt Place or worse.

SF1K

There was indeed talk and concern about this - including Barbara. Seems things are safe for now. Yes of course Union would require another job but that could be in a different role. Similar to when they cut room service. Those were some very senior positions and a lot of reallocating occurred after that happened.

edgewood49

We are in a vicious circle of equity capital overpaying for properties cutting costs versus the unions pounding away for higher and higher wage rates. Disclaimer I own a general engineering/construction company 50% union. It's not the "wage in the paycheck" that any of us have issues with it's all the other "benefits" that unions pile on including their "cadillac" health program ( as defined by the US Government) The you have the ownership pushing the drive to the bottom line, essentially cost cutting. The most glaring example of this is the Hyatt when GS purchased the property within six months things that set it apart from other properties began to disappear, The Colony was closed, on and on. Then maintenance was severely cut back then BS purchased there was a mark down in purchase price due to the exterior deterioration however minimum was spent, what did they do redo the third floor pool deck shrinking the pool, further cutting back services. One good thing was the lounge being moved to the third floor. F&B tanked. My company was involved in some of the work to the deck.

This scene continues to be played out throughout the islands. Look at the Marriott Wailea, and then the Andaz ( ex Renaissance) we did a lot of structural work there as well.

Then here come the low cost airlines bringing more passengers than before all looking for rooms and the Hawaiian dream vacation. What will be interesting is when we enter another downturn or a catastrophic event happened. I had a business trip to the islands five days after 911 it was a ghost town.

Never the less the islands are a special place.

Maholo

thekaica

Management doesn't get the following Barbara has. She's not ready to retire. Given the coming holiday season, management probably won't make any decisions until next year. I've written the GM but haven't gotten a response. As a side note, a person from corporate was out recently to talk to the Regency Club staff. I thought it was a slap in the face to the Regency Club staff to see him partaking in the Regency Club offerings with the same staff they want to cut hours to.