bocastephen

Just returned back to the mainland tonight after 4 nights at the Sheraton Waikiki and here is my summary and review:

• Status: Lifetime Platinum
• Stay: 4 nights - Kama'aina rate Oceanfront King included parking, but still with resort fee. I asked about my infamous "alternative amenity" and after some backpedaling and double-speak from the check-in agent, who tossed a word salad of "points, breakfast, gifts", another agent came by and handed me a gift bag of snacks and a Hawai'i motif coffee mug, then my agent handed me 4 coupons for 2 drinks+1 appetizer at Rumfire, then realizing there were two of us, handed me another stack, I think I ended up with 10 coupons by the time she was done - more on that in the Rumfire section below. I would have preferred waiving the resort fee vs playing the game of "let me claw back my $36 with guava juice and marlin dip", my waistline didn't need either of them.
• Upgrade: Was contacted pro-actively before arrival by my corp sales rep regarding another reservation, and I asked to confirm my traditional room with an Ocean-Diamond Head view - and figured out this is the "Deluxe Oceanfront" category which was not bookable on the website for some reason, but she arranged a guaranteed upgrade to the deluxe category and I didn't bother asking for a suite, I just wanted that view
• Room: I haven't been back here for awhile, but appreciated the renovated room, styling, cleanliness and well maintained quality of the room - although the rooms are a little tight, but at least they are much larger than the Moana Banyan rooms which are barely the size of a Carnival inside cabin
• Breakfast: Complimentary continental buffet was pretty much as every one else described. I would have appreciated more pineapple as a fruit option, and things with more actual taste. The egg button do-dads were absolutely tasteless aside from some residual spinach flavor, plus any flavor I was able to get from dumping a couple packets of catsup on each one. The sausage patties were dry as a bone and felt like we were gnawing on salted leather, although the links were better. Only the hashbrowns were decent. I would have preferred a simple American breakfast plate with a couple eggs, some sausage or bacon, pancakes and fruit, but hopefully once the lounge re-opens this breakfast situation will improve on its own
• Pool: Based on reports upthread, we were pretty concerned about getting lounges at the infinity pool on our designated beach day, so we reserved ahead of time and paid the fee. Ended up with 3 individual cabanas since they moved the layout around after we booked and we couldn't get our double+single side by side. The family pool was far more chaotic and we would have never wanted to sit there, or go in that water. The infinity pool was nicer, although I spent my splash time in the ocean, which I prefer. The downside is you can only get beach lounges with umbrellas from the Royal and you need to pay a fee. We ended up with another partial day at the pool/beach and instead of reserving, took our chances at some first-come lounges, and had no problem getting 3 together. Now this experience applies to what I would guesstimate was ~~50% occupancy, so when things really ramp up, if you must have a chair, I would suggest just paying for what you want and not stress over it. The morning I checked out, there was already a line up at the pool station before the staff even arrived.
• Restaurant: Each night we went down to Rumfire to cash in our coupons, including one night where 3 of us managed to create a full dinner from marlin dip, chicken wings, and the cheese platter. We had so many of these coupons, we ended up bringing two extra marlin dips with us on the flight home, thanks to the malfunctioning room fridge that froze everything overnight. I can't say enough about how friendly the staff are here, they were all great!
• Beach: No issues with the beach, the construction was no where near the Sheraton, although the project silted up the water quite a bit
• Check out: We didn't need late check-out due to a noon flight, but we settled the account the night before and called guest services with a "we're leaving" courtesy call on our way out

The Sheraton Waikiki was/is my go-to hotel for any of my visits or staycations at Waikiki, and nothing about this stay will change that. I am not a big Moana fan, and the Marriott branded property was completely underwhelming, so no need to go back there. Once occupancy returns to normal, we will see how things go with quality and services. I am still annoyed about staff at all of these hotels messing around with the Alternative Amenity nonsense, it's been years already to just settle on something and give it out - but I think we probably paid out $144 in resort fees and ate/drank $250 in coupons at Rumfire, but I have no idea how she calculated that many coupons and if I received the correct number.

A lot of closed shops around Waikiki, and Ala Moana Mall, which was sad to see. The mall has 90%+ mask compliance, but the streets over by the beach were very mixed, I would say 50-60% compliance and the police were not taking even a moment to caution anyone. Security was throughout the Sheraton to catch anyone maskless. A few Japanese guests were there, and I walked by a JAL departure gate this morning that had maybe 15 people waiting - the Japanese market will not come back so long as they need to quarantine upon returning home. I also noticed a number of guests wearing some kind of meeting name badge, so not sure if the hotel was hosting a day event in a conference room, or if it included overnight stays.

Editing to add: At check-in I was asked without prompting if I wanted a late check-out, so in a nutshell, everything went smoothly and as expected at check-in aside from the alternative amenity discussion, but it seems we ended up coming out ahead with that one anyway, albeit a few lbs heavier.

hhoope01

Closing thread while Moderators review.

Cleaned up a number of off-topic posts. Reopening, but lets keep the posts on-topic from here on out.

hhoope01
Marriott Bonvoy Forum Co-Moderator

HNLbasedFlyer

How does one pull off that rate when not a resident?

bocastephen

Not germane to the thread, but there is nothing to "pull off" when one is a resident with documents to prove such.

HNLbasedFlyer

Oh ok, your location says LAX/TPE - seemed to imply you don't live here.

bocastephen

Forgot to add to my review that there was no Elite check in line or desk. I checked in early and didn’t need to wait long, but during my stay there were long lines from 2-4pm waiting for check in and less than a full number of agents to handle the demand. The line could have easily run 30-45 minutes.

if you’re an elite arriving earlier in the day, I strongly suggest requesting early check in and get to the hotel sooner rather than later. Online check in and digital keys are not available because you must show your QR code to the agent.

MSPeconomist

This seems ridiculous that a large hotel cannot have an elite line. It's supposed to be a benefit. Is this a COVID-19 "enhancement"? I assume they're not practicing social distancing in the line, right?

edgewood49

It might be simple cost cutting not having a dedicated lineI think though it is called for in the franchise agreement of course there are a lot of things that are called for. On the mainland there is a critical shortage of workers mainly due to the unemployment enhancements that Congress seems to addicted to. So many employers as having problems finding people to work. I know in our non union operation it's an issue even thought our minimum wage is 20hr.

MSPeconomist

Sorry, but I don't see any additional cost associated with an elite line beyond the investment in signage and perhaps a rug. The agent working the elite line calls the next person from the regular line whenever there are no elite customers waiting. In fact, you could argue that this saves money if not all agents need to be trained in elite benefits and program rules.

anteater

Agreed. It’s a massive hotel too, akin to checking into the Westin St. Francis during DreamForce week without a dedicate queue.

margarita girl

Pre-pandemic, the SW had an awesome Elite check in line. There was a separate desk manned by 2 agents, and there were also 6-10 agents to check in everyone else. If the Elite line got bogged down, one of the agents from the regular check in line would come over and take the next Elite guest to a regular check in desk (even if there were a dozen people waiting in line there). This was one of the many Elite recognition procedures put in place by Kelly Sanders, the outstanding GM who left shortly after the Marriott acquisition.

HNLbasedFlyer

With Waikiki running 50% occupancy, none of the hotels have brought back all of the employees - many remain furloughed.

anteater

Yet, other Waikiki hotels have elite check-in queues operating..

HNLbasedFlyer

And if that is important, one should skip the Sheraton - every hotel has some sort of operational challenge in Waikiki.

Kacee

Well it's not like they send out advance warnings so I'm not quite so willing to give them a pass on this. They could easily set up an elite line and have it feed to the same agents who are also serving the regular lines.

With no resort fee waiver, breakfast cuts, limited suite upgrades, and (apparently) no elite check-in, the elite value proposition grows ever more limited. Death by a thousand cuts.