AZ Travels the World

The lounge access has nothing to do with the guest being Japanese. It is a perk that is offered as part of a travel package, purchased from a Japanese tour operator. (And there are many of them, sending millions of Japanese tourists to Hawaii every year.)

These packages are frequently all-inclusive, with air, hotel, transfers/cars, attractions, etc. Even if it is booked room-only, the 'cost' of lounge access is part of the rate, much like purchasing a 'Regency Club' room at a Hyatt hotel.

You, too, could buy such a package, but you would probably have to purchase it via an operator in Japan, and may need to be prepared to fly to HNL via Japan. Oh, and they're usually no bargain from a seasoned FTers perspective.

alanslegal

OK, I'm reporting back from my previous posts in this thread.

I had a two night stay starting 30 NOV and was upgraded to an one bedroom ocean front suite in the Tower Building, the room # 495. My original reservation was a standard city view room which had an eligible BRG rate of ~USD$190 per night plus taxes.

Unless you're in a speciality suite, rooms ending xx95 or xx96 have probably the best views of Diamond Head, Waikiki Beach, the Banyan Court below, the MS pool, Duke's at the Outrigger next door, the ocean and beyond.

Being on a relatively low floor (4th) was not a problem. I was about 30metres from the Waikiki sand and had good nightly entertainment from Duke's next door. It had a very intimate feel to the beach - I guess I normally like a super-high floor but in this case, the lower and closer to the beach, the better. Also I liked the sounds of the waves at night so left the lanai doors open.

Suite 495 was almost heavenly, separate bedroom with the best heavenly beds I've ever slept on, large bathroom area depite having a stand-in the bathtub shower, automated toilets, large living area, full length sliding doors opening to the inverted V shaped lanai. Awesome people watching from the lanai

Other aspects of the MS is that the check-in was pretty good. I was greeted with a lei-greeting, a glass of cold juice, and a moistened face wipe. The only minor gripe is that I was walking street level to the hotel, none of the five porters/bellboys offered to whisk my one piece of luggage for me but that's Ok with me as I generally prefer to lug it myself anyway.

I was pre-upgraded to the ocean front suite and I believe the Best Available Rate is generally around USD$1K so IMO an excellent upgrade.

I could not find any major fault with this hotel and can appreciate why the MS is a favourite within the Starwood group - well that's until the Royal Hawaiian opens its rejuvenated doors in 2009.

AZ Travels the World

I honestly can't imagine the Royal Hawaiian topping the Moana Surfrider experience, provided you're in one of the -95 or -96 tower suites, which are luxurious, expansive, and feel as though you are literally hanging out over the ocean.

Though I'm open to the possibility.

azepine00

On a recent 5 night stay there we spend the first 2 nights in a regular Outrigger facing room (ouch!) and the last 3 at one of the suites. There is quite a difference. Interestingly enough a basket of fruits was delivered to a suite (plat gift perhaps?) while there was nothing during the first two nights.

I did have a chance to take a look at a couple rooms in the old wing (in a desperate attempt to escape the Outrigger neighbors) but they were rather uninspiring with downright depressing bathrooms.

I agree with AZ, it's mighty hard to top Moana's suites in Waikiki and I'll probably take my upgrade chances again next time I'm there.

kluau88

I don't know if the fruit plate is standard. I had a stay in April and got the fruit plate, bottled water, chocolate covered macademia nuts, and can of macademia nuts. However on a recent stay in September, there was nothing delivered to my room. We'll see what happens next week.

FlyMan

I got these 2 weeks ago...

gholly

OK - so I know this has been asked before...and is an age-old debate. I'm trying to plan a trip in just a couple weeks, and still am confused! I was prety set on the MS...but still wonder with the renovated rooms if the Sheraton might be good??? Thoughts?

For some insight - it's just myself and my husband, so no kids. We will be there for 5 nights. I'm a *wood Platinum...and I favor newer & nicer rooms over larger but old & dingy ones.

Thoughts please!?!? I'm running out of time!

bocastephen

Don't panic

It all comes down to a simple formula...

How much time are you spending on the property? If most of your time is onsite, then choose the Moana Tower. If you're just sleeping there, then choose the cheapest of the two hotels. If you want a smaller, less crowded environment with fewer package tourists, choose the Moana.

There is nothing wrong with either option - it comes down to your personal taste, budget and how much time you will be onsite.

kluau88

Wrapping up another excellent stay at the Moana and HNL despite the torrential downpour yesterday. Staff is excellent as always and friendly. Upgraded to xx96 suite again without the haggling.

Fruit plate, chocolate macademia nuts, and 2x bottle water in my room upon arrival.

I <HEART> the Westin Moana Surfrider.

MHTFlyer

Following this thread with great interest as we will be at the Westin Moana in mid-March. I am SPG Gold and booked with points. I am told that I cannot upgrade to an oceanview room with additional points (which I have coming out of my ears) and I keep seeing things about the rooms being tiny and that there is a cockroach problem there. (I know it's an island and I am ok with some bugs, but when you hear this over and over in reviews, you do begin to wonder...)

I am now thinking of switching us to the Royal Hawaiian since it will be open then. The square footage of the room is double that of the Moana, and while I'd have to part with more points, I have plenty of them to spare.

I would very much appreciate others' thoughts on this.

TIA

sapguy

Who told you that? Have you called the SPG Gold line and asked?

I do not recall reading anywhere in this thread about bugs or cockroaches - may be there were some a long time ago before the Moana Surfrider was renovated and became a Westin? I stayed there a couple time in the Tower section http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/8208589-post64.html and there was not a single bug or cockroach to be found.


You gotta do what you gotta do to have a great vacation. But if you read this thread again, perhaps you will see more praises about the Westin Moana Surfrider than complaints.

oc1

For the past three years, I have stayed at this property during December for about a week. I've had the pleasure of staying in different areas, at different rates, and with/without status (I'm now Platinum). Clearly my last stay was the best, since they gave me a xx96 suite for two nights, and another suite in the old part for three nights. Both were special for different reasons. Firstly, the xx96 suite is one of the best hotel rooms I've ever stayed in (I am a little bias, since I love Diamond Head and the Waikiki view). The view is amazing, the sunset from the balcony, etc., all first class. They warned us they would have to move to another room, which we were fine with. Well, they gave us the end suite in the old part of the Moana, which also looked out to the ocean. We could imagine the history in this room.

The staff were all extremely courteous and helped with every little request. It's also nice to have fridges in each room - means we could buy $35 bottles of champaign and not $100 from room service - to enjoy the sunset.

I know people are mixed about this property - but in my opinion, it's one of the nicest around. There is not much more I could have hoped for. Looking forward to next December.

MHTFlyer

1. Of course I called. It's also referenced in this thread.
2. This is not the only forum about hotels out there. There are numerous references to bugs on TripAdvisor and other sites. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...hu_Hawaii.html


I think we've decided to go for the RH. It's 5k more points per night but I won't even miss them. For that, we'll get a garden view jn suite vs a city view with 2 dbls at the Moana and it will be all brand new. I am really worried about the 3 of us being squashed into a tiny room and since I'm only Gold, I just don't feel I can count on getting the kind of rooms that I hear you Plats get. Guess I need to get back on the road. I sure do miss my Plat status.

wwwebster0

I recently became a Starwood Preferred Guest program after reading on this forum about the benefits. I signed up with American Express, got TD Ameritrade bonus points, and started sending my business's credit card transactions through the Amex, thus accumulating a lot of points quickly.

I was traveling to Hawaii over New Year's and decided to try out the Sheraton properties there. On the first night before our cruise, we booked two rooms into Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, which is a category 3 property. We used cash and points for the two rooms. That night Honolulu was having its blackout and our plane got diverted to Maui. We managed to get to the Sheraton Princess about 1:00 AM. Long story short, when we showed up, they broke the news that we had canceled our reservations and told us the hotel was fully booked. They wanted us to book into another hotel at $189/night and told us that we had forfeited the points. Having traveled 18 hours at that point, it was very tempting to fold to the desk clerk there, but, after using my medium-strength customer service management verbal kung fu, the clerk escalated us to the hotel manager. After a half hour waiting there in the lobby, he miraculously recovered our reservation and put us into two rooms in the one wing. We were quite displeased for the inconvenience, but thankful that he found something.

Not to digress from the Moana Surfrider thread, but this Category 3 property is a disgrace. Even if I put aside the canceling of our reservations and the bad attitude from the clerk, the property is not up to snuff. My room was a two bed double off the one tower. The cleanliness of the room was sub Holiday Inn. I would call it 2 stars, something like a Ramada or Comfort Inn, below a newer Holiday Inn Express or Marriott Courtyard. I have not stayed in a ton of Starwood properties, but it was below the Four Points in Savannah, for example, another Category 3. The entire Princess hotel seems to be about 40 years old and is looking run down. I feel that this experience is definitely a blight on Starwood. However, I am not sure if my room is typical for the hotel. They might very well have given someone else my "good" room and shuffled us off to these "leftover" rooms.

After the poor showing by Princess Kaiulani, we were not thrilled to stay there again after our cruise. I called Starwood Customer Service and reported the experience and asked them to book us into the Moana Surfrider instead. We were past the cancellation policy, but they made an exception and let us have our points back and apply them to the Moana instead. Initially, they refused, but after I reasoned with them about how we were going to spend more money and more points, they relented. I was pleased with this result.

At the Moana, we were not offered an upgrade, even though I am supposedly Gold. I wasn't sure that I was entitled to one, so I did not ask for it. I was wondering if my status would be recognized, though. We were trying to check in early, too.

We got two rooms. One was a double in the central section on the 3rd floor. It was nice but not amazing. I think there must be a pretty big difference between the supposedly awe inspiring suites and the room we got for Cash and Points. It had a very small bathroom (no tub, small sink, but nice glass shower). The room itself was smallish but okay. With a crib for our one year old it was pretty full. I would say it was smaller than a typical 2 to 3 star business class hotel. I believe the room portion of the hotel was worth the $90 cash and 5800 points, but only just so. It would not have been worth $300 to $400/night. (The other room was a slightly larger king on the 5th floor, city view side -- again nice ,but not amazing).

The best part of the hotel is the location on the beach and the nice outdoor patio. We had a nice time on the beach. The price for a simple club sandwich ($15) was a little steep (no fries included for that price), but it is Hawaii. I also don't think I should have to pay $50 to sit under a Sheraton umbrella, but, hey, isn't that how all 5 star properties work?

Overall, I would have to say that a regular room in the hotel is not quite Category 5 but gets a boost of sorts for the location and the other amenities in the hotel. I also think it's a reputation thing, as my local contact commented on how this was supposedly one of the two best hotels in the area. Hopefully, I will one day experience an upgraded suite.

Compared to the other Sheraton Princess, the Moana is head and shoulders above. That's more because the Princess is bad, but there is a two category difference there. I wonder if the regular Sheraton bridges that gap as the price suggests.

The service was very good. They gave us a nice waterproof bag for our wet clothes and a lei for us and the kids when we checked in. Valet parking ($25) was fast. The hotel staff let us check in early and have the 4:00 PM late checkout. We really appreciated this feature, as we had a late flight.

Overall, I enjoyed my stay at Moana. As with anything, you have to be careful how you allocate precious cash and points, but I think if you have any regret it will only be against a hypothetical scenario (such as a potential upgrade) rather than an actual problem.

SanDiego1K

Welcome to FlyerTalk, wwwebster0. We appreciate your thoughtful and detailed input on those two Oahu hotels.