leftpinky

Haven't seen this discussed in a while, but previously RH guests received access to the Sheraton infinity pool, is this still the case?

Also, any chance of being upgrade to an ocean view room, even if only partial, for a lowly gold member? the wife's work also hosts a convention at an SPG property and in the past, they've gotten us suite upgrades, but not when busy.

Btw, why are the other three hotels sold out during mid-feb? something major going on?

clublounger

One reason is likely that it is majorly cold elsewhere in February, while it's nice in HNL.

cawhite

Plus Presidents' Day weekend and the Aloha Run, depending on when the poster is looking mid-February.

I'm on my way home after a lovely weekend stay. As a PLT I was upgraded to a corner Tower Room (my first stay in the tower). In addition to the usual welcome banana bread, there was a nice bowl of longan which served as a nice snack through the stay.

Will update the PLT alternate amenity thread shortly, but the choice of PLT welcome amenity is points, continental breakfast or a bottle of sparkling wine. For the alternate PLT amenity (related to the resort fee), you get a second choice.

W/r/t the beach chairs, yesterday the first row was pretty much full and the second row had only about 5-6 sets of chairs being used.

sent

We were lowly golds, and our Garden room got upgraded to a Royal Ocean room in the old building. It had a nice view of Diamond Head, the ocean, the pool and the garden. But we were only there for one night.

leftpinky

Yeah, I think much easier to get upgraded for one night than 5. So I paid the extra points and got the Royal Grove room...the next cat up is the garden suite, so maybe we'll get that.

Anyone used the Sheraton Infinity pool recently? I'd imagine it's the same towel card, so no issues?

leftpinky

just called both the RH and SW and they both said the infiniti pool is only for Sheraton guests, ah!

DCF

Infinity pool, there never was. Freeform pool, there should still be, especially as it is actually constructed 80% on Royal Hawaiian land (although of course they have the same owner).

I stopped my 3-6 annual RH stays when they introduced fixed charges for use of sunloungers on the beach, but at that time there was certainly access to the freeform pool.

MauiFan

Correct. The large activity pool between the two properties is a shared pool. The infinity pool at the Sheraton is only for Sheraton Guests.....as the smaller pool at the Royal Hawaiian is only for guests of the Royal Hawaiian.

So each property has its own exclusive pool geared to adults and they then share the large activity pool.

My only problem with the large activity pool between the two hotels is that it is very often in the shade and the wind whips between the two buildings.

Its like a wind tunnel!

freeloader

Was thinking of booking a week here so I emailed the hotels and asked what their alternate plat amenity was in leiu of the Internet so I had a clear understanding of what to expect going in - and what I'd get for my money

Got notice the hotel would respond... And that was a week ago. Seven days - no response.

Guess the hotel would rather give up about $3k in revenue then go the record of what they provide plats. And given how little they are required to do, this is the ultimate slap in the face

HNLbasedFlyer

That is taking a bit of a leap - they may be willing to give up $3K of your revenue - but that doesn't mean someone else won't step in your place.

2012 was record in Hawaii for occupancy and room rate revenue - almost every day in the news we are hearing 2013 is going to be even better. A few years ago they were generous with the amenity, but with the hotels sold out, they aren't interested in playing.

With so many Japanese tourists outright buying suites - I'm not sure the SPG hotels are terribly interested in plat guests.

If one wants an oceanfront hotel in Waikiki, there are the Outriggers (yuck), Hilton with a resort fee - or the ultra expensive Halekalani......

clublounger

HalekUlani

ajnaro

From recent experience, I can report that the RH provides BOTH the Platinum Breakfast (strictly continental; $15 supplement for full) AND the 500 point welcome amenity for Platinum guests. So, it comes down to 500 points, or about $10 a stay, and that's that. There are no further compensations. They also allow Platinum guests to use a higher speed internet access stream, but that is simply part of SPG policy.

cawhite

I had no problem getting the hotel to respond via email with information on the alternate PLT amenity. The information I was given (by a member of the RH management team) is noted in post 243.

yulhammeryyz

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9700; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.8+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0.0.666 Mobile Safari/534.8+)

Just stayed here for a few nights. The place was great, got upgraded to a very spacious garden suite with 4pm checkout. All of the staff were super friendly and helpful. The $15 buy up to full breakfast was worth it and I recommend their signature banana stuffed french toast. Plat amenity was 2 choices of: 500 points, breakfast or bottle of sparkling wine.

zski1

I booked a pretty cheap ($280/night) room at the RH for this weekend. I realized a little bit late that I booked a smoking room, so I called directly to the RH today to ask if that could be changed. No help from the hotel, I got transferred to the standard reservations line who said they'd leave a note for the check-in desk. I'd already done that online so the agent said "I see that you've done that, I'll add another note". So, there was probably no point in calling.

I'm SPG Gold, so not eligible for much of an upgrade. I can cancel up the reservation until 6pm Hawaii time tonight. I notice that I can still stay for free on points or for $360/night at the Surfrider. The RH looks full as it is no longer available to reserve. I really don't like staying in smoky rooms; the most important thing for me is to be able to have a comfortable room where I can just roll out of bed and be on the beach. Should I cancel and move, or stick it out and gamble on the RH moving me to a non-smoking room when I get there?

-z