Out of my Element

Seeing the pictures you added, I see lots of dust. One picture (bottom, left side) does look like black mold, but it could be rust, looks like a ceiling near a shower, perhaps? Not an uncommon place for patches that color. Without context, it's impossible to identify.

And a stain on a sheet and a discolored lamp shade? OMG, why didn't you call Hawaii 5-0 while you were there?

BorderCollieFans

I tell you what, go ahead and stay there since you are such an advocate for the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. What do I care? I'm not spending my well earned money to stay in a dump like that. YOU GO AHEAD!!! HOPE YOU DON'T GET SICK!!!

joelliot

...Actually found this pretty normal. Any semi-tropical, tropical room having an ocean view usually has a bit of mold around things like the a/c as people tend to leave the doors/windows open and you get condensation around the a/c. If you move to a room that has a busy street where there is no good reason to open a window, aka the TRUMP, then you won't have this problem. ...has never made me sick, though I understand some people are very sensitive to mold. Fortunately I'm not one of them.

Good steaks the TRUMP restaurant, but I prefer the beach front myself.

BorderCollieFans

Very true and thank you for pointing it out. But I just want to add that I was also at the Westin Princeville (on the same trip) for 2 weeks and it was very clean. There was no mold anywhere to be seen. Everytime someone checks out, I hear the cleaning crew in there for at least 1-2 hours cleaning. Unfortunately, I feel it's the room manager's fault for not overseeing the quality of work performed by his staff at the RH Hotel. Look, I have no problem staying there if I bought my nights with Priceline or some bargain rates website, "you get what you pay for". I'm not unrealistic....but I booked and paid through the SPG website to get my nights counted. And when I posted what happened to me, I only wanted to warn people 1. The potential health hazard 2. don't waste your money. Even the Westin property next to it had cleaner rooms at 1/2 the price. That's all.....

BorderCollieFans

I SECOND THAT!!! I had to move to the Trump Hotel after the 2nd night...

Goodmorning2U

I'm opening a small office in Honolulu and have to be in Waikiki at least once a month. I've made the Westin Moana Surfrider my home base but have made it a point to check out the Royal Hawaiian as it is only a few steps away and has such a pleasant park like landscape.

This hotel will appeal to persons who have a strong appreciation of history and "old Hawaii". The vibrant pink color of everything from the building to the towels and umbrellas is meant to take you away from Waikiki and remind you that you are at the Royal Hawaiian. Branding of this hotel is omnipresent.

The lobby is open and the ceilings are soaring. Extra attention is paid to the landscaping and the canopies of monkey pod trees which dot the property. There is a lovely green lawn just in front of the beach that the kids love to run on and which at night can be an ocean front gathering space for various functions.

The two rooms, a deluxe and a junior suite, I saw were renovated to a high quality, but I agree that the maintenance of this hotel is of secondary importance. Things didn't appear to be obviously dirty but the rooms didn't appear particularly fresh and clean (especially compared to the Westin Moana Surfrider). One thing that the Royal Hawaiian does not have is a constant parade of Japanese weddings at all time of the day. I'm not sure how the Surfrider is so successful attracting this group of visitors but they do tremendous business with Japan.

Overall, I think the Royal Hawaiian is a solid 4* hotel and if you aren't paying rack rate, that a guest who particularly appreciates history and old Hawaii could be very happy here.

moshennik

Hello,

I have scanned the thread, but did not see this info (possibly missed it).

1) There is $35/day resort charge. is the charge waved/reduced for PLAT?
2) If i was to book 2 rooms. One for myself and one for my friends under my own account. Would resort charge be waved/reduced for both?

3rdworldresident

1. No.
2. No.

YMMV.

ILeftMyHeartInTexas

There was a large Norovirus outbreak at the Royal Hawaiian while we were there in mid May 2014. Over 100 guests and staff were infected in one of the largest outbreaks in Hawaii according to KHON news. Fortunately we were not infected, but the hotel gave us no notice that an outbreak was going on. We blindly used the resort facilities and dined there not knowing we were at risk.
We only learned about it on the evening news. We would have appreciated some notice from the hotel. Perhaps some of the cases could have been avoided. Update: wife came down with virus symptoms after writing this post.

Dr. HFH

Did they know when you arrived? I have no personal experience, but does it take time for them (or public health authorities) to figure out what's going on?

ILeftMyHeartInTexas

In response to "did they know when you arrived?" Is a question we cannot attempt to answer for the resort. We arrived on the 19th of May and the State Health Department was notified by the Royal Hawaiian luxury resort on or about the 23th of May, we departed May24th. We heard the announcement of the 100+ outbreak via the news channel. when we inquired as to why the guests were not notified of this outbreak, we were told they talked about it, but nothing was done. We just met up here in Kauai with a couple from Switzerland we met while staying at TRH, they left before the news reported the outbreak, the gentleman had become violently ill once arriving in Maui. he had no idea he had come in contact with this highly contagious virus. One of us has also been experiencing the symptoms since posting this to FT.

RayGunFlyer

Apologies for the length, but writing this was intended to be both informative and cathartic. The summary is at the end for the bottom-line minded.

Background
It's a rarity for me to take my family on a business trip, but my kids were out of school this past week and I had meetings in Hawaii. When I travel alone for work, I often get upgraded to a suite, but I sometimes feel like it's overkill for just me. With my wife, two kids (under 6 yrs. old), and my mother accompanying me, I planned to fully use every inch of a suite this trip.

Planning
I booked two weeks in advance, and spoke on the phone with the SPG Platinum support line. I let them know that I wanted a suite and was willing to use points to secure one, but they recommended using my idle "suite-night awards"--which I did. This was a novice mistake on my part (I wish more was explained to me about this). As I have found out on many support line calls since booking my trip, suite-night "awards" are not guaranteed and managed by computer with a non-transparent algorithm. Human intervention through SPG is impossible. AND, you do not find out the computer's result until 24 hours before hotel arrival (which is too late to exercise other options).

My suite night awards were declined twenty-four hours before my flight, but the SPG Platinum Support consoled me that I could still be upgraded to a suite based on my Platinum status--and they verified that there were still suites available for this (yet, the "awards" were declined...).


Day 1
Because I was traveling for work, my family dropped me off at my business meeting and continued to the Royal Hawaiian to check-in. I set this up with the SPG support line, and was ensured this would be alright by putting my wife's name on the reservation, providing my SPG number, and sending her with my first-born child. Upon arrival, my wife was told she could not complete check-in, or discuss Platinum Room upgrades without the SPG Platinum member present. The hotel gave my family access to the "convenience lounge" for a few hours while waiting for their room to be cleaned (which was nice).

While my family waited, I was forced to take 20 mins out of my business meetings to call the hotel and talk about room upgrades. I checked online if there were any Junior suites available while on hold for the first 5 minutes of the call--and there were. I was put in contact with the Manager (MGR1) right away, who told me that there weren't any upgrades or jr. suites available. We discussed the disconnect between what I could book online (SPG.com), and she said the website was wrong. After about 10 mins of being told there weren't any suites but SPG suite-night Awards are always honored, she then told me that their nicest suite was available (not what I was looking at online). When I showed interest, she placed me on hold again and then returned stating that I would have to pay $1800 each night of my 4 night stay. Honestly, since I was already staying on points, I felt like this was a bit rude to even mention. She gets credit for truthfulness though, I have no doubt they would have given me the suite for roughly $8000 across my stay if I wanted to move away from the "book with points" free aspect of my plans. I declined. She said I had no other option than to keep my assigned room, as the hotel was sold out. While on the phone with me, the Manager discovered that my assigned room had been ready for 30 minutes, but my family had still not been told they could go to the room. We hung up and she placed them in the room (which it turns out was not the room I booked...)

I arrived at the Hotel around 5pm to complete my Check-in and select my "Platinum Amenities". I looked online while waiting 30 minutes to speak with someone at the registration desk, and there were still Jr. Suites available for 3/4 of the nights of my stay... When it was my turn to sit down, I learned that I had been "upgraded" a few days prior without notice to a "low floor - Beach facing" room. (I had originally booked a Garden room, with the intent that it would be a bit quieter than a beach facing room so my children would not be woken up by loud celebrations through the night (4th of July and all...), but I had hoped more for a suite anyways...). I had no choice now, as I was told that there were no upgrade options, and the original room would not fit all the people in my party. I asked for double amenity points for my SPG amenity (I expense breakfast through work), but I was forced to select Continental Breakfast as my amenity since they were not allowed to select points twice. At this point, the Manager (MGR1) arrived. She was very polite and empathetic to my situation. In exchange for my inconvenience, she offered to pay for complimentary Continental breakfast... (I was appalled that I had been offered my SPG welcome amenity for my inconvenience...!!!) When I refused, she offered me 10,000 SPG points. I declined again, and went to my room. (I learned later that I was supposed to receive a complimentary lai... but that didn't happen either).

I was on a phone call later that night that was facilitated by the SPG Platinum Support hotline. The hotel continued its focus on money, and I was further annoyed by the offer that if I would pay($400+ per night) for a second room, the Royal Hawaiian would upgrade the room for free... I declined.

We spent the next 5 days with 3 adults and 2 children in the same, single hotel room. We received the "welcome" bag of 6 baked treats 48 hours later with a loud knock on our door after the children were asleep.

Day 3
We had planned for a fun day traveling around Oahu on the 4th of July--the first day I didn't have to work on the trip. I called down early for our rental car to be brought out by the Valet. 20 minutes later, we arrived at the front steps with our day's worth of food, clothing, and supplies to be back that evening for the fireworks. When I didn't see our car, I asked one of the Valet to pull up the car listed in my last name. After 3 or 4 minutes, a valet contritely approached me and apologized for giving another guest my car 10 minutes earlier. THATS RIGHT, they gave my rental car that was holding some of our personal possessions and our personally owned CAR SEATS for my children to another guest without checking ID or asking any questions. I asked what they were going to do, and they called their manager (MGR2). I had not spoken with this manager previously, but she suggested they call a cab for my family. I pointed out our supplies to be gone for the day (including leaving things in our car as we traveled to different destinations), and the lack of car seats. The manager still suggested a cab, and that they would pay our return fare after our first destination--so we could see if our ACTUAL RENTAL CAR had been returned yet. I let the manager know that I was dis-satisfied with the Hotel's level of service since I had arrived. I directed the manager to look up the name of the (assumed) guest that took my car, and use whatever information they had on their (assumed) registered guest to contact them and have them return the car that conspicuously had two car seats and kid stuff all over the back seat. My wife suggested she take our kids to the grassy courtyard while this issue was handled. The guest was contacted, and they returned the car. We left for Breakfast about 45 minutes after we had intended to. I usually tip the valet guys... I didn't.

Later that night we received a loud phone call in our room that we let go to voicemail because my small children where already sleeping (trying).

Day 4
The voicemail received the night before was from the manager (MGR1), who wanted me to contact them to discuss things. I walked down to the front desk in the morning and asked for MGR1 by name. Two minutes later, MGR2 arrived and let me know that MGR1 had the day off. I let them know that I came to the desk because I was asked to, not because I was trying to complain again. The manager said that she could talk with me, and presumed it was about compensating me for my inconvenience. She was very polite and professional. They offered me 20,000 SPG points, stating that it was the the point value of one night of my stay. I politely let the manager know that I was charged 26,000 SPG points per night, and she adjusted the offer to match. I accepted it, because why not? I wasn't going to get anything else I actually asked for.... Later that night, I was preparing for our check out the next day (day 5). I called the front desk to get the status of my late check out request, and was told they couldn't answer me until the next morning because reports were running and blocking the use of the system. so I waited.

Day 5
I walked down to the front desk in early morning to check the status of my late check-out request. I was served right away, and told that my room had been sold for the next night and I would have to exit no later than 2pm (normal checkout is noon). I understood the issue, but asked if there was any other room that had not been sold and my family could use until 4pm that would allow us to clean up after the beach/pool, as our flight didn't leave until later that night. The front desk said yes, and directed me to the room and made keys for me. As I was leaving I said that we would be moving our things over the next few hours, and the front desk directly refuted me. They said that I had just been checked out and insisted that I leave my current room within the hour (by 8am). When I explained that I had children still asleep, and bags to pack for 5 people, the front desk demanded the keys back and began to type hurriedly. After 15 minutes of confusing interactions, we agreed that my family would leave our room and move by 9am.

The room we were moved into was a wonderful garden view room (like I originally reserved), and had plenty of room for all 5 of us to place our things and relax. We used the room until 3:45pm, and left. On our way out, the greeters said, "see you next time!" and I politely said, "no, you won't."


Summary Conclusion
Though the managers were polite and empathetic in all dealings with me, they frequently were insulting in the content of their gestures, and unable to take action to correct both mis-understandings as well as gross negligence. The hotel's reservation system is apparently completely mis-aligned with the SPG website and availability shown cannot be trusted. But I recommend skipping the property all together--a good Sheraton or Westin would easily be better, and a Holiday Inn may provide a better experience than the Royal Hawaiian, "a Luxury Collection" hotel.

RAPC

Sorry you had such a frustrating time with your stay. This hotel is on my list of SPG properties to avoid after our stay in December and posts like yours remind me why.

The property wants to be a top end resort, but it needs to be organised and more service orientated. Unfortunately from my experiences they generally view the guests as fortunate to be staying at the hotel, rather than as being the focus of their efforts.

My follow-up exchanges with the hotel after our stay were equally frustrating. Lots of platitudes, but not much understanding that they need to improve on their deliver. This unconscious incompetence / blind spot is what I think causes problem stays like yours and for others.

RayGunFlyer

RAPC, thank you for your reply--you are very right. Though I am just now starting to have follow-up conversations with the hotel and SPG, they are continuing their trend of "unconscious-incompetence" you so perfectly called out.

I plan to avoid this Hotel in the future, and recommend others do the same.

freeupgrade

So very sorry. I wanted to suggest contacting a corporate executive in New York Starwood "Executive Offices". I don't know the name of anyone there - however I would think that someone at Platinum line could help you out.

I cannot believe a hotel would treat any guest this badly, and act as if it was simply an "inconvenience". I sincerely wish you much good luck in the future.