3Cforme

I went deep into the SPG T&Cs and, apart from defined Sheraton and Westin access, didn't see club/exec level lounge access as a Platinum benefit. Is there another reference more fitting?

4C.5.

d. Access to the Club Level when staying at Sheraton hotels or access to the Executive Level when staying at Westin hotels, even when not staying on the Club Level or Executive Level floor(s). At Sheraton properties, access to the Club Level does not mean access to the Towers Level, even if there is no Club Level in the hotel and there is a Club Level in the Towers. Access to Towers Level is determined by each individual property. These benefits are limited to the member and one guest IF that guest is in the same room as the member. Lounge access is not available if a lounge is at maximum capacity or if a lounge is closed for any reason.

courcoison

Good Afternoon:

You are right. This property is part of the "Luxury Collection" and a club upgrade (when available) does not have to be offered to a Platinum customer.

However my experience at "The Nines" in Portland, also a "Luxury Collection" property has been different and I have always been upgraded without requesting it.

Interestingly no other SPG properties (Sheraton & Westin) in the state of Hawaii offer lounges, so I am very curious.

This is why I brought up the subject.

In Waikiki I usually stay at the Hyatt and enjoy the Regency Club.

The hotel confirmed that the lounge is for the exclusive use of Tower guests and I am fine with this rule.

It appears I may have an opportunity to try the club lounge during my 2 days stay so I can discover the "product".

I am looking forward to it as well as reporting about my first stay at the Royal Hawaiian.

Mahalo

Reading this thread leads me to believe that I may actually have a better experience at the Moana Surfrider (MS) than the Royal Hawaiian. I am using free weekend nights at the Royal Hawaiian (RH) as it does allow up to Cat. 6 but now considering whether a "demotion" to the MS at Cat. 5 may be a better move. Category wise and price wise the RH is more expensive but as we all know more expensive doesn't always mean better. If I were using pure points, I think it would be an easy decision to save about 8,000 starpoints to say at MS rather than the RH.

Now most comments here are that MS has greater inventory of rooms so upgrades are a higher probability than RH. Other than this factor, is there anything about MS / RH that are beneficial to each property?

ajnaro

Here are some differences that come to mind:

1. The public areas of the Royal Hawaiian have a more relaxed and elegant feel;

2. The beech chairs at the Royal Hawaiian are fully reclining and come with a mattress, whereas the Moana’s chairs are low sitting-position contraptions that are very uncomfortable. Furthermore, the Royal Hawaiian now has more availability than it used to, so it’s no longer necessary to bribe a pool attendant to get a beech chair. It has been reported on FT that the Moana has begun charging considerable sums for use of its beach chairs.

3. Both the Royal Hawaiian and the Moana have some pretty awful rooms, but the worst of them may be at the Moana (tiny rooms facing Kalakaua Ave.). On the other hand, upgrade possibilities are far better at the Moana. Neither hotel has a club lounge.

Overall, if you have Platinum status with SPG you may well have a better stay at the Moana.

7Continents

I've booked a stay at the RH in a couple of weeks out of a combination of curiosity and a very good deal over the Moana. Stayed at the MS just after the renos there and really enjoyed it. As a gold at the lowest room level, reception went out of the way to find me a great room (or at least she made it seem that way.) I got a corner room on the ocean side of the Banyan wing. I loved it, as it had a decent view of the ocean (bordering on partial OV but that's being picky) was slightly bigger than the smallest rooms facing the street and I had a great experience at the hotel.
I've got a Royal Grove booked, I'll see what I actually get.

alanslegal

I thought it was pretty poor form when I received a generic email from the RH Concierge earlier in the week welcoming my upcoming stay this weekend 8/22-8/24. The email was clearly sent to multiple undisclosed recipients because they asked to reply with "your name"

Anyway I am a PLT so we'll how the RH compares to the Moana Surfrider but based on recent reviews / reports on the RH and their so-so upgrades .... I am sure going to MISS those absolute beachfront MS Tower Suites

ctouchard

I have been using the MS for years and on my last stay as a PLT I got a 1 bedroom suite overlooking the ocean in the new tower for 5 nights using SPG 50% AWARD...I LOVED IT...great club lounge on top floor with wine and beer at night...

I am going to use the RH with my free weekend nights over Labor day...
I do really hope to get a nice room there.... as it is a 20 000 points per night as a category 6....

ctouchard

DCF

I for one hate the Moana Surfrider and I love the Royal Hawaiian.

The RH has far superior grounds and a nicer stretch of beach, and while the MS hotel is slightly older the RH actually includes the ancient coconut grove from centuries ago.

The tower at the RH is much nicer than the tower that used to be the Surfrider.

Lastly, the RH isn't a Westin or Sheraton so Platinums have no real claim to access the lounge.

But the MS is a Westin, and it is absolutely disgraceful that they have disingenuously called the lounge the "memories lounge" to keep Platinums excluded.

I stayed at the MS last September when the RH was closed. Never again!

thebutlerdidit

To each his or her own. I wouldn't want RH fans (especially Plats) to start staying at the MS and lousing up my chances for an upgrade!

alanslegal

Ok guys, I'm here at the Royal and I'm wowed. This place is very elegant and the hospitality is great that I am going to defect my HNL stays here in the future FTW I did not get upgraded to a suite but I was pre-upgraded at least T-28hours prior to check-in to an Ocean Front Room in the Royal Tower.

Ok I'll report back later as I have just seen this hottest chic - bikini top, wrap around sarong and smoooth and most soft body in the Level 1 Towers Lounge. Gotta run!!

caffeine addict

Hello, first-time poster, long-time lurker here.

I too checked-in yesterday and received the same upgrade, however, I was with a toddler so asked for and got a full garden suite in the historic wing, i think it was? Space was much more important for this stay.

It is indeed a very nice property, though the standard rooms are quite small, considering the room rates approach $400/nt.

cball22

I feel the need to put in my 2 cents. My family had stayed at the Westin on the 20th and then stayed at the RH from the 21st till the 23rd with reservations for 2 rooms on each night.

My preference out of the two would be the Westin. Both properties were great at upgrading both rooms even though they usually only upgrade the SPG member. The Westin upgraded my mother-in-laws room to a nice king tower room. She had the option to choose a 1 bedroom suite in the Banyan wing but the view was blocked by the Banyan tree and there was a lot more noise from the pool. The room itself was very nice. We were upgraded to a nice suite facing Diamond Head on the PH floor.

The RH had offered us 2 rooms in the Ocean Tower which were connecting as the upgrade. I tried to get a suite upgrade but they said that I would have to pay $100 for a junior suite or $200 for a suite. I checked out the rooms and they were very nice but I didn't want to have to pay seeing as how other's had been upgraded without needing to. This is one reason why I would choose the Westin over the RH.

The other reason are the towers. I found the RH tower to be less than what I would expect out of a luxury property. While the linens were nice, the rooms were really small and there was not much closet space. We were traveling with two children and we had a lot of stuff. It would seem that unpacking the suitcases would be the best way to utilize the room but given all of our stuff and only a 2 night stay, we just opted to live out of the suitcases. I would say the tower rooms feel more like a Sheraton than a luxury property. In fact I've been at many Sheratons that were nicer than these rooms but they didn't have the same view

The tower lounge for the RH is on the first floor right next to the elevators and includes infused water (usually strawberry and orange), lemonade, coffee, and breakfast (muffins) and/or snacks in the afternoon. It also has a computer that guests can use for free. It is an open sitting area with views of the pool area. A sign in the middle of the entry way says it's only for ocean tower guests but no one was checking room numbers when we walked in.

A couple great benefit of the RH is the use of the Sheraton pool with water slides given that we were traveling with kids. There is a specific reserved area over there for RH guests which is great since the pool is pretty busy with Sheraton guests. Some of them over flow to the RH area but it wouldn't be difficult to ask a RH beach attendant to kick them out so you can use the chairs. Definitely, the Westin doesn't have a reserved area at the pool but I don't know about usage rules either for Westin guests as RH and Sheraton guests wear color coded wristbands (pink and yellow respectively). The RH beach area was also great as it had a lot of reserved space but there were limited availability of umbrellas so claim them early or wait for people to leave and claim one later as they are complimentary. I didn't sit at the Westin beach area so I can't compare the two.

The Westin also has a $40 coupon for the spa in each room but there are specific time constraints which we were not aware of. This is not a fault of the hotel but just something to be mindful of if you plan to use the spa.

SanDiego1K

cball22, welcome to FlyerTalk and the Starwood forum. Thanks for sharing your experiences with these two properties.

Are you saying that the Royal Hawaiian would only give you a junior suite or a full suite if you paid additional for it? Or are you saying that would be the charge for the 2nd room? If you hadn't wanted connecting rooms, would you have been given the upgrade as part of your platinum privilege? I'm confused as to how the hotel justified a charge for what is a platinum benefit.

cball22

That is correct. The standard upgrade was from a garden room to the ocean view room. They were going to charge me for upgrades to a suite even though it was my primary room.

I believe others haven't had issues with suite upgrades at the RH so I'm not sure why I wasn't able to get the suite for free. I didn't push it too hard though but I sent the guy back a few times to talk to his GM. At that point, we didn't feel like moving and just enjoyed the rest of our time on vacation.