mikef07

Halfway through a stay and will write a full review when I leave but so far it is not great. 3 stars out of 5 so far. Lots of little issues but overall a good stay. Taking into account the price that most people have to pay to stay here there is a lot lacking.

johnsmith

are they still charging plats the full resort fee?

r_tsunami

Had a really nice stay here in September - see my review and a few pics below, many more on my personal blog - https://www.tsunamiseason.com/planes-and-points/2017/9/30/hotel-review-the-royal-hawaiian

Having stayed at all of the other SPGs in Honolulu, we had to experience The Royal Hawaiian. We saved some points and spent our first night in Honolulu at the Hyatt Place, and moved over to the Royal Hawaiian for an additional two nights.




Check-In: There was no separate "elite" check-in area open when I was checking in, and there were two people ahead of me. After about five minutes, an agent freed up and helped get us checked in. She mentioned that there was a resort fee, highlighted what was included, explained how the lounge worked and provided additional details on SPG platinum benefits. She told us that we had been upgraded to a "Historic Ocean Deluxe" room which was in the historic building and had a direct ocean view. This was music to our ears since we had heard that the non-ocean view rooms weren't too great. The last thing she handed to us was a coupon giving entitling us to a few treats from the bakery in the hotel. The check-in agent was professional and outlined all the key information relevant to our stay.



The Room: The room itself felt really elegant upon walking in. The first thing that popped out was the bring pink, pineapple wall design behind the bed. There was a desk directly to the right of the door and a massive king bed with a TV across from it. The bathroom is right next to the TV and is quite small considering the size of the room, but was perfectly comfortable. The local Hawaiian Maile toiletries were luxurious and I appreciated how they kept a dental kit with toothpaste in the bathroom. There was also a sizable living room with a table, two chairs, a couch, a TV and windows with views of Waikiki through some palm trees.






The Property: The property has an elegant, colonial feel much different to the Sheraton Waikiki down the road. I loved the pink theme and the Spanish architecture, especially considering many of the other buildings around Honolulu are an eye sore. The hotel felt lively, but it was never overly crowded - you could always find an open chair by the pool or a seat at the lounge during breakfast. The lobby is in open air with plenty of rich wood notes and the new "Royal Hawaiian" bakery which apparently just opened. I loved the massive vintage map in the elevator lobby and the other finishing in the older Royal Hawaiian building. The coconut grove in front of the building is beautifully manicured and tourists from other hotels were always milling about and taking pictures. The Royal Hawaiian is also one of the only hotels on Waikiki that has its only little slice of private beach. Breakfast in the lounge was somewhat of a let down, though evening drinks were great. Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, bread, pastries, yogurt, coffee, tea, juice and bellinis. From 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM, wine, sparkling wine and beer was served along with an array of snacks. There was fried rice, thai vegetable curry, cheese, crackers, chips and veggies which was a pretty nice spread - it ended up being our dinner one evening.



The Service: Service was really warm and efficient throughout our two night stay. The agent at check-in made sure to go through all the intricate details about what was included in the resort and our platinum benefits. We didn't eat at any of the restaurants at the hotel, but the employees in the lounge were superb. They always made sure our glass of wine or pint of beer was topped off.





Tsunami Says: Rates at The Royal Hawaiian are usually somewhere in the $280 to $450 range which is quite pricey. At 20,000 SPG points per night, you're not getting incredible value, but I really enjoyed the experience. I really appreciated the upgrade to an ocean view room, and in the future for a longer stay I would probably use Suite Night Awards or pay to confirm my self in an ocean view room. I would definitely stay here again if I had points to burn, or found a cheap rate. I loved the architecture, the old world feel and the location.

svo242

Great review! What type of camera do you use for the photos?

r_tsunami

Thanks so much! I use a Sony A6000 with a few different lenses. Most of these are on a 16-50 or a 35mm Prime lens.

travelinmanS

It seems they not only added back the "valuable" resort fee, they have also failed to include parking in the fee, which is something they included before. So if you're bringing a car be prepared to add another $80 on top of the room rate to cover the resort fee and your parking. Not a very solid value IMHO.

margarita girl

That also changed 1-2 yrs ago with Sheraton Waikiki and Moana Surfrider. Parking used to be included in resort fee but is no longer.

FlyerBeek

Is the Garden View Junior Suite still the only SNA room category here?

-FlyerBeek

aussielori

I just called the RH as I have not been ther for about 5 yrs. i asked as platinum what type of upgrade should i expect knowing of course its subject to availability the front desk attendant stated "one class upgrade" I asked about club and finally she said that all plat and Mailani tower guests get club access inc continental breakky.
is it correct that i should only expect a one class upgrade?
any info appreciated before I decide to book .

ajnaro

In my experience, the best you can hope for is a suite without any view or a room with a partial view. It really does, as usual, depend on availability and good will .

aussielori

finally made lifetime platinum and this is my first stay
just arrived and was given a nice suite in old section but ground floor near driveway.there is a really bad ramp from bedroom to loungeroom and both of us just tripped on it. very dangerous! the avis counter opposite can look straight into the bed so curtains have to be drawn so makes it very dingy.
inventory online showing Mailani tower oceanfront and also historic ocean deluxe. when I called front desk was told yes you can book them and we will move people around.that doesnt seem right. so the inventory online is not true inventory. sounds like what the airlies used to do.
think I made a mistake should have gone back to the Moana.

RFLP

We were at the Royal Hawaiian this past February-had an ocean view suite in the old building-the view was good except, you had to over look the enormous bank of aircondtioners-the little ramp going from the sitting area to the bed room was a problem-the guest services people and the concierges were indifferent to rude-this was our first visit post rebranding-we are going back to the Moana Surfrider!

onebagtraveller

Has anyone stayed recently?

Just wondering about a few things:

1. Platinum breakfast: is it still available at the Surf Lanai by forfeiting the 500 Plat amenity points? Pay to upgrade to full buffet or is it better to just take the 500 amenity points and have breakfast in the lounge?

2. Platinum alternative to the Resort Fee. Assuming they don't waive the fee for Platinums (but there is High Speed Internet listed as one of the benefits of the resort fee) so what is the Platinum alternative ? Moana has 250 points apparently.

3. Any other tips to enjoy the stay would be very much appreciated!

Thanks!!

joelliot

I would go with the breakfast. The 500 points are not worth much and while the continental breakfast is not great, it's a $15 upgrade to get a most of the hot breakfast items. There is no lounge for platinums, there is a lounge for those that stay in the tower, but there is no access to non-tower guests, well officially anyway. The doors aren't actively checked so a good number of people "tailgate" in durning the evening cocktail hour. That said, you probably won't get access, see the other posts, about how hard it is to get an upgrade to the tower, and if you do, the "breakfast" is pretty unremarkable. Don't remember what the alternative was.

5DMarkIIguy