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Royal Hawaiian Honolulu, Hawaii post renovation 2009 [Master Thread]

Old Oct 27, 2018, 4:15 pm
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Royal Hawaiian Honolulu, Hawaii post renovation 2009 [Master Thread]

Old Jul 29, 2010, 8:03 am
  #91  
 
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Originally Posted by Hyperacusis
Great report Chris. Got a few more questions, but that's what lunch tomorrow is for.
Ha yeah you get the benefit of an in person trip report :P

Originally Posted by clover
Just a note on Chris' excellent report: The spa suites are great, but there are only 6 or 8 of them I think (all in a row on ground floor of the Tower) and you shouldn't count on an upgrade, even if Platinum. We've been repeat guests there and while my wife and daughter were upgraded last year to that suite (after considerable cajoling on my part) that was when the hotel was half full in the summer of 2009. I tried to be equally persuasive this year and was unsuccessful. The hotel was sold out for our week. I suspect Chris' short stay improved his chances considerably.

As I said above, we loved our room and the hotel, but most of the hotel's rooms are completely different from Chris' pictures. Aloha!
Originally Posted by Hyperacusis
Yeah, I was pretty surprised by the upgrade in Chris' report, given that their policy is apparently not to upgrade anybody beyond the regular garden view suites..
Originally Posted by clover
Sounded like Chris told them it was their "engagement" vacation so that probably helped. They do upgrade to ocean view suites sometimes, but I think there are many more garden jr. and full suites.
Agreed and apologize for not making a note of this. There are only a handful of these spa suites and when I booked the trip my Ambassador let me know that suite upgrades are tough here but she'd try to work some magic for us, especially given it was partly a trip to celebrate our engagement. Additionally we were told at check-in that a large group of people from a cruise that weren't supposed to check-in until Saturday had to come a day early (assuming it had a "Waikiki Stay" as part of the cruise package?) so that might have had something to do with it as well.

Originally Posted by Hyperacusis
Do non-suite ocean view rooms at the RH have balconies, like the Westin does? We stayed at the Westin earlier this year, and didn't get a suite, but got a pretty great ocean view room with a balcony.
Originally Posted by clover
I don't think there are many, if any, rooms in the Historic building that have balconies. All the rooms in the Tower have balconies. I like the Westin as well, but imo, the property, food, and overall ambience of the RH is far superior. I agree that Plats have much better chance of suite u/g in the Westin.
IIRC the oceanview rooms in the historic building had little "Juliet" balconies but nothing large enough to have a table and chairs on. All of the rooms (at least the oceanview ones we could see [are there others?]) in the Tower had balconies with chairs on them.
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Old Oct 2, 2010, 10:43 am
  #92  
 
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Laundry?

Hi all, we will be staying in the Royal Hawaiian for about a week. I was wondering if there is any self laundry facility onsite or do we have the use the hotel service.
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Old Oct 2, 2010, 1:54 pm
  #93  
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Originally Posted by schubert
Hi all, we will be staying in the Royal Hawaiian for about a week. I was wondering if there is any self laundry facility onsite or do we have the use the hotel service.
I don't believe they have laundry but the Westin next door does. You enter the Westin and walk left. There will be an elevator at the end of the hallway on the left. Take it down one (or possibly two) level(s).
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Old Oct 10, 2010, 11:45 pm
  #94  
 
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Greetings- I've read the hits and misses on upgrades at the RH here on the forum and was curious if anyone recently staying has had upgrades being a Platinum.

We're coming in December and deciding if we should go to the RH since never stayed there before; loved our past stays at the MS with suite upgrades..so dont want to pay more and get less (meaning not upgrades) at the RH..Thanks for the feedback
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Old Oct 11, 2010, 3:48 pm
  #95  
 
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I just completed a 3 night stay back in September (2 paid nights, 1 free wkd night) and was upgraded to a garden view suite which actually did have restricted ocean views as well from some of the windows. The room was gigantic (~800 sq ft). This was part of a 3 island trip during which I also stayed at the St Regis Princeville and the Sheraton Maui. My wife and I both agreed that the RH was from top to bottom the best experience of the 3 considering we were also traveling with our 2 year old. Had it just been the 2 of us, the St Regis would've probably eeked it out.

To contribute to the RH vs MS Westin argument - earlier this year (April) I stayed for 3 nights at the MS Westin and didn't even get put on the "SPG floor". I got a partial ocean view on the 4th floor - which is exactly what I booked- and was greeted by the front desk as if I was some guy off the street with no status. All of my money will go to RH or Hyatt when I travel to Honolulu from now on, which is at least 2x/year. My stay at the Hyatt in 2009 with absolutely NO status was second only to my most recent stay at RH. So good in fact that now Hyatt gets 25 stays per year out of me on top of the 25 that go to Starwood.
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Old Oct 11, 2010, 5:52 pm
  #96  
 
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Originally Posted by ssbmg
I just completed a 3 night stay back in September (2 paid nights, 1 free wkd night) and was upgraded to a garden view suite which actually did have restricted ocean views as well from some of the windows. The room was gigantic (~800 sq ft). This was part of a 3 island trip during which I also stayed at the St Regis Princeville and the Sheraton Maui. My wife and I both agreed that the RH was from top to bottom the best experience of the 3 considering we were also traveling with our 2 year old. Had it just been the 2 of us, the St Regis would've probably eeked it out.

To contribute to the RH vs MS Westin argument - earlier this year (April) I stayed for 3 nights at the MS Westin and didn't even get put on the "SPG floor". I got a partial ocean view on the 4th floor - which is exactly what I booked- and was greeted by the front desk as if I was some guy off the street with no status. All of my money will go to RH or Hyatt when I travel to Honolulu from now on, which is at least 2x/year. My stay at the Hyatt in 2009 with absolutely NO status was second only to my most recent stay at RH. So good in fact that now Hyatt gets 25 stays per year out of me on top of the 25 that go to Starwood.
Thanks for your input and sharing your experiences.. It appears that ironically despite the caliber of these hotels guest experiences have been hit and miss..meaning they're not consistent which is too bad. Guess we'll roll the dice and see what happens. We also visit the islands twice or more a year and it would be so nice to be recognized as loyal guests consistently but I guess loyalty means very litile to RH and MS these days. (ASIA and Europe we have been 10/10 at same hotels visited for upgrades with the best service ever)
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Old Oct 11, 2010, 6:21 pm
  #97  
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Originally Posted by vg247
It appears that ironically despite the caliber of these hotels guest experiences have been hit and miss..meaning they're not consistent which is too bad. Guess we'll roll the dice and see what happens.
Well, not ironic at all, in my opinion. I'd venture to say that the experiences are probably pretty consistent as follows:

1) Hotel has unsold suites - some Platinums are upgraded
2) Hotel's suites are sold - fewer Platinums are upgraded or upgrades are to better rooms but not to suites.

As can be seen from my history of posts, I am critical of properties that ignore SPG rules and don't upgrade when suites are obviously available (i.e., St. Regis SF, Blue Palace, Hotel Ivy Minneapolis, etc.). I've stayed at this hotel several times. As far as I could tell (research on spg.com), this hotel upgraded me when it could.
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Old Oct 12, 2010, 1:12 am
  #98  
 
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As a HNL resident who does a lot of weekend getaways with my wife, I believe all the SPG in Waikiki do the best they can to upgrade plats. Occupancy is way up this year with a lot of sold out weekends even during off season - I mentioned in another hotel post that Japanese tourism is way up due to the weak dollar, tourists without status normally book the "once in lifetime" ocean views and these hotels are full - its hard to upgrade a completely full hotel.
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Old Oct 12, 2010, 2:07 am
  #99  
 
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Originally Posted by billxmeredith
As a HNL resident who does a lot of weekend getaways with my wife, I believe all the SPG in Waikiki do the best they can to upgrade plats. Occupancy is way up this year with a lot of sold out weekends even during off season - I mentioned in another hotel post that Japanese tourism is way up due to the weak dollar, tourists without status normally book the "once in lifetime" ocean views and these hotels are full - its hard to upgrade a completely full hotel.
Thank you and great point Bill, I did noticed almost 20+ Japanese weddings during our 7 day stay at the MS hotel ..
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Old Oct 14, 2010, 9:12 am
  #100  
 
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Luxury Collection Luggage Liaison

I have an upcoming reservation and just received this email copied in below. Has anyone else ever been offered and/or used this service?

We are looking forward to your upcoming stay at The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort.

For the finest travel experience, please learn more about our signature program Luggage Forward - the cornerstone of the brand's newest signature service, Luxury Collection Luggage Liaison. As part of the program, guest's baggage will be retrieved by Luggage Forward's door-to-door luggage delivery service prior to departure and sent to the hotel to be placed in the room and unpacked before the guest arrives, upon request.

For more info please contact the Concierge at (808) 923-7311.
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Old Oct 14, 2010, 9:55 am
  #101  
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Originally Posted by stephem
Has anyone else ever been offered and/or used this service?
It's part of their standard welcome email. I don't know how much they charge, but I can't imagine it being a good value.
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Old Oct 15, 2010, 5:57 am
  #102  
 
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Originally Posted by vg247
Greetings- I've read the hits and misses on upgrades at the RH here on the forum and was curious if anyone recently staying has had upgrades being a Platinum.

We're coming in December and deciding if we should go to the RH since never stayed there before; loved our past stays at the MS with suite upgrades..so dont want to pay more and get less (meaning not upgrades) at the RH..Thanks for the feedback
I was "walked" to the RH recently ^ .

I was upgraded to a garden view suite in the newly renovated historic building. The suite was huge with two rooms, with a door to close off the sitting room. The bathroom is lovely with a fantastic shower head and lovely amenities but its very small and not what you would expect in a suite.

Although we missed having a great ocean view, this room was awesome. We loved everything about this hotel with the exception of the beach boys who insist on taking away all the chairs and umbrellas around 3.30pm, even if you are still using these items and are just taking a dip in the ocean. Other than that, it was outstanding and I cant wait to return. All other staff I came in contact with were excellent from housekeeping to management ^. Well done RH.

One thing I did notice which was mildly frustrating, despite my request to move to an ocean view suite if one become available, I was told there were none. Yet I did see them available online each day . I was in relax mode and couldnt be bothered having a daily argument over this with the check in staff, so I let it be and felt glad to have a suite even if it was the garden view not ocean view. Perhaps RH is slightly more reticent to upgrade to their ocean view suites.

Staff told us that the tower is currently being renovated but its a slow process and they are going floor by floor. I think its from the top floor down. I would stay away from the tower until its renovated.

Re the laundry: The RH does not have a self service laundry. However when I asked about this service, I was given a key to access the Sheraton Waikiki laundry. The SW has two floors with guest laundry: 5th and 18th floors.
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Old Dec 9, 2010, 9:23 am
  #103  
 
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Just a quick datapoint

Stayed here recently and was upgraded to garden suite (living room and bedroom).

Upgrade was offered on a first-come first serve basis (Platinum upgrade suites were handed out to the first plats checking in).
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Old Dec 12, 2010, 11:17 am
  #104  
 
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Originally Posted by mahasamatman
It's part of their standard welcome email. I don't know how much they charge, but I can't imagine it being a good value.
Its roughly $100 a bag.
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Old Dec 12, 2010, 5:01 pm
  #105  
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Originally Posted by Downunder girl
One thing I did notice which was mildly frustrating, despite my request to move to an ocean view suite if one become available, I was told there were none. Yet I did see them available online each day . I was in relax mode and couldnt be bothered having a daily argument over this with the check in staff, so I let it be and felt glad to have a suite even if it was the garden view not ocean view. Perhaps RH is slightly more reticent to upgrade to their ocean view suites.

Staff told us that the tower is currently being renovated but its a slow process and they are going floor by floor. I think its from the top floor down. I would stay away from the tower until its renovated.
I believe an ocean front suite is not a select standard suite, and I also recall the Lurkers advise that any room desribed with 'ocean' in it when it comes to Honolulu, is not a standard room in any instance. However generally the RH upgrades PLTs to either a garden view suite or an ocean front room in the tower.
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