Booked 6 nights at the Ka La'i Waikiki Beach in a City View Deluxe King Room w/sofabed using Hilton Honors points to cover about half the stay. The point redemption value was really good. This was a couple of weeks after the spring break period ended...a little bit of a lull period, I think. A couple of days after making the reservation, I called to request early check-in and discovered that we had been upgraded to a Partial Ocean View Deluxe King Rm w/sofabed. Nice! And the excellent experience was only just beginning. SO THIS IS 5-STARS - We arrived for early check-in. Doug at the front desk was very welcoming and when we enquired about the available rooms and our preferences, he took us to see a couple of options. We saw a Partial Ocean View Deluxe room at first, then an Ocean View Deluxe 1 King Room w/sofabed. The Ocean View room faced the Fort DeRussy Beach Park side and was clearly preferable; we were offered an upgrade price and took it. Worth it. Thanks Doug. - We received a breakfast voucher for In-Yo Cafe. We enjoyed the tropical fruits as well as hot items. I made a stack of breakfast potatoes with hamburger steak and topped it with freshly made over easy eggs. Pretty tasty. I will note that the buffet items lay-out is pretty simple, but the notable quality is that the service staff were very thoughtful and courteous. Along with others, Dennis did great at making us feel welcome. To showcase this as part of the resort vibe, I think breakfast should be included with each stay. - The 500 sq ft room was spacious! The sleeping area felt spacious. The living area with sofa and armchair felt spacious. The bathroom felt spacious. The kitchenette was spacious. - All staff we met on this stay had so much Aloha. We enjoyed the ohana hospitality very much. Mahalo to concierge Ami and our housekeeper Aiza. Aiza was particularly thoughtful and thorough with with her attention to the room and our needs. - Kitchenette was well-equipped. I used the microwave for popcorn, and kept beverages in the mini-fridge. There was even a rice cooker in the cabinet. Wish we could have used the kitchenette more. THE GOOD - The bed was really comfortable and we slept great. Fairly simple with a supportive mattress and box spring. Linen were quality with breathability and smoothness (the tags were cut off so the textile is not exactly known). Pillows were medium firm polyester-filled and good for side sleeping. I would recommend adding two more pillows designed for back sleepers. - The sofa and armchair were very comfortable. Perhaps a bit old in style, but they were clean and in good condition. The coffee table was a bit roughed up. - The AC worked great. Cooled the room to around 68°F easily. Turned off when lanai door was open and quickly turned back on when the door was closed. The airflow vents were pretty quiet at about 78dB (good white noise level). Relatively, the bathroom vent was around 90dB which is fine to assure us that there was good ventilation in that space. - The good news is that there was included WiFi with an download speed of about 17.1 Mbps. The pain point though was the upload speed of 2.89 Mbps (my Instagram posts crawled to upload). WiFi signal was strong and the connection lasted through check-out day without a need to renew the DHCP lease. - The bathroom shampoo, conditioner, body wash, soap and lotion was by Byrego. It comes across as a luxury brand, but it doesn't compare that well to my favorite Le Labo Rose 31. The Byrego fragrance was not that pleasant. - The bathroom was quality-equipped. A Toto toilet with washlet (heated, bidet and auto-open). The fixtures were Hansgrohe. Shower water pressure was medium strong and hot water arrived in about 20 seconds. - With my hairdryer obsession, I will note there was a hospitality-grade Conair 141WRW which was powerful, but did not have ionic or other luxury hair features. Could I wish for a Dyson hairdryer which does less hair damage? - Bath linens were soft and had good loft. Our housekeeper Aiza gave us extra bathmats which helped because the floors are marble which could be slippery when wet. - Evening turndown included bottled water and glasses on the nightstand. Nice touch. - There were 4 elevators. Getting up and down was easy and quick. - There is a hot tub and a fairly narrow infinity pool overlooking Kalia Road towards the Outrigger Reef. The hot tub temperature was nice. In the evening, there were quite a few people using this facility, but we had it to ourselves in the morning. - The room was in good shape overall. Carpet, walls, drapes, furnishings and other things just felt well-looked after albeit gently used. This created a comforting home-like feeling. - Plenty of electrical outlets and USB ports. USB charging speed quite good. - The room had a safe; worked well for us. - I did use the work desk. It was a good size. The desk lamp had one electrical outlet for computer/usb charging. There wasn't a USB port here. The chair was comfy, but not designed for computer work. A TRANSITION PERIOD? - There were room slippers and robes. Neither was branded. The slippers were decent quality although not luxury. The robes were silky & synthetic, but I would have preferred cotton (make it consistent with the luxury-level bed linen). - Interestingly, some of the light fixtures had CFLs and others had LED bulbs. The color temperatures were pretty close so not really a problem. - There were two reusable plastic water bottles (un-branded), a box of cookies, and a black (un-branded) tote bag. Just comparing to some of the welcome items we have had in Waikiki hotels, this is a "could-be-better" item. - The lanai had a great view. We could even watch sunset. The lanai furniture was in good condition and worked for our uses, but could use more character. - The room also felt like it needed some accessories for some Hawaii character. To this, the Mood Profusion iH channel on the tv was the closest (and it did a good job of it). - There was a 55" Samsung 478 Series Hospitality television with 1080p resolution. There was also a DVD player connected. I would expect 5-star hotels to now have 4K televisions. There was about 60 channels of programming. Image quality was ok. NIT-PICKS - Would like to have bedside remote control panel for lights and window coverings. Standard part of the modern definition of 5-star hotel. - One of the bedside phone/alarm clock units had the time fast by 5 minutes. Could not figure out how to fix it. - We appreciate that the bathroom had toothbrushes and toothpaste. Just being picky that they were about airplane quality. Could be better. LOCATION NOTES - This is a great location. There is a Waikiki Trolley stop in front. There is a short-cut to Beach Walk. It is a short 5-minute walk to Fort DeRussy Beach. From there, we walked to the marina. To get to Waikiki Beach, we walked through the Sheraton then the Royal Hawaiian (about 10 minutes). We picked up items from the large ABC store on Lewers. In sum, we had a great stay/experience, and I would wholeheartedly attribute this to the spectacular staff. The hotel and the room we had were marvelous in comfort and spaciousness, and a luxury treat. This review highlights some specific strengths, and hints at a few opportunities that hopefully excite this hotel's attention to meaningful details.

A view that never gets old. This is the first time we stayed here since it rebranded under a new name. It was the exact same calibre of exceptional service, the food was actually even more lovely, the housekeeping and turndown service is so luxurious. We love having a fully stocked kitchen, beautiful balconies with ocean views. The bathtub is nice and deep for a relaxing soak. Bedding and mattress is extremely comfortable. The property itself is extremely attentive and will bring you up a steamer, mending kit, or what have you. You really feel like this staff is just so organized. Soundproofing is excellent so it’s very restful and quiet in the room. The happy hour at the restaurant downstairs is delicious, drinks and food shocked us with how lovely they were. Room service was speedy and convenient as well. An absolute 10/10 trip once again. Thank you so much!

Arriving at hotel was a experience in customer service excellence...from valet to the front desk there was smiles and courtesy shown at highest levels. Our front desk check in person KATHY went above and beyond to make us feel welcomes and cared for. She got us checked in early and to a beautiful room. Very few hiltons still make diamond members feel valued but at this hotel the opposite is true. Diamond status at this hotel still means something. A hidden gem in the hustle and bustle of waikiki

We are very happy to have chosen Ka La'i hotel for our two week vacation in April of 2024. We originally booked another hotel , for the second week but once we experienced the beautiful very spacious room and excellent treatment given us by ALL the staff we made the decision to stay here the full two weeks. We had a late flight on arrival ,and were very grateful for the lovely complimentary sandwiches left in our room fridge . The Buffet at breakfast was of very good quality fresh fruits every day , was always served expertly and with a smile, from all, and a special thank you to the lady who greeted us each morning in such a kind manner. I can not find fault with any member of the hotel team, even if i were to try. Wonderful and pleasant service from every one i met, at this hotel. The KaLa i hotel is right across the street from the Ocean. And we were provided with beach towels for our convenience from the concierges. Always a smile and Aloha with a cold bottle of water from bell staff when we left hotel for our daily adventures. On our departure we also had a late evening flight from the airport and the gentle man named Doug in guest services check in and out, gave us a more than generous complimentary extension on the room to accommodate the late hour long after the checkout time. We could not have hoped for a better experience with the hotel or staff. Thank you to all . Susan.

This hotel's location on the outskirts of Waikiki makes its positioning somewhat awkward, especially compared to other resorts in the area. Despite its high pricing, the breakfast buffet offers limited variety, with options resembling those found at a Holiday Inn, and priced at over $50 per person. Moreover, the service from hotel staff leaves much to be desired, rude valet, incompetent house keeping, and unprofessional maintenance, lacking the professionalism expected from a high-end hotel, particularly considering its market price, which approaches $600 per night. While the recent acquisition by Hilton adds it as another option in Waikiki, the hotel itself fails to meet the standard expected from an LXR property.