The Modern Honolulu

This is my third stay at The Modern and I love it. But, I'll add that it's probably not for everyone. Here's my take: If you're coming to Hawaii for a once-in-a-lifetime trip. I absolutely recommend staying at a different property — somewhere on the beach in Waikiki. You deserve that experience. I'm here fairly often and love The Modern for several reasons: • Beautiful, good-sized, newly renovated rooms with balconies. They're gorgeous. I suppose there is some construction noise during the day, but I've not been bothered. Excellent air conditioning. • Super friendly, helpful, and plentiful staff. I just got back from a sidetrip to Maui and, boy, it was refreshing to get back to The Modern where literally every employee has been great and engaging. • Excellent pool, plenty of lounges. • Walking distance to Ala Moana mall. This is one reason we really like it. The mall has dozens of restaurants and we often have dinner there. It's an easy walk. Plus, if we need to grab some drinks and snacks, there's a Walmart and a Target near the mall (save big bucks over ABC and tourist zone pricing!) • Walking distance to Waikiki proper and Waikiki Beach. We still want to get our beach on. When those moments hit, it's a leisurely 15 minute stroll to be on the sand at Waikiki. I will add a couple of caveats: • Other reviews mention elevator noise. This is true. One of our rooms was three doors down from the lifts, and we heard a "whooshing" or whirling noise sometimes as they went up and down. Not a game changer. It might be a different story if we were directly next to the elevator shafts. • Some folks mentioned a lack of bathroom privacy. They are referring to a feature of the bathroom design: two strips of wooden blinds, each about a foot wide, that run floor-to-ceiling. They can be opened and closed. Not a problem for us.

It was ok. It was a budget hotel. We arrived on Saturday and there was blaring music. Not what you want to hear when you just arrive and want to sleep after long flight. It was a clean hotel. We had a partial ocean view room. The restaurant was not open due to electrical repairs; They only had grill available with limited menu, chicken, beef burgers, hot dogs. They were only open between 12-2 and 3-5pm. The chicken burger was very good and it was $15 U.S. The bed was too soft. We got lots of pillows though. The toilet dispenser in the washroom was in a very awkward place if you're right handed. You have to reach behind. There was no hand shower feature. Water pressure very low. If you want ice, its only available on even numbered floors. Hope your room is not near elevators because a lot of sound comes from them.

great location and beautiful vistas, BUT...no restaurant currently available on pool deck, (as per website) only 3 item BBQ set up for all day happy hour. The bar staff are all wonderful, full of ohana. However, happy hours next door features drinks all $2 cheaper, no trunks, but great view from 21 floors up. Be sure to inquire which floor construction is on and put two floors of noise insulation between you as it starts at 7:30am, not the posted time of 9am. A big disappointment from the "Used to Be: The Modern" after many repeated yearly visits.

This is a beautiful hotel with some issues you need to consider. My partner and I stayed a week and paid with points ( also over $600 in hotel fees). They are renovating and may give you a substandard room with an ooen air no privacy bathroom. In other words every single thing done in that bathroom can be heard by everyone in the room. The beds are a tad hard but more concerningly on an oversized platform with sharp corners at shin level. After one deep bad bruises on my way to the noisy bathroom at night I tried to change our room or go to another hotel and they “ could not accommodate us” . We ended up getting extra blankets and wrapping them around the darngerous protruding edges of the beds. It was a pretty but not safe or comfortable room. We felt like the fact we paid with points ( and are Hilton Honors members) made us second class guests somehow. We did make the best of it as we came to visit family. Don’t pay big money for this place unless you are traveling by yourself are tiny and like hard beds. Look around. I still have my deep bruises two weeks later.

This property is awful. Don’t stay there if you don’t like “a lot of noise”. They played super loud music for 6 hrs straight. No consideration for anyone that might not want to hear super loud music for hours straight.. blasting it towards the harbor and the Ilikai… I was over there with a friend and they were ready to jump off the balcony. Yes there is a lot going on in Waikiki, but this was over the top and rude as heck.