The Modern Honolulu

I've been to Waikiki a few times and did not need to break the bank on a 5* hotel, I just wanted to come and explore again. I really enjoyed this hotel! It is affordable and all of the employees I encountered were very friendly and helpful. They all knew us and always greeted us. The entire hotel is thoughtfully decorated in all public spaces and cute. Everything is clean. The views of the harbor were nice. The pool area was nice, the bathrooms were clean and the pool bar was great. A big shout out to Derek our bartender at the pool bar for the week! He was so fun and friendly and greeted us each time knowing our drinks without asking. He really made our time there! The pool area had good food, I HIGHLY recommend the Beet and Burrata salad with Shrimp...surprisingly good! The Bao's were good as well. There is an upstairs quiet adult pool that gets a nice breeze when it's hot. The room was good size, enough for the two of us. It was clean, had a microwave, coffee maker and refrigerator. The shower was large with good water pressure. You can hear the elevator as previous reviews stated but it did not bother us at all. It is a low hum and white noise to us. You can make a complimentary Lei with Cathy twice a week. Cathy was nice and friendly, and it was a fun experience! It only takes about 15-20 minutes; you should try it! The bad reviews I've read are unfounded to me. We had a great affordable stay and will return. It is a 10-minute easy walk to the lagoon and beach through the pool area. Ala Moana Mall is about the same (That mall is HUGE! We went to Foodland a couple times). Getting into downtown is about 25 minutes but we didn't mind all the walking. It got us out in the sunshine and exploring. If you're not a big walker Uber and Lyft are quick in the area, the trolley is also close. Harbor Pub is right across the street if you want breakfast early. The hotel does quiet down early, by 9:30pm it's pretty silent.

Timeshare bait and switch. Asked us to do an activity and then offer benefits but then switched

While the hotel room itself is lovely, I am sorry for saying that there is a concerning issue with the bathroom. During our stay, the shower faucet turned on automatically multiple times. Despite my mother and me turning it off, the water would start running again shortly after. This was quite distressing and prevented us from getting any rest during the nights. We heard some voices in the bathroom at the midnight. 😵‍💫

The hotel is well located, and the accommodations are fine, if unexceptional. Despite being a vacation club, there are no activities to speak of, and the $35 resort fee just seems like an odd-on cost that doesn't provide any value. That said, I'd give the place at least 4 stars but for my checkout experience. I booked the hotel at a rate that is especially for airline employees. Airline employees need flexibility with their stays because we fly standby, and flight availability changes all the time, sometimes dramatically. Well, I booked a three-night stay, but Hawaii started to experience extreme rain. So lots of people decided to go home, and the flight became increasingly crowded. The flights a day out became fully booked, so I decided to leave a day early, the second day of my three day day. The hotel, however, insisted on charging for the full three nights. Even when I travel on "normal" rates, I've never had a hotel insist on charging when I check out early. But it's outrageous if a hotel offers an airline rate, knowing how we have to change plans at the last minute. The clerk and manager insisted that this was specified in the rate rules, but the rules don't actually specify that early check-out will lead to payment for the full reservation, though they do have more general language about reservation changes. Anyway, you would think in the spirit of Aloha, given the underlying extreme weather causing flight havoc, even if that was their rule they'd waive it, but they didn't do so, and weren't even particularly nice about it.

The Hilton Vacation Club - The Modern Honolulu was very conveniently located in Waikiki within walking distance of the Hilton Lagoon, restaurants, an ABC superstore, the local park & the harbor. We were about a block from the water. We arrived early (our flight got in around 11am), we planned to check in, leave our luggage and return when our room was ready - thankfully our room was ready when we arrived. Communication with the hotel prior to our stay was excellent; traveling for my boyfriends birthday, a family member wanted to ship a gift to be at the hotel when we arrived, and they were able to accommodate this. The package arrived the night before we did and the hotel had this delivered to our room upon us checking in. The concierge stopped us on our way to our room and offered us event planning and waters for our room, offered to set us up for events or local luau. We had many events already booked & planned however finding out we were here celebrating my boyfriend on his birthday the concierge set us up with tickets to 'Auana by Cirque de Soile, which was an incredible show. We had a corner room with a large balcony that we enjoyed eating meals on or enjoying the warm Hawaii Rain. There was plenty of natural light in the room. The room was equipped with a coffee maker, microwave, mini fridge & TV. TV guides were kind of strange as there were 3 separate channels for guides, not that we were here to watch TV. The bed was decent, but not the most comfortable. The bathroom was well cleaned but had a heavy bleach smell upon arrival. Housekeeping was great and would come in daily and make our beds, replace or add towels & empty the garbage. The hotel had some pretty cool artwork in the lobby including a wall made of surfboard pieces. We didn't utilize the pool, we were thinking about eating breakfast at the Grove Restaurant, but they were closed when we went up there. There was a wonderful smell of Plumerias when you would enter the lobby which was a nice touch. Parking is $40/day - we only parked in the garage 2 days and we had to have the hotel adjust post stay as they charged us for every night rather than just the 2 days we had told them at check in. The gentleman at the front desk helped issue a refund for the additional days we were charged for parking. Overall, we had a wonderful stay and would stay here again in the future.