The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort, Waikiki

We had a 2 week vacation in Hawaii. One week was in hotels we split the hotel stay between the Royal Hawaiian and a hotel next door. The other hotel charged us 3 times as much as the Royal. Unfortunately it wasn’t even close to the amenities the Royal had. It was a memorable stay.

Let me add my voice to the other 3-star reviews of this supposedly 5-star hotel. We stayed for three nights in a one bedroom suite in the historic wing as a stopover from the mainland to Big Island. Pros: - ideal Waikiki location - one of the few vestiges of "Old Waikiki" - public spaces charming, especially gardens (yoga) - suite roomy ~ 900 sq ft So why only three stars? Well, checking into the room was disappointing. In the bathroom we found a dirty bathrobe & bra, so we had to wait for housekeeping to fix that. Then room service - or not. No room service at this property. The walls are thin enough to hear the talking and snoring next door. And then come all the niggling things that make this less than Luxury: a small pool which closes at 6pm because...? Dining options are limited and menus are heavily weight to fried food. Notepad books in rooms with no paper or pens. No breakfast options at 10:31 am. Juliet balconies instead of a real balconies. No microwave in the room. And the final insult from a five-star property. As the comedienne said, "what's happened to the toilet paper btw in public bathrooms, anyway? It's not even one-ply any more, is it? it's a sheer suggeston of what toilet paper used to be ... Innuedo ... a ghost … think proscuitto". We won't be staying here on our next trip to Honolulu.

We loved the Royal Hawaiian. Very clean, beautiful property. We parked the rental car and rarely needed. Everything was just a few minutes walk from the hotel. All employees were so nice—valet staff, front desk staff, housekeepers, servers. It was a really nice experience. Loved the rocking chairs and open-air parts of this beautiful hotel. Loved the food at Mai Tai. Room was clean, bed comfortable. We would recommend to anyone traveling to this area.

It started with great bell service and front desk service. No complaints on those departments. Things went downhill quickly this point forward. We waited at a table in the Mai Tai for 10 minutes to acknowledge. No acknowledgment after sitting and watching 6 servers walk by with no acknowledgment. Finally caught a server’s attention to see if it was his table, sadly it wasn’t. However, he did step up, take our order and shortly afterwards, our server made an appearance. We left the Mai Tai and headed back to our room to change for sometime by the pool. We lucked up and got chaise lounges to relax. We were there at the pool from 2-5. Not once did the server stop and ask if we’d like to order anything. Her attention was solely focused on the cabanas near us and no one else. We left the pool to head to our room to come back to only one robe in the closet still. Our bellman, earlier from arrival, made certain to note this missing robe to have another delivered to the room and he was very attentive at filling our ice bucket, explaining the waters on the daily request. We were gone for 3 hours and no robe upon return to our room. Called guest service and housekeeping came by with another robe for the 2 of us. Left for dinner to return to our room at 8pm and no turn down service to our room. With that being the final straw of the day, I chose to sleep on everything and discuss it the next morning with the morning MOD, April 16, 2026. Your MOD listened to these occurrences from the previous day, which by the way was my birthday, and offered a guest coffee credit. As I explained to him, this was not my first time staying at the Royal Hawaiian and I know these occurrences of events are not regular happenings. I also informed him that my friend with me, was her first stay. I wasn’t wanting anything from him other than hearing about the short comings of the previous day. I wanted him to pass the information onto the manger’s of each department to rectify all the above. The MOD asked when we’d like turn down service for the 16th and we responded with 7:30pm. Needless to say, we didn’t get turn down again. I feel as though the lack of service didn’t constitute the price I paid for our room. I have already cancelled my next stay with the Royal Hawaiian that was due in September 2026. It’s the little things that add up and it’s what makes me not want to return to be disappointed. I chose to stay at the Royal Hawaiian my past 5 stays while on Oahu, now I will choose to go somewhere else. I was looking forward to sharing the Royal Hawaiian with my friend in hopes that she would come back to stay again. However, I seriously doubt that she or myself will be returning to the subpar standards. Truly unfortunate with the 100th anniversary coming in January 2027. Thank you, Cheryl Jordan

This is a beautiful hotel with tremendous character at almost 100 years old. We had an exceptional experience for our anniversary and my wife’s birthday. Entire staff were extremely friendly and helpful, especially 3 employees. First, Billy, the bar manager, greeted us with complimentary drinks; then Stephanie, a Concierge manager, provided beautiful flowers in our room and called us to see if we were happy with our experience. Finally, Elsa, our wonderful housekeeper, went above and beyond to take care of us, providing a card and amenities in our room. FANTASTIC!!!!!