The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort, Waikiki

We love historical hotels, so I specifically booked our 4 nights with The Royal Hawaiian. You pay more for this hotel, but in the busy Waikiki, it is its own oasis. It is a beautiful place and smells amazing. I wanted the older section, so booked a Jr Garden Suite. I requested a higher floor, but was placed on the 1st floor. It was a nice room, but soon learned it had several issues. There were ants, and the room needed a thorough cleaning in several areas. I made the front desk aware, and they were very accommodating. They offered a new room in the new section, but since I really wanted to stay in the historical part, they were able to switch our room the next day. The new space was lovely and had absolutely no issues. I placed pictures of both rooms below. The MaiTai bar was great, and so was the food for a quick meal. Don't miss the pink pancakes at breakfast!! I also really enjoyed the pool. At first glance, it is easy to dismiss the smallness of it, but sit down and enjoy the space. It has such a cool retro feel, and was so relaxing. The large pool at he Sheraton is available for use, but was incredibly crowded with like a 1000 people in it, so was a no-go for us. The staff was awesome everywhere we went. The valets, housekeeping, towel service and MaiTai Bar staff!

Rooms were dated. My daughter’s room was filled with ants. She had to spend a whole morning emptying all their suitcases, etc. because ants were in a few bags. Won’t go back.

Not sure how many times I have stayed here, but it’s always a joy to stay at the Pink Palace. Nearly 51 years ago was my first visit to Hawaii with my mother and we stayed here. This is my daughter’s first trip to Hawaii so I made sure The Punk Palace was our first destination. She certainly enjoyed our time here. Maybe in the future she will bring her child here for their first trip to Hawaii. Having said this, let me start off with the bad, hence only 4 stars: 1. Flew on an overnight flight and landed in Honolulu at 8:30am, arrived at the hotel at 11. Couldn’t get early check-in, which I understood and was told I will be notified by phone and/or email when the room is ready. Perfect! By 2pm we were in zombie form and returned to the hotel. By chance I asked if our room was ready and it was. No phone call, no email…was happy to get into our room and we all cleaned up. Later on in the evening I noticed an email was received at 3:30pm saying my room is ready. A little late (lol). 2. Ants…didn’t mind it much. Little one was amused by them, but the Mrs was not happy. 3. Helumoa Pool: water was cloudy. At first I thought it was a saltwater pool but later found out its freshwater. It was pretty nasty as cloudy as it was…maybe the filters were out of service THE GOOD: Staff is friendly as always. Started with the valet greeting us with a smile, nice to see after being on traveling for about 20hrs. Front desk, housekeeping, maintenance and activities staff were all wonderful! The larger oceanfront room had plenty of space for the three of us. Had to improvise and remodeled the two queen beds into one super king, and housekeeping did a wonderful job making sure the room was kept tidy.

I would like to express our sincere gratitude for the truly wonderful stay and the exceptional hospitality extended to us during our visit.

When choosing a hotel it is really important to know what you need from it. This hotel was perfect for us because what we needed was a room that was clean and safe with a comfortable bed in a great location. This hotel fit the bill. We were warmly received at check in and the process was seamless. We had booked a package through Costco which included all of our fees so there were no surprises. Instead of plastic room key cards we were given pink wristbands, which I loved having. No matter if you are going to the beach, or just walking to dinner, it makes keeping the room key very handy. The first night we arrived we shared appetizers at the Mai Tai bar and enjoyed the live music. The umbrellas were well placed together so even though it started raining we did not get wet. Our room was in the main building. They gave us insulated refillable water bottles and the water station and ice machine were right down the hall. We would fill them each day before heading out for our activities. This hotel is connected to the Royal Hawaiian shopping center and it was very convenient to walk to dinner and shop. We loved being able to walk to so many places. We also enjoyed walking around the historic hotel and reading through the artifacts in the little mini museum. Yes, this is a historic hotel and the rooms are small, but we were not there to stay in the room. We grabbed coffee and sausage rolls from the bakery each morning on our way out and we greatly enjoyed our stay.