The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort, Waikiki

We picked this resort specifically so we could stay in the historic wing. The ocean view historic room we booked wasn’t available at check in, so they upgraded us to the tower instead. At the time I didn’t really care because I was tired and thought ok maybe the balcony and higher floor will be nice. But omg room 1706 was not an upgrade at all. Yes, the views were amazing. But the room itself felt pretty dated, the mattress had a huge dip in it, and despite being on the top floor it didn’t even have a real balcony — just sliding doors. Later when I was at the pool looking up at the tower, I realized this must be one of the few tower rooms without an actual balcony. The real issue though was the noise. There was this insanely loud vibrating/drilling sound that came and went intermittently throughout the day and night. It was SO loud. Was it the AC? Construction? A ghost? I honestly don’t know and neither did the engineer. Eventually they explained that the winds can cause vibrations on the upper floors. Whatever it was, by day three I genuinely couldn’t take it anymore. We finally moved to a historic wing ocean view room and omg it was better in every single way. The room actually felt special and like the reason you stay at the Royal Hawaiian in the first place. The windows overlooking the beach looked like a literal postcard. I just wish we had spent the whole trip there instead. I honestly do not understand staying in a tower room at this resort. There are so many other hotels in Waikiki in the same price range that are towers but with nicer rooms and actual balconies. The entire point of staying here is the historic room!! Other than that though, the resort itself is beautiful. It’s on the nicest beach, the location is great, and everything is super walkable. The drinks were delicious and the food was actually pretty good (for Hawaii). The pink pancakes at breakfast were cute but also like… $30. We had dinner at another resort nearby that looked much nicer but the food was terrible in comparison. It is expensive though. Even coming from San Francisco, I had sticker shock a few times. The service ranged from super friendly to kind of surly. I honestly don’t care if staff are overly warm as long as I’m getting what I paid for, which is why it annoyed me that nobody really offered much of a solution when we kept asking about the noise issue (not even earplugs.) To be fair though, our server at Azure was sooo nice and the pool drink service was really fast. Also, I have no idea what other reviewers are talking about with waiting forever for umbrellas or breakfast. We asked for a beach umbrella around 9:30am and got one immediately. And the pool is small, but that’s very obvious from the website photos. I prefer Maui or Kauai overall, but if I ever end up staying in Waikiki again I’d probably stay here again — but historic wing only.

You can't put lipstick on a pig. the outside beautiful. inside ? well the rooms are all dated worn and broken. I thought why not splurge and stay here? at 1000 a night the and I toured 4 different rooms, were dark dingy, broken plugs, lamps furniture not all there stained if they were there. the worst pillows and bedding I have even seen. the pillows were flat like pancakes and smelled so bad I had to put 2 towels on them to sleep. immediately got up next morning alarm went off at 5 am couldn't unplug it. .and checked out and went to the ritz Carlton. the only thing good about this hotel is location. its nothing better than a motel 6 now. I have stayed here many times and it keeps gg down the toilet. Moana Surfrider , clean as a whistle ritz is also all three are Marriot.

Did not stay here this visit but will FOR SURE next time. Best Mai Tai in Waikiki. Pink pancakes are worth it! Classy, beautiful hotel with excellent sitting areas and vibe

1992 quality room. Tiny. Paid extra for a “high floor“ and got put on the 10th floor of 17. Literally a $150 a night quality hotel room for $1,100 per night. I couldn’t care less about the view or how extravagant the “grounds“ are. The bathroom was old, weird, and painfully basic. Yes. A 1992 shower-tub with a cheap curtain and little magnets at the bottom. Not even a proper shower head. Only a hand held. The towels were hard from over bleaching. The rooms were old and tiny. I get it. You’re in Hawaii. But have a little pride in your product. You can afford it. You’re getting overpaid by like 10x every single night. By every single guest. I get that 90% of Honolulu hasn’t been updated since the 1960s, but at this price point, you guys have no excuse to be delivering a room that looks like this. And this tiny.

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.