Lotus Honolulu at Diamond Head

Waikiki is a thicket of concrete and hotels not worthy of mention. Diamond Head's "Gold Coast" is an entirely different matter. Many condominiums, yes, but also a (very) few number of smaller hotels, such as the Lotus. We usually stay at the New Otani (aka Kaimana Beach), but it's a bit noisy. The Lotus Honolulu, while not right on the ocean, is only 150 feet back, right across from beautiful Kapiolani Park and adjacent to the New Otani and Sans Souci Condominiums. Its rooms are up to date, tastefully decorated and the hotel hosts one of Honolulu's best restaurants, the Arden. We're fans, in short. Treat yourself to one of the upper floor "ocean view" rooms if you want beautiful views of the ocean off of Diamond Head (looking over the residential area of the Gold Coast) and filtered views of the ocean. Outdoor deck space is particularly generous, another huge plus. The staff could not be more attentive.

Very impressive service provided by Rhian and team! Would return for this alone. Appreciate the complimentary beach chair and towel use along with the daily complimentary wine at the onsite restaurant. “Living Room” was also quite fun with the virtual games. Lovely experience overall.

The front desk employees, Melvin and Anne were fabulous. Always smiling and provided excellent recommendations for local restaurants. Their rooms are spacious and have been recently updated. There is a lovely quiet beach that’s a 2 minute walk away.

Absolutely loved my stay! The views were breathtaking, and the staff went above and beyond to make us feel welcome. The room was spacious and clean, with all the amenities we needed. Perfect location for exploring the area! Highly recommend!

This was our 2nd time in Oahu and despite the hustle and bustle of Waikiki we decided to stay "in the area" - we wanted a nice quick access to all of it has to offer, but a bit less noise, street traffic, human chaos, and... easier parking - I think that's the best way to summarize selling points of Lotus Honolulu, as they can appeal to everyone. Now, add to that a very nice and friendly staff, reasonable price, clean and modern rooms and we are just adding more points to it :) my only complaint? I wish the ABC was closer or some other place with Musubi (the grocery next door doesn't carry them unfortunately). Location: you are at Diamond Head area, but all that separates you from Waikiki is the 15 to 20 minutes "scenic" walk - on right side you see the park/Diamond Head, on the left side other park/banyan trees/ocean... it wouldn't be far to not mention that but as anywhere in Oahu there are some homeless folks in the area, not by the hotel itself but while you go through the park it's not that uncommon to see them, or people living in the cars - it's just sadly the world we live in and they never bothered anybody, nor approached anybody if that is of a concern, we felt safe and actually love the fact that we were able to walk each day. There is plenty of street parking with meters, they cost 0.25 cents or 0.50 cents per hour, and if my memory serves me well from 6PM to 10AM each day there are free - so it worked out perfectly as we would always be out during the day and arrive around 4PM and pay just for couple hours - cheapest parking ever :) supposedly there are free spots but I didn't find any, or felt like they may not be really parking spots. If parking on the street (literally it's in front of the hotel so I don't see a reason why not to do that, they take credit cards and parking app) you can park inside the hotel, it's a limited space and at $45.00 a day + tax paying at absolute most $5 - to $10 a day on the street was a no brainer :) There is one grocery store literally next door for some snacks, beer etc. - just no Musubi :( couple restaurants as well, including one in the building on the 2nd floor - otherwise plenty of options walking distance in Waikiki - you are not literally beach front, but 2nd row behind other hotels but there is a short passage leading straight to the beach for sunsets, beach use etc. Room: we had a room on the 4th floor with partial view of the Diamond Head and the ocean - it was a nice view but having 5th or 6th floor would be better as you can see above some palm trees to fully enjoy the Diamond Head, and the ocean... was actually pretty cool, believe it or not as limited as the view was we saw whales a couple times - I couldn't believe it as it's a pretty random angle and in a distance and yet we saw it clear as day - definitely an added bonus during January :) the room was clean, comfy bed, don't recall turning TV on as being on the balcony always was something more enjoyable to watch. Good central A/C, room got never hot in January and over night sometimes we didn't even have A/C on at all. Bathroom was very spacious, though shower pretty tiny - and interesting lay out of space but it worked. There was a mini fridge, safe, great Wi-Fi - the usual staff that makes your stay great :) we have never used a coffee machine in the room as there is too much good coffee down in Waikiki but I think the hotel could have had some black coffee in the lobby for guests as an added bonus in the future Hotel Grounds/area: I expected a pretty big hotel, in reality it's actually a fairly small one, maybe it's the other bigger ones next door that make this feel as such, but it was a good thing - never crowded, never too many people passing through the lobby or the elevator (single elevator). The bottom floor of the building is some parking spots and the lobby, 2nd floor the restaurant and a small entertainment room, and then each hotel rooms going up - very modest but it worked great. You come out of the lobby area/parking area straight to street - it was always nice to park the car across the street and just walk inside the building without walking to a distant parking lot (like we had back in 2022 while staying in the very west/north of Waikiki). No parking garages - this is all street parking, with the exception of maybe 6 parking spots on ground level of the entrance. Big plus worth mentioning is the free water at the hotel - every room comes free (you can take them home) reusable water bottles and the lobby has filtered clean water to refill for you - reminded me a bit of French Polynesia :) it's great not to have to buy bottled water! Beaches: as funny as it sounds we spent 5 nights in Oahu and visited the beach literally for sunset :) the area for that is perfect as you face west and once you get out of the building and walking through a small pass between the oceanfront hotels you are right there, less than 1-2 minutes once leaving the lobby. Alternatively of course you have the other beaches in the area closer to Waikiki - there is a lot to choose from here Food & restaurant options: we didn't get to try the restaurant in the hotel, heard/read good stuff about it, as we always ended up walking to Waikiki zone for breakfast and dinner, and lunch would be always on the road somewhere - nevertheless, the reason why we had returned to Oahu (which I had never though before coming here for the first time in 2022) was really food :) it's one of the richest food options place we had a pleasure of visiting - so many good places, so many good dishes, cuisines, for every palette and every budget - that's Oahu! Explore, research, find out what you want. Things to do: oh... yea this is Oahu 2nd biggest selling point after the food! Explore Waikiki by foot - and when I say that I say go check out the Duke statute (and other ones), the parks, the beach, "surferwatch" on the beach, the free Friday Night fireworks at Hilton (we missed it, I encourage you to go really close to that hotel, and earlier!, and do your research, we were sadly misled about the right spot and we completely missed it, was quite heart breaking as we left the restaurant rushing to make it on my wife's bday and yet we didn't see anything... skip def the Royal Hawaiian as you won't be able to see anything from it's mini pier due to the buildings in sight, in a retrospective I wish we stayed at our hotel or just some beach so we could have probably seen something :(... learn surfing, go on a long walk in the park... then rent a car and explore everything else in Oahu - from the scenic south scenic coast of Diamond Head, Hanauma Bay, through east's Makapu'pu, Lanikai, Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens, to north's Kualoa Ranch, Sunset Beach Park and the charming Haleiwa town with it's neverending food options :) just skip the west coast, north west (north of Ko Olina) as it certain areas it felt like the area where Mad Max was taped :( it gets really scenic at the very very very end of the road, literally where the paved road ends at Ka'Ena - do plan for weather to change and not cooperate in every area as things change :) it's an adventures wonderland! I have reviewed separately whatever we did this time and 2 years ago separately if you are looking for ideas - in general if you rent a car you want to do circles and that's the beauty of Oahu compared to Maui or Kauai, you can build an easy game plan circling certain areas rather than returning the same road - Big Island has a similar benefit but the distances are muuuuuch greater there Overall: great hotel, exactly what I was missing in 2022 - we enjoyed our previous stay at that different place but it was missing something, maybe it was the nice service at the proper lobby and always smiling people, the area is a bit less chaotic than Waikiki yet you still have access to Waikiki... and then seeing Diamond Head each day... I think to me Diamond Head and the mountain ridge/valleys at the Kualoa Ranch are the most scenic aspect of Oahu. We traveled as a couple, and it felt that most people in the hotel were adults and couples of various ages - I got a sense of this before coming to the hotel, and maybe that's what we all find it in common here and enjoy it, not to say it's not a family friendly hotel - it simply provides adults exactly what to have on a nice vacation, and without breaking the back while still remaining genuine and authentic - very recommended!