I recently stayed at the Royal Hawaiian during my vacation in Hawaii. I had wanted to stay there for some time because of the history of the hotel, the reputation, and for the prominent location in Waikiki. It was a good experience but considering the cost of the hotel I expected better. The room and facility were clean and the staff were friendly. When asked, they were very helpful. The location is excellent and the grounds are beautiful. I expected an older hotel but was surprised that many features of the hotel are not maintained better; the historic elevators, for instance. The room I stayed in was functional and clean but rather sparsely furnished for a $600/night room. The air conditioning could not keep up and the room remained warm all night long and did not become cool until 6:00 AM. I was shocked to learn the very small, simple pool closes at 6:00. Why would the hotel of a prominent and expensive hotel close at 6:00 PM? I found a number of other hotels and condos in Hawaii now close their pools early; the excuse of some - "COVID". Give me a break! The check-in and check-out process was very slow. A constant line for the front desk exists because there are few staff members to help guests and they were not making any effort to speed up the process. Sometimes staff members at the front desk were not helping guests for 10-15 minutes while there was a line of guests waiting. Lastly, I was shocked to learn the hotel tacks on an additional "Fee" of $42 + taxes per day to the bill on top of the room charge. This fee is added for amenities that should already be covered in the room/hotel charge. I would love to stay at the Royal Hawaiian again, but I may have to reconsider based upon the observations above.

We stayed here for our first two nights of our honeymoon. We chose the Royal Hawaiian for its location and history/cultural relevance. Overall, the view from our room and its proximity to the beach were ideal. We could watch the surf break from our balcony and we were just seconds from the beach. The recent renovations of the grounds and lobby etc are beautiful and make the stay iconic. The rooms themselves, however, were drab, outdated and at times a bit nasty (see attached photos) - the lamps were rusty, the vents had mold, the bathrooms felt a bit dank. In addition, the pool area was somewhat unkempt - we had to clean our own area more than once when we found empty chairs to sit, busing empty glasses and garbage etc. We also found it shocking that the hotel does not provide guests with umbrellas and chairs for the beach - these you’ll need to rent for $150 to sit “front row” by the ocean and $70 for the “back row.” Since this is a beach front property, we felt this should be an included amenity that many other hotels in Waikiki do offer as part of their stay. Overall, it was cool to stay at such an iconic landmark but I would not return for the amount we paid for night and what we actually got (aside from location).

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in the historic building of the Royal Hawaiian. All staff were friendly and helpful and the amenities were excellent. Our room overlooked lush gardens. We could sit in rocking chairs in the open lobby, recline by the pool or head directly to the beach. The hotel is close to many eating places and close to the Waikiki Trolley stop if you’re not renting a car. I highly recommend the “Pink Hawaiian” cocktail at the Mai Tai Bar.

We have stayed here four times before and always will if in Honolulu area as the Royal Hawaiian Resort Hotel by Marriott is Relaxing and Excellent! Management have trained all their staff to be extremely friendly, polite, thankful and treat each customer as VIP. This starts from a bell man greeting you with kukui nut necklaces, front desk staff (Mark) friendly and thankful welcome, room housekeeping (Fedlyn, Marie), guest relations (Clarence delivered treats to some rooms and offered sight-seeing advice), pool staff (John helped move empty lounge chairs big distances, offered extra towels, local info) and Shoyen offering towels or helping carry water glasses from free filtered water dispenser, bar tenders (Nick E, Nick U, Lilia) and friendly/charming restaurant breakfast servers (Steven telling jokes, Stanton’s humor & local info, Pang’s info and Chester’s humor). This Resort is THE Place to RELAX and Scenic Views! Celebrated our Anniversary at Azure located at Royal Hawaiian. We had requested Santomi as we had met her previously at hotel as she was very friendly, professional and helpful. Her assistant waiters, James and Ronny, were attentive and offered extra bread bowls. We had made reservations thru Cheryl, Azure Hostess, for our special anniversary dinner. When we showed up, Cheryl treated us as old friends and had a special meal printed up and titled as our 47th Anniversary! Free activities provided by the Royal Hawaiian were wonderful and fun! Limited space so sign-up early. All these instructors were so warm, friendly, fun and thankful for us tourists. Besides speaking English, some instructors also spoke Japanese. We did and recommend: Lei-making (Danielle), Kukui nut bracelet (Cathy…learned from others she was Miss Hawaii & on Magnum PI), Ribbon Lei (Heidi), Flower Crown (Cheryl & Erleen), and Lauhala Class- leaf folded/weaved into shapes (Cathy-mom & Michael-son that was a librarian & also knows anime, transformers, etc). All great classes for Families- young and old. Easiest is Lei and Kukui Nut bracelets that ANYONE can do without much effort or patience…so Do Try this as You will be relaxed and feel you achieved it! Other activities are relaxing and various levels of effort and accomplishment satisfaction! Yes, they will help you as often as you need help and finish for you need help or if bodily limited. Overall, DO all of these as FUN!!! Also free were a history tour around the property and other water teaching experiences. Ali Lahip, Director Operations was walking around and asking customers how vacation was going and they needed anything. At the free activities, we met Shay the Front Desk Manager thanking the participants making leis or other souvenirs several times for coming to the Royal Hawaiian. Jo Aah Inge was very helpful in getting our room reservations, communication and other help. In past, Nicole Okuna the Hotel Manager we met several times, was out on maternity leave now, also walked around Royal Hawaiian greeting the tourists like us and asking if all was going well and if needed anything…was missed. Royal Hawaiian continues its Excellent Staff Team and Management! Because we are Marriott members we were upgraded due to status. All Marriott Members of certain levels get upgraded rooms if available. We chose the free daily breakfast option as our reward. Staying at Marriott Hotels was One of Best Travel Decisions of Life... we focus on Marriott hotels or affiliates.

One of the best places we've ever stayed! It was a great location for our Oahu trip and an easy walk to restaurants and shopping. Parking garage close to hotel and get a discount on price. Ate breakfast every morning at the Surf Lanai and grabbed something at the bakery the morning we went to Pearl Harbor. The hotel and grounds are immaculate and beautiful. We rented a beach umbrella and two chairs one day (on-line) from a link on their website (so it was a separate company). It didn't tell you that there would be three to four rows of chairs in front of you on the public beach area. So just a heads up that you won't be able to see the beach from the row in front of the hotel. The pool and hot tub were both very nice and had some reserved and some open seating along with plenty of towels. It might be a splurge (we were able to use Marriott points) but well worth what you get to stay there!