Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii

The only reason my family decided to stay at Fairmont Orchid in the first place was because we've had excellent experiences at past Fairmont properties before. Fairmonts are never the newest, nor do they have the most innovative resort experiences, but they more than make up for it with their impeccable service, cleanliness, and elegance. Sadly, Fairmont Orchid as of Dec. 2024 fails on all three of those counts. I attached some photo evidence, but basically when we checked in, they told us our room would be slightly delayed due to cleaning. Imagine my surprise when I finally entered our room, only to find hair clippings in the shower, bird poop smeared all over the balcony handrails, and most egregiously (in my opinion), potato chip crumbs all over the couch and even a slice of stale bread hidden behind the couch. Now, finding any of these in a 5-star hotel is already disappointing, but the fact that we experienced this at a Fairmont was honestly shocking to me. Hair clippings and bird poop can be annoying to clean, and while I expect a Fairmont to be classy enough to clean those anyway, what the actual **** was with the potato chip crumbs??? How much effort does it take to pick up coin-sized pieces of chips off the couch? If I didn't know any better, I would've thought their entire housekeeping staff was made up of actors. That was day 1. Day 2, we pointed this cleanliness problem out to the front desk, and fully expecting that, at minimum, the potato chips would be cleaned off the couch (I mean, you'd expect this at ANY hotel, much less a 5-star one), we went about on a leisurely stroll at the beach. When we returned, our room had been serviced, and lo and behold... the crumbs were still there. The trash behind the couch was still there. The bird poop, the hair clippings-- nothing had been touched. Once again, housekeeping did a very good job of making it seem like the room was serviced-- the beds were redone, pillows fluffed up, towels replenished-- but nothing else was done. It was the kind of bare minimum housekeeping one would expect from a Best Western. Day 3, we received a handwritten apology letter along with a box of complimentary chocolate. Very appreciated, Fairmont. I'm glad you guys owned up to your mistakes... oh wait... but the potato chip crumbs were still there. This now marked the second time that housekeeping had ignored the very obvious, very large pieces of crumbs on the couch. I pretty much gave up at this point-- I wasn't about to ruin our trip by starting a fight with the Fairmont staff, and judging from their behavior thus far, I wasn't sure they'd even take any action anyway. So I saved everything I had to say for this review. Aside from the abysmal service and gigantic cleanliness problem, the rest of the hotel was actually quite nice. The property itself is very beautiful, very well-designed, and while it is quite old, it's the charming kind of old. There are plenty of dining options at the resort, and they also offer free 24/7 shuttles to any location on the Mauna Lani complex, so your dining and shopping options are actually surprisingly varied despite the area being situated in the middle of nowhere. The breakfast buffet is very nice-- possibly one of the nicest breakfast buffet experiences I've had at any hotel. Yes, things are expensive, but it's Hawaii--just about everything is expensive. Honestly, at any other hotel, I'd be more willing to brush aside the issues and give this hotel a 4/5. But because this has the name "Fairmont" plastered over its property, I fully expected a Fairmont experience. That didn't happen. *Also, a kind warning to anyone thinking of booking this hotel: Fairmont has listings for "oceanfront", "ocean view", and "partial ocean view" rooms. This is somewhat misleading, because their "ocean view" and "partial ocean view" rooms are actually very similar in their views-- you get a bit of ocean and beach, but a significant portion of your view is the resort, the pool, and the artificial waterfalls on the property. Only the "oceanfront" rooms actually face the ocean.

The Fairmont orchid is an outstanding property. The service level there was impeccable. I was especially impressed by Aria Gomera. Her and her team are absolutely outstanding. My wife and I had what you would call a dream vacation. It was in conjunction with my 60th birthday and all the staff was incredibly responsive and very service oriented. The property itself is spectacular and I highly recommend it to anyone traveling to Hawaii.

The Fairmont Orchid was fantastic! The hotel is beautiful and clean. The room was clean and comfortable. The food was so good that we ate mostly at the hotel. Our family spent the day on the beach, which is a bay, very good and safe for kids. Maria and her recreation team took very good care of us seeing that all our needs were taken care. Plenty of towels, food service and the activities were very fun. We saw 5 turtles in the bay, snorkeled, paddle boarding, canoeing etc. I highly recommended Maria and her team for taking care of all your recreation needs and desires. We will be back next year!

This is one of my favorite places to stay. I love the snorkeling at their beach. Over priced food and drink, but so is every place else these days. Rooms are nice and clean. We loved the pool and food at the pool. Staff was friendly and very helpful.

I have enjoyed all of my stays at Accor hotels in multiple countries. I also had extraordinary experiences staying at Fairmont properties in the past and I reached Gold Member Accor status so I chose to stay at the Fairmont Orchid in Waimea, Hawaii for my honeymoon trip at the end of November 2024. I hoped for the advertised 5 star experience for this special trip, which I received with the breakfast buffet at the Orchid Court. Aside from that, the stay fell below expectations. First, I inquired about early check-in when I arrived at around 2 PM. The front desk staff seemed tired and rushed and just said that they will notify me when the room was available. I waited until past 4 PM (standard check-in time) but I still did not hear from them so I went to the front desk to ask about the room. They informed me that the room had been ready for awhile but they forgot to notify me. This was disappointing because I arrived from an early long flight and hoped to be able to rest in the room. I tried to shrug it off because I did not want a negative start to my stay. However, when I walked towards the room, I noticed that the wallpaper in the hallway was stripped and scuffed. Inside the room, metal hardware in the bathroom was rusted, the bathroom fixtures and decor were dated, cobwebs were in all corners of the drawers and shelves, and table and counter tops were sticky. There were minimal amenities in the room-- not even room slippers were available to wear when walking over the dusty floors. Moreover, very few guest activities were complimentary, e.g., the s'mores making kit cost $25 (this was complimentary at the Autograph Collection, Koloa Landing Resort at Poipu in Kauai as of July of this year). I don't usually write reviews but I realized how far this stay fell below 5 star standards when I arrived at the Marriott Vacation Club in Waikiki for the second leg of my honeymoon trip. Even though that hotel is marketed as 2 stars, every single staff member was friendly and welcoming and entire property was modern and spotless with plenty of amenities in the rooms and complimentary activities for guests. I regretted not booking my whole honeymoon trip there or even at a 3 or 4 star Hilton property in the Waikoloa Village just a few miles away from the Fairmont Orchid where I can make use of my Hilton Diamond Member status benefits and pay only a third of the price of the Fairmont Orchid. I hope that my feedback will initiate improvements at this hotel.