Vacation planning is fun, but it can be stressful. When you’re planning a staycation it doesn’t really matter where you stay. If you pick somewhere terrible you can always bail and head home. But if you’re an entire continent and half an ocean away from home, you want to make sure that where you’re staying is worth the journey.
That’s exactly why I paid the extra points to stay in a club room at the Grand Hyatt Kauai. For the last nights of the trip, we’re headed back to Oahu for our flight from HNL-MCO on Hawaiian Airlines. I’d prefer to use our Disney Vacation Club points to stay at Aulani in Ko Olina, but we’re currently waitlisted and have no expectations that we’ll get a room there, since it’s sold out.
I need a Plan B. Somewhere I’d be pleased to stay but could cancel until a week out if our timeshare becomes available.
I’d prefer to use points instead of paying cash for the room. I have more than enough Marriott points and with Sharon’s Platinum status I can try to apply an SNU to the stay to get a better room.
Marriott Bonvoy has three properties near Waikiki that we’re interested in but I want to know some real-life reviews from people who’ve stayed there. Despite the TripAdvisor reviews and posts from other travel blogs, I trust comments from our readers more than any of those.
Sharon and I love older hotels. Places that have a certain amount of charm from another era hit a sweet spot for us. Our favorite hotel in the world is the Goldener Hirsch in Austria. After undergoing a multi-year makeover, the hotel still has all the charm from our first visit.
We also love the retro decor, particularly from the tacky Tiki era. Sharon collects Tiki mugs and we visit tiki bars during our travels.
That makes it difficult to pick from the Marriott Bonvoy properties near Waikiki. Two hotels are the oldest ones in town and one is a newer property that embraces the boutique tiki era. Our choices are:
- The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort, Waikiki
- Moana Surfrider, A Westin Resort & Spa, Waikiki Beach
- The Laylow, Autograph Collection
The Laylow is available for 50K points a night, so I’d be able to use a free night from the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card during our stay while the other two hotels would cost 60K points a night.
The Royal Hawaiian and Moana Surfrider are located in the same area on Waikiki beach while the Laylow is not located on the beach but a few blocks away. Both beach hotels are some of the oldest hotels on Oahu and inhabit prime real estate.
While we have Platinum status and will try to use an SNU for the stay, which hotel is the best?
Or am I doing this wrong and should I be looking to use our Hilton points to stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village?
If I’m going to stay at a classic Hawaii hotel, I want it to be worth my while. A hotel that has been renovated to the point of removing all of the interesting things isn’t worth the time for us.
What do you think?
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5 comments
The Royal or Moana is what you want. the Marriott Waikiki Beach is the most updated currently, we stayed there last night. None of that matters as the whole area is a noisy mess with tourist and homeless camps. Hope for Aulani is all I can say. Courtyard North Shore is also nice and away from all that but it’s not vintage like you are looking for.
I’d suggest The Laylow – you’ll probably get a better room with your status – be sure to request it in the reservations and reach out to the front desk asking for a larger or corner room preference be added after you get a confirmation #. The other legacy hotels don’t tend to upgrade all that often and prime rooms are tough to get.
We stayed at the Moana Surf Rider in January 2021. We also love hotels with history. We chose the Moana Surfrider over the Royal Hawaiian because the signature pink was too much for us at the RH. We loved the history of the radio show at the MSR. We even downloaded a show and played it while we had dinner and watch the sunset under Bayan tree.
Hilton. You won’t be able to use any upgrade certificates at any Marriott, your upgrade will be denied (despite the hotel selling upgraded rooms) and the restaurant isn’t offering any platinum breakfast benefit despite it being open. (Covid only inflicts the platinum breakfast diners)
You will get bonvoyed so just stay somewhere else.
You know I forgot that the Courtyard North Shore is next to the Polynesian Village so that could make up for the need of tiki cheesy stuff 🙂