A hotel recommendation for a couple nights before Aulani.

SL6827

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 23, 2017
Now thinking about doing two nights at another hotel before five nights at Aulani for our possible trip. Would do the sight seeing and such of the island during that time frame with a rental car. So where would be a great place to stay? Probably just do activities on the East side of the island and such. Pearl Harbor for sure. Don't think we will go to the North Shore. My husband said he wants to see Waikiki Beach.
 
That’s a very loaded question and largely dspends on the following:

1) When you do plan to visit and how much do you want to pay per night? Hotel prices increase significantly during high season.
2) What area do you want to stay in? Do you want to be able to walk to restaurants and stores or drive to them? Ala Moana/Hilton Hawaiian Village area, Waikiki Beachfront, or with in a couple blocks of Waikiki Beach.
3) Do you want a hotel room that my have a mini fridge or do you want a timeshare that has a kitchen?
4) What is the most you want to pay for your resort fee per night?

I always stay at Aulani when I go to Oahu but have decided to stay in Waikiki next time to do everything on the eastern side of the island. My goal is to be within a couple blocks of Waikiki Beach or beachfront and near the Waikiki Beach Walk or Royal Hawaiian Center. Here are some the places I’ve been researching on TripAdvisor: Waikiki Beachcomber, Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort, Royal Hawaiian, Imperial of Waikiki.
 
We booked at the Banyan with Koko resorts. A nice condo with free parking and its a block back from the beach. We had sea views.
 
That’s a very loaded question and largely dspends on the following:

1) When you do plan to visit and how much do you want to pay per night? Hotel prices increase significantly during high season.
2) What area do you want to stay in? Do you want to be able to walk to restaurants and stores or drive to them? Ala Moana/Hilton Hawaiian Village area, Waikiki Beachfront, or with in a couple blocks of Waikiki Beach.
3) Do you want a hotel room that my have a mini fridge or do you want a timeshare that has a kitchen?
4) What is the most you want to pay for your resort fee per night?

I always stay at Aulani when I go to Oahu but have decided to stay in Waikiki next time to do everything on the eastern side of the island. My goal is to be within a couple blocks of Waikiki Beach or beachfront and near the Waikiki Beach Walk or Royal Hawaiian Center. Here are some the places I’ve been researching on TripAdvisor: Waikiki Beachcomber, Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort, Royal Hawaiian, Imperial of Waikiki.
I thought it could be too broad of a question after I posted it, lol. Would like to get in a couple nights for say the price of one night at Aulani perhaps, or less. Don't want to be at a place that I would want to stay and not leave the resort, I want to get out and explore the island on those days. PH, HB, DH, Waikiki Beach are some of my must dos. A September 2021 time frame is when I am looking.
 


We really liked the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort. What I have found is that the Waikiki hotels charge quite a bit for parking. The International Market Place is right across the street from the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort and there are a few car rental places there. It was actually cheaper for us to rent the car by the day (for 2 days in a row) and just walk across the street to get the car rather than pay to park it at our hotel. We also enjoy the restaurant at the hotel, Dukes. Have fun planning!
 
Outrigger on Waikiki beach. They have dukes with good food, close to so many things, and the beach is right there.
 


We did 3 nights in Waikiki before our Aulani stay. We opted not to get a rental car during our Waikiki stay - lots of traffic in Waikiki, parking can be challenging, and most (if not all) of the hotels in that area impose parking fees. We found that there are a TON of organized bus tours that offer pick up and drop off at Waikiki hotels. There is a much larger variety at all different price points from Waikiki than what's offered at Aulani. Because of this, we booked tours to Diamond Head and Pearl Harbor. This worked out perfectly because we didn't have to navigate the traffic and parking challenges in these places, and they also facilitated our Pearl Harbor tour tickets so we didn't have to worry about arriving early or trying to obtain them 60 days in advance.

We stayed at the Marriott Waikiki Beach. Its directly across from the main portion of the beach. When choosing our hotel, we wanted something that was centrally located for walking and didn't care what amenities the hotel had because we barely spent any time there. We found the location to be perfect, and the hotel had a tour lobby which made it easy to locate our tours. There was a Waikiki trolley stop outside the hotel, and we utilized the pink line to go to Ala Moana Center. We found the trolley to be easy, inexpensive, and convenient. There was also an ABC Store right there.

A lot of people recommend the Hilton Hawaiian Village. While I'm sure that's a great resort, you're paying for the resort atmosphere and amenities there which we didn't care about since our Aulani time was going to be dedicated to enjoying resort amenities. Its also at the far end of the Waikiki strip and was not conducive to walking in the area, IMO.
 
We would recommend the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. It has a ton of history dating back to pre-World War II but has been nicely updated. It is also right in the heart of Waikiki but feels like it is in its own tropical paradise.
 
Hundreds of places to stay - it will all come down to $$ and how close to the beach you want to be. Ie there are only a handful of hotels actually ON the beach but everything else is normally a close walk.
 
Has anyone had experience with the SurfJack? My daughter is very interested in it. We’d probably stay about 2 nights and head to Aulani or possibly Paradise Bay for a night for my husband and then to Aulani.
 
My gym trainer has stayed twice at the Surfjack and loved it. It is a old hotel that underwent a massive renovation a couple of years ago. Now it is a very hipster type place - has a bar downstairs with craft beers etc. he’s in his mid-twenties with a then 1yr old - said it was perfect for his little family.

We on the other hand are a family of 5 so prefer t9 stay in larger accomodation so tend to stay elsewhere.
 
Has anyone had experience with the SurfJack? My daughter is very interested in it. We’d probably stay about 2 nights and head to Aulani or possibly Paradise Bay for a night for my husband and then to Aulani.
My gym trainer has stayed twice at the Surfjack and loved it. It is a old hotel that underwent a massive renovation a couple of years ago. Now it is a very hipster type place - has a bar downstairs with craft beers etc. he’s in his mid-twenties with a then 1yr old - said it was perfect for his little family.

We on the other hand are a family of 5 so prefer t9 stay in larger accomodation so tend to stay elsewhere.

I have not stayed here but I have looked at the marketing and I must say it is really enticing.The idea of embracing the 60's/70's heyday of Waikiki is brilliant but I think for me it comes down to the location though. It is a few blocks back from the beach and even then, it is kind of back and over a bit so it is quite a walk. The city back streets of Waikiki at the best of times are quirky but it can feel dirty, hot, humid and dangerous. That area is not as bad as others but you are also going to be dealing with homeless people sleeping/living in open areas. That is a reality of Waikiki and frankly all of Oahu right now that seems to just be getting bigger.

These photos are from Trip Advisor and give you an idea of how land locked this remodelled hotel actually is. The last photo shows you how far from the beach this actually is, the water is in the upper right, behind the trees.

Personally, I think you can find better value in Waikiki not as far from the beach.

@Diasmom there are a couple of other older threads about Waikiki places to stay. I am getting to the point that I prefer to stay outside of Honolulu when we travel to Oahu but my adult kids just love the vibe of Waikiki so we find ourselves there more that I like to admit. My biggest issue with Waikiki is that for all the things I need in a hotel stay for our family (two queen beds minimum, a decent pool, on site parking, close to or on the beach) it costs me as much or more than Aulani or the Marriott Ko Olina. I think next time we go to Hawaii/Oahu we are going to try staying at one of the new hotels that went up in Kapolei just out side of the Ko Olina resort for the first night. That way we can adjust tot he time change from Toronto and get a good nights sleep before we stay at Aulani. Sorry for taking over your thread @SL6827 !


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