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Review of Hilton Hawaiian Village - Oahu
We
stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Oahu. This is a wonderful
resort that is located on Waikiki's widest stretch of beach along 22
oceanfront acres. The grounds are beautiful. You will find tropical
foliage, beautiful flowers, waterfalls, parrots, flamingos and believe
or not penguins.
This
resort is a world of its own with dozens of restaurants, high end
stores and boutiques, beautifully landscaped pools, and 7 towers with
hotel rooms and suites. In
spite of being huge, the resort never felt ter ribly
crowded.
For some this could be a drawback because the hotel is very large and
very busy. It is not a quiet little resort nestled on the beach.
There is always people and activity.
We arrived at the
hotel around 4:00 pm and faced a check-in line of about 30 people.
Fortunately, we are part of the Hilton Honors Program and there was a
special line to check in. I would recommend that you become members
prior to your trip. It is free to join and you will get points towards
your next stay.
This hotel is at the
far end of Waikiki. It is about a 10 minute walk to the Ala Mona
Shopping Center and to the heart of Waikiki Beach. We found the
location to be fine and welcomed the short walk at night after
eating a big dinner. It is very safe and there are a lot of other
tourist on the streets.
Everything at the
resort is very expensive. For example a burger by the pool is $15 and a
cocktail is $10. There is a store called the ABC store where you can
purchase snacks, and drinks so you may want to put some things in your
room for the kids. If you rent a car they charge for parking. We opted
for the self parking and that was 24.00 per day.
The hotel offers 5
pools including Waikiki's largest Super Pool, and separate
pools at Ali'i TowerŪ
and Kalia TowerŪ as well as a
lagoon area.
The pool areas
and the lagoon are really beautiful and well maintained however getting
a chair could prove to be a real challenge. If you are planning to
spend the day at the pool go early and reserve your chairs with towels.
The hotel supplies pool and beach towels as long as you have your wrist
band and each person in your party must be present to get their towel.
They will not give you 4 towels if you walk over carrying the wrist
bands.
Main
Pool Area
The
beach is beautiful and is larger and quieter than further East on the
beach in the heart of
Waikiki. The
nice part about it is the beach is just a few steps from the pools and
hotel amenities. The water is calm, crystal clear and warm.
Rental prices for chairs,
umbrellas, floats, etc. were particularly steep.
We opted for the beach towel in the sand
We
stayed in the Ali'i Tower and found it to be very nice. It was great to
have a private pool and fitness center just for the guest in our tower.
In addition, we had our own front desk and
Concierge . The rooms were beautifully decorated with a unique blend of
traditional Hawaiian motifs combined with modern interior features. We
had two double beds and the room was a nice size with a large bathroom
area and two separate sinks. Our view of Waikiki beach was
awesome.
Ali'i
Tower - View from Waikiki Beach
Ali'i Tower Private Pool
Ali'i Tower
Balcony Views
Ali'i Tower Room
Balcony
If you have a late
flight out the hotel will not give you a later check-out but they do
offer hospitality rooms for you to change and shower. Time is limited
to 20 minutes per person in your group. You must reserve this space 1
day prior to departure.
We did have dinner
our first night at the hotel at Tropics Bar and Grill. It was a nice
restaurant and the food was adequate but it was very expensive and there
was a wait to get in. It was late so we all had salads and the bill was
very pricey. Another night we ate at the Round Table Pizza. The pizza
was very good and the price was good compared to everything else in the
hotel. We did eat all of our other meals outside of the hotel and I must
say had some super food. I would absolutely recommend the Hula Grill
(upstairs) restaurant. The food was phenomenal, I think it was the best
we had while on vacation. Jimmy Buffet's Restaurant was also very good
and it is a fun place for the kids with TV's strategically placed and a
live band. If you are lucky and Jimmy Buffet is in town you may even
catch him perform at this restaurant.
We did
the Rooftop Luau at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. I felt that it was
very expensive, about $100 per person for kids over 12. I would
recommend spending the money and going to the Polynesian Cultural Center
for the day, luau and show instead of this one. It does include an
all-you-can eat dinner buffet with two drinks. The food was adequate,
nothing to write home about. The show was very entertaining and my
kids, who have never experienced a luau enjoyed it. The entire night
lasted from 5:30 - 8:30.
Luau
Pictures
 
 
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