I’m actually staying at the “resort” now. I’m less than impressed. Some highlights first. The valets (only way to park, which is no big deal) have been extremely nice and really seem like they want to be helpful. The location is quintessential Waikiki Beach if that is what you are looking for. Busy city beach. My son and I prefer more natural beaches on Maui and Kauai, but my daughter and wife like this one so that’s really just preference. With that said, this place puts you right in the action. At check in the clerk was a pretty nice guy. He was offering us an upgrade from partial ocean to ocean front for a reasonable price, but we weren’t planning to spend much time in the room so we passed. He then offered to move us so we could be higher and closer to the water at the same rate which was nice to do. Unfortunately, the room the gave us wreaked of cigarette smoke. At first I wanted to just let it slide, but it was bad enough that we decided to move again. The new room is on the south south side of the building which would be fine other than they are doing some sort of construction so this morning as we were having coffee on the balcony, it was like we were enjoying it with 40 dudes doing work on the building next to us. Not really the outrigger’s fault, but sucks nonetheless. It’s worth noting that rooms are really outdated and could use a refresh. We went downstairs to talk with the Person at the activities desk. She seemed nice enough at first, but was less than helpful once we said we weren’t interested in the helicopter tour. We tried to get suggestions, but she really just pressed the helicopter. We asked her about Pearl Harbor, and she assured us we would not want to do without tickets to see the USS AZ memorial, and the best way would be for us to buy an expensive ride and their “special” tickets. More on that in a moment. We asked about snorkeling and scuba as we had found one we were interested in. She pulled up the same exact tour and offered it to us for $50 more per person than we could just do on our phone sitting in front of her. So we walked out and just booked it ourselves. Then we drove to Pearl Harbor and got on standby. Looked at the museum and watched a film in the theater, went and looked at the submarine, and guess what? Got a text that they were ready for us to go to the memorial. Total cost? $7 for parking. Anyway, the activities desk is a grift, and they don’t offer anything the web browser on you phone doesn’t. I’d be less inclined to complain about it if she hadn’t become so dismissive the second we said we weren’t interested in paying for a helicopter ride. We came back and went out to the beach which you access via a tiny pool with beach chairs stacked so densely it’s hard to walk. However, that exit was closed for a private dinner so we had to walk out through outdoor dining area of Dukes. Anyway, swam in the ocean until sunset then came back to go to the pool, and that entry was still closed. So we are now dragging our beach stuff covered in sand through the outdoor dining area and profusely apologizing to diners on our way by. We are paying a resort fee by the day just to be here. And we are paying that to use their tiny pool and do an embarrassing death march past diners on the way back from the beach. We haven’t even been here half our stay which I would change if I could, so who knows, maybe it gets better. I’m not optimistic though. I’d give this place a 1 star but as I said the valet and the front desk people have been really pleasant. But pick another place…..