Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, a Trademark Collection by Wyndham — Hotel in Hawaii

I have mixed feelings in reviewing this place. On the one hand this was probably the best experience I’ve had staying at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel. I was on a floor that was clearly renovated and had its look updated and refreshed. This was one of the first times I entered one of their rooms and felt like “wow, this is nice.” Overall the room was good. It was spacious, it had a nice and comfortable bed, an ok view and it was relatively clean. This was probably the best room that I’ve had there in quite some time. But there were a number of areas that could have used a better cleaning. The bath tub had some pretty noticeable black mold in certain areas near the faucet and around the tiles. The upholstery of the sitting chairs and sitting area at the foot of the bed were dirty and looked as though needed to be cleaned. There were various things like this throughout the room. Again the was one of the better experiences I’ve had. I was actually expecting the room to look less nice and possibly more dirty so this was an improvement.

I checked in just prior to 4pm and the checkout was at noon, which was great. There was also a “takeout continental breakfast” included too. I use the term “continental” loosely here. Even with this breakfast it’s important to keep your expectations low. It could have been just the day I was there but the spread was regular coffee (that ran out) and decaf, a small selection of various tea bags, two types of juice (orange and pog I think), oatmeal, orange wedges, red delicious apples, small croissants (which ran out too), banana bread(?), and guava(?) turnovers. Coffee took a little while to get refilled and I didn’t stick around to see if they brought out more croissants. There appeared to be only one person manning the breakfast check in who also resupplied the drinks, food, cups, plates and everything else. She went to make more coffee and disappeared for a while leaving a long line of people wanting to get in just standing around waiting and looking confused. It definitely wasn’t the most pleasant experience overall but the coffee and the croissants were good.

They have a small locked hut workout area next to the hotel. It had free weights, a couple of ellipticals and stationary bikes, 2 treadmills that were both out of order, a nautilus machine and some core strengthening equipment. There was no ac in there though and only 3 small louver windows that actually opened, the rest were broken.

The area where the hotel is situated is ok. Liliuokalani Park and Coconut Island are right next door and are really nice places to see and take a walk to. There are decent food places nearby mostly walkable. A driving range and 9 hole golf course across the street and close by. But be warned that the is the old Uncle Billy’s is right next door and it’s a huge eyesore, scary even. There is also a huge stray cat population around there so don’t be surprised to see possibly dozens of them roaming the area especially at night. They also have a decent swimming pool at the hotel too but it may be occupied by local (non guest) kids/teens which was the case when I was there. It’s supposed to be for hotel guests only but I guess no one was there to enforce that. So I’d recommend this place maybe for a less expensive, quick...

I'm sure this locale was killing it with Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, and Elvis in the late 50's , but this property has done little recently in terms of capital improvements and resort features. And, that's fine if it is going to operate as a hotel/motel, and not as a "resort" anymore, but then when you remove all of those amenities, you need to look at what you are actually offering, and if it is not a "resort property" then no need to charge "resort fee's", or any of the other fee's outlined in your guest introduction material.

To be brief, the rooms, the lobby, the cafe, and overall property are outdated, not hygenic or clean. Cafe is a second thought to management, and even the counter staff don't know how to make any espresso drinks, OR what to charge for them. First morning a wonderful young girl made me a two shot mocha and charged me $7. The next morning, I had to direct a staff member in how to make espresso drinks, and the same mocha was charged to me now at $12.58 ! To be honest, I'm sure that an investment partnership bought this 50's era property at a "short sale" and is running it just to generate the minimum cash business (without spending any money to do the necessary uprgrades to make it suitable). They know that hotel choices (especially on the water -only two) are very limited in Hilo., and the little bit of marketing that they have done will ensure that this place pops up on Google Maps, Tripadvisor, etc... in the first two spots, only second to the Hilton next door. So, it's a short term CASH return investment property for the owners, who are not interested in "bringing" the property into the future. So, until that changes, expect to be disappointed with the lowest standard of even hourly "Motel" amenities not being satisfied. No room cleaning (even though you paid $300/nt. WITH resort fee during your stay). no towel or linen service, no removal of trash, no help with decades old "SCREAMING LOUD" and outdated HVAC air conditioning system, and a pool towel "rental card" policy that will finally push you over your "gentle island patience" level, and having you drive from the resort confused and seriously unhappy about THAT aspect of your stay in Hilo. And then, as you leave in your convertible and reach out and tug on the ladder-like 30 ft. hanging roots from the massive Banyan tree's on Banyan Drive, you acknowledge the beauty of the specific places here around this loop, and you just move forward with the positivity, and learn to quickly "forget" the things that made a negative impact on you during a brief amount of your...

We stayed here for 2 nights during our time in Hilo, and couldn’t get out fast enough. The staff were nice and prompt and the rooms appeared clean, but that is where the positives stop.

When we booked the hotel our credit card was charged immediately, but we received no email confirmation from the hotel, leaving us wondering if we’d even have a room. When I called to confirm the booking and explained I didn’t receive a confirmation, the first thing the hotel staff asked me was ‘What is your confirmation number?’ That was literally the reason I was calling.

Upon checking into the hotel, we were immediately charged a resort fee. While I’m not opposed to paying it, I would have appreciated being told in advance that this extra charge was going to happen (by an email perhaps?)

The rooms are certainly dated. Wallpaper peeling off the walls, dark-outdated upholstery and tin (?) windows with holes in the metal (was this ever a style?). The room was warm and humid on arrival, so I immediately turned on the air conditioning (down to the lowest acceptable setting of 65F.) The first night was quite warm, but I’d hoped it would improved. After going out and returning the next day, the room was still warm and humid. The thermostat was measuring 74F, despite the AC being on for more then 24h. Maintenance was prompt in attempting to address it, but ultimately their fix didn’t help. Our only option was to move to a different room, which we weren’t willing to do at 10pm on our last night. Clearly not moving was our choice, but given previous reviews have noted non-functional AC, I would have hoped to see improvements. Similarly, the sink and the bathtub both backed-up, so you had to stand in someone’s dirty water while you were showering. Again, this has been commented on in previous reviews - no improvements.

I was also surprised that there was no room turnover while we were out. While I appreciate that some hotels do this practice, and I have no problem with it, I do like to know because it changes how I discard used towels when there is no room turnover. A theme of the issues seems to be lack of communication.

Finally, having stayed in hotels on multiple continents, I cannot think of a single other hotel that I stayed at, that didn’t have a safe in the room. Maybe I’ve just been lucky in my experiences, but is that not standard in all hotel rooms?

I would not recommend staying at this hotel. The location is beautiful, but the cost certainly is not worth the value for the accommodation. I think this hotel needs a major renovation to be brought up to...