Aqua Aloha Surf Waikiki Hotel — Hotel in Honolulu

Aqua Aloha Surf was great! We decided to stay at a more budget-friendly hotel in Waikiki for the first part of our vacation. We weren't expecting anything fancy--in fact for the price, we were expecting something pretty rundown. We just wanted a place to stay at night while we went out and adventured during the day. However, we were very pleasantly surprised with our stay!

CHECKING IN When we arrived, they informed us we were given a room upgrade. Though it didn't look like anything in the room was bigger or nicer than the photos, we got a nice balcony with a very pretty view of the Honolulu skyline, the Ala Wai Canal, and a little bit of the mountains. We also let them know that it was our honeymoon and within 20 minutes, a bucket of champagne with two glasses and some macadamia nut chocolates were delivered to our room. We also received a shell lei each.

PARKING Parking was incredibly easy for us. We were able to register our license plate and got a parking spot every night in their parking garage or in the lot located right next to the hotel entrance. No assigned spots, but they guarantee you a spot when you book. Pricing was about 35/night and was added to our final total at the end of our stay. When we had to switch vehicles due to a rental emergency, they were extremely understanding and accommodating. We did get lucky, however, as it seems that they had booked out all their spots the night after we arrived, so it does seem that spots fill up quickly during peak vacation months.

LOCATION We were within a 10 minute walk of the Waikiki Beach strip and beach. There is an ABC store at the end of the block which we could walk to in about three minutes. Aqua Aloha Surf is also located close to Ala Wai Boulevard which was a main stretch that allowed us access to the highways quickly. There is also a canal along Ala Wai which sometimes has rowing competitions which were fun to watch. We always felt safe walking the short distance from the Waikiki Beach Strip to our hotel.

LOBBY The lobby was very clean and welcoming. The on-site cafe was closed permanently, however. There are a few vending machines and a movie rental kiosk (which you get a free rental when you stay). The newspapers were free and available. The pool is located around the corner of the lobby. It was pretty small, but we were so close to the beach, we didn't even feel the need to use it. The pool also closes at 8pm, so it wasn't always available, either. They also mailed out our postcards quickly and without issue.

OUR ROOM Our room was cleaned every four days. We did find that it was hard to stretch towels that long as we did a lot of showering, however the staff was helpful when we needed more. I was a bit disappointed to discover our room did not have a bathtub and the shower pressure wasn't spectacular, however it got us clean. The room also isn't super modern but was comfortable and clean. We had a mini fridge which was very helpful with all of our delicious local leftovers. The room was a bit small and we could definitely hear our neighbors through the wall, but like I mentioned earlier, we were just there to sleep.

CHECKING OUT Checking out was extremely easy. We were able to check out online with no contact, however, we went down to be safe. They gave us documents that we needed (see below) and helped where they could with the following stated issue.

WARNING Book direct if you can! This is in no way affiliated with the hotel, but halfway though our trip, we discovered that we were charged $300 from a company called GetARoom which claimed to be affiliated with our third-party booking. GetARoom was extremely deceptive and we didn't even realize we were booking through them. The charge didn't appear anywhere on our room charges, so we only noticed when we saw the charge in our bank account. Getting our money back is like pulling teeth and caused a lot of stress, so BOOK DIRECT. The hotel will...

To whomever is looking into booking this hotel, I absolutely hope this review gets to you and saves you lots of trouble. Avoid this trash hotel at all cost. Arriving to the hotel, we were greeted by Davire and Sina. Davire was a very kind receptionist. As we waiting for our afternoon check in, she gave us a temporary bathroom key as well as a map of the island and recommended a close by place to go eat. Sina on the other hand was extremely unwelcomingly passive aggressive with lots of attitude as we were asking simple questions. As 3pm check in time arrived, we were at the counter, extremely jet lagged (19hours) Japan difference awaiting to receive our room keys, the receptionist mentioned we had to pay an additional almost 300$USD + a 100$ safety deposit. Initially, the fee that was requested to be payed did not match the fee contract we were asked to sign. When we asked why the requested fee did not match the contract fee they played as if we were dumb. We were extremely tired and had to rest although they refused to give us a room until the contract was signed. The receptionist then contacted a manager who allowed us to pay the actual fee that matched the contract. This fee as they called “service fee” was 35$USD per night stayed. They stated that this is a service fee that includes room cleaning however they also stated the room was only going to be cleaned every 3 days. We stayed for a total of 6 nights although our room was only cleaned once out of 6 days. On our vacation, we had to always make the bed ourselves, use wet towels, have an overloaded dirty garbage in our room and take it out ourselves. Also, the hotel was in a very old condition with cracks, chipped paint, toilet and balcony locks broken but that did not bother us too much as we were only there to sleep overnight and spent most of our day outside. The only reason we chose this hotel over any other in the area was the price. It was slightly cheaper than others around that same area although once we added that service fee, we could have picked any other better hotel which I recommend you do after reading this review. Now that we have stated the cons of the hotel, we have to also be reasonable and mention the pros. The room was clean, no bedbugs, the ac was working as well as they let us keep our suitcases stored pre check in and post check out. Just a suggestion for the hotel. For the days you charge the service fee and give no service which is basically every day, you could at least compensate by giving a parking spot for the car since the parking is the same price as the service fee (35$USD). To conclude, we are absolutely not happy with our stay at this hotel and hopefully may help people think twice before booking a stay here. We do not recommend this hotel and will not come back again. Thank you and...

Had a very bad experience with Lance! He made a big issue about filling out paperwork for my company to pay for parking, I kindly asked him to leave it blank so my company can fill it out correctly, due to the fact that I was just following my company's instructions, not only did he not want to handle this over the phone due to the fact that I was working, but he also insisted I fax the form myself to my company when I arrived with my driver's license. He then went upon himself to fill out the days my company would need to pay for the hotel for full parking, (almost 14 days) yet my company requested to just pay for three more days of parking , I told him I just needed 3 days more of parking paid for! Due to the fact that there was no kitchenette and I may relocate. He was not happy, And complained that I did not fill out all of the paperwork correctly to his knowledge! I told him that my boss is the one that needs to fill out the paperwork fully and please leave it empty, I filled out my name and my room number, And when I asked for a copy of the paperwork for parking after he sent it out to my company, he was nervous, and lied to me and said that I filled out the blank spots, which he clearly filled out! The handwriting was completely different so it's obvious to prove ! And then I said I need to speak to his manager because this is serious that he clearly filled out paperwork illegally, (they have a no refund on parking policy) Then he lied to me about being the manager! I spoke to the" manager" over the phone, And she clearly took his side. Which is fine but not only did I have this issue, but my room number was 1202, And the carpet smell's like dirty feet and bacteria! My room has a very loud sound throughout the day and night, coming from the air conditioner , And the curtains are glued/taped together! I complained to the front desk early morning, and they said that they would have to have me move all of my suitcases and personal property to the front desk until I come back from work so they can move me to another room and can not do it unless it's before 11 AM, and book the room I'm currently in, to somebody else , they mentioned they were to going to need to room service my carpet for next customer, And I told them the only way to fix it is to shampoo it! Seemed like they cared less, they came to my room today and it did smell better but I can tell that it was Mickey moused so it can smell and look better, ! So far I've had a bad experience! I wish I could post a video of my experience in my room! Because I have everything recorded!

Update: Maria reached out to me, and was kind enough to work with me about my room issue. I only hope my experience gets better, I appreciate the...