Aston at the Waikiki Banyan — Hotel in Honolulu

My fiance and I stayed at this location for about 2 weeks in September 2016. We booked it through Airbnb and overall we were fairly pleased with the room/location/amenities.

The location of the room that we stated in was on the 11th floor which was perfect. The halls were pretty much always quiet and there is a washer/dryer facility at the end of each hallway. We definitely utilized the washer/dryer since we were here for 2 weeks (washing charge $2.00/load and dryer charge was $2.00/hour). Definitely wish the laundry units were inside the room to make it more convenient for people who stay longer. Our lanai faced the mountain side/Ala Wai Canal (no beach view) which wasn't the greatest site but since the Banyan was so close to the beach, we couldn't complain much.

Our room had free wifi/parking.

Some of the great features in the kitchen was that it has a large island, perfect for dropping stuff after coming in from a long day of shopping/beach excursions. The kitchen itself has a refrigerator, microwave, and oven. Also a coffee maker, cutlery, pots, pans, cups, plates, and bowls. However it did not have a dishwasher which was a let down given that we had to wash/silverware dishes by hand if we ran out. The sink in the kitchen is large which was great. The oven is an electric oven which was a bit wobbly at times but overall cooked food to how you would expect.

The living room area featured a TV, sofa bed, and side table, was enough to handle just myself and my fiance, however the room states its accommodating for 6 people. I can only imagine it can get quit crowded with more than 4 people in the room. There is a working land-line phone in the unit as well as a DVD player - both of which were not utilized during our stay. The living room also has the A/C unit which is very noisy and leaks water onto the lanai, so if you're using it, make sure to wear flip flops on the lanai otherwise you'll be walking in water when you enter the lanai.

The bedroom features two queen sized beds, a dresser, closet, and nightstand. The beds themselves are 100% different. We slept on both. One was very firm and the other was soft enough to sink into (we preferred the firm bed). The dresser was enough for the two of us, as well as the closet (again tough to imagine 6 people staying here with all their clothes). The light on the nightstand had electrical outlets which were convenient enough to charge your phone. The best part about this room was the huge window in the bedroom. You are able to see the entire view that you'd normally get on the lanai in your bedroom. The window does have smaller windows you can open up.

The bathroom has a huge mirror above the sink/counter and the shower has a detachable shower head/rainfall shower head piece. Great for two people showering together. Toilet worked normally, sink/counter was a bit low, I'm only 5'7 and I had to bend over 90 degrees to wash my face. The medicine cabinet was roomy enough for our toiletries. The one thing that I wish the bathroom had was a mat for when you stepped out of the shower. Also, the shower curtain is hung too low.

Tile flooring in the kitchen/bathroom, hard-wood floor throughout the rest of the space. I would suggest to add an area rug or something in the living room to make it a bit more cozy and warm feeling.

We never had to speak with anyone who worked at the hotel, as everything was in working order. The front of the Banyan is quite stunning with the waterfall and landscaping. It's a very open feeling. There is alsoa coffee store for you to purchase coffee and use wifi as well as a mini-mart next by.

The other amenities, such as the pool/grills, etc, we never utilized but we did scope them out. We preferred to go to the beach and the pool appeared to be a bit small, with lots of kids in it. The grills are coin-based operated (never saw that before) so we opted out of grilling. However, they were very clean but we saw no grilling utensils. The parking for the hotel was never a problem.

Overall not bad, I would come back here if we come...

Stayed 1st week of April 2023 family of 2 children under 12 and 2 adults. Rented a vehicle. Had booking done through AirBNB. This is our 5th time in Oahu. First Time at the Banyan. PROS: Location is a block away from the Main Waikiki Beach Area. Very nice short walk. POOL is always clean and tidy. BBQ area is clean and in working order. Staff at the desk are friendly. Units are perfect for a family of 4. Full kitchen with Full size fridge and freezer. The area has a nice breeze all over. Elevators, lobby, and hallways are always clean. ABC Store, Starbucks, Food trucks, Eateries nearby. CONS: Beds in the hotel side of things are OLD. The sofa bed is not for adults, OK maybe for kids who doesn't care about mattress quality. Hot tubs needs to be prioritize ( future renos or daily check). The hot tubs can fit 6 adults side by side. The hot tub closer to the pool in our 7 nights there, 4 nights it was cold, just a touch warmer than the cold pool, so everyone is cramming in the hot (hot tub) with a timer that is broken LOL ...... seriously Aston, please do something about the hot tubs as I am sure I am not alone on this, after a long day of site seeing, a hot tub is a nice treat and maybe a few people booked this Hotel due to the hot tub and for them to find out that it is only Luke warm at best, is fairly disappointing most specially for the price hike up on hotels in Waikiki recently, this is the least you can do for your guest.

Not as much as a con, but i just want to put it out there that if you are there during a major holiday (it was Easter for us), you will have locals staying for a day to use the pool and doing their bbq party with a lot of family members in the recreation deck. They will occupy most of the bbq grills and the chairs that are there. They will stay for 6-8 hours :)

ADVICE: Book through AirBNB. You will see exactly what you are paying for. When looking for a hotel it is very important for me to find out about the quality of the bed based on reviews. Nothing worst than having no sleep during vacation due to a bad mattress and have no energy for the trip after paying thousands of dollars to stay there.

A lot of AirBNB units includes free parking which is a hefty $35 US a night. You will find similar rooms or even some with better bed. We found out from neighbours in the hotel that most of them that booked through the hotel directly got beds that are old, and in bad need of replacement. Carpets too I heard were gunky on the hotel side of things and you don't know how bad things really are until you are checked in and there's nothing they can do to help you. ( I have heard this from various family in the pool area that has booked directly with the hotel).

Having a full size kitchen is a HUGE money saver! If you are taking the whole family along, this is your best bet in Waikiki if you want to save some bucks. I don't recommend this for Honeymooners, try Aston Waikiki Circle right on the beach walk.

Laundry area every other floor i think. There is one on our floor 16th floor. Change machine is also available at the pool deck. Which you will also need to run the BBQ grills. $2 for 1 hr for bbq cooking, great deal.

The units facing Waikiki beach, although a bit like a peekaboo view still is a view, Our unit on the 16 floor had mountain view of diamond head on the left, Waikiki ocean view at the centre, and city view on the right.

Safeway is 8minutes drive or less. They are located in the area behind the Canal. Leonard's bakery is also there in that area. Perfect for getting everything you need to cook, bbq, or pick up snacks. Way cheaper and better selection than Ala...

This is a trying time with COVID and every, so I gave this place the benefit of the doubt. As long as you are willing to communicate with the staff, they are willing to accommodate, I think this is one of their strengths.

For those coming here for the first time, make sure you try to go to the front lobby loading zone area first before heading into the parking, so that you can pay for parking. We payed for a whole week which was $125(pricing for parking), but the only other price I remembered was for a day which was $25(for parking). They have other prices, but I can't remember them off the top of my head. Having it be possible to pay prior would be nice or at least have the prices up on the website would also be nice. When we arrived at the parking, they sent us to the parking lot loading zone and that was our bad. I feel like a sign pointing new arrivals to the main lobby loading zone would be better than the enter at your own risk sign. In addition, I didn't realize this at the time, but there are many names for this hotel which I found strange, Koko Resorts at the Waikiki Banyan and Hawaiian Sun Holidays were a few that I found. The beach is around 1.5-2 blocks away and is also around 2 blocks away from the Honolulu Zoo. At the time I came, the house keeping service would clean the room every 3 days of my visit due to COVID of course. After the first housekeeping cleanup of our room, I would say that everything was cleaner than when we first arrived. Also we did have an extra sofa bed, so check if your room has that, if you've got 5 people.

I agree with many people when they mentioned how their halls and rooms seem worn, but everything was at the very least serviceable. Their parking is fairly small in terms of clearance. In which case I would definitely love to see at least some more maintenance via repainting the halls and checking that every room is cleaned before new clients come in(not sure if they do this).

They have a great recreation floor on floor 6 and I believe every floor has a laundry room and trash disposal room, located at the end of the right hallway when exiting the elevator. So that was helpful. Though their laundry machines and grills on the recreation room were coin operated, I found them to be serviceable.

For the cost, there are a lot of things that this hotel provides, which I appreciate. Though the rooms may not look like the photos that are posted, they are great for the price. The reason why their pictures look great is because it is their cleanest rooms and they were definitely touched up in terms of brightness and saturation. I will mention that they have 2 towers with around 30 floors in each(not too sure about the floor part). Again I hope to see this hotel perhaps with a slight makeover in terms of repainted walls and making sure everything is clean, but I found my stay to be great. Great staff, would come again.

Finally, their website. When we first booked a room, their website looked a lot more outdated. Their new one is alright, but one of the things I did not like about it was that in order to check your reservation you needed to try to book a room to find the "Find Reservations" button at the top right. In addition, the name of the hotel is extremely close to the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, so make sure you look up the entire name "Aston at the Waikiki Banyan". Great for looking at what you want to get, not great for looking what you already booked is what I'll say about that.

Overall for those looking for a good place to stay with your family this is a great place. Make sure to communicate with the staff and ask for reclarification if you...