Halepuna Waikiki by Halekulani — Hotel in Honolulu

Very over rated place for the value! Do not get a Mountain View room. Behind it is a bar that is very loud! The room is no better than the Marriott. Actually for less money I could have gotten an ocean view room with a balcony on a high floor at the Marriott. There are very little amenities in the room. It offers cheap tea, a courtesy bag, and reusable water bottles. The fill stations are located on the 8th floor and the lobby. Very inconvenient. Why just not supply water bottles or have a water station on each floor. The room had a cheap polyester sofa that was tattered. The ceiling of the bathroom looked like my cheapish apartment in Korea. The mirror in the bathroom is hideous with bad lighting. You cannot adjust the lighting to dim it. The bathroom shower curtain is a cheap polyester. The TV had volume issues, being very scratchy. The lobby of the hotel is very lack luster. The front desk lady, although nice, seemed to communicate in a manner that made her seem unsure about her answers. The gym is tiny and very deceiving from photos. I repeat the gym really sucks. The pool and garden close kinda early, at sunset.

For this price, i better have access it later in the evening. The outlets for tea were lacking, there was only one and not a lot of counter-space. The hotel provided small pencils rather than pens, it seemed very cheap. The bathroom had an incredibly cheap hair dryer, iron and ironing board. The hair dryer did not work well for my wife’s hair. The door to our room had scratches all over it, although small point. The blackout curtains actually didn’t keep the room very dark and there were holes in it the curtains.

The bathroom in the lobby had soap dispensers that didn’t work or were empty. The one that did work, had soap that smelled very cheap. Not what I’d expect. Also one of the toilets kept leaking from its base and it was easy to step in water. The pool area closes at sunset and doesn’t open until 8am. No early morning hot tub. No late night hot tub under the stars.

I explored other hotels in the area and this is a rip off! Go to the Sheraton or the royal Hawaiian. This hotel is very bland. If you need extra towels for your room, you have to wait for them to be delivered as the front desk does not have any.

The positives: the staff is very nice, respectful, helpful and accommodating. The tub in the bathroom is large and nice. Even if it is made from cheap plastic. The water seems to be softened but that could be Hawaii water. The room does have a water kettle which is convenient. The toilet is a Toto. The electronic blackout curtains are nice. The elevator is relatively quick and had a nice leather wrapped bar.

I definitely won’t come back to this hotel. Better to stay somewhere else and experience something else. Save your money and stay somewhere else. I wonder if other reviews are fake because I can’t see Japanese enjoying this place very much. It’s reminds me of the red roof inn of Japanese hotels.

Online it is claimed that if you book this hotel then you get access to all the amenities at HaleKulani. The only thing you get is charging privileges to the room when you dine at the restaurants and sometimes exercise classes. Oh and you can barrow a hairdryer since the one at halepuna really really sucks. You don’t have access to the pool or the gym. So basically you don’t have access to the amenities.

If you’re coming for an overnight it is not bad. If you’re coming for vacation for any reason, I think it would be better to consider...

Love this hotel and the staff is great!

Stayed a week mountain view and it was awesome no complaints and the fastest elevators! Rooms and bathrooms were great and staff the best!

We are visiting again and this time thanks to Jill's help in reservation we upgrade our 10 night stay to deluxe ocean view! So excited to wake up in a comfy bed and ocean view :)

!UPDATE! Our second visit only 6 months later was sadly not as great :(

They no longer have the fastest elevators in Waikiki as an elevator was broken our entire stay and as a result always had to wait long for elevators and of course each elevator was packed. Only 2 elevators for the entire hotel is not enough! It felt like staying at the hilton Village - always had to wait for an elevator and always stopping on floors to pack people in.

During our last night of our stay our room was not serviced or cleaned?! I've stayed at many hotels high end and low end. I would say this hotel is on the higher end and I've never had this done to me before. I put the service sign on the door and returned to our room 10hrs later with the sign still on the door and our room was not refreshed, no clean towels, no clean bed sheets, no clean room. I wouldn't even expect this at the Twin Fin let alone the Halepuna smh not impressed.

This time we "upgraded" to the deluxe ocean view king rooms. I quote "upgraded" because the service was better when we stayed on the parking lot rooms. Maybe it is my fault for assuming you would get the same excellent service or better with the deluxe ocean rooms. The last time we stayed in the parking lot room we asked once and we got extra coffee in our rooms no problem! This time during our stay in the deluxe ocean view we had to ask everyday for extra coffee! The last housekeeper was great they knew we loved coffee and gave us extra each morning. This time it felt like it was a chore as we had to ask or call down each day. I also had to call and ask for toilet paper twice as we ran out in our room. But if our room was being serviced they might have noticed we were getting low.

The first 9 days were good - minus the fact the elevator was broken creating very long lines and waits and having to ask for coffee and toilet paper. But sadly on the last day housekeeping failed to service our room and we had our hope ups enjoying our very last night in Waikiki but instead we spent it cleaning our room, towels and bed. The night time manager and front desk were very nice and sorry and took off the upgrade for only 1 night but that will never fix the disappointment we experienced and sadly that is the last memory we will have of this hotel.

Also booked this hotel 4months in advance asking for a specific room. They gave me the room beside the room I requested. During our entire stay I watched no one check into the room I requested. So instead of giving it to me they rather leave the room empty.

Will we stay here again for the 3rd time? Honestly not sure will all the elevators be working? Will my room get cleaned or serviced? Is it too much to ask for extra coffee or toilet paper when we run out? Should I even have to ask or I believe this should be part of the service and we shouldn't have to ask each day for extra coffee or wait till we are out of toilet paper. I loved this hotel but was very let down with our last night on our last...

It was my wife and son's first time visiting Hawaii and we booked through Costco Travel. I saw other choices of hotels but after reading many positive reviews, I decided on Halepuna. Our stay at Halepuna was a significant factor for the wonderful vacation that we had. We experienced excellent customer service from all of the staff that we encountered, especially from the Front Desk and Bell Desk staff. Both departments went above and beyond to assist me and my family.

During check-in, David (I think that was his name, my apologies if not) was very helpful and polite. Although we arrived early, he confirmed that our room was ready. Once we got to the room I noticed that I didn't have my phone. I realized that I must have left it on the shuttle that dropped us off at the hotel. One of the members of the front desk, Janet stepped in to help me. Janet got a hold of the shuttle company, who was able to reach the driver, who confirmed that he found my phone. 15 minutes later, the shuttle arrived and the driver returned my phone. This was just our 1st day on Oahu and my trip could have started off badly, if it weren't for Janet's help.

The room was extremely clean and modern. There was a console on the bedstand that controlled all of the room lights. There was a panel on the wall that allowed us to open and close the shades, with sheer and/or blackout options. All of the amenities of the room, including 2 refillable water bottles, were sealed, which gave us comfort knowing that these items were brand new. The beds and the pillows were so comfortable. The bathroom was amazing, we especially liked the bidet. One minor thing is that the shampoo, body wash, and soap could be improved with a more pleasant scent.

The pool deck was very nice and had a great view. The attendants were super friendly, but unfortunately, the wait time to order drinks, consistently took long, as they seemed to be short staffed.

All of the staff at the bell desk/valet were awesome. Gina was super friendly and helped look out for the shuttle the first day when I lost my phone. Alan, Herme, RJ, Mark Joseph, and Miles were always helpful and genuinely friendly. They always provided us with tote bags with towels, every time we went to the beach, and also lent us a beach chair. Miles even offered a boogie board, but unfortunately I already rented one. One day I had to get our room keys updated to include parking, while my wife and son waited in the rental car. The valet guys (it may have been Miles) went out of his way to make sure they were comfortable while they waited.

I can go on and on about the staff. They really made you feel like Ohana (family).

Overall, the hotel was magnificent. Every detail seemed to have a lot of thought put into it. Halepuna is in the middle of Waikiki, but while at the hotel it was peaceful and quiet, unlike at other hotels such as the Sheraton where it is constantly busy and chaotic. We were truly able to relax and enjoy our stay. I highly recommend Halepuna and plan to stay here the next time we...