Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort — Hotel in Honolulu

Hilton Hawaiian Village(HHV) Waikiki resort experience was very poor. Our first day at the HHV, I asked for connecting rooms since I booked the hotel for my in laws, but the other room was under my FiL’s name. I requested again in person for connecting rooms, and the front desk clerk assured me it would be connecting rooms, however the rooms were in fact not connecting and the view was not the “Ocean View” we paid extra for. The hotel rooms are outdated and dirty. Outdated as in motel 8 vibes and dirty like there were hair in the tub and spots of dirt/sand. The toilet was not cleaned and the sink itself still had left over residue. At around 2:30pm I found out my room had water issue within the bathtub. The water had no cold water at all. It was scorching hot and unable for human usage. I called guest service from one of the room phone and got told to wait for them to reach back to me when maintenance is available. They called back and said nothing is available yet so keep waiting. It was 4:30pm when I decided to call guest service back and they said there is no maintenance update yet. I asked to see if I can get a different room. The guest service on the phone transferred me to front desk and I was sent to voice mail. I reached an operator and they told me I have to go talk personally to front desk. Once I got to the front desk my wife told me maintenance guy came to check the bath out. My baby was sleepy so the loud entering of the maintenance worker woke him up. He was fussy. My wife had to calm him down. I went down to speak to the front desk and had to go back up as the maintenance worker finally came. The front desk clerk told me that maintenance had to check the room first. I was not happy and satisfied with that response. He also made a side remark that the room we were currently staying in “is a good room”. The maintenance guy did some work on the facet. He was in my room for approximately 2 hours. There was no resolution or fixed to the hot water issue in the bathtub, and at this point, it seemed like they did not want to switch us to a different room. The maintenance guy told me to leave the hot water running for 30 more minutes. I asked him what the point was and he didn’t really have a good explanation. I told him I rather just have a new room. He said he will call the hotline. ||Roach in my refrigerator. ||Our booking through Costco informed us, we would not be booked in the Rainbow Tower, however upon check in, the front desk informed us, our booking was in the Rainbow Tower. Unsure if the employees are trained properly to understand the different booking systems or codes, but we were told we were staying there at that tower. We already had a long flight and were ready to relax so we didn’t further investigate our bookings. We have the Costco email that states I wouldn’t be affected by the Rainbow Tower’s construction since I didn’t book the tower. But we got placed in the Rainbow Tower. I also paid and booked king size beds for both rooms, but instead I got a two full size beds. The construction was invasive and disruptive. We called and made a noise complaint as it was extremely difficult to relax through all that noise. ||Besides the first day of the hot water issue and not receiving the rooms we paid and booked, we didn’t receive the view we paid extra for as well. Additionally, due to the strike, it was extremely difficult to enjoy our stay with Hilton as we felt we were the workers, grabbing our own additional towels, toiletries, and taking the trash out so the workers available can do the minimal work and get to the next room as quickly as possible. We understood we could’ve requested for room service, but there shouldn’t be a need for a request, it should already occur when housekeeping would do their daily tasks and duties. We paid for this trip to enjoy and relax with our family, instead, we were stressed, overwhelmed, and exhausted from dealing with all the experiences I’ve mentioned above.|I am requesting for a full refund of my stay including resort fees and parking costs. ||Someone was booked into the same room that had cold water issue and I felt so bad the he just tried to shower in the hot water. He said his stay wasn’t long so he didn’t ask to get moved but once his stay got extended he got a different room. This was when I saw him and asked him about the room. I saw him because my parent’s room was right next to us before we moved. I went to my parents room to check on their water since the did mention the cold was not running properly. They said it would be super hot and they had to play around with the handle to get some cold water along...

I wanted to luv everything about the HHV, but didn't. If half stars could be given,I would have gave 3 1/2.

Expect a detailed review w/honesty

Pricing; HHV is priced about the same as other resorts. I liked the different tower choices. Some had private pool/gym, offered 2 balconies, different views (beach, lagoon, garden)joined rooms, more space,suites, & more than 1 bed. HHV had a lot to offer & is larger than other resorts in area.

Location; HHV is on beautiful Waikiki beach. It's a huge property with lots of shopping, restaurants, snack places, their own lagoon, beach rentals, pools, & all within walking distance. They are also located on public bus route.

Check in; 4pm easy, but long line around this time. Plenty of friendly workers & they get you thru relatively quickly. you get a map of the grounds & they show you where to go.

Online; this app is helpful I suggest it. Download Hilton app & Join honors program. You can check in & skip the line then get cards at a better, less busy time. Early check in cost $. chat feature on app we used 4 times to ask "?'s". They answer quick & were friendly. get & use digital key. We liked it while it lasted & worked. Twice it would not unlock & we had to use the card. after 3rd day it didn't work at all. We went to lobby & they suggested use the card because "systems are overloaded & often down". System could use upgrading. Being a Hilton member they let us check out at 1, not 11. Later check out is $175 and you can stay till 6

Lobby/grounds; drop off loop is busy w/ on sight taxi ,vallet,Uber/lyft,customer cars,a crosswalk. so cramped & busy there. Beautiful grounds with variety of plants/ flowers, ponds,waterfalls, rock structures, displays, statues, & walkways. lots of photo opps & seating areas to relax. Lobby has services for non English speakers readily available if needed. One area is lined w/luggage & patrons waiting for cab to airport. I thought this to be unorganized & in the way. It blocks the flow of walkers & patrons w/car. walkways; beautifully lined, signs w/arrows made finding your way easier, not busy, lots of different ways to get where you're going. There are many pools to choose from & kept clean.

Elevators; this is a complaint of many. I found it good & bad. enter your room floor & it tells you what elevator to take(ABCD or E)when you enter assigned elevator, no need to reach around others for keys. get in & elevator stops at all floors assigned. thought out & good concept, but they don't know # of people in party so it would be crowded & you have to enter floor for another assignment, then elevator stops at all assigned floors & nobody is on from there-waisting time. should have you enter floor #, & # of people in party. During peak times this can be a long wait. Elevators are DIRTY! Clean the mirrors, walls and floors please!

Rainbow king oceanfront; great view, clean, spacious. There should be a kitchenette. This bed was the lumpiest, most uncomfortable bed my husband & I both have ever slept in. He travels for his job and has seen ALOT of hotels. Not acceptable! Housekeeping came daily with towels, made bed, & took garbage. Had to ask for more bar soap & coffee. Body wash was empty upon arrival & more brought to us. Mango coconut Shampoo/conditioner/soap/lotion all provided.

Dining; lots of choices. VERY expensive. $30 omelet, $13-19 cocktails, $10 shaved ice, $5 snack bag chips, $4 Gatorade. Waitresses are great. The food was just okay. We tried lots of new stuff, but the best meals we had were off site.

Entertainment; at $50/day plus taxes (on top of what you pay for the room) we were disappointed. We did not do exercise classes, no arts & crafts, no gym/pools. They have some excursions they book for you but we booked prior to going on other sites. Fees are high for those who do not use these things. We did watch the fireworks & eat at the Tappa bar during live music. That was nice but we tipped the band, bought the food, and tipped waitress so we feel that $50 a day...

I usually only write reviews when I am writing positive ones, but this will be my first negative review I’ve ever written. We stayed for ten nights so I felt very acquainted with this hotel. The first day the woman at the front desk gave us a different room than we booked. We were traveling with our child so we wanted two beds, but she gave us a room with one (not what we booked and we had confirmed proof of that we booked). She said all other rooms were full and we had to take this one. Once arriving to the room it appeared that it had never been cleaned from the previous occupants. Children’s fingerprints were all over the mirrors to the point they were blurry and there were either pubic hairs or facial hairs all over both sinks and counters. I mean, all over. It also looked like chocolate had been smeared on some walls. The second day they cleaned it all up, but did not restock our coffee (this happened a few times). Another day they moved the coffee table and stand at the end of the bed to the center of the room and I had to move them back myself. Our toilet paper roll holder was broken so the toilet paper kept sliding directly off into the trashcan underneath it. We had a very large room next to us and the family in there was very loud, a new large family moved in when they left and I heard them conversing early one morning in the hallway about how they didn’t have a privacy sign, and they then decided collectively to steal ours for their door. I called front desk asking for a new one, and they kindly replaced the stolen one. I came to Hawaii for a family wedding and the day of the wedding I wanted to spend some time to get ready. Room service did not finish cleaning our room until 1435, leaving me only 15 mins to get ready for a wedding as a bridesmaid. I addressed with a cleaning woman prior that I have to get ready for this wedding and she assured me my room would be ready by 1340 (which was a lie). I was too polite to shoo the male cleaner out of my room and I had wrongly trusted the woman that oversaw him who assured me it would be cleaned by him by 1340. There were days they did not clean the room at all, which made no sense because I took the privacy sign off and we left early everyday to visit family or go outside. One morning we left at 0800 am and the man was two doors away cleaning, and when we got back around 1400 our room was not cleaned. I called the front desk to ask if they could still clean the room and they said all cleaning people had gone home and that maybe I left the privacy sign on my door or left my room too late. I told the woman politely several times that I had left in the morning and ensured there was no privacy sign on my door. The deflecting was rude and inaccurate. Our room had roaches so I was constantly catching them under the glasses for the ice. We did not use our patio at all and we are not dirty, but that didn’t stop the roaches. They did offer to change our room the very last night of our stay, but I was exhausted and didn’t want to move all of our stuff when we were leaving the last day. I spent at least an hour a day cleaning the room myself or waiting 30+ mins for someone to bring up coffee that was never replaced while my son and husband played without me. I felt like I was at home cleaning at some point and not on vacation. I was also cleaning trash out of the pools in the morning. Old toys and plastic drink cups from the day before.

Other than the lack of cleanliness and service, the toilet paper was one ply and the pillows were quite uncomfortable. I’m an army vet, so I try not to complain about such “comfort“ things, but for a Hilton it was weird. Self parking was still expensive, and to find a spot in the evenings took a lot of time. I do not blame the workers, but the Hilton family themselves. They obviously have loads of money that they spend on themselves, but not on their hotels or staff. I guess there was some strike from employees before we arrived, which could explain the lack of work...