Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach — Hotel in Honolulu

On my second trip to Hawaii, I wanted to spend a little more and get a little more out of the room. To that end, I eyed the Hyatt Centric, the newest of the three Hyatt hotels in Waikiki. I've been a fan of Hyatt ever since I visited a Hyatt Place, one of the few hotels still offering free breakfast in this day and age. Their loyalty program is pretty great too.

Anyway, to get to the lobby, you must enter via the foyer on Seaside and take the elevator to the eighth floor. You can also enter from the Starbucks Reserve back door during the hours in which they are open. Check in was a breeze. Staff was very friendly even though their credit card machines were down. They had to use a credit card imprinting machine, but otherwise went OK.

I'm glad I booked a Deluxe room. The extra 20$ or so provided me with a higher floor, an actual city view (instead of a view of the boilers), and a shower room, complete with a freestanding tub in it.

The bathroom had plenty of space to splash around, while keeping the sink and toilet nice and dry. Not exactly fond of the open window in the bathroom facing the room and outside, but the concept of an open bathroom is a trend of the late-2010s I hope will be over by the next remodel. You can also lower the blinds (from the room, not the bathroom) if you prefer privacy. Bathroom had a Toto bidet.

Toiletries were some sort made-for-hotel brand. "Aloha Hawaii Waikiki". They were branded with Hyatt Centric, but are made in China.

Housekeeping came every day I was there, all four nights. It was incredibly impressive. Even through COVID, I hope they are being compensated fairly.

I asked for a late checkout day-of, and they were able to extend a 1pm checkout for free, very nice of them to do.

Only thing I didn't like is the resort fees! Then again practically every hotel in Hawaii has them. This place charges $33 in resort fees/night plus taxes, basically making them a little over $37 per night. This fee is on the higher-end than many hotels. What's most frustrating is that not all amenities are ever actually used. The "International Marketplace coupon book" was not available when I stayed. Besides which "discounts" with the tour agent in the foyers doesn't make sense, how does it make sense to "pay more" here for a discount there?

The GoPro rental was a GoPro Hero 7, of which I had to sign a rental agreement including the possibility of a $30 late fee if it isn't returned same-day by 8pm.

Not all of the resort fee was unutilized though. I was able to use the water bottles, beach towels, boogie boards, tons of tanning lotion and after-sun gel. I just wish we could forego some of these amenities and pay for them ala carte if we wanted them.

All in all, the stay was fantastic. I'll be giving five stars because I really liked the experiences and I think check-in staff and housekeeping have done everything they can do to make my stay awesome. Think management can improve with the resort fee, but in all likelihood that's not gonna happen. Still, if the price is right, or if you're coming on an award stay which has no resort fee, this place is the right...

Pros: Good location in Waikiki, close to many shops, restaurants, the beach & the bus stop is a block away. Ross is a few steps away with reasonably priced items, note the ling to checkout was extremely long when we went in on a Thursday afternoon. The oceanview room has floor-to-ceiling windows which provided amazing views of the coastline. Attached to Starbucks Reserve, can use mobile ordering to skip the line $33 daily resort - while annoying, this resort fee adds value to our stay, including a Go-Pro rental. The staff is very friendly, from the front desk agents to housekeepers to the valet, everyone greeted us. While the gym is small it has adequate equipment: two treadmills, one Peloton, one elliptical, and free weights. The bed was comfortable, it had 4 pillows that were different firmness. The room was spacious with plenty of storage. I would see no issues with storage a week’s worth of clothes in the room. The bathroom was spacious with double vanity & large shower. The hotel has 4 elevators and there was rarely a wait. A keycard was needed to access guest room floors. Comfortable, warm robes were provided The hotel provided daily housekeeping, a rarity I thought was limited to luxury, 5-star hotel brands. Very responsive text feature; The 10 pm in-app requests for slippers and kettle were promptly delivered.

Cons: Water filtration system & ice located on 1st, 7th, and 19th floor. Not an issue as our room was on the 19th floor. Hotel restaurant is closed, as a Hyatt Globalist, I was given 500 points per night for the duration of our stay. This gave us time to try different local restaurants for breakfast each day. Hawaiian Aroma Cafe was a quick 5-minute walk & had a delicious acai bowl. Liliha Bakery located in the nearby Royal Hawaiin Center offered sit down service and delicious pastries. Heavenly, across the street, offered online ordering which helped save time from waiting in the line that always formed from 630 to 10 am. Booked through Hyatt Privé however, there was no welcome amenity, and the $25 F&B credit was applied towards the room rate as the restaurant was closed. This office building converted into a hotel 5 years ago offered no balconies. Our room did not have a desk; hotel photos showed similar rooms with desks, however, they did not have a couch. If I had to choose between a couch and a desk, I will choose a couch. Wifi was okay (Fast.com showed 9.1 mbps), which worked for browsing however trying to stream Sling to the hotel TV was rather sluggish. Small shallow pool No onsite spa (guests were instructed to utilize the Hyatt Regency Spa instead) YouTube TV Chromecast functionality was not working (known Hyatt/YouTube API issue)

Verdict: Booked under Hyatt Privé at $259/night. With great staff, great location and modern spacious rooms, we would definitely...

Hyatt Centric in Waikiki Beach is a great hotel based on it's location. However, there was lots of issue during my stay.

I had tried to book with them over the phone initially because I didn't want to get stuck with a room that I would've been unhappy with. I didn't know which hotel rooms had tubs and etc. I couldn't get a hold of them - might have been an issue on my end so I just ended booking on Expedia instead. The checking in process felt like I was at Motel 8 or something - Wesley had asked us if we were celebrating anything and I told him that it was my birthday weekend and his was response was just "oh". Why bother asking in the first place if you don't care?

The room that they had put us in was extremely lacklustre and I had the view of the hotel boilers. I had called down to front desk and Wesley that had checked me in insisted that they were completely booked...well that is until I told him that I would just like to cancel my stay completely. The toilet in that room was also dirty...which grossed me out.

He had moved us to another room on a higher floor but it was half the size so I decided to stay in the original room. He had advised me to come down the next morning to ask about switching to a higher room when people are checking out. The front desk agent once again did the same dance and song in regards to being completely sold out. I just didn't have the energy anymore to try to get onto a higher floor.

The room cleaners in the hotel was completely spotty - no one cleaned our room mirror for 4 days. The wood floors by the doors were also dusty at times - I don't think that they have a complete check list. I don't blame this on the housekeepers, this is something that management should be taken care of and properly trained the housekeepers. I also called into the front desk on one morning to have our room cleaned while we went for breakfast, sure enough no one came by despite my call to the front desk. Finally the last day, there was this middle aged male housekeeper that had cleaned our room and he had done an amazing job - he was the only one that had cleaned the mirrors!

The older aged staff (guy with moustache/salt & pepper hair) at the door and also the female with glasses were amazing and extremely friendly. The younger guys at night could care less about their jobs, they were more focused on their friends visiting them and drinking their protein shakes then greeting you and opening the doors.

Overall, in my opinion - management has a lot to work on with this hotel. The $25 per day resort fee is like highway robbery because there's not even a pool at this place - it's like a foot deep, that's it. I would have paid more money to stay at a place with better service and...