IHG Army Hotels Building 228 — Hotel in Honolulu

I'll start with the pros: The front desk staff is very friendly and helpful. There is lots of storage space in the rooms - 2 large closets, 2 dressers. Lanai - some have great views, and they are shared between 2 rooms. My room also had multiple power strips and a laundry basket. Free breakfast - good coffee, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, fruit, bagels and bread. Sometimes coffee would run out trying to get some on the way out the door (long before breakfast ends). You could wait for them to make more, but if you're going to work then no coffee! Occasionally they will put out cinnamon rolls or waffles, which is always a good day! The hotel is very close to the hospital, so if you're working there it's an easy 5 minute walk.||||Next for the cons: The wifi is incredibly slow. A download that would take me 10 seconds at Starbucks would take an hour here. Hence I went to Starbucks a lot for wifi. You also have to login every time and your login expires after a week, so you have to make a new one. I'm not sure what the housekeeping staff does. They will make the bed and take out trash if you're lucky. Even when bringing up specific concerns to the front desk they would not do them. There are only 1 washer/dryer on each floor, so sometimes it's hard to get a load in with everyone in the hotel doing laundry. The rooms also just feel damp and musty all the time, but maybe that's just Hawaii.||||A couple comments on problems that other people had, but I did not: some people complained of bugs in the room and not being able to plug the tub, but I did not have those...

I have a complaint about a very ignorant and rude individual that works at the front desk.

On 03/02/2024, I reserved a room on the IHG website for Tripler, Building 228. At the time of the booking, there were two types of rooms available (Double-bed suite and Single bed suite) -- two types for retirees and two for military and civilians. The rates between the two types are different.

I am a federal employee, relatively new to the island and booked as a civilian for a leisure visit. When I arrived, the front desk person wasn't at the desk. I stood there for about a minute, before ringing the little bell. When she finally came out, she looked disheveled and untidy, as if she had just woken up. I mentioned that I was checking in with a reservation. She fumbled with the computer and verified that I made a reservation on the website, then proceeded to tell me that the hotel was overbooked and had no rooms available.

I contested this with the fact that the website said that there were rooms available. She rudely tried to force me to accept that what she was saying was true, despite evidence to the contrary. Based on the way she spoke to me, I felt that I was being discriminated against and denied an available room due to her personal reasons. I had to work overtime and arrived wearing work clothes and a safety vest. I didn't need the aggravation.

I have other issues that I would like to discuss...

The not so good - We were placed in a room with a pretty severe leak in the ceiling. Small drip the first day we thought we would just deal with; the second day there we received quite a bit of rain and four soaking wet towels and bathroom full of standing water asked to be moved. Staff seemed to be aware there was an issue as they made a comment that they usually only put people in that room that are on short stays. They did move us rooms when requested but when you’re on a PCS move re-packing and moving all your stuff along with two animals from one room to another is a headache that nobody wants to deal with. Breakfast is pretty lackluster, hot food is kept in a warmer that doesn’t seem to keep anything very warm. The last time we were here a few years ago they used to have fresh fruit with breakfast which was nice touch, but this is no longer the case (maybe a lingering COVID measure?).

The good - The first room we were in had an above average size refrigerator for a hotel with a separate freezer door which was a nice plus. Rooms had new TV’s and internet worked well including streaming devices which have a tendency to have issues in public wifi. Large lanai is a nice extension of living space. Staff is friendly...