Ilikai Hotel & Luxury Suites — Hotel in Honolulu

This post could get very long for a few reasons, but I will try to summarize as best as possible. I hesitated booking this hotel. In fact I booked a room, canceled, then re-booked last minute. Reviews were pretty good, but it was older and not right on the beach. So I was torn. Let me just say, I am RELIEVED I booked this property. I think all the reasons I was hesitant ended up being the reasons I loved it. From check in to check out …service was AMAZING! There was never an attempt to up-sell or upgrade anything or over-charge me for anything (which is rare these days). In fact, at check in I told them it was my birthday week. I had already booked an “ocean view” room…but she made sure I had an ocean view, on a high floor, with a view of the lagoon so that I could see the Friday Fireworks from my room. When I say “high floor” I mean she put us on the 25th floor…only 2 floors below the Penthouse. They gave us shells & guava juice to greet us. Not only that, but everything here runs like a well oiled machine. Which I think is a benefit of it being one of the older resorts. They give you coupons to redeem daily for water AND ICE CREAM…yes ICE CREAM DAILY! They provide you with cards to switch out beach towels daily. Oh and parking for valet is $45/daily (which is reasonable for the area), BUT at checkin they literally tell you there is parking all around and at the marina for much less ($1 day). Not only do they tell you this….THEY SHOW YOU A FREAKIN COLOR map to show you where else to park FOR LESS. They could have easily tried to just force their valet on us…NOPE it was pretty much encouraged that we use valet as a last resort. The rooms are spacious with a full kitchen in case you want to cook or re-heat food. This was probably one of the cleaner resorts/hotels I’ve stayed in recently. They give you Hawaiian Tropic products in the bathroom! The hallways, grounds, etc are always clean. I think because this is an older hotel…it gives more of an “exclusive” vibe because mostly older people and families stay here. It’s not a party hotel, and trust me…I love to party…but not where I’m laying my head on vacation. Also, it’s a residential complex so you have a mix of residents there as well. The customer service is great! From the front desk all the way up the rooftop restaurant (PESCA). One day I went to get my free ice cream and got a free pair of earrings too. The lady who was working that evening said she just “loves to give people things”. The hotel has a view of the beach & marina, but it’s not right on the beach if that’s what you are looking for. HOWEVER, you can literally walk out of the back of the hotel right to the beach at the Hilton property. So it gives you the access nearby to the beach without the ”overly crowded /so old it needs renovation” vibe that most of the beach hotels have. We stayed 8 days/7 nights and never had an issue with anything breaking, leaking, not working, etc. Oh AND we had a super late flight leaving out …and they even gave us a comp extended late checkout so we didn’t have to store our bags or find somewhere to waste hours. The only downside is that this hotel is right next to Hilton Village. There was a strike. So the employees were striking from 6am-10pm EVERY SINGLE DAY OF OUR TRIP. It was so annoying because since they had given me a high floor ocean view room…we were awaken every day at 6am with yelling, chanting, banging drums, bullhorns, etc. TO BE CLEAR….This is in no way the fault of the Illikai. They were subject to the non-sense simply as a result of being next door to Hilton. However, I will say that if you think that is something that will ruin your trip….consider staying elsewhere until the hotel union issues are resolved. That’s literally the only thing causing 4stars vs 5 is its proximity to Hilton and their shenanigans. As a loyal Hilton Honors member…I’m HIGHLY DISAPPOINTED at how Hilton is handling this for their guests, employees & neighbors. Needless to say….Illikai not only met but exceeded my...

Update: The hotel called at 10pm at night to upgrade to an ocean front. We had one more day left...a little late to move rooms. At check out they have is $100 off.

Extremely poor in cleanliness and hospitality. Especially given our times in COVID. Came upstairs and found termites all over the floor of the bathroom. There were crumbs and multiple spills all over the floor. Went down stairs to tell them. The lady was nice and said she was going to to move us. She said she would call us when the room was ready. 8pm came around and we are waiting and no call. Went downstairs and it look like the lady forgot. She spoke to another person and said we can go look at the room and see if we want to switch. Went to check it out and it was worse than ours. The house keeper said the carpet is old. There was glitter all over the floor of that room and burns. Went to talk to the lady . I'm exhausted at this point. Just wanted a clean room for my kids to play in. She said she can try for another room I can check out but said they might be the in the same condition. I gave up since I was tired and did not want to go check all these rooms out. My pregnant wife was ready for bed and her feet were sore. My friend was upset because we paid good money for a clean place and their protocols especially for COVID are lacking and extremely poor in cleanliness and hospitality. I am kama'aina (local). The resort is waived but I still pay the same ($7 difference). It comes the free ice cream for the kids they denied that because of the waived resort fee. On the website, it is said it is waived but we still receive all the benefits. It is for my kids. I was very upset with that. Staff was not knowledge about rental gear for (surfboards, snorkel gear, etc) they had a vendor right down stairs and did not appoint us to them. We are currently are still here and see if anyone will reach out and show Aloha. If i could, I would get my money back. At least offer some ice cream for the keiki. I am extremely disappointed and dissatisfied how the staff handle this situation and how low the quality control is during this time of being extra cautious and clean. If you are looking for a place the Hilton Waikiki Village is right next door. Better off staying with them I have always had an experience...

I definitely hope that the Ilikai renovates the mauka side timeshare rooms fast. They're pretty dated and in need of a good overhaul. We traded RCI points to stay here.

Bellmen with the luggage racks are not employed by the hotel and they charge $5 per bag to bring up to your room.

It's going to sound like a lot of complaints but we also pay like $1,500 a year in timeshare maintenance fees so shrug.

Hallways are not air-conditioned. They are absolutely sweltering.

We stayed in room 2013.

This is by far the smallest timeshare kitchen I've ever had, with only 3 lower cabinets that had a strong, musty smell. There is no dishwasher nor disposal, nor ventilation system. Our neighbors were up cooking every day at 5 AM and we could smell it. I kept waking up thinking I had left the stove on - nope, just people cooking without ventilation. There is also some nasty looking hatch next to the stove for what I'm assuming is electrical. Per the photos, it's unappetizing.

The hot water was barely lukewarm, even after getting a notification that the hot water was being turned off on a certain day due to maintenance issues. Even afterward, the shower never got hot enough for there to be steam in the bathroom. They also still use single use plastic bottles of shampoo, so you need like 5 of them to get a tablespoon or two of shampoo out. It's super annoying because there is no ledge in the shower, just a single porcelain soap dish, so you have to store all these tiny bottles on the floor. I also noticed some mold on the caulking.

Pool ran out of towels and is pretty old looking. It definitely needs a refresh.

You aren't allowed to use the fitness center if you're renting a timeshare, which is odd.

There is 1 show / activity at the resort on Fridays - a hula show. It's under the tree in the center of the courtyard and there is no stage. Because there is no stage, if you're not in the very front row, you can't see anything.

The good: super convenient location next to Hilton Hawaiian Village so you will have a prime on the deck to watch the free Aloha Fridays firework show. The lobby area and courtyard are also super pretty. The elevators are also pretty fast.

I stayed here for 7 nights in...