Lagoon Tower by Hilton Grand Vacations Club — Hotel in Honolulu

First, and most importantly, handicap access is wretched. There are no elevators to guest rooms on the level of the main reception desks, which is where taxis drop you off. You have to go down a long, narrow switch backing ramp to get to the level with the elevators. The incline is so steep that it is difficult for people in wheelchairs or walkers to push up or control the wheelchair on the way down. You have to contend with people rolling their many suitcases up and down to get in or leave. There is not enough room for people to pass. Somebody has to back up and get off the ramp. People need to know ahead of time that handicap access is terrible. This was not the case in 2009 when we first visited. I can only guess that construction on the Grand Waikikian Tower is responsible. There is no excuse for this. You have to deal with this every bloody day. ||||Second, the Lagoon Tower is old and looking tired. The furniture is poor. The windows in the bedrooms are filthy. The combination toilet-bidet in the bathroom that’s part of the main bedroom (we were in a two bedroom apartment) smelled bad and the bidet feature did not work at all. There is no telephone in the living room, only the bedrooms. When we asked for one, we were told that all the living room telephones had all been removed. WTH were they thinking? You cannot hear the telephones in the bedrooms when you are in the living room, especially when the TV is on. I may have missed an important call. The elevators are slow. There is no salt and pepper in the kitchen. I have been used to requesting the small almost single use salt and pepper shakers in other HGVC properties, so this did not surprise me. When I called to request these small salt and pepper shakers, I was told they did not provide even these because it was a security issue. They could not guaranty that it was salt and pepper. What? This is just a bizarre justification for being cheap. Other properties deal with this by removing the salt and pepper when the units are cleaned. Simple. Not a terrorist security risk. ||||Third, we made our reservation four months previous. We requested an upper floor, such as the 17th floor, where we stayed in 2009. When we arrived on a Monday, we were told that people who checked in over the weekend had taken all of the upper floor units. We have been a Hilton Grand Vacations Club owner since the first Flamingo HGVC building was constructed in Las Vegas decades ago. I believe this was Hilton’s first time share building. Our request should have been honored ahead of people who just happened to check in before we did. This was a shabby way to treat an owner. When I asked a manager why we didn’t get an upper floor unit, he promised to check into moving us to an upper floor and to call me. He never did. The consequence of being on the 8th floor, rather than a higher floor, was that on several days the noise from the pool and lagoon below prevented us from using our balcony.||||Lastly, when I requested a folio on the morning we checked out, I was presented with a bill for $800 for our last night. I was livid and developed a third ulcer. I could not make the poor stressed out woman who was at the desk that this 7th night was complimentary pursuant to an agreement with the HGVC central office and the Flamingo HGVC. I told her flatly that I would not pay it. When I got back to the room (we were packed to leave) I received a call from her, stating that it was a mistake, that she had not read all of the notes in my file, that our last night was indeed supposed to be complimentary. She apologized profusely. This was a bad way to...

First, and most importantly, handicap access is wretched. There are no elevators to guest rooms on the level of the main reception desks, which is where taxis drop you off. You have to go down a long, narrow switch backing ramp to get to the level with the elevators. The incline is so steep that it is difficult for people in wheelchairs or walkers to push up or control the wheelchair on the way down. You have to contend with people rolling their many suitcases up and down to get in or leave. There is not enough room for people to pass. Somebody has to back up and get off the ramp. People need to know ahead of time that handicap access is terrible. This was not the case in 2009 when we first visited. I can only guess that construction on the Grand Waikikian Tower is responsible. There is no excuse for this. You have to deal with this every bloody day. ||||Second, the Lagoon Tower is old and looking tired. The furniture is poor. The windows in the bedrooms are filthy. The combination toilet-bidet in the bathroom that’s part of the main bedroom (we were in a two bedroom apartment) smelled bad and the bidet feature did not work at all. There is no telephone in the living room, only the bedrooms. When we asked for one, we were told that all the living room telephones had all been removed. WTH were they thinking? You cannot hear the telephones in the bedrooms when you are in the living room, especially when the TV is on. I may have missed an important call. The elevators are slow. There is no salt and pepper in the kitchen. I have been used to requesting the small almost single use salt and pepper shakers in other HGVC properties, so this did not surprise me. When I called to request these small salt and pepper shakers, I was told they did not provide even these because it was a security issue. They could not guaranty that it was salt and pepper. What? This is just a bizarre justification for being cheap. Other properties deal with this by removing the salt and pepper when the units are cleaned. Simple. Not a terrorist security risk. ||||Third, we made our reservation four months previous. We requested an upper floor, such as the 17th floor, where we stayed in 2009. When we arrived on a Monday, we were told that people who checked in over the weekend had taken all of the upper floor units. We have been a Hilton Grand Vacations Club owner since the first Flamingo HGVC building was constructed in Las Vegas decades ago. I believe this was Hilton’s first time share building. Our request should have been honored ahead of people who just happened to check in before we did. This was a shabby way to treat an owner. When I asked a manager why we didn’t get an upper floor unit, he promised to check into moving us to an upper floor and to call me. He never did. The consequence of being on the 8th floor, rather than a higher floor, was that on several days the noise from the pool and lagoon below prevented us from using our balcony.||||Lastly, when I requested a folio on the morning we checked out, I was presented with a bill for $800 for our last night. I was livid and developed a third ulcer. I could not make the poor stressed out woman who was at the desk that this 7th night was complimentary pursuant to an agreement with the HGVC central office and the Flamingo HGVC. I told her flatly that I would not pay it. When I got back to the room (we were packed to leave) I received a call from her, stating that it was a mistake, that she had not read all of the notes in my file, that our last night was indeed supposed to be complimentary. She apologized profusely. This was a bad way to...

Quick Recap: It’s nice with lots of businesses but it’s overcrowded and slightly overpriced.

Detail: I went September 2022 with 7 other women. I booked through Delta Vacations a 2 bedroom ocean view room that I shared with 3 others. We got room 1569. It was very clean and nice view of Marina and ocean if you step on the balcony. The room attendants were super kind. I have no complaints really at all about the actual room. They had all the kitchen items needed and three TVs. Although this is an older building my room specifically seemed like it had been updated. They have 3 elevators and they weren’t super slow or super fast either. Kinda right in the middle. If you are a family with kids I would recommend this resort or if you are with a group who just plans on staying on the resort and not exploring the actual city…I would recommend. I came with a group of late 20s - mid 30s single women and this really wasn’t for us. It’s catered more towards families. A lot of kids, older couples and families everywhere. Not grown and sexy. Lol. Just very family forward. The pool in our building has the slide. It’s a really nice one but the pool was always crowded. Luckily each of the other buildings have pools and you can access all of them accept the Ali pool. The super pool was nice and spacious compared and they have wait staff that will bring you drinks and food. The adult only pool was a happy get away. I believe that one was in the Kalia tower by the spa. The beach stayed packed also. A lot of restaurants on site with great variety of cuisine. I went to CJs( for dinner and breakfast- they have delicious waffles with the butter. Didn’t love the bbq sliders but burgers were cool). Also went to the Italian place called Frescos (had breakfast their too). Loved the potato tots and the pancakes were good. Tropics bar has a beautiful view. It’s over priced and I believe my food was good but I was drunk that day so unsure. Ice cream place was delicious. I think that’s all I had on the resort. ABC stores were super convenient. I had a salad there. Still overpriced but delicious. The resort is close to a lot of stuff so it’s quick to Uber or Lyft to grocery store or restaurants. Average price was $8-$15. Parking is outrageous at $57 a night. We stayed for 8 days and only had a car half the time to cut on costs. If you do a ride share you have to walk all the way across the resort to the Diamond tower to get picked up. That really sucked especially because the airport shuttle dropped us off there with a bunch of luggage and we had to walk far. However, every time after that the drop off was at our tower. It’s just the pickup that’s far. We started putting our pickup point as Goofy Cafe and Dine because it’s a closer/easier walk. The only other complaint about my stay is that they charged a resort fee of $40 a night (which may be standard for Hilton…unsure) and it supposed to give you access to wifi, PlayStation, phone calls , video rental, a couple bottles of water, cultural activities (I didn’t see this), outdoor morning exercise classes and discounts on beach rentals. I’m sorry but that’s ridiculous. We literally only used the wifi because we weren’t there to play games and talk on the phone. If you say you don’t want those things, you should be able to not pay the fee. And it’s not like you got the beach chairs, umbrellas and activities for free. You still had to pay. The bike boats are $50+!!! That’s ridiculous. When I go back to Hawaii, I won’t be staying there. It’s just not for me but I recommend if you like the super busy large...