Marriott Waikiki Beach Ohua Ave Entrance — Hotel in Honolulu

As a Marriott Rewards member for over 15 years, my family and I have consistently chosen Marriott hotels for all our travels, given our confidence in the brand’s commitment to guest satisfaction. However my recent stay at this particular Marriott hotel has been nothing short of disappointing and unprofessional, leaving me compelled to share my experience.

I have been staying at this hotel with my parents for over a week. We split the room 3 ways. On the night in question, around 11 p.m., I went downstairs to buy a drink to take my meds, as the tap water in the room has a distinctly nasty taste. After discovering the store was closed, I explored the area in search of an open store, to no avail. I then decided to order through a delivery service, but after waiting for over 40 minutes with no success, I canceled the order.

At approximately 4 a.m., I woke up feeling unwell and in need of something to drink. I left my room, forgetting my key card, and went to the lobby to inquire about vending machines. I politley requested a new key card to re enter my room, as the elevators require one for access. To my shock, the front desk attendant refused to provide me with a key, stating that only my parents, who were registered on the room, and in bad health could come down to retrieve it. While I understand and respect hotel security protocols, I explained that my parents were asleep, in bad health and asked if they could either call their room or escort me to confirm my stay. Both extremely reasonable solutions were denied.

The manager not only refused these requests but also declined to check security footage to verify that I had just exited the room minutes earlier. His dismissive attitude escalated the situation unnecessarily, forcing me to call the police simply to resolve a basic issue. When I told him I was calling the police he said “the police won’t help you” which I have on video posted to this review. Just proves he was trying to ruin someone’s night for no reason. The police did end up helping me. This lack of customer care is astonishing, particularly given the amount we paid for our stay. Look at how many employees are just standing there, refusing to go back and watch the video of me leaving the room or call my parents. They wanted to stay and hear the mean things the manager and the bald guy wearing sports goggles were saying to me. The valets were getting a kick out of it, standing there laughing AT me bc of dehumanizing things the manager was saying to me, I’m assuming bc he thought I was a homeless person. But still, that’s no way to treat people whether they have a home or not. I have never encountered such hostility from hotel staff in all my 34 years of travel. The manager was not only uncooperative but resorted to name calling and mocking throughout the encounter, gas lighting me when the police showed up, even as I attempted to de-escalate the situation. When my parents eventually woke up and came down, several hotel employees (who had not offered any assistance prior remember ((it’s on video posted to this review)) suddenly became involved, though their behavior suggested they were more interested in salvaging tips than providing genuine help.

This experience was deeply upsetting and has left a lasting negative impression. Despite the high cost of our stay (over 4 thousand dollars for 1 week), I was treated disrespectfully and unfairly by the hotel staff, particularly the manager, whose behavior was both unprofessional and unbecoming of Marriott standards. I fully understand the need for security protocols, but the refusal to address this situation with a simple phone call, while subjecting me to unnecessary embarrassment and conflict, is inexcusable.

I intend to escalate this matter further to ensure that no other guest experiences such mistreatment in the future, and will be updating my hotel in Maui next week to something other than a Marriott. By the way the manager was talking to me I could tell by the staffs reaction that this is a regular thing here. He talks to guests...

Unfortunately the hotel ruined my family of 5 vacation. I have always been a loyal Marriott customer and I am even a Marriott ambassador for life due to my loyalty. My wife and I even stayed here back in 2017 and loved it so much we chose it again. But after this experience I will be changing where I stay from now on for personal travel and I will inform my admin at my company to immediately stop using Marriott for business travel company wide as well as for our national conventions we do every year.

I booked this vacation and planned it out for my 3 sons birthdays which are all in the same week. When I made the reservation I had the ambassador representative help me book it. I explained that there would be 5 adults us total and that we were coming to celebrate all 3 of my sons birthdays and my youngest son’s graduation from High school. I requested that the verify with the property that I could use my nightly suite upgrades to get a room which would have two separate bed rooms and a total of 4 beds with a fold out couch. The ambassador representative placed my on hold called the hotel explained what I was requesting to the general manager and they assured me it would not be an issue to reserve a room like that and that they would even have a cake in the room for the kids birthdays. Upon landing in Hawaii I received an email from the property stating that my nightly suite upgrade request had been denied. You can imagine my total disappointment and frustration because we didn’t have to come here we could have gone to New York Florida or California but selected this resort due to the assurance that the request would be approved and honored. To make a long story short I arrived at the hotel spoke to a manager on duty named Jon who said he was sorry but that there wasn’t much he could do but would know more the next morning. Unfortunately due to their lack of caring and basically showing us they weren’t interested in our business or helping us resolve the situation I could not wait for the next morning to see if maybe they could do something or have all 5 of us stuffed in a room with one king size bed for all 5 of us so I ended up having to spend $5,000 to rent an Air BNB for my family on the complete opposite side of the island. You can imagine the disappointment in my kids faces when they found out we wouldn’t be staying there as promised and would now have to spend half of our time driving back and forth from the air bnb to all of the activities we had planned. Trips like these are once in a lifetime and something that I had hoped my kids will remember for the rest of their lives and share with their kids and their kids kids. Unfortunately due to the lack of caring by Marriott they lost a life long customer who also has their credit Card, who is an executive at a national company with over 1,000 retail locations and who has always ensured all company functions are held at Marriott properties. Well that stops after this experience, now I will ensure that everyone on every social media platform X FB IG all know where not to go and what brand not to trust with...

I stayed at two hotels in Honolulu for my trip this time, Hyatt Centric first then this Marriott Waikiki. The two bed room at Hyatt Centric has two queen beds, and some rooms even have two king beds (I stayed in one of their two king bed room half year ago). However the Marriott Waikiki hotel’s two-bed room has two full beds. Besides, the space of the Marriott room is possibly just 60% of Hyatt rooms in same types. (I’m not comparing a regular room with an upgraded room type). So far, I’m not blaming Marriott for anything because it is what they say it will be. Hyatt centric is definitely a newer hotel overall. The Marriott is not like super outdated, but it looks like they didn’t use quality material when they did the interior remodel. For example, the countertop, both in the mini refrigerator area and in the bathroom peeled and stained by some yellow and red colors. Same thing for the ground level lounge area. Sofas and cushions look kinda old. The good thing about Marriott is that it has a small balcony that you could use for taking photos if you get an ocean view room. It’s also closer to the beach. Although the Marriott is closer to the beach, it’s closer to the area where homeless people like to hang around. Hyatt centric is one and half blocks away from the beach. But it’s actually one and half blocks away from the area of the beach you actually will spend hours at. The actual distance of walking is roughly the same. The Hyatt Centric offers free Bodyboards and chairs and umbrellas for their guests during the stay.

Regarding award nights, Hyatt waives the resort fee on free nights, for everyone, plus if you’re a globalist, you get the parking fee waived. They are not offering breakfast now due to COVID so they give points for each night due to just that. Otherwise you’ll also get free food. Marriott will charge you $50 resort fee plus tax even on free nights! This is a bit awkward, really. And the parking is $45 or $50 depending on whether you choose valet. You’ll pay at least $80+ on a free night plus using a 35k certificate. And listen to this: 3rd or 4th guest in the room will be charged $100 per person per night before tax. What a surprise!

Hyatt doesn’t charge 3rd or 4th guest fee on free nights.

I would park at the public parking across street for 27 bucks every 24 hours. Weekly parking is just 125 there.

If you pay out of pocket, no free night certificates, you’ll end up paying similar rates for either of those two hotels.

One last thing, Marriott room’s ventilation isn’t very good. I saw combination of dust and mold in the ceiling fans. I’ll try to attach some photos later.

I’ll definitely go for Hyatt centric in the future. And this...