Moana Surfrider, A Westin Resort & Spa, Waikiki Beach — Hotel in Honolulu

Just a heads up, this property is NOT Westin quality.

I've stayed at over a dozen Westin properties, and this one was definitely the worst.

Not everything about this hotel is bad. The location is incredible, there's no denying that. The hotel is also a beautiful building. They've tried to keep the original look, which they've done a good job of!

However... There were multiple things that were annoying that started to add up.

Firstly, this location has their doors open at all times while we were there. Part of this is because there is NO air conditioning in the lobby area/first floor. This wouldn't usually be a problem, but...

The location was either really unorganized or extremely booked, in the middle of the week on a non-holiday week, which seems odd. Despite any Elite status you may have, they didn't accommodate early check-ins, despite rooms being available. I know this because I went to a different desk (the non-Elite one) and he was able to get me a room. Waiting in the heat for hours was not fun!

The lady at the Elite front desk seemed really flustered and wasn't that warm towards me and my wife. We had just gotten married, and while we weren't expecting a parade or anything, we got no comments at all from her. Not the end of the world, but there was no mention of the status, attempt to look for upgrades (which you get at platinum, and even Gold I think), or any attempt to get us an earlier check in despite us just getting done flying for almost 20 hours. She didn't much seem to care about the situation despite rooms being available. Not sure why she was assigned to work at the Elite desk at a Westin. Who knows, maybe it was just a bad day.

Next, their systems are fairly outdated. I've stayed over 50 nights at Marriotts this year, and this was the first location that couldn't accept contactless payments as well as be able to use the card that's on my Marriott account. I've been to Fairfields and Courtyards that all have these options, yet a Westin for whatever reason doesn't. It's annoying I have to carry my physical card to a Westin in 2025.

Next, the construction... I understand making the hotel nicer, I actually appreciate that, but there was constant drilling every morning starting at 9:00 AM, so there was absolutely no sleeping in at all despite our jet lag. Looking at the comments, it seems like this construction has been ongoing for well over a year, so just beware.

Then there's the outdoor area. The beach is awesome, but completely packed... It's not private at all, so don't think it'll just be hotel guests if you book. There's no verification of if you're staying at the hotel to use the bar, pool, or beach chairs on their property, which was extremely annoying due to how packed it was. Not sure how there's not a way to rope it off or make a better system. I could chill and use the hotels pool if I wanted to just as a passerby.

Speaking of pool, it's non-existent. It's extremely small and maybe slightly bigger then a pool you'd see at a Holiday Inn. I didn't really want to use the pool anyway with the ocean right there, but still, it's tiny and if you like not being in the ocean, the pool is a let down.

Then, lastly, the rooms. The rooms are updated and aren't bad by any means, but they didn't "feel" like a Westin. I didn't feel much of a difference in the quality between it and a Courtyard.

Conclusion: The price for this stay, is NOT worth more than a couple hundred dollars to me. I recommend staying at other hotels nearby and just walking to the beach. The city is very walkable, so there's not much of a benefit to being that close on the beach, especially this one that is extremely packed. I used points for my stay, and the points deal seemed really good, but I think I understand why now. If you have money to blow and you don't care, maybe this is your place, but there is a significant chance you'd have a better experience at a Courtyard, Residence Inn, or Fairfield over this Westin.

This was honestly such a bummer as I LOVE other Westin properties!...

This was a poor experience overall, and not what one expects from a supposedly luxury hotel. Read the RECENT reviews, not old ones---all the negative reviews are correct. We paid a bucket to stay here and it resulted in a disappointing vacation.

1. Expect NOTHING from being a Marriott member, even if you're Platinum or Titanium. Our "room upgrade" was to a tiny room with a partial view that was VERY noisy. There are NO quiet rooms in this hotel; you either face the courtyard with loud music until 10 PM every night, or the equally noisy rooms facing the street and other hotel properties. For a luxury property, rooms are merely average (if that). They did offer us an upgrade in the wing undergoing renovation---with a water cutoff from 9 am to 3 PM every day!
2. The "free Continental breakfast" for platinum+ was the worst I've had on ANY Marriott property, even their lower-end hotels (e.g. a Fairfield). You get a regular croissant, an egg-and-sausage croissant, plain yogurt, and mainland fruit (e.g. unripe strawberries and melons, not local papaya or mango---which is available on the buffet, but not for you!). No choice of pastry. No cereal or oatmeal, which certainly wouldn't cost them much; instead they choose to antagonize loyalty members.
3. They do indeed nickel and dime customers. The continental breakfast issue is apparently to force you to upgrade to their expensive breakfast buffet at an additional $28 per person. They also charge a non-negotiable daily resort fee for things that no one wants (like free yoga lessons) even if you don't use or want any of those services.
4. They have no club lounge,(which would have solved the breakfast problem) having closed it, nor do they have a hot tub ("because we're an old hotel"), nor do they have a free coffee station in the lobby (like most other luxury hotels), nor is the pool usable for relaxation given the significant noise of renovations.
5. The employees are either unempowered or unhelpful. I was told that they don't let guests choose their own continental pastries (as at all other Marriotts I've been to) because they are "not owned by Marriott, but only managed by them"---the same as 96 to 99% of ALL OTHER Marriott-logoed hotels! He also said that "in his 15 years employed here I was the first one to complain about the Continental breakfast" when, if you read even a few of the other reviews here, you can see that it is a frequent source of complaint. Apparently Platinum+ members can't be trusted to select their own pastries and fruit here, as we can at pretty much all other Marriott hotels. If they would prefer to alienate their best customers over something as small as a pastry, just think what the rest of your experience is likely to be. I did ultimately succeed in securing oatmeal as an alternative breakfast (by speaking to the restaurant manager) but it shouldn't have been as much trouble as it was, for something as minor and inexpensive as oatmeal.
6. Worst of all, on the day it rained buckets, and everyone was pretty much confined to the hotel, they closed EVERY BAR AND RESTAURANT IN THE HOTEL from 3 to 5:30 PM. Employees gathered around the inside bar joking with each other were clearly uninterested in helping out; some said they had to "set up for dinner" and others said they were having a "staffing changeover". Competent managers would have maybe looked at a weather report, and planned accordingly to move the bar inside in advance with appropriate staffing.

One pays for a luxury hotel precisely to avoid such shoddy customer service.

The Moana is nearly 125 years old and is a beautiful old hotel. So of course it needs maintenance. But they shouldn't charge the prices they do WHILE that maintenance is ongoing. Avoid this hotel until at least July 2025, when the noisy renovations are supposed to be done. I normally stay at Marriott brands so that I can enjoy Platinum benefits, but I could have easily stayed at the nearby Hilton (where I am a gold member) and been treated better than as a Platinum member...

We were super excited about our stay but it wasn't as expected. We knew that they would be doing some construction work on the hotel, so that is not a factor in this review.

Upon check in, we were told a “nicer” room was available for us because the one we booked wasn’t ready. We were excited, but then we got to the room and wondered how bad the other one had to have been if the one they gave us was "nicer." We stayed in mid-March and booked the Tower Ocean King, Larger Guest room, 1 King, Ocean view, Tower, Balcony which was around $550 a night. It's called "larger" but it wasn't much bigger than a standard king at most Marriotts. We also got the breakfast buffet added to our reservation.

CONS:

The 18th floor smelled AWFUL. Marriotts usually have a really pleasant smell that you get throughout the lobby, halls and rooms. But it smelled like burning rubber and cleaning solution every time we got off the elevator.

The room bathroom was gross. The sink had white stuff all over it and we the toilet seat had yellow and brown splotches all over it and brown smears on the walls. The back of the toilet and ceiling sprinklers were full of rust and the bathroom vent was broken. The toilet paper was thin and was rough and the closet is located in the bathroom and has NO DOORS, which is nasty since it faces the toilet.

The room was just ok. There was peeling wall paper and bad patch jobs in both the bedroom and bathroom, which were an eyesore and there were wires stretched across the wall from the lamps. Also, only one port for plugs on one bedside table - not both. The mini fridge didn't work until the next day for some reason and you can't sign into any streaming service other than Netflix and YouTube (Prime would be nice). There was no bag in the ice bucket so we had to use a ziplock bag and the noise from the pool and other events down in the courtyard was non-stop blasting music until 10/11pm most nights - so we couldn't leave our slider open to listen to the ocean or get fresh air.

The chairs on the room lanai were meh. It would make more sense to have loungers out there, rather than just a metal upright chair. Also, the beaches in front of the hotel are very crowded no matter what day of the week and the beach chairs and umbrellas are $100 a day and you can't rent hourly. Although they have restaurants inside, the hotel also doesn't provide room service.

Lastly, we came late to breakfast one morning (around 10am) and watched as pigeons swarmed tables with unattended food. Then we saw a server bring out a tray of 2 pancakes & 2 waffles, leave them on a table for a moment and walk away. Pigeons swarmed the tray walked all over the food and pecked it. The waiter returned and then HE SERVED THE PANCAKES TO THE CHILDREN AT THE TABLE AND ONLY THREW OUT THE WAFFLES. I'm assuming because the pancakes didn't have obvious pecks in them, but we saw them WALKING ON THE PANCAKES. We waved them down and told the server what we saw, but they served it anyway. It made me want to throw up. So, go before 8am and you should be clear of the pigeons.

PROS:

The hotel is next to a lot of restaurants and stores. The old international marketplace has been transformed into a mall which was really nice and it has a Target at the end. The hotel breakfast buffet food was really good and was worth adding to our reservation. It's $50 per person per day, though if you are just paying when you arrive. If you get there right when they open at 6am, you get the best table facing the water. The mochi waffles were amazing - definitely ask for the coconut syrup with it! While the room was just meh, the bed was pretty comfortable and we did have a beautiful view of the ocean and Diamond Head. The hotel staff were nice and we appreciated the complimentary bottled water delivery to your room on request. There quick access to the beach, pool and beach activities, shops and restaurants.

Overall, we won't be back and won't recommend to others. It's too expensive for the quality...