Renaissance Honolulu Hotel & Spa — Hotel in Honolulu

This is my 8th trip to Hawaii. Previously, I always stayed in Waikiki, but this time, I decided to try something new and booked the Renaissance Honolulu. Unfortunately, my personal experience was far from great. I'm not a picky person, nor do I often write reviews, but I want to share this post to help anyone considering booking this hotel. While this isn't exactly a "warning" post, I really wouldn't recommend it.||Check-in：|Before arriving in Hawaii, I booked a double-bed room. Upon check-in, I asked if I could upgrade to a suite. The young Asian gentleman at the front desk said, “Unfortunately, we’re fully booked, so we can’t offer an upgrade right now,” and asked me to check back in two days. However, he said that “Even though we don’t have a suite, we’re giving you a bigger room than the one you originally booked.”|Initially, I was excited, thinking I’d gotten a better room. But when I got upstairs, I discovered I’d been placed in an accessible room right next to the elevator. No wonder he said it was "bigger" (it wasn’t, really). I could’ve stayed near the elevator, but everything in the room was clearly designed for special needs, and the vibe was less about comfort/enjoyment and more about functionality.|I immediately went back downstairs and asked for possibility of upgrade for the following day. Luckily, a young Japanese lady (I assume) at the front desk (black hair ponytail) directly told me there was a suite available that day, and I could upgrade immediately. We agreed on the price difference for the upgrade and moved to a suite.||Elevators:|The elevator system is a bit confusing, but I’ll give it full marks for safety. Guests can only access their designated floor and the public facilities on the 8th floor.||Mountain-View Suite:|The suite itself had good space. The living room had a king-sized sofa bed that could easily sleep two people. I don’t know if other mountain-view suites are the same, but mine had a slight design flaw: the bathroom was separate from the bedroom, so if you needed to use the bathroom at night, you had to walk through the living room (where the sofa bed is).|The suite came equipped with a washer, dryer, dishwasher, fridge, induction cooktop, electric kettle, and a Nespresso machine. The fridge was quite large, great for storing plenty of food. The Wolf induction cooktop felt safe and made cooking easy. Plates, bowls, and cutlery were also provided. Coffee, tea, and cream were refilled daily, but the hotel didn’t provide bottled water—you had to boil your own.||Hotel Restaurant and Coffee Shop:|The hotel’s lobby restaurant is called Mara, and the coffee shop is called Lamill. During check-in, I was told that hotel guests receive a daily $48 credit (excluding the day of checkout) to use at these venues.|I assumed the Mara restaurant would be decent, but when we entered Mara, even though the staff clearly saw us, they pretended to be busy and didn’t greet us. I ordered chicken tenders and a burger to take back to the room, but they were awful—the meat was burnt and blackened. (I regret not taking pictures) Still, I let it go since it was “free.” After that, I never went back to the restaurant. I ended up using the $48 credit at Lamill daily for coffee, drinks, and sandwiches. The service at Lamill was excellent, and the coffee tasted great.||Housekeeping:|Housekeeping was mediocre. Upon check-in, there was noticeable amount of sand on the floor, likely brought in by the previous guests. Walking barefoot felt uncomfortable, but since the hotel doesn’t provide slippers, I had to wear my own. On the first night, I discovered the bathroom conditioner was empty. It wasn’t refilled during my entire week-long stay, so I had to use my own. ||Pool/Gym/Spa:|The pool, gym, and spa are located on the 8th floor. Pool towels need to be collected from the spa. When returning towels, make sure to get your towel card back, or you’ll be charged.||The young gentleman at the spa front desk was very friendly, but a middle-aged lady was a bit harsh. She lectured me on towel rules, saying, “Each person can only take one towel. Taking more isn’t allowed, but I’ll make an exception this time. Make sure you return it, or we’ll charge $20 per towel on checkout day.” Her tone made me uncomfortable. Why not just explain it politely?||Valet Parking:|The valet staff were friendly and efficient. When I asked the front desk about the nightly valet fee, I was told it was $55 per night, but the final bill showed $59. I let the $4 difference slide since it wasn’t worth arguing over.||Check-out:|The night before checking out, I requested a printed statement to ensure there were no hidden fees. To my shock, the statement showed a brand-new room charge of over $3,000. I had already prepaid for the room, so why was I being charged again?|The front desk staff (perhaps new/lacking experience) couldn’t explain clearly and insisted, “This is the correct amount. Don’t worry, everything will balance out during your checkout tomorrow.” But who wouldn’t be worried about a $3,000 discrepancy? Eventually, the manager came out and clarified that the front desk hadn’t deducted the prepaid room fee. ||Pros:|The hotel’s location is excellent. It’s surrounded by Ala Moana Mall, Don Quijote, Walmart, Target —all within walking distance, so there’s no need to drive. However, it’s a bit far from the beach. If you’re looking for a beachfront experience, I recommend staying in a hotel near Waikiki.||Conclusion:|Overall, this hotel might still be ironing out issues since it’s new and the management is still training staff. The front desk staff were particularly lacking in competence, struggling to explain billing details. If you’ve already booked this hotel, be sure to double-check your charges during checkout to avoid paying unnecessary fees like I almost did.|This hotel lacks the “vacation” vibe and feels more like a basic “accommodation.” I came to Hawaii to relax, but my stay here left me with an indescribable feeling where it made me want to end my vacation early and just go home. I won’t be...

In short - I would not recommend staying at the Renaissance Honolulu with kids. We travel quite a bit and have stayed at many hotels and we had one of the worst experiences at the Renaissance due to their head of security. But, I’ll start with the positives. We liked the location - it’s less touristy than all the hotels along Waikiki and thus a closer walk to many of the better restaurants on the island. Being right next to the mall and Walmart was also super convenient for buying groceries, snacks, etc. It’s also a short walk to the beach and Magic Island has a jetty leading to calm waters. The hotel restaurant Mara - exceeded expectations and was pretty good. Especially the desserts. The hotel itself is pretty new and therefore pretty nice. The gym and pool area in particular were really nice. The room (we stayed in one of the residences which had laundry, stove, fridge, etc.) was fine, but you can tell where they skimped on some of the finishes - in particular the bathroom fixtures were already starting to struggle. Now for the bad, as I mentioned earlier it really was just the woman who works security. The first afternoon we arrived, we grabbed lunch at the Sway pool bar and there was another family there playing with a soccer ball on the large turf area. They left and after we finished lunch I was throwing a football with my two young boys. After 15-20 minutes the security lady told us there are no balls allowed “on the pool deck”. She wasn’t particularly nice about informing us, but I didn’t think it was a big deal and put the ball away. EIther later that day, or the next day, my boys got into the pool and took the football. I assumed it was fine since we weren’t on the turf and it’s pretty standard to toss a football in a hotel pool - especially when the pool is empty except for the boys. Immediately, the security lady appears and demands that my 11 year old give her the ball. She then disappears back into the hotel with the ball. As you can imagine, it was a pretty unpleasant experience for my 11 year old to have with an adult. At this point my 11 year old tells me that he just wants to leave. I try to redirect and we head into the gym with a basketball to work on some dribbling. At first we’re in the yoga room where there’s a hardwood floor but then a couple of people come in there to do a workout so we go to the main area as the rubber flooring works fine and it’s empty in there. After a few minutes the security lady shows up again and tells me that there are no balls allowed in the gym as well because it disrupts the residents below and that my 11 year old can’t be in the gym at all. At this point, I’m pretty frustrated. I tell her that we’re just trying to have some fun on vacation and that taking a ball from a child is not exactly a great customer experience. She reiterates that no balls are allowed anywhere near or in the pool and that it’s on the sign. I ask to see the sign. We walk there together and it doesn’t say anything about balls. It does say No Toys and she says balls are considered toys. At this point I’m starting to wonder if I’m on candid camera or something as it’s gotten ridiculous and I’m feeling like she’s targeting our family. After more discussion about what is and isn’t considered a “toy” she tells me that a ball when over the wall recently and caused an accident which is why they don’t allow balls. I tell her if that’s the case they need to update the signage. After I ask again why she took the ball from a child and confiscated (vs bringing it to me and telling me that it wasn’t allowed in the pool either) she says that the policy is one warning and after that it’s confiscated. Again, not something she had said previously and at this point I really felt like she was just making stuff up. I note her name and ask the name of her manager. She provides those, but then goes into her office and gives me the ball back. Maybe that security lady just decided she wanted to ruin our vacation since other families were playing with balls in and around the pool, and I also looked and there are no rooms under the gym - looks like parking garage, but one of the residents who witnessed the ball confiscation came up to me and asked what happened. He said that all the staff is really nice except for that security lady who roams the property like a guard at a high security prison. Either way, we won’t be returning to the Renaissance. We’ve stayed at the Ritz-Carlton in Honolulu a few times and would recommend that as an alternative -...

The hotel was approximately 2 weeks old during our Spring Break vacation visit to Honolulu. This was our family’s first time in Hawaii and this property was the perfect location. We arrived at 9:45am Hawaii time and were greeted with a warm welcome of smiles and excitement for our arrival. Surprisingly, we were checked in and given our room keys. We booked 1 double bedroom on the hotel floor and 1 king bedroom on the residence floor. The rooms were incredibly clean and the amenities were perfect! The Mountain View was spectacular and the floor to ceiling windows allowed for the absolute best views. We had everything needed to prepare meals in our room and the cookware, dinnerware and flatware were perfection! Here are the pros and cons of our stay… Pros:S pecial thanks to Quintin and Jinae at the concierge desk for helping us to secure Pearl Harbor Memorial tickets at the USS Arizona. Quintin and Jinae coordinated both our shuttle and tour travel to perfection as well as gifted us with leis to commemorate our first trip to Hawaii. We felt loved by people we met for the first time who genuinely wanted to make sure our trip was perfect! Anna at the front desk for locating my son’s Xbox controller (which he left unattended in the hotel lobby) Anna was so kind to locate and deliver it to our room! Special thanks to Valet team members - Zayne, Keoko (apologies for the misspelling) and the gentleman with the Afro (I am so sorry to have failed with getting your name), as they as well as the other team members were flexible and kind every time we interacted with them. They gave us recommendations for eating, sites and activities. The vehicle was always brought down swiftly and they were always smiling! Special thanks to the housekeeping team for an impeccable job every time. I checked utensils, plates, corners, and crevasses closely and everything was cleaned to perfection every time! Cons: The bedroom phones did not work, so you would have to use your cell phone for everything in terms of communication with the hotel. In the 1 bedroom residence suite, there is no access to the bathroom unless you travel through the living room. I would take out the desk and create an entrance to the restroom from the bedroom. Bedroom robes are too small. The elevator malfunctioned during our stay and caused a slight delay (5 mins) as it is a computer screen and if it goes out then you are pretty much stuck on your floor. The WiFi is not strong enough to accommodate Xbox gaming by highschoolers while during downtime (they were attempting to play a 2K gaming tournament during the mid day and nighttime hours and the WiFi simply could not handle it). Also, there was a guy wearing a lavender/purple suit with the ear piece who seemed to be a manager that got into the elevator with us and said nothing to us but when another female team member got onto the elevator he was extremely talkative to that female team member. They got off together without ever acknowledging or speaking to us. Enough of an impact to mention but not enough to detract from our overall experience. In all, this property is fantastic and still has new construction punch list items. Consider it as operating at 92% in terms of completion but opening early so that visitors can have a clean, friendly host during their stay. It is located right by the convention center, Target and the Ala Moana Center. The Concierge is simply amazing and will go the extra mile to get you tickets and ensure that you are well equipped with the local knowledge to have the best experience on Oahu. Kudos to this property for being daring enough to open its doors with the understanding that while every experience may not be perfect, they must start and workout the kinks as they go. Your most valuable asset is the lovely team you have hired. While the new building is very nice and clean, it is the team of friendly faces, genuine smiles, heartfelt assistance and perfect hospitality that will continue to make guests like my family feel warmly welcomed. Mahalo for making this the absolute best...