Sheraton Princess Kaiulani Waikiki Beach — Hotel in Honolulu

Doing staycations is a wonderful way to escape the daily grind. If you find a great location and stay there enough, it becomes a “home away from home”. As a born and raised O’ahu island girl, I pride myself on being a true kama’aina. |I thought that my family and I had found that perfect location that offered the warmest service and clean amenities at one of the Marriott properties in Waikiki. However, at our most recent stay in December, our expectations of receiving the same caliber of service fell flat. The service was cold, unwelcoming, and inaccessible by room phone; the amenities in the room were not working for two of the three days of our stay; the pool was murky and unclean; there were no available towels. We are now in search of a new “home away from home”.||We have never stayed at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani (PK) before. We had our chance for three nights at the start of January, as a way to ring in the new year. I cannot even begin to express the stark difference between the two Marriott properties, and am grateful that the PK not only provides valuable service to not only visiting guests, but also to kama’aina. ||There is a dedicated Marriott Bonvoy Status line where the guests are greeted with a welcoming wave and acknowledging “Aloha.” and smile from the Front Desk agents. Bryce, who checked me in, was warm and open. We talked about my experience at the previous Marriott hotel. He acknowledged my reservation and Gold Elite status request and offered a complimentary upgrade to a high ocean view room! I appreciated this very much as I was sharing a room with my parents. The amazing room with a mountain and ocean view was exactly what we all needed. Other than sleeping in the beds at night, we spent most of the time outside on the balcony, eating our meals and enjoying the beautiful sunrise, feeling the trade winds, smelling the sea air, and watching the night cityscape and the hustle and bustle below us. ||The housekeeping staff was friendly and accommodating. Lorna, our housekeeper for two days, provided us with extra towels, robes, and slippers upon request. Additionally, she restocked our in-room water and coffee. Although she did not know that we were kama’aina, she shared with us her suggestions and recommendations for shopping, sightseeing, and places to enjoy local cuisine. We also requested for an extra chair to use on the balcony since there was only one chair, which came promptly. Upon leaving the room, every housekeeper we ran into acknowledged us. Amazing housekeeping team: warm, approachable, and accommodating. |||The hotel amenities, services, and activities were accessible and varied. When I say there is something for everyone….there is literally something for everyone to do and enjoy. The hotel offers different cultural activities several times each week such as ukulele lessons, storytelling, lei making, and hula dancing. There is afternoon and evening poolside music being played by a DJ on the weekends and local Hawaiian live music on the weekdays. There is ample space in the open lobby area with couches, tables, and chairs to eat, read, congregate, and rest. There are even table games such as billiards and ping pong. I appreciate that there is a digital workspace area that provides two computers and a printer for guests to use. Additionally, there is a sitting area with outlets to work or charge devices. The Splash Bar offers a great happy hour and great breakfast menu. I was at the happy hour twice during our three day stay. I even invited my friends to come and hangout at the poolside to enjoy the happy hour with me. Even they were pleasantly surprised at the experience. ||The location is the most convenient I’ve experienced being in Waikiki. Located between the two main streets in Waikiki, PK is situated in the center of Waikiki. It is next to the International Market Place and 3 minutes walk to the closest grocery store, Waikiki Market. The beach is a 2 minute adjacent walk once you leave the hotel. The bus stop is 3 minutes away. Restaurants and shopping is literally right outside the hotel and dont need to go far to find great eats, sights, and do’s. ||If you’ve read all the way to this point….thank you. I don’t write reviews. It takes a remarkable experience for me to take the time for me to share in length my objective thoughts. I cannot express enough how valued we felt as guests during our stay. Mahalo nui loa Sheraton Princess Kaiulani…you will be our new home away...

Nice hotel, but a few items that make me hesitant to return. Marriott considers Sheraton one of their "premium brands" (their words on their website) and I'm framing this review through that lens. Not to say this is a bad property, but considering they label it as that, I feel that this hotel is more comparable to a Holiday Inn or some other limited service property.

Staff were definitely "premium," all great and hard-working. By far this property's shining asset.

I would recommend this hotel to folks who are not renting a car. See more below. While the parking situation was less than ideal, to be fair, it's an old garage and not reasonable to ask the hotel to just build a new garage out of thin air. They are doing the best with what they have. Their renovations are very good, but it wasn't a total gut down to the studs. Rooms are older. The property was originally built in 1955, significantly expanded in 1960, and then again in 1970. As such, rooms are on the smaller side for Western standards, and certain elements (doors in rooms, lobby bathrooms, guest laundry) are a bit antiquated. It is clear that they are doing the absolute best they can with an older property. If you are looking for value, this is a great choice. If you are looking for the most sleek property on Oahu, it may not be the right choice.

Significant Pros: -If you are traveling on a fed/govt/mil rate, they waive the resort fee -Beautiful lobby and bedrooms in the renovated tower. The partial ocean view room was a really nice bonus, considering this was a work trip for me -Good Marriott recognition, was offered a free breakfast option and given an upgraded room on a high floor which is my preference. Two water bottles were left in my room every day without fail, which my non-Marriott-frequenting coworker did not receive -Staff is top notch. Bilingual staff were available for Japanese-speaking guests. Restaurant staff were excellent. Some of the most attention-to-detail-oriented housekeepers I have seen since Covid -Great location for tourists

Minor pros: -Better location than Kapolei taking rush hour traffic into consideration for military base/TDY access -Good value, all things considered

Minor Cons: -Laundry was an experience, $15 to wash, dry, and add soap. The laundry room was in one word: bad. The dryers barely did anything. I had to dry my clothes on the lanai after paying to dry them in the machine -Small pool, but it works -Limited free breakfast options, and it's only free if you have status. If I had to pay, I would have skipped -Bathrooms in the room are small, but they do the job -Loud outside, but it's Waikiki

Significant Cons: -Limited parking availability and no valet. I am not usually a fan of valet, but it is the standard in Waikiki. The garage is a labyrinth, the elevator is only accessible from certain areas of the parking structure, and if you arrive too late there is often no parking left and your options are to park at another Sheraton .5 miles away and walk back (which features an equally confusing garage when you are already frazzled) or to park at the nearby mall, which involves paying out of pocket, getting partially reimbursed, and parking fee for that day waived (a bit of a fiasco for business travelers who have to expense all fees). As stated above, in fairness, I don't think the property can do anything to add parking, but if they are going to tote themselves as a "premium brand" it's not unreasonable to expect valet parking when you are paying $45 a day to park on site, are not given that service, and have to walk a mile round trip to keep your car at some other property. -Water pressure in the shower is possibly the worst I have ever experienced in a hotel. I don't think they can reasonably fix this without MAJOR renovations, and if this is important to you, consider this before booking.

Neutral things to note: Laundry is coin operated or credit card for certain machines. Machines use $1 coins (which can be exchanged at front desk or a coin machine) although some machines take...

The words below are my own; I didn't use AI to help me compose or edit this review:||As I compose this review, my wife & I are at the end of a fabulous and most enjoyable stay at Sheraton Princess Kaiulani.||When we were researching Marriott properties to stay in Honolulu, Princess Kaiulani was our reluctant choice, due to a couple negative reviews specifically related to Marriott Bonvoy benefits (I hold Lifetime Titanium Elite status), so I contacted Guest Experience Manager Samantha Londynsky, who answered all of my questions.||To say our expectations were greatly exceeded would be an understatement. ||Kiyami at reception recognized my status with Marriott Bonvoy, thanked me for my loyalty to Marriott, and then surprised me with the welcome news that not only had my wife & I received an upgrade, our room was ready...before 11:00AM. We had occasion to engage with Kiyami on a few other occasions during our stay, to ask questions, and get money changed for tips, etc., and Kiyami was always friendly and helpful. Thank you Kiyami!||We were in a renovated room in the Ainahau Tower, with a nice view looking down at the pool, and over to Waikiki Beach. ||The bed was comfortable, and the soft pillow was uber-comfortable, exactly to my liking...so very much so I wanted to take it with me, but resisted the urge to do so!||Housekeeper Jean kept our room spotless, and provided us with bottles of water each day of our stay. She was most appreciative when I tipped her, saying "God bless you", which brought a tear to my eye.||Our package included a credit which could be used at Sheraton Princess Kaiulani's sister properties, the Moana Surfrider, Royal Hawaiian, and Sheraton Waikiki, as well as at Splash at the Princess Kaiulani.||While we enjoyed the beachfront views at the Beach Bar (Moana Surfrider) and Mai Tai Bar (Royal Hawaiian), Splash was by-far our favorite, not only because we preferred the items on the menu (the Cobb salad was so good we ordered it twice during our stay), but because of the genuinely warm, attentive, and friendly service provided to us by Ellen (breakfast), and Thomas, who served us on four or five occasions during lunch and dinner. Bartender Herb gave us generous pours for our welcome drinks. ||Restaurant & Bars Managers Caitlin and Jesse provided a welcome gift for my wife, as they knew our stay was preceding a cruise which we are going on to celebrate my wife's birthday. Thank you Caitlin and Jesse.||While there is a building construction site across from the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, the noise honestly didn't bother us, and the noise at night which some reviewers have complained about, we didn't hear at all.||The location of Sheraton Princess Kaiulani is perfect, being an easy three to five minute walk to Waikiki Beach, and with dozens of restaurants, bars, and shopping being close-by. Appetito Craft Pizza & Wine Bar (less than a five minute walk down Kaiulani Avenue) was the surprise find of our stay at Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, and is highly recommended.||This was my wife's & my third stay in Honolulu (the others being in 1990 and 1992), but our first at Sheraton Princess Kaiulani. If we ever return again to Honolulu, we will definitely stay at Sheraton Princess Kaiulani.||Thanks to each of the amazing team members who looked after Margaret & me so well, and helped make our stay at Sheraton Princess Kaiulani as...