Stay Hotel Waikiki — Hotel in Honolulu

I stayed at this hotel with my husband last week. It was horrible to say the least.

1. When we first arrived, we expected to be greeted by welcoming staff but that was not the case in this situation. The employee had an attitude and was not welcoming at all. It was not a good start to our trip. We checked in on the 2nd of June. I dont recall the employee's name but she was Filipino, and she was short with black hair and fair skin. We spoke to her on numerous occasions and never once did she speak to us like a front desk of a hotel employee should.

One exception to this is that there were two employees whom one I dont recall the name of, and another was a man named Toshi. The woman was young, looked Hawaiian, and had brown hair. Both of them were really nice and greeted us warmly with good attitude and catered to our needs.

2. Beware of hidden fees- We made our reservation through an agent and prepaid the resort fees. Unfortunately, upon our arrival, we encountered the less-than-welcoming staff member who informed us of additional amenity fees. We explained that we had already paid the resort fee, but her response was dismissive, suggesting we resolve this with the agent. As a hotel working with agents, it would be helpful if such issues were preemptively managed to prevent guests from being charged twice. A more courteous and professional interaction would have greatly improved the situation. Additionally, it's worth noting that the hotel lacks a pool, so im not even sure why we're paying the resort fees in the first place.

3. The room does not look as modern as it looks like in pictures. The pictures are clearly edited. The room was much older and dated than we expected in comparison to what we saw in pictures.

4. Just because the hotel is 3 stars doesn't mean it should be less hygienic than the rest. Ive stayed in hotels that are 1 or 2 stars that are more clean and hygienic than this one. The bed sheets smelled horrible when we first arrived. Later on, the sheets became dirty and I asked them to change them three times and they did not. We checked out on the 9th of June with the same dirty sheets that we've asked them to change numerous times. The towels also smelled very bad and unclean.

5. We rented a car for a day through out our stay and we needed to park just for the night. We first parked in the hotel's parking since it was accessible through our room keys and the parking was almost completely empty ( this was around 8:30 PM). Of course, we went up to the front desk to ask for permission to park just for this night since we didnt pay for parking when we booked the stay (and also we were ready to pay for that night). The employee there was rude and had an attitude and told us that we need to reverse the car and leave because the parking garage was full. We of course totally understood. She proceeded to complain about if people who actually paid for the parking came and found no spot and how it would be unfair. Fair enough, however it does not give her the right to speak to us with an attitude with such a degrading manner. We respectfully asked for permission and was ready to pay any fees necessary. We dont need her to give us an attitude and moral lessons. I dont recall her name but she was and old Filipino lady with blondish hair.

6. We asked for a late check out and they informed us that we need to come early morning the day of the check out to ask the manager's permission. I dont understand why those front desk employees dont have access to the system and decide whether a late check out is possible or not. Why do I need need to wait for the manager to get this simple request?? Also, the manager only gave us an hour extra. the next hour would be an extra $75 dollars + tax and fees.

7. If youre planning on leavinf your bags in the storage, it quickly gets full and you would need to walk to a storage place nearby and pay to leave your bags there.

Overall, I wouldn't in million years return back to this hotel. Staff also needs training and lessons on how to speak...

Excellent location, and friendly staff who at least tries to correct any issue, but rooms not really designed for sleeping. so 5 stars for location. 5 stars for front desk staff. 1 to 2 stars on room design since it doesnt shield out all night outside lights, or the excessive noise of the garbage trucks that begin at 5am.

rooms them selves are ok for the price, and fairly clean. however, if sleep is a concern, and your not a super early morning person, this place will not work for you.

in short, the standard wake up tome at Stay Waikiki is 5am  as that's when the many, very loud garbage trucks begin outside your window.

these are commercial pickups dumping large dumpsters, so very loud, and daily  even on weekends (not just once or twice per week like city routes).

what makes Stay Waikiki worse than other area places is the fact that the windows don't really close, so the noise is excessive.

they use glass shutters that only seem to 90% shut (see pic). BTW  if your not a mosquito fan, this can also be a problem since there are no screens and windows don't really shut.  however, Waikiki seems to generally not have a mosquito problem, so that's a distant secondary concern.

along the window issue, ill also point out that they sort of have curtains in front of the glass shutters, however, they're pretty skimpy, and are not designed to block light.  so you will also need to get used to constant light from the illuminated areas outside your windows.  (see other pic).

maybe they should really issue you ear plugs and eye patches as part of a "sleep" package.  lol

note some of tbe other windows have blinds instead of the semi-transparent curtains. (see pic). these ofcourse are also semi-transparent. but in our room's case, weren't facing all night lights. so wasn't a big issue (unless attempting to sleep in after sunrise).

so again, if sleep, or at least sleep beyond 5am, is not important to you then stay Waikiki offers a fabulous location at a reasonable price, in tbe center of Waikiki.

me personally, probably not worth the tradeoff for sleep, thus my rating is low...

oh, also, for what ever reason, the daily maid service, dies a good job making the beds, but does not seem to know how to replace the used towels you pile on the floor.

they seem to just remove them, but not replace them. at 1st i thought they just made a mistake and forgot, but then, day after day... same thing.

this seems to mainly affect the medium and small hand towels. oddly, they always change/replace the big ones if used.

when you complain, they bring you something else, like more shower floor mats, or bed linen, but not the medium or small hand towels. i can't figure this one out...

oh and last, about the very expensive parking. advice: park across the street at the Pacific monarch hotel for the standard $30/day market rates (here is higher), of park at the Aston banyan garage who offers a $110/week special.

P.S. - this is a later follow up to my original post, and more over, to the hotels response to it.

to hotel: so, because you really seem to care, i am upgrading my rating from 2 to 3 stars. additionally, since you appear open to suggestions, while it is still totally true that a light sleeper is woken up at 5am due to the not completely shutting, old glass shutter type windows, i would like you to consider the following simple cost effective enhancements : replace light, transparent, curtains with heavy, light blocking ones, which will also have the side effect of damping some.of the sounds. on the windows that have mini blinds, swap the semi-transparent plastic ones for light blocking ones (such as aluminum or heavier plastic, or even faux wood if u want to make it nicer). as already discussed, a set of ear plugs and possible eye goggles upon request... but put up a sign somewhere so guests know these are available instead of finding out after the fact, and the...

DO NOT STAY HERE!!!! Worst experience I have ever had with a hotel. We flew here from Maui where we are having the fires, my friend and I both just lost our jobs on front street and we spend a lot of time in Lahaina, everyone we know no longer has a house, when checking in and seeing we from Maui she asked “is the address on file your current address, oops I mean was.” After she had already asked me if I had lost my home and I said I had not. It was insensitive and disrespectful to everyone that has. It took 30 minutes to check in, she took 4 phone calls while I stood there, one of which was to a friend telling them what she wanted for dinner. Ad advertised parking, there was no parking and the lady told us to drive down the road and there is a free parking lot with no gate that you can over night park in and when I asked if she meant by the zoo she told me no and that was too far away. We drove around for 3 HOURS looking for parking, we didn’t find a spot till almost 9 pm. When we went and asked her where the lot was and to show us on a map SHE SHOWED US THE ZOO PARKING LOT WHICH IS A PAID LOT THAT GETS LOCKED AT NIGHT, AFTER I HAD ASKED HER MULTIPLE TIMES IF THAT WAS WHAT SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT. Wasted our evening in Waikiki. On top of all that all the photos online showed balcony’s and a bed and a futon and a full sized bathroom. Our room we got put in has 2 twin beds in a 6’ x8’ room that was literally the size of a closet with only one window that had been sealed shut, that is a fire hazard! No bedside table, no ceiling light, just two twin beds and a moldy lamp and The bathroom was Not clean and had sand in it. even the lobby is not the same as the photos online, this was listed as a 3 star hotel and I have stayed in hostels nicer. It did not even come with blankets, when getting into bed I found a gross yellow stain on my sheets and hair in the bed that did not belong to my friend or I. The hotel was not able to do anything for us and said that they aren’t responsible for what is advertised online. The room smelled bad and was stuffy, the only source of airflow was the ac, was up all night with burning eyes and runny nose from the room. The people in the room next door to ours let us see what their room looked like and it was a full sized room that had two large beds and windows. Paid almost $200 to stay somewhere less clean than a hostel, on top of that they charged me a “restore fee” when I asked what that was for or if they had a pool or anything for the fee she said no but it was mandatory and she would give me a list of what it covers, on the list was free coffee in the lobby, newspaper’s in the lobby, and for there to be someone working the front desk. THOSE ARE ALL NORMAL PARTS OF A HOTEL THAT SHOULD NOT BE CHARGED AS A “restor fee” THIS IS SO FAR...