Waikīkī Grand Hotel® — Hotel in Honolulu

July 14, 2017 ...... “Avoid, and be wary of your booking agency” From the start, my booking was going to be a big mistake. Expedia Deceived from the start: [June 16, 2017 EXPEDIA DECEIVES, MISLEADS -- NEVER PATRONIZE EXPEDIA AGAIN. I just returned from a week in Honolulu --  Flights,Transfers, & Hotel via Expedia

The "Hotel" turned out to be a privately owned condo, in a place called the Castle Waikiki Grand Hotel.  A misnomer if there ever was one. That was the first lie, deception by EXP. It was substandard, it did not provide what was described. [I will write a separate Review for the condo.] 3.EXP snuck it in with the real hotels on its webpages Therefore, the price was not at a discount for a missing-service and missing-amenities package. So one pays full whack for what can be described as a hostel, not a hotel.

I have cancer and congestive heart failure, am a disabled veteran as well... I expected at least to have purchased a hotel room and its expected ambience.  I got an uncomfortable, depressing, grimy miniscule room. I think folk who have been cheated and lied to by  Expedia should enact a class action law suit.  I would join. ]

The Receptionists could be friendly, but they let inquirers, Guests or not, cut in line. You could be politely standing awaiting your turn and they would deal with someone who came after you. You do not want to appear rude, so you let it slide. Not very good customer service to the polite person.

It turned out Studios in this “Grand” “hotel” are privately owned [SURPRISE!] so if the owner allows fabric and furnishings to go Derelict, you have no recourse. A proper hotel-ambience – which is what you paid for – was not there. Expedia is the one you have to ultimately complain to, and when you are on holiday, who wants to go that distance.

These discrepancies and inadequacies, and the “management” : the Shower lack of drainage left you standing in dirty water, despite calling it to their attention; they did not change the Sheets even the one day they said they would [I know my own stains, the ones I had to put up with the whole week]; they did not Clean the room properly, as there was the same Screw on the floor after they declared a cleaning-day, and the floor constantly felt gritty though I never went in the sand – a $145 cleaning fee for this!; Air Conditioner worked, but it was less than two feet from your head… so the noise and the chill was like sleeping in a refrigerator; you looked out directly onto the next Building and the Parking Lot – what City Scene did you pay for! – it was a total lie, by Expedia; the Noise just 2 – 3 stories below, of delivery Trucks, their horns, their back-up alarms at 0330 was evident right next to your floor-to-ceiling jelousy windows, right next to your bed; the Curtains were of the variety that let in light 24/7 from 7 stories of neighboring buildings; the Hallway was being painted, [with a nice mural, yes] but only 1 day that week, so the splattered paper over the total hall floor would be there seemingly forever – a small point, but one which Expedia did not inform of – so your “hotel” was in a constant state of construction. Did Expedia give a discount, as a reputable seller would do? A sign: “Leave Kindle Here” – it was not there from the start, so would the poor Guest be blamed? 10. The Toilet seat was obviously in need of replacement, the door Chain Lock had been unslightly torn from the wall and left dangling, with holes in the frame … they left these to me, the paying Guest, to have to take up with the “management”. Thanks for a normal holiday, Expedia.

This was a sloppy, bush-league operation from the start. To think, a supposedly reputable agency like Expedia would make someone pay for this “Grand” “hotel”. It is a shameful way for them to operate. If I did not have Cancer and Congestive Heart Failure, and Veterans Disability as well– which made me seek some nice peaceful holiday to begin with – I would want to take Expedia to small claims court. But it would be...

DO NOT BOOK THIS HOTEL!!

When we arrived we were sent to a hotel room on the fifth floor. The reception for the hotel was inside this room. The lady in the room explained that the hotel sold many of the rooms during covid, so the front desk in the lobby is now just a general reception area for the building and the reception for the hotel is inside this small room along with the storage of towels, cleaning products and other consumables.

While I'm addressing that, it should also be noted that there is no housekeeping. If you need fresh towels you can take your dirty/used ones to the fifth floor room yourself and swap them every 2nd day, same with linen should you require it, except only every 4th day (how unprofessional).

The lady also tried to charge us an extra 250 dollars, or there abouts, as an additional cleaning fee if we hadn't booked with Grand Hotels, but with some third party company instead. However, we did book directly through Grand Hotels, yet she didn't see a record of that and still tried to charge us anyway. My theory is that, because they don't get cleaners working every day, then the rooms may not be ready to go for a new guest immediately and might be unavailable for an extra day, so they have this "cleaning fee" in place to ensure the room somehow produces revenue. Poor form from this business to try and make that the guest's problem. Another massive red flag was having an arrogant worker as the first point of contact on arrival. This lady really tried to put a positive spin after we entered a store room/front desk area by saying things like "let's get this vacation started" and giving away 1 free mai tai voucher like she didn't just try to charge an extra $250 dollars inside the broom closet...

Now, onto the room.. where to start?!?!? Great view that we had from the room on the 6th floor. Too bad the window couldn't be opened, but also terrible that the window wasn't properly sealed, so all the sounds from the road below were heard throughout the day and night. Extremely loud and interfering. Cleanliness of the room was less than not up to standard, that is to say the floor under the bed was black, door and window frames were dusty and gunky, mold in the bathroom and the kitchen dishes and utensils looked like they hadnt been cleaned properly. We also had to empty our own trash and chase up extra bin bags. We ran out of toilet paper at night, so we had to go to the store down the street to buy more. The bed was just a mattress on a wooden board and kept moving/shifting under the weight of anyone getting onto it. The tv would keep freezing/lagging. Water temp in the shower was warm at best and the pressure was so poor that washing hair was impossible - we went to a hairdresser to get hair washed properly (I'll have a review on the hairdresser as they were fantastic - Drybar).

The pool was a disappointment. To be honest, we saw it behind the carpark and decided not to use it. It and the rest of the pool area looked uninviting.

Again, please do not book this hotel. You're better off paying an extra $50-100 per night at another hotel nearby.

Lastly, I had to put 1 star, but I would rate it...

I DO NOT RECOMMEND STAYING AT THIS FACILITY Cons - The hotel is need of some serious updating, like a complete re-do of the decor in the hallways for sure. I think it's the same decor from 1989. Half of the units are privately owned, so we dealt with Castle Resorts, which means you don't get much. Your room doesn't get cleaned during your stay, you have to take out your own trash and turn in soiled towels when you want new ones. My stay was for 7 nights. My room (518) was not properly cleaned. The fake plants were caked with dust (I have pics), there were some empty water bottles under the bed and the floor needed to be swept. The dresser was super old and had broken handles. The pool is a complete joke and needs to be completely overhauled. No one uses the pool. I specifically asked for a kitchenette so that we could cook at least breakfast and save some money, but the 2-burner stove top needs to be updated or fixed because it took over an hour just to cook bacon. So, I gave away some food at the end of my stay. You hear the garbage trucks for a good 10 min. twice a week at 4:00 am. Overall the facility and room just were not to my standards, as far as cleanliness, I didn't even feel comfortable enough to unpack my suitcase, as I didn't want to put any of my clothes in the dusty dressers. I hated my room so I didn't try to spend much time in it, which sucks because when you're on vacay you want to at least feel comfortable in your accommodations. Many websites have Waikiki Grand listed as a 3-star hotel, the honest truth is that it's a 2-star hotel (at best), that shouldn't be a hotel anymore, old apartment complex is more like it. Also the note about bed bugs report in the elevator made me even more uncomfortable than I already was. Pros - The location of Waikiki Grand is excellent. You are just a short block away from the beach, there is a lot of restaurants and shopping steps away. It is located at the end of the Kalakaua strip across the street from the Honolulu Zoo/Kapiolani Park, so you're not right smack dab in the hustle & bustle of the strip. Teddy's Bigger Burgers is on the 1st floor and Hula's Bar is on the 2nd floor, there is also a Denny's a short walk down Kapahulu. They provided us with beach chairs & an umbrella during our stay. The bartender was very nice and Roxie from Castle Resorts was very nice, but kept thinking that I was asking for too many towels, even though I only went in for towels twice during my 7 day stay. The view from the 10th floor is terrific and nice spot to quietly hang out. The best thing about Waikiki Grand is just the location. Again, do not stay here there are other properties on the strip for about the same price that are way nicer. The Parkshore Waikiki or Queen Kapiolani is like 10 steps up...