Waikīkī Shore by OUTRIGGER — Hotel in Honolulu

This is a review for Penthouse 4 at Waikiki Shore.||A piece of advice for those looking to book Waikiki Shore, and you haven't stayed here before. Book only through Castle Waikiki, VRBO, Air BnB, or Captain Cook. Do not book through other 3rd. party sites. The reason is, you want to be able to book a specific condo and those other sites don't do that. From them, you only get a unit that is available when you arrive. This is why you are seeing some of these very negative reviews.||For us, this is our 5th. time staying at Waikiki Shore. Each stay has been in a different unit and this review is for Penthouse 4, which we would rate between a 3 and 4 star. There are other units we've stayed at here that we would give the rating a 5 star, but not PH 4. First, for us, you can't beat the location or the view from the unit, especially from the upper floors.||That being said, you need to remember that these are condos, NOT a hotel, and each unit has been decorated and furnished, according to the owner of the specific unit. We have been fortunate in usually picking very good units in our stays but we have seen some of the other units and some of those are units we would never ever stay in!||Waikiki Shores has had some remodeling done in the last couple years and the lobby area now looks very nice and updated. We have always found the front desk staff to be friendly and helpful. If you are driving, there is paid underground self parking, or you can park in a paid parking lot across the street. If you park at the hotel, you will be given a remote control for the garage door and an assigned parking spot. Very convenient for what we like to do.||Right next door is a beautiful open area park and Fort DeRussy army museum. Well worth the visit. Once again, the location is great and you can pretty much walk to all of Waikiki, and the surrounding area, without being stuck right in the middle of everything super busy in the heart of Waikiki.||Now, onto the Penthouse 4 review. If you have never stayed at Waikiki Shore before, the first thing you might do when walking into this unit is walk directly over to the balcony and say, Wow! Yes, the view is there. However, since we had stayed in the building 4 times previously, we admired the view, as we always have, but we looked more at the furnished unit.||We have stayed in a few other units here that were like staying in someone's home and they were really furnished outstandingly. Everything you could possibly want or need. This one was not! PH 4 was furnished more in a "that's good enough mode", and in our opinion, it isn't. Furnish the condo but don't spend too much doing it was what it felt like.||When we booked the unit, there were only a few pics of the unit online. Not like other units we had rented before that had many pics of everything. Because of that, we didn't expect much so that we wouldn't be totally disappointed. Therefore, it was pretty much what we may have expected.||One of the first things that stood out was that there really wasn't anyplace to sit back and relax in comfort. The couch is a sofa bed and it was certainly not comfortable to sit on for any length of time. Some of these are comfortable to sit on, but this one was not. Then there are 2 matching easy chairs that seemed more like something you might put into a model home to stage the place. These are even less comfortable to sit on than the couch. The best we could do is take an office chair, that was there, and put a pillow on it to try to be comfortable. We were very disappointed by mainly the lack of comfort in the living room area.||The bed was a twin put together to make a King. It was decent sleeping but nothing to brag about. ||The rest of the unit, table, chairs, kitchen, bathroom, etc. was ok, until you get to the washer and dryer. What was that??!! I don't believe we can remember a nosier unit. With the washer, you were only able to put a low level of water in the tub and then could only wash small loads at best. When it was running, it was so noisy that I thought the whole building might be able to hear it. Can't say that the dryer was much better.||Since we have stayed in this building several times before, we have come to expect certain things of the condos. One of them is the fact that this building is right on the beach and there is sand. Most of the time we have always found some sand on the floor when we arrive. Housekeeping sometimes doesn't do the best job getting it all. We always end up sweeping the floor as soon as we arrive, before we even get settled in. It's a given and the way it is.||If you plan to do any cooking, there are enough things in the kitchen to get it done. Typical frig., oven, and microwave but no dishwasher.||As I said earlier, the location and view is great from Waikiki Shore. Depending upon what you want from the place you stay in, this might be just right for you. We stayed for 2 weeks and by the second week, the lack of comfort in the living room was wearing on us. Sometimes you just like to just sit back and relax and there was nothing to sit on that gave you that comfort.||We would certainly stay at Waikiki Shore again but not in Penthouse 4. This is a bit expensive staying here and you should be able to have a...

UNIT #208: Buyer Beware!||The photos are OLD. This place does not look inviting any longer. No throw pillows, no rugs, just a blank slate of broken items. ||The living room sofa is stained (we covered it with sheets.) The coffee table, electronics, light fixtures, picture frames and even the live plant are coated in dust. The base of the living room lamp is broken. The "decorations" on the coffee table are battery operated tealights and someone tried to light them so they are melted (not working.) ||The kitchen counter is stained and if you leave the plug out of the kitchen skin drain, you will come back to drain lice! EVERYWHERE. The rocking chair is broken and stained, two pains of glass were missing from the window. (Do not try to open them) the drapes were falling off of the rail and there are no sheer drapes underneath. It's either open to the public (beach access walk way below you - which is LOUD all day and night) or it is completely dark. There is no screen on the sliding doors. Pigeons were craping on the balcony daily. The patio furniture is dirty and rusted. The tub faucet does not work, only the shower head does and the clasp to hold it in place is broken. There isn't anywhere to even put your bath soap or razor or shampoo & conditioner. There is one hook in the bathroom the other is missing. A bulb over the bathroom sink was out and the glass fixture is covered in dust. A tiny bar of soap they left us (for 8 days) was broken into 3 pieces. There are no beach towels and the grass mats for the beach are falling apart. There was no laundry detergent and for 8 days they left us 2 garbage bags for a 10 gal (broken) can. For 8 days we dug clothing and personal belongings out of our suit cases which sat on the bedroom floor. There is no dresser, and nowhere to hang clothing in a closet. The closet is used with their crap. We received a notice while we were there that let us know there would be NO water in the entire building from 9am - 2pm and that they (whoever) would be accessing our unit. There was NO safe so we stored our important stuff in the trunk of our car. And on top of all of that, they tell you (notes everywhere you turn) that you cant wear your shoes in the unit! What a joke! I'm sure I left it cleaner then it was when I arrived. Very disappointing to say the least. (I have videos but it wouldn't let me download them) ||The property is in a good location (super populated with tourists - ugh) and the building is in good shape. Just find a better unit!! ||PS We also had to walk 6 blocks or more to retrieve the keys. They are not available on the property of the unit. You have to go to the real-estate...

I felt the need to write a review about our stay at Waikiki Shore upon reading so many negative reviews. I booked through Outrigger, which gave us use of their amenities, such as pool, gym and activities. Since they are just next door, it was not inconvenient to pop over to use the pool. We never had a problem finding loungers and the pool was never crowded. Our condo was on the 11th floor and I booked this specific unit upon seeing the photos. The room was clean, updated and included a kitchen with full size fridge, stove, oven, microwave, coffee maker, blender and all of the dishware we needed. The large bathroom included a washer and dryer, closet with extra towels, shower with shampoo and conditioner. Out the front door of our condo was an amazing view of Diamond Head. Off the balcony was a wonderful view of the water toward Hilton Hawaiian Village. We sat on the balcony amazed at the beauty before us watching the ocean, boats, sunsets, surfers and people walking the shore. Were there cracked tiles on the floor? Yes, as well as peeling paint in spots. Did this take away from our wonderful time? Absolutely not. This condo is built on the beach in a moist tropical climate. Things settle and moisture causes paint to peel. The condo was clean, the dishes were clean and Outrigger was quick to address any questions or concerns we had. There were two operating elevators during our stay and we never waited long for one. The construction was still ongoing in the main lobby but we did not hear any noise nor did it bother us. We chose not to rent a car, but could walk most places in Waikiki and racked up about 15,000 steps per day. We took an uber to Pearl Harbor and booked a tour to North Shore. We also purchased a 4 days pass on the Waikiki trolley which was a delight. We would stay here again in a heartbeat, in fact I am already planning...