Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa — Hotel in Honolulu

As a Marriott Rewards member for over 15 years, my family and I have consistently chosen Marriott hotels for all our travels, given our confidence in the brand’s commitment to guest satisfaction. However my recent stay at this particular Marriott hotel has been nothing short of disappointing and unprofessional, leaving me compelled to share my experience.

I have been staying at this hotel with my parents for over a week. We split the room 3 ways. On the night in question, around 11 p.m., I went downstairs to buy a drink to take my meds, as the tap water in the room has a distinctly nasty taste. After discovering the store was closed, I explored the area in search of an open store, to no avail. I then decided to order through a delivery service, but after waiting for over 40 minutes with no success, I canceled the order.

At approximately 4 a.m., I woke up feeling unwell and in need of something to drink. I left my room, forgetting my key card, and went to the lobby to inquire about vending machines. I politley requested a new key card to re enter my room, as the elevators require one for access. To my shock, the front desk attendant refused to provide me with a key, stating that only my parents, who were registered on the room, and in bad health could come down to retrieve it. While I understand and respect hotel security protocols, I explained that my parents were asleep, in bad health and asked if they could either call their room or escort me to confirm my stay. Both extremely reasonable solutions were denied.

The manager not only refused these requests but also declined to check security footage to verify that I had just exited the room minutes earlier. His dismissive attitude escalated the situation unnecessarily, forcing me to call the police simply to resolve a basic issue. When I told him I was calling the police he said “the police won’t help you” which I have on video. The police did in fact end up helping me. This lack of customer care is astonishing, particularly given the amount we paid for our stay. I have a video of at one point about 7-8 employees are just standing there, refusing to go back and watch the video of me leaving the room or call my parents. Even after showing a picture I took of my room # to remember it he said no. They ended up ganging up on me, trying to intimidate me. The valets were getting a kick out of it, standing there laughing AT me bc of dehumanizing things the manager was saying to me, asking me to wait across the street from the hotel (where it was dark, and the day before my mother and I watched people cook up drugs in this spot on a spoon) bc he couldn’t verify I was a hotel guest. I have never encountered such hostility from hotel staff in all my 34 years of travel. The manager was not only uncooperative but resorted to name calling and mocking throughout the encounter, gas lighting me when the police showed up, even as I attempted to de-escalate the situation. When my parents eventually woke up and came down, several hotel employees who had not offered any assistance prior suddenly became involved, though their behavior suggested they were more interested in salvaging tips than providing genuine help.

This experience was deeply upsetting and has left a lasting negative impression. Despite the high cost of our stay (over 4 thousand dollars for 1 week), I was treated disrespectfully and unfairly by the hotel staff, particularly the manager, whose behavior was both unprofessional and unbecoming of Marriott standards. I fully understand the need for security protocols, but the refusal to address this situation with a simple phone call, while subjecting me to unnecessary embarrassment and conflict, in front of other hotel guests, is inexcusable.

I intend to escalate this matter further to ensure that no other guest experiences this in the future, and will be updating my hotel in Maui next week to something other than a Marriott.

They also will try and upsell you at check in. Multiple other reviews say it, and it happened to us as well. Elevators are...

My boyfriend and I stayed here for 6 nights this past week. We felt welcome upon arrival. We were told we had been given a complimentary upgrade to an ocean front room, which was a wonderful perk (we originally had an ocean view room).

Our room was up on the 13th floor with a great view of the ocean, Waikiki Beach, and the family pool/cornhole grass area. We watched sunrises & sunsets from the balcony most every day during our stay. The balcony had 2 chairs, a table, and one lounge chair which I was pleasantly surprised by because I believe the website photos only show 2 chairs.

The room itself was clean, modern, and spacious. The loveseat and ottoman were a great addition for relaxing inside after long days in the sun. The shower water pressure was truly to die for. My boyfriend kept saying it was the best shower he had ever taken. The shower also had a spray attachment which would have been great for kids after a sandy beach day. Great full length mirror in the room, which was nice for an outfit check. One minor downside for me, as a lady who likes to wear a bit of makeup while out & about: there could have been a little more bathroom counter space for getting ready and/or a small mirror at the built in little table near the tv. Also the four pillows we had in our room were comfortable, but as soon as you put weight on them, they sank to almost nothing. We ended up asking housekeeping for 2 more pillows & the ones they brought us were way better. Other than those minor things, the room was honestly perfect.

One other downside to the hotel is that the elevators seemed to take forever. There were five, but only 4 seemed to be working during our stay. I think they take so long because guests have to swipe their room card to get to any floor above 3. Sometimes the room card doesn’t work right away or people don’t realize that they have to do this so things get held up/take longer. However, I do like this safety feature as it assures random people aren’t going up to the hotel rooms. The slow elevators would honestly not deter me from staying at this hotel again. I just think it is something to be aware of when booking.

Finally, the outdoor pool/games areas and restaurants… even though we didn't have kids, we still hung out at the family pool the couple times we went to the pool. The one time we walked over to the adult pool, it seemed way too quiet for us personally. The adult pool seems great for adults that want a little quiet time, but I preferred being near a little excitement. Drinks are still served at the family pool, and the staff is very attentive in checking in on you even though they have a ton of people to serve. You can also just walk up to the one of two bars near the pool & they will serve you right then & there.

They have 3 corn hole games set up on fake grass, one pool table, one shuffle board table, and 2 foosball tables. We played shuffle board several times. This is all included in the resort fee you pay, and I thought it was worth it just for the games.

You can also take as many pool towels as you want. Just return them when done. This was a great perk. We even took a couple with us when we drove around the island one day. Just dropped them in the return bin when we got back for the day.

The Queensbreak restaurant had great drinks! We only had nachos here for food, and they were really good. We also went to the seafood restaurant, Sansei, in the hotel. I would not recommend Sansei. It was overpriced for the quality of the food. The local sushi catch & appetizer we ordered was good, but the rolls we ordered were mediocre at best. The miso was overpriced & had like 2 pieces of tofu in it.

Overall, I recommend this hotel & I would absolutely stay here again. It is on the far end of the Waikiki strip, but it’s a 15-20 minute walk max to the other end. With all the eating & drinking we do on vacation, this walk was honestly nice & you see everything along the way. I will recommend this hotel to anyone I know...

I've been going to Hawaii on personal but mostly business travel for 25+ years. I have stayed in Marriott hotels the vast majority of my professional career, approaching a thousand nights. This past week I was at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Hotel, a hotel I have stayed at many, many times. I was beyond disappointed in the blantant dishonesty around my room rate of this hotel upon checkout. They had a rate of $388/night, which was not accurate and luckily I caught it (wonder how many people never notice on electronic check out--I am guilty of just trusting the hotel when I just checkout by leaving the hotel)--in this case the attendant required me to go up 23 floors to get my computer and confirmation number to "prove it", after a few minutes I returned I once again got in the back of the line and waited in the crazy long line to show them the confirmation number and rate associated with my booking --the attendant acknowledged that he saw the rate on the screen previously and apologized for making me go get my computer--curious I asked why then did you require me to go get my computer, he stated "he wanted to make sure"--not a big deal, David was just trying to do his job asked of him.

My rate was $279, a difference of $109x5 nights from their deceptive, prove-me-otherwise rate of $388/night. I then proceeded to remind the pleasant attendant (and showed them my reservation that stated in writing that the rate was inclusive of the resort fee) that my company (~100K employees) has negotiated with resort Marriott properties that we don't pay the resort fee of $50/night when traveling on business because we never use any of the amenities associated with a traditional vacationing person. It was then the very nice desk attendant got his manager--Ian Freda, to presumably find a solution to the discrepancy. Ian introduced himself as the 'hotel's general manager' (his business card I later requested said he was a front office manager)-maybe they are one-in-the-same title, I don't know. Ian, might have been the most arrogant person I have met within the Marriott family across my career. "I politely disagree with what your reservation reads that the resort fee was inclusive in the rate--Marriott doesn't do that", Ian stated. Hmm, well isn't that what/how the reservation reads Ian?" Desperately trying to be patient and empower Ian I said: "Well, if you don't like what the reservation reads, what then is your solution I asked?" "Pay your bill and take it up with Marriott" Ian abruptly stated. "Are you sure that is the way you want to handle it, seems like there is a better way? I implored", continuing on I stated: "I certainly will pay your $250 resort fee--no I won't take it up with Marriott (at some point that already expired in the lobby of that hotel was the time I was willing to give to their problem. But Ian I can promise I will invest my time in writing a thoughtful google review-the consumer's voice is pretty powerful. I will finish review by saying it was a issue-focused conversation that never got elevated, heated or angry by anybody, but was very intentional.

I haven't had great luck with the last few Marriott's I have stayed in, choose wisely my fellow business travelers, the perks/preferences of patronizing a certain hotel chain are diminishing fast. You won't see me at this hotel again--I'll bet Marriott will be proud of you Ian (haha), that $250 resort fee will be expensive...