Waikiki Beachside Hostel — Hotel in Honolulu

Ok everyone, this hostel is legit, the staff here does an amazing job, I love it so much, I booked two more night before I go to my next location. The rooms have air conditioning and fans, you can stay cool and they offer coffee and pancakes in the morning. Whoever is running this hostel is going above and beyond compared to the other hostels in Honolulu, and thats the honest truth.

Of course, no where is absolutely perfect, and the only thing that bothers me are the other guest that behave very entitled and can be very rude. For example, I arrived last night, no one was in my room and I got to set up my bed. I left to grab some essentials from target, and when I returned I was on an important phone call, and there was one other guest in the room. I said hi, was very polite because that is how you should behave when sharing a space. I left to finish my phone call and upon returning there was a new room guest, I said hi and everything, but he immediately looked at me and stared me down, I thought nothing of it and then I went to take a shower, maybe because Im a big black guy with lots of muscle, he was shocked, he was a tiny man. So I got in the shower and when I turned off the water he immediately started knocking on the door trying to get me out of the shower. I thought this was very rude. I said loudly, one minute, Ill be right out, I just felt uncomfortable at that point. So I gathered my belongings. And walked into the sleeping space and was holding my things and he was standing there and I was trying to throw something away, and he shouted at me.. What! I said "nothing, Im just waiting", And then he went into the bathroom and slammed a bunch of stuff, I didnt even get to put my lotion on I felt so uncomfortable.

So I went to tell staff and they immediately moved me to a safer room situation, which again, I really emphasize that the staff cares, its the patrons that are rude and entitled and they don't seem to treat eachother right here. The last time I stayed here I had a great experience with my last roommate, its seems hit or miss when dealing with other people with is sad because we all want to feel safe and accepted on our journey but I find that doesn't happen here in Wikiki. And its probably because it is a high tourist city.

So I switched rooms, and the new flat mates were good, one man was snoring as loud as a helicopter so I got no sleep but at least he wasn't being passive aggressive. So I was awake all night and waited for pancakes.

But wait there is more!

Since I got no rest, I wanted to see if I could book another night, I went to the front desk and asked the lady if it was possible to just book through her so I could maybe get a lower rate, the super saver rate she called it. We successfully booked my next night but she got my email wrong and I need those receipt for my records. Im not sure what went wrong there but she later acted like it was ok that I didnt get an email of my reservation, which was not ok. I waited patiently till she was ready to send it, I went to go get pancakes and coffee and the lady making pancakes acted like it was a terrible inconvenience to her that I wanted to partake in the pancakes, I ignored her because my pervious experiences with staff has been more then exceptional so she must have been having a bad morning. She was just being short with me and other guest were trying to get pancakes so I understand, but again other guest seem to have a since of entitlement and honesty, there was only one other black guy there and Im the younger black guy and I always get treated differently which I don't like. So I was a little upset with that, but overall my experience in Hawii is that black people are not really welcomed here, which breaks my heart because the indigenous have dark sink and they don't seem to like black people either and I wish I could change this some how, but I know I can't 😔

Ill stay one last night tonight, just because I desperately need the sleep. I know I'll probably have the same experience with other patrons, I get treated like I...

I've stayed in hostels in various destinations around the world at least 9 times. Each of them were set up differently and each time I had a unique experience. This hostel was a good experience for me.||The majority of the staff that I had the opportunity to interact with were stellar and quickly addressed any issues that came up. ||I had great 'roommates' and met a few other lovely people as well. ||Even the courtyard and fitness areas are functional and beneficial. I didn't think I would use the beach chairs, umbrellas and boogy boards etc that they lend out, because I was planning to get my own, but I got to use them a couple times and they were nice to have on hand. ||It was so helpful that they were able to securely store luggage on the day of checkout.||The website is fantastic. So informative and many helpful aspects to it.||I loved the free tour that was offered on Sundays! It's totally worth signing up. There are other activities connected to the hostel as well, as advertised on the website.||Overall, it was a nice stay with an amazing location.||A few of points to be aware of: ||- You will have to carry your luggage up the stairs. There are no elevators. ||- If you are staying in a shared room, there are likely people already there, so you will only get to choose a bunk from what's left and sometimes that means you might have to have a top bunk. But if you get there after someone leaves a bottom bunk it might work out to get a bottom one. It always depends on who's leaving and what space opens up, so just be prepared that you might get a top bunk.||- The surrounding area can get quite loud. That changes all the time.||- As far as cleanliness, a lot depends on the 'roommates' you are sharing with. There are cleaning services daily to clean the floors and the bathroom and remove garbage. ( I do think it would help to do a deep clean of the rooms when they can be rotated and painting over the writing on the wall. I'm not sure why people do that, but one of the rooms I stayed in looked like a group of students had written a bunch of stuff about their groups on the walls. Even spot painting would be adequate, I think. ) I also think it would be a good idea to clean the air conditioners. The nice thing is that the buildings felt to be in good condition and organized.||Overall, I'm really grateful for this Hostel, which is what helped me to be able to stay longer so I could have a more worthwhile visit to Oahu.||Thanks Waikiki Beachside Hostel...

Updated review (2025)

I had a great time here after visiting 6 years ago. The staff are super friendly and helpful. Thank you to Freddy to helping with a roommate issue. He was professional and empathetic, and worked quickly to help resolve a problem. The washrooms seem to have been updated since my last visit, and were well maintained by the cleaning staff. The Kitchen was extremely accessible, clean and convenient especially if you want to save money by cooking your own food. Perhaps if you could have it open for 5 am, that would be extremely helpful to those early morning risers. The morning pancakes were so delicious and always something I looked forward to at the start of my day. All the outlets were working in our room, but it seems like the AC unit only services the front room. It makes a huge difference to have it on to have a good night sleep. Just remember that this isnt a hotel, but rather friendly vibes and faces. I'm glad my second time here was much better. Looking forward to staying again. Mahalo 🤙🏽

‐---------------------------------------- Review from 2019

Unfortunately based on the reviews i read on google I had moderate expectations but they quickly diminished when we checked in. If I could give zero stars, this would be the location.

Pros: -staff were nice -met lots of friendly travelers -close to beach and shopping

Cons: -dirty showers that were clogged. Had to inform the staff about this after our first night and by the end of the day it was cleared -no A.C. in the back room, so you need to sleep with whatever window or door you can open. Unfortunately our windows did not open so we only had wind coming through the balcony door -hostel area itself is loud. You can literally hear every conversation and noise that happens at all hours of the night, so good luck sleeping -no kitchen, just a microwave and fridge, no sink -only 1 outlet in our bedroom worked, so if multiple people needed to charge their phone you had to use the bathroom outlet or balcony -beds were sqeaky and wobbled anytime a person moved while sleeping no close by parking if you have a rental car and the free parking on Monssarat fills up super fast -lockers in the room to secure your items were broken and you have to pay to use them -sketchy area and potentially sketchy roommates. LOCK UP YOUR STUFF or sleep with it. When we arrive our roommates had said that when they were sleeping their money or wallets were stolen. not wheelchair accessible....