Residence Inn by Marriott Oahu Kapolei — Hotel in Oʻahu

As a Platinum Marriott Bonvoy member, one of the most coveted rewards you get after staying 50 nights in Marriott hotels is to receive 5 Nightly Upgrade Awards. While free upgrades are given to elite members based on availability at check-in, NUAs let you confirm an upgrade up to 3 days in advance.

As part of a family trip to Hawaii, we wanted 5 nights in Oahu and I researched the Marriott options carefully to maximize my upgrade odds. We received confirmation of our upgrade 3 days in advance of our stay.

When we checked in and went to our room, we discovered that we hadn't received our confirmed upgrade. I went back down to the lobby and was told that all sorts of false information about upgrades, that the only way we could get into the room we wanted was to pay cash for it, and that all of the managers were at a conference all week. They refused to give me the name or contact information for the GM or to give us our confirmed room. I returned to our room and we unpacked and settled in for the night.

I Googled and found the GM's name and email address. I emailed her, explaining the situation and asking that if she was checking her email at the conference that she reach out to the front desk and instruct them on how to resolve things. I never received a response.

The next morning, I checked with the front desk and was told that they should have honored our upgrade but that at that time there wasn't a larger room available. They said they would watch for a larger room and upgrade us when one became available. We were never contacted and checking back again was not fruitful.

I was working remotely 4 hours a day during this stay, and the WiFi in the room (at the end of the hall) was very spotty, which presented challenges.

On our last night, I was going to grill USDA Prime NY Strips, but both grills were broken. The front desk suggested I pan fry them in butter. I tried that, but the low-power burners in the room barely got hot enough to melt butter, much less sear a steak.

At check-out, I let the agent know about the upgrade issue, WiFi, and grills, and was told that a manager would reach out to me. Nobody ever did.

I received a Marriott survey request, and after not hearing back from anyone at the property for several days, I filled out the survey with a detailed description of the problems we had. I received a response from the Assistant GM almost immediately asking for more details. I responded back that I had been fairly detailed in the survey and asking what additional details he needed. Crickets.

Several days later, I replied with a recap of everything. He responded back, saying Marriott policy is that they can deny a confirmed upgrade anytime up until check-in, that he had returned my NUAs, and that they wouldn't do anything else for me. I responded back with a copy of the NUA T&Cs, asking where that policy was. Crickets.

Two weeks later, I still hadn't received my NUAs back (or a response) so I reached out to Marriott Bonvoy and explained the situation. They said they can't do anything without the hotel approving it, so they put in a request to the hotel to return the NUAs. A few minutes later, I finally received a response (with more incorrect information) to my question from two weeks earlier about the policy.

UPDATE: It took over a month and extensive effort to finally get my NUAs back.

Notable pros and cons, (outside of the issues we had):

Location is inconvenient, particularly to Waikiki, the North Shore, and east side of the island.

Breakfast was decent, although I was surprised that they didn't have bacon even once in the five nights I was there.

They charge a (fairly large) daily parking fee, which is unusual outside of Waikiki and resort areas.

The kitchen is more of a kitchenette, with no oven and just two underpowered stovetop burners.

Bottom Line:

This will be my LAST Marriott choice when I return to Oahu due to the poor follow through from management. It would be fine if you had no problems, but don't expect management to care if you do...

[Courteous only by words and housekeeping service available only 2 times a week with 4 hour cleaning window]

UPDATE: spoke to the manager why I could not get my room cleaned on Thursday during regularly scheduled cleaning day. The manager said my room was not cleaned during the 4-hour cleaning window due to no request for cleaning. Come on Marriott, 4 hour cleaning window of which you clean only 2 days out of 7 days during vacation season? Is this true? Regardless, i am never coming back here, but be warned. Service here is almost non-existent unless you abide by the strict regular service window. There certainly is disregard from employees for guests who have non-regular requests such as cleaning outside of the 4 hour daily cleaning window and willing-to-pay to stay extra couple of hours due to sick child in bed, of all the instances which happens quite often for travelers with family members.

I have stayed over 50 times at Residence inn at various parts of the world over more than 20 years, but this place at Hawaii Kapolei is by far the worst in terms of customer care.

The front desk is courteous only by mouth and words. They seem like they care by words, but when things need attention, they go back to their "we only care about our priority members."

I had a sick child and i asked repeatedly if we can stay an extra 1-2 hours on the day of check out (called at 5:19am to be exact and check out is at 11am), they basically told us we do not care enough to provide late check out as their priority members are only allowed late check out due to full booking.

I understand that they need to provide preferential service for their "priority members," but if there is a need to provide care for guests in need who paid almost $400 per night for 4 nights with a sick child who will be flying 5 hours late in the afternoon, I should receive extra care instead of being provided with "unfortunately it is policy and only our priority members are allowed." I am not going to pay $200 (half day rate) to stay extra couple of hours when I can get a full night stay near the airport. You lost a customer who stays at Residence inn for all family vacations and some business trips over 20 years. This is not the first time I had issues with customer service at Residence Inn, but I endured because of convenience for families and having a full kitchen during a week-long business trip.

Also, I am not sure why they do not have a full housekeeping staff during busy vacation season, but I had no housekeeping service for my entire 4 nights and 5 days stay here. I had to call the front desk each time I needed towels, toiletries, and trash pick up, and I had dirty bed sheets (from 3 beach trips and activities for 4 people), which was never replaced for the two queen beds and a sofa bed for my family. I intend to deal with this situation fully with Marriott corporate.

Residence Inn at Kopolei, you need to do a better job of accommodating non-priority member guests and have ample operations to provide basic hotel service during your busiest vacation season.

It does not matter if the facility is new and well cared for (I give 5 stars for facilities conditions), but operating a hotel service at $400 dollars a night should be MUCH...

I will begin by saying that my wife and I were really looking forward to staying at this hotel as it looked to be beautiful, modern and in a fantastic location.

Unfortunately our experience making our reservation was unprofessional at best. We initially booked a long-term stay prior to our PCS move with the military. Our price was locked in at $310 per night. Booking through Marriot online, stipulations for our reservation allowed us to cancel or modify our reservation if done so at least 7 days prior to arrival. We attempted to do just that 11 days prior to arrival (today). When we attempted to do so, the representative informed us that with the adjustment in dates our rate would change to $424. I asked to speak to a supervisor to discuss how we could work through this since I was under the understanding that we could modify our dates and have our original rate honored.

I then spoke to Paul, the front desk manager. Paul was unwilling to work with us, even after explaining the conditions of our reservation as stated of Marriot.com. Paul plainly explained to me that the reservation conditions provided on Marriot.com were irrelevant and that we were subject to the hotel's local policy. I am also Gold Elite status with Marriot, but again it made no difference in the way I was treated. Paul could have done a number of things, even with dismissing Marriot corporate policy. Paul could have helped us find a comparable room that is closer to our original rate. Paul could have helped us understand how we could modify our current room to get us closer to our original rate. But none of that occurred. Our only options with Paul were to either keep our original dates at our original rate of $310, modify our dates as needed and pay the new rate of $424 or cancel.

To summarize our most significant concerns with the Residence Inn by Marriot in Kapolei: -Everything about our interaction with the staff seemed at best shady and unprofessional. -When speaking to a supervisor, you expect a greater level of customer care, empathy and effort. Paul provided none of that. Frankly the staff at the front desk were more professional and likely would have provided better customer service and helped us find a solution we could agree on. -This hotel seems to believe that parking is at a premium at their location. News flash, its Kapolei. There is plenty of room. Parking is not at a premium anywhere. You're not nestled in the middle of Waikiki. This hotel would like $25 per day for parking. For comparison, we are now paying $24 per day for parking at our recently booked stay at the Courtyard by Marriot, Waikiki Beach......

In the end, my wife and I are very glad we made the decision to cancel our stay with the Residence Inn in Kapolei. We are now staying at the beautiful Courtyard, Waikiki Beach. The staff was extremely professional, friendly and accommodating. We are now staying in the exact same type of suite in a much more desirable location. For the record, we love Marriot in general. The Residence Inn in Kapolei appears to be an isolated problem. I do not recommend this hotel for a stay...