REVIEW As I sit here on the balcony at 6:30 am waiting for the family to wake up, I thought I'd share my thoughts. We stayed in the Hyatt five years ago, just my husband and I, and I recall enjoying our stay back then. Part way through the stay we upgraded from our city/mountain view room to an oceanview room for free when I requested and pointed out it was our anniversary. They Hyatt is very responsive in that instance - you can often get a free upgraded room just by asking. The staff are wonderful, no complaints at all. The location is also spectacular - directly across from the beach. There's a free nightly hula show on the beach in front of the hotel which is nice to catch. Surfers can be found out on the water every day, and there's a nice protected lagoon for swimming for the keiki (kids) or for those a little unsure of venturing directly into the ocean waves. My kids snorkeled around the breakwall in the lagoon on both sides (ocean and inside it) and saw many colorful fish. Hanauma Bay is a better bet for snorkeling, but the kids tried out snorkeling for the first time here before we headed over to Hanauma. For snorkel rental gear, check out Snorkel Bobs over on Kapahulu, not that far from the hotel. This time around, however, I'm not as happy here. Our rooms (we have two with a family group of 6) are in the Ewa tower, directly facing the Diamond Head tower over the lobby. The rooms are also ocean view, and we have a lovely view down Waikiki Beach to the point of Kapiolani Park. It's as good as the oceanfront view we had last time, but there are drawbacks. The hotel: it's large... two towers as I mentioned, separated by a 3-floor large open-air lobby with a gorgeous waterfall and many shops, as well as the registration desk. The hotel grounds take up an entire city block. Unfortunately, having rooms above that waterfall on a low- to mid-level floor in the hotel means you get that waterfall noise constantly. I can't confirm what the higher floors (hotel goes up to 34) get in the way of noise, but it's quite possible that the configuration of the towers carries the noise vertically - it wouldn't surprise me. We found that in our room (on the 17th floor) we couldn't have the balcony doors open to catch the breezes and still speak in normal tones or watch TV at a normal level. For example, after dinner last night we watched some TV before going to sleep, and with the balcony doors open the volume was at 42, while with them closed it was down at about 20. I would avoid rooms directly over the lobby in the future, even giving up the view. I'd prefer the breezes and a lesser view to having to close the doors in order to sleep because of the noise. The decor of the hotel is faintly Asian in style, as they cater to a large number of clientele from that side of the Pac Rim (the flight from Japan to Hawaii is the same distance as a flight from the East Coast of the US to Hawaii). The carpeting was a wavy line interspersed with circle pattern, probably meant to indicate waves and bubbles if you stretch your imagination. The common-area wall decor was... boring. There are two prints of overlapping circles on the wall by the elevators... different colors in each, but it's the same pattern, with one just rotated 180 degrees. Not very imaginative, IMO. The wall paper used represents a woven rattan pattern, very subtle, but I liked it. I would have preferred more of a Hawaiian-theme in the other hotel decorations, though -- it just didn't feel very Hawaiian here. The decor in our rooms was subtle as well -- two vintage-style prints on the wall, and that was it. Beds were nice, pillows and comforters were top-notch. The decorator throw across the bottom of the bed was a boring bronze color matching the rattan wallpaper color... would have liked to at least seen something with a bit of Hawaiian flair to it - there are many subtle Hawaiian patterns that would have fit in with the decorating scheme. For connecting rooms used for a family, the design could have been a bit better. The shower/toilet are in a tiny room of their own - barely room enough to turn around once you're in there. The toilet paper was literally behind your back (must have been a guy who designed that :-) Not unreachable, but highly annoying. The sink and closet were open to the room, set in an alcove, and I wish there had been a curtain or panel door that could be closed to create a changing room there. Having that micro-bathroom to change in wasn't convenient at all -- we're talking about 6 square feet in there max. Dining: Expensive in the hotel. We skipped the hotel restaurants and found other places to eat. One recommendation: the Hidden Oahu guidebook is wonderful for pointing out good places to eat (and stay, and visit). They have books for each of the major islands, and I've relied on them heavily for the past two trips. Don't forget to pick up the travel brochures available on the street or in the airport - lots of coupons for activities and dining in them help you save quite a bit. There's a top-notch spa in the hotel, although I didn't take advantage of it. If it were just my husband and I, I probably would have, but not with the large family group. Parking: Expensive. $30 for self-park, or $35 for valet I think. They park in the building next door where they have their ballroom, so if you're in the Ewa tower, it's a full block walk to where your car is, even with valet. Not terrible, just be warned. Internet Access: NOT FREE as in some other hotels. They charge you $9.95 PER COMPUTER!!! We had three laptops with us so our kids could keep up with their schoolwork, and that would have meant a $30/day internet charge. Not very customer friendly, in my opinion. We sprung for one computer for the entire time, and one other computer for one day as needed. This really bothered me. Really, Hyatt? A per computer charge??? To be fair, I know my review is colored by the location we stayed at for the first week of our stay: at the Waikiki Beach Tower condos. Our stay there was fantastic, but it's not available on Priceline or Hotwire to my knowledge :-( Pity, as the next thing I'm doing is leaving a stellar review for them over on TripAdvisor. I would recommend the Hyatt for travelers especially with the Priceline discounts, and knowing what to ask for and what to avoid (rooms over the lobby on lower floors, or ocean front rooms on levels which get a lot of noise from Kalakaua Ave - right now I'm hearing the garbage pickup trucks and delivery trucks which come early morning). I would *never* pay rack rates for this place having stayed here twice. It really is a nice place, but I know that FOR ME, there are other places I prefer over this.
