HI Oahu Ohana Waikiki Malia Waikiki City Central

[chrispee]

We stayed at the Ohana Waikiki Malia for 10 nights at a Priceline.com rate of $80 per night. We were pleasantly surprised that we were given a high floor ocean facing room at check-in. After exploring the hotel, I would not have been happy with a lower floor, or a room on the other side of the building that faced the neighboring hotel. We came into this trip with modest expectations having stayed at the Sheraton Resort on our last trip to Waikiki, but we found this hotel adequate given our luck in getting a good room. You can tell that this hotel has been upgraded in a piecemeal fashion, and there's no hiding the lipstick on the pig with ice machines on only 2 floors and three different sets of elevators that only go to select floors. Here is a list of the pros and cons of the hotel that we found during our stay:

Pros:

- Good hotel location only a 5 minute walk to the beach and in the heart of Waikiki shopping and dining.

- Good housekeeping and friendly staff

- Pleasant view from our room

- Rooms were furnished in keeping with a 3 star hotel

- Excellent price for a Waikiki central hotel

Cons:

- Poor amenities with no on-site gym, a minuscule plunge pool, and no comfortable common areas

- Scary $20 parking garage if you rent a large vehicle or are not a good driver

- Archaic elevator system that requires you to go down to the lobby and get in a different elevator to get to the parking and/or laundry room

- Over half of the rooms in the hotel have a view directly into a neighboring building 40 feet away.

- Lots of noisy Waikiki bars nearby, and a bar/club in the base of the hotel (could be a pro too I suppose, but not if you value quiet while you sleep)

- Clearly a hotel that has been upgraded from a 2.5 star to a 3 star, but still has the bones of a 2.5 star