Skip to main content

Review: Hilton Garden Inn in Waikiki Room #1435

View from Hilton Garden Inn Waikiki Room 1435

The Reality of Staying in the Heart of Waikiki

Revised 4/2021

Dear Polite Traveler,

Some of my favorite Hawaiian moments have been in this very part of Waikiki.  Walking Kuhio & Kalakaua Avenues from end to end, dropping in several times a day at the famous International Market Place and hanging with my favs at the Starbucks Reserve Bar, this is where my heart sings.  However, staying across from the International Market Place—in the heart of Waikiki—has one major drawback. 

Noise

The rooms on the street side overlook the bustling Kuhio Avenue are great for stepping outside the hotel for a scrumptious delight at the Kona Coffee Purveyors, pastries are delish.   Convenience comes at a price, though.  Nights are noisy!  I mean, downright crazy loud, which is unfortunate since I love fresh air at night, and this isn’t happening here.  Even sitting out on our ample lanai during the daytime is not pleasant at times.  Although, sitting outside watching the sunset never gets old.

Our Room

Since we’re Hilton Honor’s members, we are automatically upgraded to a more expensive room than one booked.  This meant our “mountain view” became an ocean view on a higher floor—albeit ours is a peekaboo view. 

Surprisingly, #1435 is an ‘accessible room’ that has its own set of pluses and minuses.  On the plus side, it is roomy—for a regular guest room—and the shower is large and open with no enclosure.  Nice.  Plus, it has a lanai, comfy beds, microwave, and larger refrigerator than most hotels.


What happened to the storage?

The minuses are no closet, dresser, or storage under the sink.  There is, however, a large wardrobe with which we made the most of each side.  One consists of deep shelves and the other with two short hanging rods.  Since I always use packing cubes, I used them as drawers for small items.  After cleaning the shelves, I used these as well for larger items. 

There is a large nightstand with a deep drawer.  This I used as a catchall for our meds and miscellaneous food items.  After all, we’re in the land of macadamia nuts and I do take advantage of it.  Yum!

Please share your adventures!

Please Read

Review: Room 818 DoubleTree by Hilton in Waikiki

Market Review: Dukes Lane Market & Eatery

Hotel Review: Hilton Waikiki Beach Hotel


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Kauai Vacation: Room Review

The Room Over The Power Plant Revised 4/2021 The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas offers guests beautiful rooms, which include kitchens or kitchenettes, outdoor grills, and a number of pools.  Most often, it includes an excellent restaurant, poolside bar, and small store.  A large grocery store is within walking distance as well.  Thus, the theory is that guests will not have to leave the property once they cross the big pond to reach it. Great theory, but that’s not necessarily true when the only on-site restaurant is closed.  Add to that the incredibly loud room...well, let’s just say I needed a break from the property at times.   Note : Follow Hawaii and CDC guidelines when visiting.  Always wear your face mask when in public. May we just see the room we should have had? After an exceptionally long journey that included a broken plane and a rushed connection—not to mention airport security—we were surprised to find that our hotel had our room ready an hour early.

Look Closer at the Hilton Garden Inn, Waikiki

  Why We Might Not Return: Hilton Garden Inn, Waikiki My dear polite travelers, Imagine waiting three years to revisit a pleasant memory.  You’d probably be thrilled to be on that journey.  Right?  Well, I am, and ...well, I’m lukewarm to some aspects of it, especially our room: #1537.  But the Ocean is Right There! In our room, #1537, we have the ocean view and the fresh breezes associated with it.  Still, due to the central, otherwise excellent location, it’s noisy—very noisy.  Thus, those breezes remain outside all night.  Darn.  The pleasant sweet-ocean-air-in-our-room-memory I dream of often eluded us on this trip.  Now, it’s just sad. The Good & the Weird Beyond the noise, it is a comfortable room—especially the shower—but there’s not enough counter space.  Instead of a long counter or desk, the hotel designer thought a long built-in seat would be a clever idea??  Hint.  It’s not.  We can only use it to store our suitcases and bulky items.   The only place to us

Sonoma, California: DoubleTree Sonoma

Updated 4/2021 Our Stay in the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel Sonoma Wine Country in California As over-worked small business owners, we decided to play hooky traveling through Sonoma County for a couple of days.  Since we recently experience excellent service on our last stay in a DoubleTree, we booked a room at their Sonoma Wine Country property in Rohnert Park. Our Journey Through Sonoma County Our drive from our home in Davis pleasant with light traffic.  We chose a slightly longer route through Sonoma so we could take in the beauty of the Glen Ellen area vineyards.  The vineyards here are quite beautiful with green rolling hills as a backdrop.  Arriving at the DoubleTree As we arrived, I mentioned to my husband that since this trip would focus on cheese tasting, it would be perfect if we were given a free upgrade to a room with a refrigerator.  The hotel appeared fully booked, so I assumed that was impossible.   Astonishingly, when we asked about an upgrade, the polite rec