“Made the right choice!”

I can't say enough good things about my stay at the Kaimana Beach Hotel. As a first-time visitor to Hawaii, picking out the right place to stay among the overwhelming number of Waikiki offerings was fraught with uncertainty. I finally took a guess and settled on the Kaimana Beach on the basis of lo… more

I can't say enough good things about my stay at the Kaimana Beach Hotel. As a first-time visitor to Hawaii, picking out the right place to stay among the overwhelming number of Waikiki offerings was fraught with uncertainty. I finally took a guess and settled on the Kaimana Beach on the basis of location, amenities, and price. After spending a week there, I have to say that I completely lucked out: my experience here was even better than I had hoped it would be. Let's start out with location. Situated near the eastern end of Waikiki, the property is right on the beach and bordered by parks on two sides. There was none of that “all built up” feel I encountered elsewhere in Waikiki; instead I felt as if I were staying at a small, far-off resort. My companion and I would got out on the beach in the evenings and watch the sun set into the ocean in perfect serenity. To be fair, the location does have some drawbacks. The parks that I mentioned separate the hotel from Waikiki's shops and restaurants by about a half mile. The walk through the park is quite pleasant, but it wasn’t always convenient. I ended up calling for Lyft rides more than I'd expected to, but in my estimation, that was well worth it. A brief word on price: I feel I got great value for my money. I’ll take this occasion to say a personal thank you to Ursula, the very helpful booking consultant who set up my reservation. She went to significant effort to come up with a combination of rates and rooms that fit perfectly into my budget. Now to the hotel itself. The first view of the lobby is breathtaking, with the far end wide open to the ocean, and exotic decor all around. It was a surprise then, that when I got off the elevator to get to my room, the corridors seemed drab, almost institutional. I started to wonder if I'd made a mistake-- what would I find when I opened the door? There was no need to worry at all. The room was surprisingly roomy: though listed as a single, it felt more like a suite, with separate sitting and sleeping areas. Everything in the room was spotlessly clean, the sitting area nicely appointed, the bathroom well-stocked, the mattress firm and comfortable. The spacious wraparound balcony offered a fine view of Diamond Head. What more could I ask for? Well, just one thing. The air conditioning unit was surely a technological marvel, but lacking an engineering degree, I never could get it set to the right temperature, so I'd wake up every morning either sweating or freezing. I probably should have called down to the desk and asked them to send someone up to adjust it for me, but for whatever reason, I never remembered to do so. Tip: if you find yourself in the same situation, be smarter than me and ask for some help. Now, let's head back downstairs to the Hau Tree restaurant, where there's good and not-so-good to be said. The good part is that the food is excellent and the ambience can’t be beat. However, I got the feeling that the restaurant’s not really set up to service hotel guests. You need to make reservations well in advance, and they’re not always available. The place doesn’t open for breakfast until 8:00 am, and the bar shuts down at ten on the dot. It’s also quite pricey, at least in my view; you can decide for yourself by looking over the menu, which you’ll find on the hotel website. My bottom line here is that I wish that the hotel had a wider variety of offerings: the Hau Tree is great when you’re looking to treat yourself, but sometimes you just want to grab a quick breakfast or a sandwich for lunch. However, there's both a tiny coffee shop (great pastries!) and a very well-stocked convenience store attached to the hotel, which together went a long way to taking care of my needs. In addition to that, a five-minute walk through the park will take you to a nice outdoor cafe (The Barefoot Beach) where they serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner on picnic tables at more reasonable prices. Finally, there’s no way this review would be complete if I didn’t mention the staff. I have never, and I mean never, run into a more pleasant and helpful bunch of folks at a hotel of this size. Everyone-- front desk agent, restaurant servers, bartender, the housekeeping staff-- were friendly and cheerful, and bent over backwards to make sure our stay was enjoyable. Seriously-- without one single exception! Here’s my prime example. I was initially booked into a room on the third floor, and while I’ve already mentioned how nice it was, I had been hoping I might get a room higher up for the sake of the view. The next morning I stopped at the front desk and asked if it might be possible to make a switch. The agent spent some time on his computer, then looked up and announced with smile, “Yes, we can do that.” I spent the rest of my stay on the seventh floor, enjoying the view and appreciating the desk agent’s efforts. “But wait!” as they say on TV. “There’s more.” When I packed to switch rooms, I messed up and left a bunch of my clothes in the closet, then went off for the day. When I got back to the new room, I was amazed to find all that I’d left right there in front of me. Up until then, I hadn’t even realized I’d left them behind. It was clear that the housekeeping staff and the front desk folks had worked together to track down where all the stuff belonged, and made sure it was waiting for me. Talk about taking great care of the guests! So here’s my final verdict. The Kaimana Beach Hotel has strong points and weak points like anywhere else, but my companion and I kept saying throughout our whole stay, “Did we ever make the right choice!” Oh yeah, and one other thing. I'll say it again because it's worth repeating: the staff is just plain incredible. Thanks for a wonderful stay.

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