Hilton Hawaiian Village

[GoldenGate]

I am going to Hawaii on business/pleasure next week and want to stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. I was going to get a room in the Kalia Tower since it is the newest and I can get an ocean view room at a great government rate.
To anyone who stayed there, how was it. From the website, it looks like a great place to stay with alot to do. If you stayed in the Kalia tower, how was it?

 

[Cantw8]

Wow, I can't believe the place is still there. DH and I went there for our 4th wedding anniversary...that was 21 years ago. I remember it was beautiful, especially the private beach out front. I believe we stayed in the Tapa tower. Sorry, I know I am not answering your question...I just got real sentimental

 

[WDWLVR]

I stayed there in the Rainbow Tower way back in '88 and loved it. Hope to go back someday.

 

[chyam]

It is still pretty nice, it is right next to the military hotel the Hale Koa and both are kinda situated on a park (Ft.DeRussy) it is a little ways from the main drag of Waikiki though but found it to still be convenient, it's also not to far from the Ala Moana Shopping Center. Hawaii is beautiful!

 

[Christine]

I stayed in the Rainbow Tower back in the early 1990s (also on the government's "dime"). The hotel is lovely. The room was just average. Typical of a "beach" hotel room. But I REALLY enjoyed my stay.

 

[DawnCt1]

We stay "next door" at the Hale Koa when we go to HNL but I have been over to visit. The shopping area is huge, the beach is great and its HAWAII!! How bad can it be?

 

[Disney-Kim]

We have stayed there the last 4 yrs in a row. We only stay in the "Alii" tower. It is all concierge. It has private checkin, evening hors deurves, turn down, and a private pool. The rooms are really nice and have 3 room bathrooms. We love this hotel and all it has to offer but we would not stay in any of the other towers.
The private pool is worth it alone if you have ever seen how busy the main pool gets.
The Kalia tower is the newest, yes....but it is also the farthest from the main pool/beach. Your ocean view will be pretty far too. The rooms look really small to me. I think its a pretty building but would be disappointed to be so far from the beach.
The Alii tower is right ON the beach. just right out your door. The ocean front rooms in the Alii tower are the BEST. yes pricey though. Book a partial ocean view and you will be happy.
Have fun and drink a smoothie by the pool for me.

 

[Jeafl]

We just stayed there at the end of June and had a great time. We were on the second floor from the top in the Tapa tower which was a great location. If you are a Hilton Honors member they are pretty good about giving you a free upgrade. We booked a regular garden room (cheapest) and got upgraded to a full ocean view executive suite with 2 balconies and the most amazing view. If you aren't a Hilton Honors member, sign up now on the website.

I didn't go in the Kalia tower, but it is probably similar to the others.


If you go, I HIGHLY recommend eating at the pizza place there (Round Table Pizza maybe??). They have some unique pizzas there and it is great and reasonable priced. (as reasonable as Hawaii gets anyway!)

If you have any other questions, let me know. It is still fresh in my mind.

 

[nuke]

I was also going to recommend the Ali'i tower if you can swing it.

 

[luvflorida]

We have stayed there the last 4 yrs in a row. We only stay in the "Alii" tower. It is all concierge. It has private checkin, evening hors deurves, turn down, and a private pool. The rooms are really nice and have 3 room bathrooms. We love this hotel and all it has to offer but we would not stay in any of the other towers.
The private pool is worth it alone if you have ever seen how busy the main pool gets.
The Kalia tower is the newest, yes....but it is also the farthest from the main pool/beach. Your ocean view will be pretty far too. The rooms look really small to me. I think its a pretty building but would be disappointed to be so far from the beach.
The Alii tower is right ON the beach. just right out your door. The ocean front rooms in the Alii tower are the BEST. yes pricey though. Book a partial ocean view and you will be happy.
Have fun and drink a smoothie by the pool for me.

We're staying at the HHV the end of December and we're booked for the Ali'i Tower, for all the reasons you decribed! We can't wait!

Also, I noticed you're from Phoenix. We're flying Boston to Phoenix to Honolulu. With the time difference, I'm guessing the flight from Phoenix to Honolulu is about six hours. Does that sound about right to you?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

The flight from LAX to Honululu is a little over 5 hours if that helps you any.

You guys have me jealous--we will be staying at HHV when we go, but we are using points. From what I understand, I am to be greatful for a free room as they don't upgrade a freebie .

 

[momof2inPA]

The spa is very nice, and if you have a spa treatment, you can use the Ali'i pool all day. Have a great time.

 

[pamlet]

I know a lot of people love this hotel - I wasn't terribly impressed with it tho' - of course it was 4 or 5 years ago that I stayed there.

The rooms were pretty small - but the Ali' Tower rooms were nicer as others have said - but even so - at least a few years ago they looked worn to me (for the price)... One of my friends was in that Tower - I was in the Rainbow Tower.

Another thing - be warned - when I checked in there was a lovely arrangement of "goodies" in a basket on top of the little bar - thankfully I read the little card set by the basket - even the bottles of water were 2.00 ... yep - not gratis - I would have expected that out of the mini bar - but was startled by the charge of the things out of the basket. I was there for a travel agent convention - and at first thought that it was a goodie basket for convention goers. Nope! Also - extra coffee cost extra as well - so I went down to the little gift shop area - and bought some coffee, 4 cup filters and creamer AND bottled water ... MUCH cheaper than doing it their way... I have no idea if they still are doing things this way or not...

The hotel itself IS beautiful, I just was NOT impressed with it - or their service - for a high end property I suppose I just expected friendlier service all around. Just prior to that I had spent 3 nights at the Waikiki Joy - it's not on the beach - and is NOT a fancy schmancy place ... but I was treated like royalty - the folks were always incredibly friendly and they had a WONDERFUL "enhanced" continental breakfast buffet (with fresh papaya juice.. laugh). So it was sort of shock to hit what is supposed to be one of the nicest hotel on the island and be given a miniscule room that had 2.00 bottles of water in it....

I can't comment on the restaurants - the convention kept us stuffed to the gills with stuff and outings.... (We had a WONDERFUL buffet at .. whatever the old pink hotel is.. complete w/a roasted pig w/an apple in it's mouth!!).

Have fun in Hawaii - it is a beautiful place.... take notice of how when you walk through the airport it smells like heaven!!

 

[luvflorida]

The flight from LAX to Honululu is a little over 5 hours if that helps you any.
(.

That's about what I thought. I'm guessing it's another hour or so from Phoenix to LA.

 

[drclaws]

We have stayed there the last 4 yrs in a row. We only stay in the "Alii" tower. It is all concierge. It has private checkin, evening hors deurves, turn down, and a private pool. The rooms are really nice and have 3 room bathrooms. We love this hotel and all it has to offer but we would not stay in any of the other towers.
The private pool is worth it alone if you have
The Kalia tower is the newest, yes....but it is also the farthest from the main pool/beach. Your ocean view will be pretty far too. The rooms look really small to me. I think its a pretty building but would be disappointed to be so far from the beach.

Distance is all relative. We were assigned the Kalia Tower last March and others in our party wre in Ali'i. We had the top floor, with the private concierge room providing breakfast, midafternoon and evening snacks and drinks each day. Ali'i was nice, room sizes seemed to vary. Ours in Kalia was far from small. Also had nightly turndown and a huge bathroom, and a private pool that was plenty private.

Pics below are from our balcony and at the pool. Oceanview was stunning.

 

[SunFloridaDisney]

We had a WONDERFUL buffet at .. whatever the old pink hotel is.. complete w/a roasted pig w/an apple in it's mouth!!
Have fun in Hawaii - it is a beautiful place.... take notice of how when you walk through the airport it smells like heaven!!

The old pink hotel is the Royal Hawaiian, which is where we were fortunate enough to stay in July. It was fabulous.

We walked by the HHV, which looked nice, and I've known other people who stayed there.

 

[NCRedding]

We were at the HHV in July with a convention. We were in the Tapa Tower and our balcony had a stunning view of the ocean over the marina--it was gorgeous. Our room was spacious and the beds were very comfortable. The beach at the hotel was beautiful. There were lots of options for restaurants and for shopping, very upscale and pricey.

I was not that impressed with the hotel though. The bathroom in the room had problems with black gunk coming up from the sink--happened 3 of the 4 nights we stayed there. The "super' pool was anything but. It was way too small for the size of the hotel, so that it was overcrowded, and there were never any chairs available when we went. It also closed at 5 or 6 in the afternoon, which I thought was strange. This place is BUSY. Check in took close to an hour because of the crowds. Getting bell service was time-consuming. We left our bags because the room wasn't ready, and it took about an hour to get them after we called for them. The staff did not go out of their way to be helpful or friendly.

We loved Hawaii.

 

[pamlet]

The old pink hotel is the Royal Hawaiian, which is where we were fortunate enough to stay in July. It was fabulous.

We walked by the HHV, which looked nice, and I've known other people who stayed there.

Yep!! That's it! I would have liked to have seen the rooms there... it was a beautiful hotel. I do know the food was MARVELOUS!

 

[Twigs]

We just stayed at the HHV in August. We were in the Rainbow tower, with Diamond Head and ocean view, this was really great. It was a nice room, clean and not worn at all. As NCRedding mentioned above the beach area is really nice, but the Super pool is anything but. It closed at 5:30 each day,they had entertainment at poolside after closing, and I thought it would reopen after that, but it didn't. There is another pool in the complex that is open later, but it is even smaller. DS's had surfing lessons on the beach there, and were really excited because Clyde Aikou gave them their lessons. The hotel, as mentioned already is down from the main strip of Waikiki, we went to drive there one evening and couldn't find anywhere to park, so we went back to the hotel and got a taxi for about $6.00. The thing that was nice about HHV was that there are so many eating options you don't have to go far, and you are walking distance to your room. We like to have breakfast in the room as we are not big breakfast eaters and would get what we needed at the ABC store, but don't go in the evening, it is packed with very rude people pushing and shoving. By the end of our stay I would go during the day and it was a lot better. There is also a Whalers General store in The Diamond Head Tower. These 2 stores are also all over the island.

We had dinner at Benihana's which we liked and ate there twice. We ate one night at the Village Steak and Seafood, it was OK. And we ate at Sergio's one night and had a good meal there.

If we went back to Oahu, I don't think we would stay in the Waikiki or Honolulu areas. It is very congested and getting around is not that easy. We stayed at the Kahala Hilton 22 years ago for our honeymoon (It is now the Oriental Mandarin) and we liked that as it was, a much more relaxing atmosphere.

 

[luvflorida]

DS's had surfing lessons on the beach there, and were really excited because Clyde Aikou gave them their lessons. The hotel, as mentioned already is down from the main strip of Waikiki...

Could you please tell more about the surfing lessons? We will be staying at the HHV in December and some of us would like to take surfing lessons, especially DD15. I didn't realize they gave lessons right at the HHV beach.

Also, is it possible to walk to Waikiki Beach from the HHV?

Thanks so much for any info!