24 Hours at Waikiki
 

We just returned from Oahu and to save about $1,000 in arifare, we stayed one extra night just to get a Sunday flight.

We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village adjacent to Fort Derusey. The facility was good (not as good as Marriott's Ko Olina) but was grossly crowded. Check in is at 2 pm and check out is at 11am. No early check ins or late check outs.

The pools were obnoxiously overcrowed and the lagoon had a nasty smell of stangant water and dead sea life to it. This is not a slap to the Hilton folks - the property was massively crowded.

The best food deals were at PF Changs and IHOP (ironically had Hawaiian Pancakes as their special there). There was a Benihana's on site but you have to make a reservation early - otherwise you won't get seated until 9pm.

Parking will set you back about $24/day which for Waikiki, it is not a bad deal.

If there is a drop in tourists in Waikiki, it's not evident at the Hilton Hawaiian Village (HHV). We spend a week in a time share there every April and this past April, HHV was very crowded. The concierge at our tower said that the complex was 97% booked.

mmwalkup is correct about the pools. They are always crowded, especially the super pool and the new pool complex.

Unless they have opened since April, PF Chang's and IHOP are not part of the HHV complex. Benihana is swamped every night. Over the past three years, Hilton has closed all of the restaurants except Benihana. Everything else on the site is basically fast food. Hilton has even closed most of the bars during the day. It's easier to leave the complex for meals and drinks. With all the bookings at HHV, it doesn't make much business sense to chase all of your guests away from your complex.

Sounds like the Hilton is not suffering from drop in tourism. I appreciate your frank report. Truthfully, it sounds horrible for my personal tastes. Going on my
"not in a million years" list.

I read somewhere that the HHV was changing ownership? That it wasn't a Hilton any more? Anyone else heard that?

Elkhound is correct about the restaurants. IHOP and PF Changs are off property but near by. In the HHV complex, there are a few one off eateries like an ice cream shop, pizzeria, and semi-fast food operations. I imagine that they are vendor run sites.

I just left HHV last Sunday and it is still a Hilton. If you do not have a Hilton Honors account, set one up before you go. You will get head of the line preferences.

If you have a blackberry or iphone, upload google lattitude on it and you will have free GPS. I used it to find places around the island. It will give you walking and driving directions on it. However, driving and using a cell phone in Hawaii is a ticketed offense - make sure you have someone as a navigator if using GPS.

I think HHV is more crowded on weekends than weekdays. HHV and the Hale Koa have arguably the largest beaches in Waikiki and both are used heavily used by local families on the weekends. HHV's Coral Room is also the largest banquet facility in Waikiki. Every weekend large groups book the room for parties and banquets.

Despite the crowds, we still like HHV. We already have a time share reserved in Kalia tower for this coming April. Kalia is the farthest tower from the beach and the most quiet.

My gripe with Hilton is the drastic cutback in resort services (mainly restaurants and lounges) in spite of the obvious popularity of the resort with tourists and business travelers.

The Hilton was sold last year. It is still called a Hilton, but is not owned by them.

Mahalo, lcuy. I thought it was something like that.

Most big-name hotels are not owned (the real estate, that is) by the hotel company. Someone else owns the real estate and enters into an operating agreement with a hotel company, so this isn't surprising at all.

Is Sergios and Hatsuhanas still at the shopping center by the Hilton Hawaiian Village? Where is PF Changs?

This is a good site for restaurants.

#78 is HHV. You can either click on #78 on the map for a summary of restaurants or just look at the list at the bottom.

#26 is Royal Hawaiian Center. That is where PF Chang's is.

http://www.discounthotelshawaii.com/...taurants.html#

I understand that if HHHV keeps their restaurants closed for 24 months, they can allow the next operator to be non-union. It's been over a year already, so expect some celebrity place to open at HHV next summer.