Honolulu hotel help
 

Aloha all. We will be spending most of our Hawaiian vacation on the BI, but we will end it with a 2 days in Honolulu before flying home. We are looking for a moderately priced hotel in or around Honolulu. It doesn't have to be right on the beach, but within a couple of blocks would be nice. I am just beginning my search and so far it's my impression that a moderate price would be $150/night? Also, we have an early morning flight home and we must be at the airport by 6am. We don't really want an airport hotel, but we do want to be reasonably close in order to get to the airport on time.

Here are my main questions:

1. Can you recommend a hotel that suits our needs? We will have a car so parking is a must.

2. If our hotel is not on the beach, do we have access to the nearest beach, or would that be privately owned by the beachfront hotel itself? In other words, would we have to travel to get to a public beach? My apologies if that's a silly question.

3. I'm thinking we might end our trip with a dinner cruise. Any good suggestions?

Mahalo a mil!!

1. There really aren't any nice hotels near the airport. It's kind of an industrial area. If you want definite parking in Waikiki you're probably going to have to pay for it.

2. All beaches in Hawaii are public, and you'd probably be staying near Waikiki Beach, which has no access issues at all.

3. Personally, I don't think dinner cruises are worth the money for what you get. I think you'd be better off doing a sunset cocktail cruise, and then having a nice dinner back on land. There's a smaller, quieter boat that beaches behind the Outrigger Waikiki that's white with a blue and white sail that's not expensive and not as much of a "party" atmosphere as some of the other boats.

Thanks, MerryTravel. A coctail cruise sounds nice too. I'm glad to know that beach access is not limited to hotel guests.

You don't need a beachfront hotel to get to the beach. There is a stretch of beach along Kalakaua that has no hotels on it--they are all across the street. These may pan out better price-wise. Resortquest and Outrigger/Ohana tend to have good deals.

Also if you're wanting some ocean views for your last dinner, maybe you could go to the Hanohano Room in the Sheraton rather than a dinner cruise. Those boat dinners aren't always that good!

Check out www.biddingfortravel.com, www.hotwire.com, www.priceline.com.

My mid-price recommends near Waikiki Beach are the Aqua Resorts or Pacific Beach Hotel. The Aqua Hotels, although located a few blocks from the beach, are well appointed small hotels with good service. The PCH is only a separated from the beach by a street. It's a large hotel with partial ocean views from most rooms and has the advantage of an easily acessible parking structure. If you're not set on staying in Waikiki, you may consider the Ala Moana Hotel which is adjacent to the Ala Moana shopping center and Ala Moana Beach Park. The beach is nice and a very short walk away although it can be busy and large events are frequently hosted in the park on the weekends. Parking should be fairly easy to find near your hotel as you're next to the mall and it puts you within a short 20-30 minute trip to the airport. Can be a 45 minute trip from Waikiki depending on traffic. Oh, also the marina is also located to the side of Ala Moana Beach Park and many of the boats that do dinner cruises are docked there. Actually, I guess for you my vote would be for the Ala Moana but you should check them all out and see what you think. Aloha=)

Thanks to all for your replies. I have used priceline before and got some fantastic deals, but I'm so unfamiliar w/Honolulu I wasn't sure what part of town is best.

I considered Ala Moana after seeing it on hotels.com, so maybe I'll look into that further.

For a samll wonderful hotel that harkens back to the fifties, a couple of blocks from the beach check out The Breakers http://www.breakers-hawaii.com/ We stayed there and the people are wonderful. They do have parking.

I have stayed twice at the Hawaiiana and loved it. It's in about 3 blocks from the beach at Waikiki near Fort de Russey park. It's a low-rise, "old school" style place with lovely gardens and two small pools. It's next door to The Breakers as mentioned above. www.hawaiianahotelatwaikiki.com

You could taxi to the airport from Waikiki at the crack of dawn. Maybe 1/2 hour drive? I can't remember exactly but cost maybe $30? The hotel front desk arranged it for me.

I did not stay here, but observed it's close proximity to the beach. The Revealed Book states it's(across the street from Waikiki Beach Center) making it close to many restaurants, minimizing walking. It has 'quick walks'to it's parking lot and the beach ('no vast corridors'); small but efficiently designed rooms (245 sq. ft.) and no coffee maker. ($165-195 rack rate).

The convenience factor would sell me on it if I ever get to return to Oahu.

I like the Hawaiiana too, but check on the major urban renewal/construction project in that area. Not sure if it's completed or not. With a car, you won't want to be tied up with a bunch of detours while trying to rush to the airport.

Duh! I forgot to post the name of the joint!....Waikiki Circle (Aston), sorry!

Thanks again all, I will check out these hotels you have recommended, as well as the construction situation around the Hawaiiana.

Lots of construction going on around the Hawaiiana in June. I checked it out because of the positive comments here at Fodors. All rooms looks out onto the pretty center court, but the ocean is not in sight. It is only a couple of blocks from the Outrigger Reef of Shorebird Restaurant and great Diamond Head view fame.

I've stayed at the Waikiki Joy before and it's also great little hotel. They have those fancy see thru shower/room partitions in their rooms. I'd be extra cautious of any construction in Waikiki though. Those traffic lights are kinda long without any conjestion. There's a great tool at the Hawaii Convention Center website ->Destination->HCC Interactive Map. It maps out most of the major hotel properties & restaurants as red dots on a street map. Click on the dots for more details. Just keep in mind the further east you go on the map the further you are from the airport. It doesn't look like a lot of distance but bad traffic can pile on minutes.