Need help choosing a hotel on Oahu. We'll be spending Thanksgiving with family on Kauai and are leaning toward staying at the Grand Hyatt Kauai where we have stayed in the past.

Before flying home we want to spend a few days on Oahu visiting historical sites and I wouldn't mind a swim in the Pacific off Waikiki every morning. "We" are in our 50s, would love a hotel with a view of Diamond Head or the mountains and would like to keep the price between $200-$300. Thought we'd go all Hyatt but the Regency on Waikiki had some iffy reviews on Trip Advisor so now I'm not sure. Resortquest/Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel looked like a good choice until we read of slo-ow elevators. We like to stay on high floors in places like this so how annoying would that be every time you want to get to your room? Outrigger is advertising $159 at it's newly refurbished ocean front hotel so we are considering it as well.

We know Waikiki maybe a bit of a shock after Kauai and think of it like Vegas with a beach. We would like to be in walking distance to shops and restaurants yet still have some peace and quiet--is this possible?

We appreciate any suggestions you can offer.

Try the New Otani Hotel, you can't beat the location.

You can find "iffy" reviews on every hotel on T/A you end up averaging them out and maybe checkout a few of the posters to findout how factual they are.
The New Otani is a good pick as it's close enough to walk to Waikiki yet being on the otherside of Kapiolani Park it is quite removed from the crowd.
The Hyatt is right across from Duke's statue (there is a webcam aimed at it) but it is a busier area.

Hyatt is a good hotel.

Lots of Oahu info:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...trip-to-hi.cfm

We love and stay at all Hyatt's in Hawaii. When we stay in Waikiki Hyatt, we choose the Diamond Head tower, high floor. What a great view from the balcony in any direction. Just walk out the door of the Hyatt and you are on Kuhio Beach. We like this part of Waikiki, too.

New Otani, Queen Kapiolani, Outrigger Reef on high floors all would be good imo. But pretty much any hotel that's within Waikiki is walking distance to everything else. It's really quite a small geographic area (you can walk the central area end-to-end in maybe 30 mins., walk across it -canal to beach- in even less).