Description: I had many recommendations for the 4-star Hilton Hawaiian Village, including an endorsement from my travel agent. The hotel is both beautiful and convenient, but its service could use some work.
Having had to re-book a flight due to winter weather, we arrived later than expected, tired and cranky. Finding the hotel using the directions supplied on the Website was a struggle. Then, finding valet parking was a challenge, so we ended up self-parking (which costs $20 a day, even for partial days) and hauling our luggage through the garage and down the stairs on our own. We were not given the “Aloha” I expected, but greeted rather gruffly and without a smile. The front desk clerk asked to see my reservation documents, then took them in the back to ask the manager what room I should be given. (Huh?) She then came out and said I’d been upgraded from my partial oceanview to an oceanview room, and shoved us on our way without even asking if we needed assistance with our bags.
The first room was horrible. I don’t know if an ocean view counts if you have to look at it through a garage. And the bathroom tub looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned for weeks and reeked of mildew. When I called, they offered to come clean it – within 2 hours. It was 2am EST and I wasn’t going to wait. So they changed my room. It was back to a partial oceanview, but the room looked out over the pool, so that was fine with me. The bathroom didn’t stink and the room was in the Ali’i Tower – an upgrade in itself. It featured a private pool for guests of that tower only, its own private pool bar with complimentary afternoon snacks and a gym available to all tower guests – without having to pay the extra resort fees. The greeters in the Ali’i Tower treated me like I expected to be treated at the front desk, and there was a doorman who always opened the door for us (even if he was asleep).
The room in the Ali’i Tower was comfortable and clean, and the non-feather pillows and duvets were brought as soon as we asked (I’m allergic). The hotel grounds were well-kept and featured penguins, flamingos, koi ponds, and more. It was hard to find seating at the main pool after about 9am, but we never had issues at the pool in Ali’i. And the concierge desk was awesome!
The hotel is adjoined by the Rainbow Shops, which features an ABC store. (This is the place to go to stock up on bottled water and sundries without paying hotel markups to put in your hotel fridge.) There were lots of high-end stores as well, with a few pricey restaurants.
My suggestion is to walk across the street and eat breakfast at the little diner. $5 all-you-can-eat pancakes, vs. $6 blueberry muffins at the hotel.
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