Description: The Royal Gardens is a three-star 25-storey hotel just off the Ala Wai waterway and a 5- to 8-minute walk to Waikiki Beach. On some websites, it says it’s a four-star, but that's simply not true.
The lobby is really elegant, and the Italian marble, frescoes on the ceiling, and chandeliers give it a European feel. It has two swimming pools, one that is huge. The only problem was that it was closed and has been since January 2005. When asked when it will open, the staff had no idea. We did try the other pool, which was very small and happened to be freezing.
Though they say the hotel is in a quiet area, it was so noisy. There is major construction work going on across the road and condos are being built, so you can imagine the noise. It certainly was not very relaxing. We got a free upgrade to a superior room, and the room certainly was really nice, though rough around the edges. We were on the 15th floor, with a good view of the waterway. It had a TV, fridge, coffeemaking facilities, room safe, bath and shower, hair dryer, etc., and was a really good size.
They have a gym, though it is very small. They also proclaimed to have two restaurants, French and Japanese ones. While it is true they do have a Japanese restaurant, we could not find any existence of the French one, which was very strange. Breakfast is $5 a day or $10 for a full English breakfast, but we didn't take them up on this offer, since one member of the staff said it would be much better to have breakfast at TGI's next door.
All in all, we paid $78, plus 11% tax, for this hotel. Considering we are on a budget and its location, it is quite a good budget hotel. We would not pay anymore than this for this hotel, so look around for the best deals on the Internet. One good point is that TGI's is right next door, which is quite a good place to have. There also is a food store only 2 minutes around the corner, which is also very handy.
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