Honestly? Choosing to stay at The Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki just may be one of the best decisions you’ll ever make your life.
It’s a fantastic property centrally located in the heart of Waikiki. The views from the ocean-facing rooms are nothing short of epic.
It’s expensive though, so I recommend bringing your most baller credit card (the one with the highest spending limit). A willingness to spend money like it’s your last night alive will help.
A full review of my one night stay at The Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki
Note: this was one of the first hotels established in Waikiki. The original structure still exists, but they’ve since added on another building (the Mialani Tower).
Booking a room in the original building will get you a “Historic” room. Booking a room in the Mialani Tower will give you a more modern room. I chose a room in the Mialani Tower.
Location
The Royal Hawaiian is located just off of Kalakaua Ave in central Waikiki (just a five minute walk from the equally-historic Moana Surfrider Hotel). However, it’s situated off the main road in a very densely-wooded area. You’re not going to see it from the street.
The lobby (and checking in)
I thought the lobby of the Hilton Waikiki Beach Hotel was impressive, but it’s got nothing on The Royal Hawaiian. The lobby of this hotel is easily one of the most impressive in all of Hawaii IMHO.
The check in process though? The staff was super kind and helpful, but it was as slow as molasses.
Getting to my room
The process of getting to my room was one of the most impressive things about this experience. It required walking through the central courtyard, which was an event in and of itself. Welcome to freakin’ Hawaii!
Room overview
I just couldn’t stay at The Royal Hawaiian without having an ocean view. Paying dearly for the privilege of seeing water from my room was absolutely worth it – despite wondering how I was ever going to financially recover from such a splurge.
The view
I don’t even have words to describe the view that I had from my room (other than it kicked the snot out of the view that I had from my room at the Vive Hotel located just down the road). I’m just going to let the pics speak for themselves:
The bathroom
Look. As long as the bathroom is sufficiently configured to successfully wash sand out of my junk, I’m cool with it. I deem this one to be sufficient for a hotel in the heart of Waikiki.
Pros and cons
So far, of all the hotels that I’ve stayed at in Waikiki, The Royal Hawaiian is one of my favorites. Not only is it one of the most historically significant hotels in the area, it’s also one of the most beautiful.
Pros
I say again: the beauty of this hotel (inside and out) cannot be understated.
You know it’s a good hotel when you get weak in the knees immediately upon stepping into the lobby for the first time.
The view of Waikiki Beach from the upper floor rooms is stunning.
Cons
The rooms are extremely basic for such a high priced hotel IMHO.
I’m not so sure I’d be willing to spend so much to stay here if I didn’t have a view of the beach from my room.