June 29, 2009 – 1:57 pm | by nerd's eye view
Disclaimer: We were comped for our Waikiki stays. On Kauai, we received 2 nights free and 3 at a very deep discount.
It’s occurred to me that as much as I came back from Hawaii full of stories about new places, I never did write about where we stayed. And I should have, because they were great places. Let’s get right to it.
Outrigger on the Beach, Waikiki: This is a lovely property, you guessed it, right on the beach. It’s been remodeled recently and the rooms are in lovely earth tones. We got total VIP treatment — they’d put us in an upper floor beach front room and the view from our balcony, wow, it was nothing short of spectacular. But hey, we actually got to do a little comparison shopping — our travel companions booked their own room and were upgraded, with no fuss or fee, to a partial ocean view room that overlooked the pool. Our room was a little bigger, but the appointments were exactly the same. I loved the open air lobby, the breakfast buffet was pretty good and reasonably priced, and hey, this is A Nice Hotel. The Kani Ka Pila bar and grill is poolside and every night they had Hawaiian music, first rate Hawaiian music, with no cover charge. Sure, a fruity drink starts at 8 bucks, but you’re getting the kind of entertainment I’ve paid a LOT more to see for nothing.
Less than perfect? I was sort of amazed that such a nice hotel had Styrofoam cups for my in-room coffee. If you’re fussy about noise, the rooms overlooking the pool deck get the music from the bar until 10pm, this could be a problem for you. Also, here’s a weird detail: Because the restaurant faces the water, we could smell the grill more than we could smell the ocean.
Aqua Coconut, Waikiki: The decor in these rooms, the bright colors, the wacky 50s style modern touches, wow, this place has the kind of style that I really adore. There were lots of available wifi signals to connect to — though they were kind of slow. I really appreciated that they had provided basic kitchen amenities — a microwave, plates and cutlery, that sort of thing; I love it when a hotel acknowledges that you’re going to snack in your room and makes it easy for you. We had a suite, it was twice the size of our friends’ room but again, the decor was exactly the same and hey, I liked it! Did I mention the style? Breakfast was included — nothing fancy, hard boiled eggs, cereal, fruit, coffee, DIY waffles, you know the drill — all fine. The hotel is walking distance from the strip so while it’s not beach front, it’s still very convenient for everything in Waikiki. This place seemed like a bargain at the listed prices, a bargain — I found our room on special on the day we were there for 90/night.
Less than perfect? This is more about the location than about the hotel, but there was a lot of street noise here. The hotel is on a busy intersection and there’s lots of traffic all night long.
FYI on Waikiki: You’ll almost always pay extra for parking, about 25 bucks a night, plus, hey, don’t forget to tip your valet when he brings you your car. Because you can walk everywhere, you might consider skipping the rental car and just getting on when you decide you want to explore the island. It will save you some cash.
Hanalei Colony Resort, North Shore, Kauai: Location, location, location. They were awfully nice to us here, downright family like. We arrived very early in the day and while they could not give us our room, they did give us towels and the key to the pool so we could hang out, do our laundry, and have a peaceful sqaunder until they could let us in. Then, they put us on the upper floor unit with an absolutely stellar view. We were so close to the surf that you could not hear a person speaking in the other room. It was incredible. It’s not fancy, there’s nothing particularly swank about the place, but it’s clean, comfortable, well maintained and practically on the beach. The units are open floor plan and sleep four — they have sleeping alcoves more than bedrooms, but it’s really fine for four, especially since there are two bathrooms. There’s no TV, no phones, no wifi, nothing but the sound of the ocean. Wow. I wandered up to the office every morning to pick up a Kauai paper and to try to hitch on the wifi, but I spent most of my time sitting on the balcony gawping at the breathtaking scenery.It’s funny, the first thing I noticed back in my house in Seattle? The lack of surf noise. It seemed dead silent by comparison. I missed it right away.
Less than perfect? Uh. The wifi at the cafe was squirelly, but I usually just gave up and went back to drinking coffee on the balcony. Uh. It’s a little inconvenient for the airport if you have an early morning departure. Uh. Oh. It was not immediately apparent what we should do with our recycling and we felt bad about that.
If you’re going to Kauai and can afford Hanalei Colony Resort, GO FOR IT, but book your departure night somewhere closer, like Poipu. On Waikiki, I’d totally recommend either property, though honestly, I like the Diamond Head end of the strip because it’s a bit quieter. You can still walk everywhere, it’s another 15/20 minutes from the end of the strip, but I think it’s worth it.
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I don’t know what it is about the Italian countryside that makes the repressed English so much more charming, but, hey, it made me want to rent a place on the Italian coast for a month when the weather is vile here. Maybe in Porto Ercole, where my imaginary Italian boyfriend lives. It’s a nice little vacation of a movie — dreary people go on vacation and come back better humans for it — and hey, that’s a good model to live by.
is truly an amazing guidebook. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
