Hawaii Vacation Specialist-Chris

Open air lobby with shops at the hyatt regency waikiki

I had another wonderful stay at this property (both times).  The valet service and bellmen again quick as expected.  The front desk was great and very friendly.  It was such a nice time to be staying as they were putting up their decorations and getting ready for christmas.  This time instead of a cityview room I got a deluxe ocean room both times, however the second time I checked in I got a much higher floor.  There were some differences in the room.  The higher floor was bigger and did have the LG flat screen TV.  When I was in the cityview last year and also in the ocean room on the 6th floor this time they did not have the flat screens in them yet.

Mele Kalikimaka at the hyatt.  That is myself and my son with santa one of the employees was nice enough to take for us.

This was the second bigger room with the LG flat screen tv and king bed.

This is the bathroom.  This bathroom was much bigger then my last 2 rooms.  It was seperated by a wall which you can get a glimpse of in the first picture on the left..made it feel like an entire seperate room.

Again the internet is T-mobile hotspot and wireless.  If you have T-mobile service and need internet for your stay it’s much cheaper to add it to your monthly bill and take it off the next month instead of paying a daily fee. 

They are in the process of finishing up a sandwhich type bar with a healthier alternative lunch choices with fresh ingedients to create your own lunch sandwhiches the way you would like them.  They are also almost finished with their rum bar as well.  Both are located next to the pool.  The property does a very good job of disguising their work as I didn’t even notice it until she pointed it out to me.  It is almost completed and should be done this month.

One thing I noticed right away when going up to a room at this property is the amount of elevators that they have.  They had 8 elevators at the property which makes it a nice short wait for one.  The elevator button was really neat too and unique I think.  Its a stand in the middle of the floor with 4 elevators on each side, but it is displayed in a very beautiful manor. (Yes I took a picture of it that will come soon so please check back).

Yes that is the button for the elevators.  I thought it was very pretty.

 The shape of the building is also very clever utilizing it’s oceanfront location to full advantage. Two thirds of the property are oceanview rooms and even when getting a non oceanview room I was told some of the guests are pleasantly surprised by the view.

The Rooms

 The person who designed these hotel rooms really needs to be commended.  There is great utilization of space here.  Even though the rooms are not huge they feel as if they are quite big.  Instead of the bulk dressers you normally find in hotel rooms they have cleverly mounted their flat scree tv’s on the wall with a stylish shelf under it so that you still have something to set your keys and drinks, etc. on top of. 

Sheraton Waikiki Beds and desk.

There he is again..that is the toilet and sink on the other side of the pass through area.

So where are the drawers?  Well they have built in their closet shelves to put your clothes in on one side and you can hang clothes on the other.  The bathrooms were spacious and they have a divider between the room and the bathroom.  In the divider it is like a countertop normally you see these like in kitchens with a pass through to the next room, however you can close the partition for privacy or open them and have that great view from the bathroom as well or still keep an eye on the children while in the bathroom.  When the partition is open it also makes the room feel a little more roomy as well.

There are those shelves for clothes instead of the drawers.  The other side of the closet is for hanging. (for someone like me clever!  because I honestly never use the drawers so they normally just take up space)

The View

The experience was great.  The staff was so friendly and very welcoming.  The Moana hotel originally took over the Surfrider and combined them into one creating the Moana Surfrider Hotel.  This hotel has a very charming look to it and really makes you kind of feel like you are in old hawaii.  There are two wings to the property.  The Tower Wing and the Historic Wing.  The Tower wing rooms have been renovated and are very spacious.  Views from the balcony are gorgeous views of waikiki beach. (pictures to come)

The Lobby of the Moana Surfrider (Waikiki)

The Heavenly Bed at the Moana Surfrider (Tower Wing)

The View from the Moana Surfrider Tower Wing

When doing the renovations and building the connection between the moana and the surfrider the construction company found crown molding throughout and actually found the original blueprints in the process and discovered that just about the entire hotel was done in crown molding making it impossible for them to redo the structure. When going to this hotel most of what you see is the original with retouches which actually gives it a very nice feel of old hawaii, but yet still redone to look just as beautiful. 

In the historic wing there are very few rooms that actually have balconies.  The smaller rooms there are quite small and give you more of a bed and breakfast kind of feel to it.  If wanting to stay in the historic wing with a bigger room you should book the larger rooms which are more towards the size of the tower wing. The rooms in both towers however are furnished very nicely and have the heavenly products in them.  Even the cribs and the rollaways are the heavenly line.

This hotel really gives the feeling of the hawaii of old, but still with an elegant new feel to it as well.  I would definately recommend this hotel if coming to Oahu as a great oceanfront property.  Location is great, staff is awesome and rooms are very beautifully done with nice furnishings.

I took many pictures of the property and rooms so come back and visit my blog sometime for the pictures to come!

Flights schedules and carry-ons.