Ala Moana Hotel

We arrived at the hotel at about 9 PM. There was no parking available either for self park or valet. They told us that they could not park our car and that we were on our own for parking. This was an extremely disappointing event. There is no other parking available in the area. They had no viable alternative available. Basically they made their parking problem my problem by surprise. They could have called so that I could make other arrangements but they did not. They did not inform me of the situation until after I had given them my credit card and finished the check in process. I finally through such a fit that they parked my car in the driveway in front of the hotel. Do not recommend this hotel until they solve their parking problem. They have 1000 rooms and only 300 parking spaces. This is in a place where most travelers rent cars.

The Japanese attendant will try to cheat you with fees and the parking. Just in front of the hotel there is a big free parking. The attendant will tell us that our car will be towed away so we should use its parking ($20). We did, but next day we realized that many cars remain in their spaces without any violation. Moreover, all the signs are in japanese. Bad location, far away from waikiki.

I was at the hotel for buisness. The breakfast restaurant said they had made to order meals but when you show up they only offer buffett. The buffett was average but over priced. The wait staff were very friendly. To park at the hotel for 4 nights was $60.00. This was not mentioned. The pool bar and restaurnt were closed (did not indicate that in their website). The lobby bar was closed (also not mentioned). Restaurant at top of hotel was also closed and their were signs advertising this. I liked the convenience store in the hotel and short stroll to Ala Moana shopping center. Friend I met there told me that they are condos and if you go through condo onwer it is cheaper. Had problem with TV and it took 50 min for someone to come up and help.

This was my second stay at this hotel. The first being nearly eight years ago. My first trip impressed me so much that I was eager to return. How sad for me. To start with, my room was so small and poorly arranged that if you had the chair for the desk pulled out you would have to walk across the bed to get to the other side of the room. My first morning there, I plugged in the blow dryer and was drying my hair when sparks and flames shot out of the electrical outlet. I immediately called downstairs and spoke with a desk clerk that did not seem very concerned and promised to send someone up. No one came and I left for work returning later that evening. I called the front desk to see if anyone had come to check this out (since the blow dryer and the soot were still on the bathroom counter) and was told that they would send someone up. They sent up a housekeeper with a new blow dryer. When I explained what had happened she called engineering and the sent up and engineer in a couple of minutes. He looked at the blow dryer and tested the outlet, let the blow dryer run for about 10 seconds and said everything was fine. I did not use the blow dryer again during my stay. It also seemed as if the room was not cleaned very well, while my stuff on the bathroom counter would be moved around, the counter did not seem to get wiped down, since the soot from my first day was there all week. I was quite disappointed and don't think I'll be staying here again.

The room was smaller than the average New York room. Nice hotel, but too small, a Japanese style suit. I had a light green t-shirt (kind of a muscle shirt) I used it to work out a the hotel's gym on Friday night, I looked for it on Saturday night and I couldn't find it. I called the hotel's management, they look for it on the laundry in case it fell to the floor and it was mixed with the towels... nothing happened. I didn't see it again, it was stolen from my room, I looked all over the place. I never had any issue like this in my life.

It was conveniently located for me to attend the meeting held at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. And I was initially reasonably pleased with the hotel. The telephone in my room, however, went mad and started to buzz in the middle of the last night of my stay, which woke me up at 3 a.m. I had a hard time sleeping after that. The hotel engineer came to my room to fix the phone at 3:30 a.m. But I was in no way prepared to carry on any conversation at that time of the night. I asked him to take the phone away from the room. Consequently, I was unable to get the wake-up call the next morning. I think the hotel should refund at least one night of the hotel charge, and compensate with another night or two of free stay as a token of apology. I filed the complaint, but I have not yet heard from the hotel management as of this day (July 19).

I chose a "partial ocean view" room, and paid a little extra for it on Orbitz. When I arrived to check in, I was told I'd been "upgraded to the Waikiki Tower at no extra charge". Upon entering my room, I was very disappointed to find that I had no ocean view whatsoever, but was overlooking the parking lots of the businesses and towers behind the hotel. My room was not larger and did not have any extra amenities, so I viewed the "upgrade" as a "downgrade" that I paid extra for.

This is a very average hotel (contrary to the online pics & price). I'm not sure that it is worth the price. The rooms were VERY small, but clean. The staff was really helpful & friendly. My trip was for business at the Hawaii Convention Center, so for this the location was perfect. It is attached to the Ala Moana shopping center which was convenient for meals & groceries. If you just want to vacation in Waikiki though, I'd look for another hotel closer to that beach & for a better price.

Bottom line the base rate rooms (Kona Tower) are very small and noisy. Yes that really means small and noisy. There is no scenic view just that of the office/condo buildings looking back at you. If you want quiet and a view, and the views are great, pay for the more expensive room or stay elsewhere. The pool, gym, sauna, overall cleanliness and hotels location are hard to beat.

We stayed in the Kona tower (smaller area of the hotel). The two towers share a common lobby area, which is very spacious and well-kept. The room was very clean but very small. The television was also very small (<20"). The Ala Moana Mall is right next door so there are more good dining options than you could exhaust in a month. The pool area is very nice--on the third floor so it feels secluded but there are plenty of places to sun. Good location not too far from fun stuff of Waikiki.