Our experience here could have been so much better had there been a few things that could have been prevented.
Context - We are a married couple with 3 young kids under the age of 8 which means we have luggage and will always accept the help of the baggage/valet team when checking in anywhere. But before I get into the “few things” that would have made the trip better, let’s start off with the good things.
PROs:
1. Location - right next to the beach, Hilton Hawaiian Village, Lagoon, close to Ala Moana Shopping Center
2. Size of the condo - great for a family of 5, enough room to spread out.
3. Amenities - love having a kitchen (we need milk and other foods for the kids), coin-operated washer and dryers at the end of the hallways, liquor store right at the lobby of the elevators, restaurant in the hotel, 2 pools, dishwasher.
4. Air conditioning - although it was a window unit, it chilled the room quickly.
5. Property Mgmt (Atsuko) was extremely responsive and nice. We were very grateful for this.
CONs:
1. Cleanliness - the floors were dusty, the couch was heavily stained, the shower floored looked as if there was fungus growing - broken/chipped tiles, even though it smelled of bleach, there’s no amount of bleaching that could help, it either needs to be retiled or a shower pad needs to be thrown over it (which is what we bought), the shower curtains both had mold/mildew growing on it, the pictures showed a glass shower door which is no longer there, all the towels were old, yellow and smelled of mildew, so bad that I had to call Atsuko to replace the towels and shower curtain. She responded right away and we were brought a new shower curtain (which I replaced myself) and 2 new sets of towels and 3 old towels (for our kids), so I immediately washed them with bleach, along with the bedding since they too looked dirty. We made sure to wear socks the entire time as soon as we stepped out of the shower and took off our shoes at the door.
2. Valet/baggage team was unfriendly and not helpful as soon as we told them we were renting from a privately owned condo in the hotel. They treated us like second class citizens - so not a great way to start the trip especially when they could see us struggling with luggage, groceries, and kids!
3. Pre-paid valet parking - it was never communicated that it’s required to pre-pay for parking for your entire stay in order to park at the hotel since we were not real “hotel guests”. Again, a little rude and off putting when the valet/baggage team actually mentions that to you.
4. Old and worn - not very well kept. As beautiful as the pictures are, the condo itself is old and worn down in person. I do have an appreciation for old things but when they are not kept well or not fixed properly, you can just tell.
5. Refrigerator - old and broken. After about a day with milk and other food in the fridge, we noticed it wasn’t cooling any of our items. We let Atsuko know and she called in someone to look at it the next day. She responded right away to replace the fridge at 5 pm (same day). We tossed out all the other items (since they spoiled) and were just grateful for the “new” one being functional. I say “new” since it was a used fridge that still worked. Again, I was just glad it worked and was replaced right away!
6. Vacuum - I tried vacuuming the floor, but it seems the vacuum needs to be replaced too - as soon as it sucked up anything, it would shoot it back out at my feet!
7. Wifi is slow/weak (we are a tech savvy family with 2 laptops, 4 iPads, 3 iPhones, 5 people using devices)
8. Door lock /security - there’s a lock box on the condo door itself and I wonder how often that combination is changed. The door is wooden and only has a deadbolt with a chain lock on the inside. I worried if prior renters would come into our room while we were out.
Atsuko refunded us half the cleaning fee without prompting and was very apologetic which was nice. We paid for a 5 night stay and debated after our first night if we should go elsewhere and ask for a refund. Unfortunately most hotels were booked since it was Thanksgiving weekend and if there was availability it would cost us $500/night, so we made the best of it and stayed. After the first 2 days of mishaps and everything was fine. I’m saddened that I had to worry, waste time in washing and cleaning everything, throw away milk and food while on vacation.
In the end, had the room, towels, sheets, shower and fridge all been cleaned properly and functioning as it should, I would have given this a better review.