We traveled to Oahu from 07/5/22-07/12/22. The part of our trip that was extremely frustrating from start to finish was our experience with our condo in the hotel. The relationship between Captain Cook and The Ilikai has serious issues which I will get into later.
I first want to say that the room itself was great. It was newly remodeled, clean, the a/c made the evenings very comfortable, and even the pillows were the most comfortable I’ve experienced outside of our own home. There were 3 items that were not given to us that made the cooking experience difficult though.
We had an extremely sharp knife but no cutting board. Also, the oven got to an extremely hot temperature as expected but we were not given oven mitts or hot pads. This leads me to our main complaint about our stay. We were literally treated like second rate citizens by the hotel because we were staying in a ‘rental’ within their resort. We were told by our property manager that if we needed anything, we could reach out to the front desk and all of our concerns would be resolved. This is so far from the truth that my recommendation to stay at The Ilikai and with Captain Cook would be a solid DON’T and NO. We contacted the front desk for more towels, they told us to get the towels from our property manager. I contacted the property manager and he told us to get them from the front desk. So again I went to the front desk, I was told that as a ‘rental’ we wouldn’t be given anything during our stay.
Everything must be provided by our property manager at Captain Cook. This did not sit well with us. I complained to our property manager again and he told us he needed to talk to his manager in order to get the hotel to cooperate with us. In order to get us basic necessities like towels! How many hotels have you stayed at? Did they provide towels, toilet paper, trash bags, etc…? We could not get these items without complaining constantly, asking our property manager, or hilariously sneaking around to find anyone to help us, even begging the pool check-in lady for trash bags and towels because the front desk denied the fact that we existed. She gave them to us and proceeded to get in trouble because she helped us. The next day we were clearly shot down when asked for towels by the new pool check-in guy because he now knew that we were a ‘rental’ and not a guest at the hotel. Now we could use the pool towels while swimming and return them before leaving the pool areas which was the hotel policy, which was fine. No issues with this. But it took us 4 solid days to get the hotel to recognize that we should have the right to get amenities from the hotel even though we were a ‘rental’. They did not like us being there and it was obvious. Once we got it all quote un quote settled because some higher up person from Captain Cook contacted the hotel we, shockingly, still had issues. We would go to get beach towels from the front desk, and we were told no. Around day 4 we got the beach towel issue fixed. They somehow couldn’t find us in the system even though we gave all the information Captain Cook asked for a few times like all travelers' names, arrival dates and flight no. etc. Even though we providedthem all the info, still dont understandwhat they did with it. Also, asking us who we are, went on and on for the whole 7 day trip. We had to dump our trash bags and recycling in the stairwell access hallway because the trash shoot was locked. Other ‘rentals’ had to do this as well as there was always trash in that hallway that we traveled through everyday. The property manager at Captain Cook lacked urgency to make our stay what it should have been. Their motto is “you are on vacation and we are not”. Someone at Captain Cook should take a vacation within their own condo at The Ilikai and see how their vacation goes. Okay, deep breath. The Hawaii environment was wonderful. The hotel staff that delivered us, finally, our towels and toilet paper were kind and accommodating. We did not let this whole hotel thing cast a shadow on our entire vacation. We love Hawaii and the Hawaiian people. We will come back again but in no way will we be staying with Captain Cook or at The Ilikai. These issues should not exist. We were told by the front desk that this happens all the time with the ‘rentals’. These issues should not exist. So again, my final recommendation is a resounding DON’T and NO.