This is located inside a hotel called Aqua Bamboo, which is partly owner operated, and located two blocks away from the beach. Here's the breakdown of the pros and cons:
Pros:
- Close to the beach
-Close to ABC stores and a few blocks away from shopping and restaurant areas
- Clean Room
- Balcony to look down at the pool hangout spot
- Pool open till 10pm, so you can swim and hang out
- AC was working the entire trip
- Very quiet hotel
- Fridge didn't closed and Mark was very quick about coming over to get it fixed
Cons:
- Limited coin operated Washer and Dryer available within the building, so it's very hard to find one that is available. We swim a lot, so a lot of time wasted in going up and down the elevator trying to find an unoccupied washer/dryer.
- AC was very loud, even though owner stated that it was fixed in his previous comment to another customer review.
- They have two balcony: one is facing the pool and one is facing the street. The one facing the street is actually facing the wall of another building, so don't count of having a nice street view. The one facing the pool is nice, but pool shutdown at 10pm, so it'll be all dark. Due to the pyramid style of the hotel, water drips into the pool balcony and onto the chairs and table, so you can't really sit outside to have a drink since it'll be wet.
- No parking available. You will need to pay $30/day in the parking structure next door if you want to park your car. Mark makes us aware of this and we made last minute decision to get one anyway. Having a car allows us to travel outside of Waikiki to other beaches. It was worth it.
- One thing I was keen on is having a working AC. Upon arrival we were told that the AC had some problem and they were sending someone over to take a look, but the AC turned on again before that, so they called off the repairman. We were very concern because if it break in the middle of the night, we will be left without AC. We had this happened to us when we went to Maui and it is unbearable. We were told that if it breaks in the middle of the night then there's really nothing they can do.
Overall not a bad place, but if I were to stay here again, I would book it as a regular hotel since you'll get amenities like room service (room cleaning, repairs, etc), fresh towels, and other hotel related services that you don't get through this. Also, the pricing is pretty much the same.