Moana Surfrider, A Westin Resort & Spa, Waikiki Beach

The hotel is nice and the downtown location is hard to beat. We booked an oceanfront room hoping for a peaceful stay, but the yellow catamaran tour boats kept honking at swimmers and surfers and revving their engines through much of the day. You don’t hear road traffic from the ocean side, though the steady boat noise made it feel more like a busy city than a relaxing beachfront. Those boats also come close to shore, honking at people in the water instead of slowing down, so I’d be cautious about swimming there. With all that noise and activity, we wouldn’t choose to return, even though the hotel itself was nice.

We had a wonderful stay, from Stuart and the great check-in staff welcoming us with fresh flower leis to the sad moment we had to leave. Meralita kept our room perfect and brought us water every day. Breakfast was fresh, with plenty of hot and cold choices and local fruit. The hotel opens right onto the beach, and the international markets are across the street, so we could enjoy a lot without much effort. Live music at the Bar each afternoon was a nice extra. We can’t wait to come back. Thank you, Mahalo!

We love the traditional Hawaiian feel here, and it’s easy to spend a whole day relaxing at the beach, eating, and hanging out at the Beach Bar. This historic hotel has a great beachfront spot near shops and restaurants, plus excellent amenities, food, and helpful staff.

For what it cost, the Moana Surfrider didn’t feel worth it. It was almost three times the price of the Hilton one street behind us, which was built in the late 70's. The housekeeping staff were great, but someone walked straight into our room on the first day without knocking. The main trouble was being put in the wrong room. We asked to switch after two nights of our five night stay and got pushback. They blamed a computer error, and the manager turned down our first request. They only moved us after we asked again. We’d been promised an ocean view, but our third floor tower room, in a 20 floor tower, faced discarded underwear on the second floor roof. Employees had apparently seen it and left it there. At dinner at the beach bar, the staff paid little attention to us and seemed more interested in chatting with each other or with the female customers. The big tattoo'd guys working there need to be replaced with staff who hustle. The basement laundry room had something broken every day, from the washers to the soap dispensers. On the first day we waited a long time for laundry soap because the machine was out of order. If we come back to Hawaii, we’ll look at other hotels instead of staying at the Moana Surfrider.