Review: Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort and Spa

On the way up to find our room at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort, a man in the elevator noticed we were carrying our luggage and asked if we were just checking in. After we told him that we had just arrived, he started telling us that he’d checked in earlier in the week and that he loved the resort. We knew we were going to have a good stay when, without prompting, a stranger starts telling us how great the resort is. In fact, we did enjoy our stay here.

The Location

The Marriott Waikiki Beach Resort is located on 2552 Kalakaua Avenue directly across from Waikiki Beach. It’s really close to the Kuhio Beach Park where you can catch the free evening hula shows. The resort is close to the many shopping and dining options that the Waikiki area offers.

The Rooms

We loved the spacious rooms here. The resort has recently been renovated and everything seems so clean and fresh. The rooms are decorated in shades of green, orange, pinks and reds that create a modern tropical feel. The bed and linens were very comfortable. We had a great 42″ flat screen television, but I don’t think we even turned it on. When we were in the room, we tended to spend our time soaking in the excellent view of Waikiki Beach from the lanai.

The bathrooms were luxurious with plenty of countertop and storage space for all our toiletries. We liked that there were his and her sinks, a step-in shower and a separate tub. Generous-sized, tropically-scented toiletries were also provided.

The room had small refrigerator that was great for keeping drinks cold. We also had a Cuisinart one-cup (at a time) coffee maker and Hawaiian grown coffee was provided.

I can be a stickler for hotel cleanliness, so I was pleased that the rooms were very clean. In fact, I’ve stayed in quite a few hotels over the years and I think the Waikiki Beach Marriott might have the cleanest rooms I’ve ever seen. Kudos to the housekeeping staff there! I was impressed.

The Amenities & Facilities

The resort has quite a lot to offer. Here are some of the notables.

• Several options for on-site dining. We were excited that one of our favorite restaurants in Hawaii, Sansei, is located on-site.
• Two freshwater, heated pools with lounge chairs and umbrellas.
• On-site spa and 24-hour fitness center.
• Cultural activities are offered daily.
• The resort has several interesting clothing and souvenir shops on-site.
• If you didn’t rent a car at the airport, there’s a Hertz rental car desk on-site for day trips to discover Oahu.

A Few Hints and Tips

• Look through the resort’s newsletter for cultural activities, special events and discount offers.
• Take advantage of your lanai if you enjoy your view. (The photo on the right shows the view from our lanai.) We ordered room service for breakfast one morning which made a great start to the day. I noticed that the resort newsletter has a room service sunset special between 5:00pm and 7:00pm daily. The special includes appetizer sampler plus two tropical drinks for $25 plus tax and delivery charge. If we hadn’t run out of time, we probably would have taken advantage of that special.
• You can valet or self-park here. Valet parking was only a few dollars more per day, and though we typically avoid valet parking, we found it to be convenient here. If I remember correctly, valet parking cost about $28 per day.

You can see more of the photos we took at this resort. Here’s a link to TripAdvisor reviews of the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort. Have you stayed in this resort? What did you think?