Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Waikiki

The wife and I are on another Mileage Run vacation to Honolulu.  I had two free nights from the Hyatt VISA Signature sign-up bonus that were set to expire this month.  Combined with a strong desire on my wife’s part to make Alaska MVP Gold75K again, I came up with a few days in Waikiki and then on to California using our BoA Alaska Card companion certificate.

We are actually staying at the Hyatt for the first time as I normally stay at the Marriott Waikiki where I have been twice upgraded to a suite due to my Platinum status.  This despite what naysayers will tell you about Marriott rarely doing such a thing.  Status is huge and I find that it is always worth my money to book a room with the cheapest view as I invariably get upgraded to some type of better room.

Taking Speedi-shuttle in from HNL, we checked in at the Hyatt and were upgraded to a partial ocean view room on the 25th floor due to the Platinum status the Hyatt card grants me.  The wife also has Hyatt Platinum status as a result of her “free for a year” United Club membership.  Chase offered her a free year with the United Club card last year when she was matched to my 1K status since I am a Million Miler with UA.  Complicated?  Yeah, I know, but that’s how you play the game to your advantage!

Now back to the hotel review.  The Hyatt probably has the best location of all the Waikiki hotels.  Right on Kalakaua and directly across from the iconic statue of Duke on the Waikiki Beach.

The Hyatt’s twin towers are connected by a block-long three-tiered open mall.  The stores along Kalakaua are well-known, such as Urban Outfitters and UGG, but the interior stores are very typical small boutiques.  It is a nice place to hang out with friends and have a cup of coffee or an iced frappe.

The room was quite nice.  A single large area with the dressing and bathroom off to the side and a nice balcony.  They said the property had been recently renovated.  I don’t know exactly how long ago this happened, but the décor was certainly modern and they did a good job with the amenities such as the coffee area, mini-fridge and 40″ flat screen TV.  I did like nice additions such as each nightstand have two 110v outlets and two USB ports.  Necessary with all of today’s devices.

We had nice views directly up Kalakaua and the Sheraton across the street.   And there was, indeed, a partial ocean view.

The only complaint (and one hard to fix engineering wise) was the air conditioning.  The vent is less than one square foot and even on high fan could not keep up with the heat load coming in through the large window.  At night, it was no problem, but expect to come back to a hot room if you return at 4 pm.

Speaking of engineering, I have a whole post tomorrow on the remote controlled toilet!  On the whole, a really excellent property and a great use of two free nights.