Moana Surfrider Resort Honolulu

Luxurious hotel with great commons areas. Be sure you ask for a room with a beach view, rather than a city view. You'll have to pay extra for the view though. We did have an incident with a cockroach in our room, so that's why I rated the cleanliness only 3 dots.

While I did not stay at this hotel, I enjoyed music, coffee, and the beach from it.

It is one of the most lovely hotels on Waikiki Beach and one that actually pays attention to the exterior look of the hotel. It looked like a large Southern plantation home with wide and sweeping verandas on front and back sides, each graced with relaxing rocking chairs to sit at your leisure.

The beach side of the hotel featured a lovely pool area, the famous Banyan tree, and restaurant, all with great views on the beach.

The location is wonderful, the surroundings in the hotel are relaxing. It did look quite crowded, which is the only drawback.

I would likely stay here next time if I could find a deal on a room below $170 a night.

Every bus on the island passed by this hotel, so it is cheap and easy to get anywhere (just takes a while by bus!).

This was my first stay at the Moana since it has changed management to Westin. The hotel is still beautiful, although not as lavishly decorated for Christmas as it was last year. I had requested a room in the Diamond Head wing, which we had previously. I was told by the front desk that we were upgraded to the Tower Wing, which I could not fully comprehend since the cost of the Oceanfront Diamond Wing room was the priciest of non-suite guest rooms. Neither the Tower room nor its lanai was as large as the room we occupied in the Diamond Wing last year, so where the upgrade comes in, I don't know. We did have some issues with the hotel this time, calling the front desk and having the phone ring more than a dozen times without being picked up, but the worst was the construction noise during the day. The front desk staff and their attitude has definitely changed since last year. We didn't feel that sense of Aloha, but more of a bother, and this with no other guests at the front desk. The lei greeting still remains, but they replaced the delicious guava juice with a lemongrass drink that was not to my taste. Room amenities were very good, the coffee maker and refrigerator free of charge were nice additions, especially the refrigerator that was a nice sized hotel room refrig and thankfully no mini-bar. The rooms were recently renovated and everything was new, including the large screen plasma TV. Housekeeping was timely and the room was always clean and neat when we would come back to our room in the afternoon. I couldn't see the point though of having the closet in the bathroom. Service at the pool bar was fantastic as well as the evening entertainment. When I arrived home, I did snail mail the new hotel manager and voiced my concerns and received an email from his executive assistant offering me two nights compensation on a future visit in the wing that I prefer. We've spoken by phone and she has been nothing but gracious, so I still have to give the Moana an excellent rating. If something is wrong, they will fix it. My anniversary this time was also noted on the reservation and never acknowledged; last year we received a bottle of champagne and a note from the manager. I love Hawaii, I love Waikiki and even though I experienced several problems, I still love the Moana.