Aqua Palms And Spa — Hotel Review Rating: 3.0 Pearls

Oyster Review Summary

Photos and review by Kate M., Oyster Expert Hotel Investigator.
Updated: May 9, 2010

Oyster Hotel Photos

The Hotel (80)

Restaurants and Bars (15)

Amenities (33)

Partial City View Room (33)

Pool (18)

City View Room (84)

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Rooms at Aqua Palms And Spa

Diamond Head View Room 325 sq. ft with a Queen, or King, or 2 Queens. A Diamond Head view.	/avg. per night You Save: 00%   Book Room
City View Room 325 sq. ft with a Queen, or King, or 2 Queens. A city view.	/avg. per night You Save: 00%   Book Room
Partial City View Room 325 sq. ft with a Queen, or King, or 2 Queens. A partial city view.	/avg. per night You Save: 00%   Book Room
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Oyster Hotel Review

 Scene

The colorful lobby is a pleasant surprise after a gray exterior.

If it weren't for the intentionally kitschy neon "vacancy" sign in the front window (a chain-wide trademark), you wouldn't know this 12-story building on busy Ala Moana Boulevard is a hotel. The beach is about a five-minute walk away, but feels further given the surrounding gray sidewalks and constant din from buses and trolleys. It could easily be mistaken for an apartment block or office building like the ones on the block surrounding it.

But beyond the small green awning, a certain liveliness unveils. Sure, there aren't many services or features -- no valet parking, no restaurant, no bell desk -- but the staff is cheerful and guests congregate at a 24-hour coffee station in the small, bright lobby that shares the building's ground floor with an IHOP. On a recent visit, guests included a little league baseball team from the Big Island, other Hawaiian residents, young couples, and a few families from the mainland.

And while it's small, the lobby has a tour desk, a "business center", and two separate seating areas with couches, wicker and wooden chairs, and a few glass tables. A sunset mural painted on the ceiling above the front desk and a basket of apples are a calming influence that help offset the noisy scene outside. Another mural leads the way to the elevator bank, hinting at the palm tree motif present in all rooms and hallways (the latter recently redone in palm tree wallpaper, with carpets reminiscent of pink brain coral).

Overall, the prevailing upbeat attitude and local Hawaii flavor beat out that found at the somewhat sterile Doubletree Waikiki a block down the street. And the room rates here are a lot cheaper.

 Service

Staff is cheerful and eager to help.

Though Aqua Palms has a do-it-yourself feel -- no restaurant, bell stand, turndown service, or valet parking, and laundry machines are in the garage -- the staff is quite cheerful and eager to help.

• Front desk clerks sport native necklaces and aloha shirts, give a prompt and warm welcome, and offer to help with bags.
• There's no bell stand in the lobby and only one porter.
• Free pool/beach towels at the front desk (which also stocks amenities like toothbrushes and shaving cream)
• Daily housekeeping service
• A pleasant staffer at the tour desk in the corner of the lobby doles out friendly advice about area activities.
• No drink service at the 2nd-floor pool, but there are tables and a communal barbecue on the pool deck.

 Location

View on a Larger Map

The Aqua Palms' location isn't ideal for a relaxing vacation, but it's not bad. Set on busy Ala Moana Boulevard next to a taller condo building, it's a five- to 10-minute walk to the beach at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and a 10-minute walk to the Hawaii Convention Center for business folks. Proximity to the Hilton means more than just a lovely beach -- there's a plethora of shops, restaurants, and entertainment as well. There's an IHOP next door, an ABC convenience store around the corner, and a 24-hour diner a block away.

About 20 minutes away lies the heart of Waikiki's main drag, Kalakaua Avenue, a touristy milelong stretch of shops, restaurants, and high-rise hotels. Waikiki offers a curious blend of mainland creature comforts and local flavor. On the sidewalks, Japanese tourists intermingle with tanned locals, surfboards under their arms, on their way to the beach to catch a few waves after work. On both sides of the street, high-end retailers -- Tiffany, Cartier, even an Apple store -- are interspersed with indoor malls and streetside vendors hawking cheap seashell jewelry and aloha shirts. Seemingly every midmarket chain restaurant can be found here -- Cheesecake Factory, California Pizza Kitchen, P.F. Chang's -- along with more than a handful of Starbucks and fast-food joints. And towering above it all: 40-story, thousand-room hotels, dotting the landscape like pins in a cushion.

• Wide variety of shopping, dining, and drinking
• Ala Moana Shopping Center - the largest open-air mall in the country is 20 minutes by foot.
• Cheap and easy to get around Waikiki via "The Bus" ($2.25 per person to go any distance)
• Honolulu International Airport is a 15-minute, $35 cab ride.
• Pearl Harbor, Hanauma Bay, and Diamond Head Crater -- three of the most popular tourist sites outside Waikiki -- can all be reached within 30 minutes by car.

 Beach

Aqua Palms is a five- to 10-minute walk from the public Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon at Hilton Hawaiian Village. The Hilton's beach has lovely white sand and is wider than farther down near the Sheraton Waikiki or Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach, and it feels pleasantly uncrowded compared to those hotels' beaches. Plus there are lots of water sports available, including aqua bikes, kayaks, snorkels, standup paddle surfing, or plain old inner tubes. But rentals come at a steep price, ranging from $10.47 for an inner tube to $31.41 for an hour with a kayak. Group surf lessons are available at a steep rate of $90 for two hours. Beach chairs rent for about $10, lounge chairs go for around $15, and umbrellas cost $30 to rent for the day.

Loosely speaking, the entire 1.5-mile stretch of sand alongside Kalakaua Avenue is known as http://www.gohawaii.com/oahu/learn/waikiki Waikiki Beach. In reality, it's more like three separate beaches, the borders of which vary depending on whom you ask. Just beyond the Hilton's lagoon lies the Fort DeRussy section of Waikiki Beach, which is far less crowded than its more famous neighbor to the southeast, Queen's Beach. The water is shallow, warm, and calm, making Fort DeRussy a decent place to swim, especially for kids.

• Public beach
• Ocean bottom is rocky, unlike neighboring Queen's Beach.
• Lifeguards monitor the beach throughout the day.
• Free towels, provided by the hotel
• Umbrellas and lounge chairs must be rented from one of the many Star Beach Boys stands; chairs are $5 an hour, $20 a day; for two chairs and an umbrella, it's $10 an hour, $50 a day.
• Water sports equipment, like surfboards and boogie boards, available for rental at Star Beach Boys stands

 Rooms

Rooms are fun and colorful

The Aqua Palms' standard rooms are a good value for the price given their condition and amenities, and they're some of the nicest in the Aqua chain. Larger-than-average standards (or "Partial City View Rooms") are 325 square feet and have uninspiring views of the island's interior, but they're far quieter than rooms overlooking Ala Moana Boulevard.

• Redecorated in 2008 with bright, tropical-kitsch décor -- muted pinks, yellows and greens, with beige carpets, cream walls, and a plastic turquoise headboard atop plush pillow-top beds
• Valances, throw pillows, and bed runners have pink or yellow palm tree prints; even soap dishes and room numbers get the palm tree treatment.
• A desk, a colorful table with two stylish wicker chairs, a mini-fridge, and a tiled entryway with a microwave and coffeemaker; free coffee packets replenished daily
• Some standards include sleeper sofas (guests can request one of these ahead of time); 77 of the 120 standards have balconies, which guests will soon be able to request through the hotel's website.
• Every room has a 42-inch LG flat-screen TV with about 100 channels of digital cable (more than other hotels, though there's no HBO or pay-per-view offered) *Free in-room high-speed wired Internet; though online reviewers have complained about sites like YouTube and IMDb being blocked, I had no problem accessing them.
• Bathrooms are the weak spot -- small and dark in spite of cute palm-print wallpaper and shower curtains; the door in my bath blocked the shower, requiring me to close it to get to the tub.
• It may not be worth upgrading to a Diamond Head View because, despite a more spacious entryway, a plush king-size bed, and views of both the mountain and ocean, they face noisy Ala Moana.

 Features

The small fitness room

The hotel's features aren't exciting -- a small pool, a couple of treadmills, a Weber grill, some rooms for massages -- but everything is in good condition, and there's close proximity to a lot of features at the nearby Hilton Hawaiian Village. If extra resort amenities are important, this is not the choice for you.

• The second floor, V-shaped pool, open until 10 p.m., offers little more than a chance to cool off; noise from Ala Moana Boulevard definitely mars the experience.
• A grill is free for guest use, along with a couple of tables set up for impromptu barbecues.
• A useful, if unexciting, small fitness room off the pool deck has a few treadmills -- (one new, one ancient) -- and a multifunction weight machine.
• The "spa" amounts to nothing more than a treatment room off the pool deck that's only open by appointment. Treatments include body scrubs, facials, and massages.
• A laundry room, with five washers and four dryers, is located in the parking garage; open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Garage parking with unlimited in/out privileges costs $20 a day.

 Family

Families can do worse than staying at the affordable Aqua Palms. The proximity of the higher-end Hilton Hawaiian Village across the street means that tons of amenities -- including its beach, restaurants, shops, and grounds -- are accessible to guests.

• On-site pool has no special features, but it's fine for younger kids.
• Large, affordable rooms -- many with sleeper sofas and all with mini-fridges and microwaves -- as well as an on-site guest laundry
• Family-friendly eating options include an IHOP on the ground floor, a 24-hour diner down the block, and chain restaurants like Outback Steakhouse, McDonald's, and Red Lobster five minutes further down Ala Moana.

 Cleanliness

Housekeeping carts seem to fill the hallways at all hours

Cleanliness and housekeeping are no better or worse here than at others hotels in this category. There are a few minor issues, but nothing more.

• Minor rips and stains
• Lobby furniture seems a little worn, but well-kept.
• Housekeeping carts are ever present in the hallways -- perhaps a good sign, but it's not easy getting past them with a suitcase.
• Stains on the bed's turquoise headboard and rips in the chiffon window sheers.

 Food

Guests get a 10-percent discount at the IHOP on the ground floor

The hotel does not have its own restaurant, but it offers discounts to a couple of nearby spots.

• Guests get 10-percent discount at the ground-floor IHOP and at the 24-hour Wailana Coffee House down the block; Diamond Head View (and higher) guests get a free American breakfast at IHOP.
• Coffee available 24/7 in the lobby.
• Dozens of restaurants within two blocks of the hotel, including about 20 options at Hilton Hawaiian Village and chains such Outback Steakhouse, McDonald's, and Red Lobster about five minutes down Ala Moana Boulevard.

 Bottom Line

Though the noisy Ala Moana Boulevard location and lack on-site amenities leave something to be desired, a friendly staff, close proximity to the beach at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and up-to-date, affordable rooms that are some of the nicest in the Aqua chain, elevate this bright hotel.