Aqua Waikiki Pearl Rating: 2.5 Pearls

Waikiki, Honolulu, Oahu

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Lobby at the Aqua Waikiki Pearl

After nearly a year of renovations, the Aqua Waikiki Pearl emerged from its $5.5 million overhaul during summer 2009. The result: The 127 rooms, which were gutted right down to the carpet, the bedding, and the plumbing, are spacious and clean, making the Pearl one of the best deals going in Waikiki.

The trade-off, of course, is that guests get little more than a great room for a good price. Amenities and service are slim: no pool, no gym, no bellmen, and usually only one person at the front desk in the lobby. The location is lacking too. The hotel is just off Kuhio Avenue, a less prestigious address than the parallel, oceanfront Kalakaua Avenue. The 10-minute two-long-block walk to the beach requires passing through the International Marketplace, where hawkers sell puka-shell necklaces, Obama bobbleheads, and Hawaii T-shirts, or taking a longer, slightly less chaotic path around it. Either way, you have to get to the beach through another hotel, like the Outrigger Waikiki, or find a public access point.

Guests from Japan, Australia, and the mainland occasionally congregate in the lobby, which has a modern-on-a-budget vibe, but most use the hotel as an inexpensive base for nearby shopping (the swanky Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center is a few minutes away) and the beach. Also, as there's no in-house dining, guests head elsewhere, but there's plenty of grub on Kuhio, including cheap chains like McDonald's and Denny's, plus one of Oyster's favorites, Puka Dog.

The Aqua Waikiki Wave, the Pearl's sister property less than a block away, offers more in the way of service, but the rooms aren't as fresh and clean -- and the street noise is extremely loud (some Pearl guests on low floors complained of noise, but I found that the Pearl isn't as loud as the Wave). Hotel Renew, with its charming rooms and great service, is another great budget option in the neighborhood. But it's generally more expensive than the Pearl.

Front desk attendant

The service here is bare-bones. The front desk employee basically runs the show alone, answering phones, checking guests in and out, and doubling (or tripling or quadrupling) as a concierge. Yet I rarely saw a line, and the front-desk staffer always seemed to juggle these tasks with competence and friendliness (even when I was watching from a semi-hidden perch in the lobby).

• Typically just one person staffing front desk
• No concierge
• With no doorman or bellhop, guests are on their own to schlep luggage upstairs, though if you ask the front desk for help, someone will come.
• Daily housekeeping (but if housekeeper sees a do-not-disturb sign between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., he or she assumes guests don't want their room cleaned)

View on a Larger Map

The hotel is just off Kuhio Avenue, a less prestigious address than Kalakaua Avenue, the buzzing oceanfront artery running through Waikiki that's one long block to the south. Packed with budget hotels and cheap chain restaurants like McDonald's, IHOP, and Denny's, Kuhio can get a bit seedy after dark (a male colleague was propositioned there by a few women of the night). Still, violent crime isn't a problem in Waikiki, and plenty of families and unaccompanied women walk around Kuhio at night.

From the Aqua Waikiki Pearl, it's less than five minutes to Kalakaua Avenue, a touristy, milelong stretch of shops, restaurants, and high-rise hotels that runs along Waikiki Beach on Oahu's southeast coast. 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, and yes, even an Apple store -- are interspersed with indoor malls and streetside vendors hawking cheap seashell jewelry and T-shirts. Seemingly every mid-market chain restaurant can be found here -- Cheesecake Factory, California Pizza Kitchen, Tony Roma'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.

• Located just off Kuhio Avenue, which can get seedy at night
• 5- to 10-minute walk to the beach
• One long block (3 to 5 minute walk) to Kalakaua Avenue via the International Marketplace, where carts hawk cheap jewelry and souvenirs
• Honolulu Zoo and Kapiolani Park are a 15 minute walk
• Cheap and easy to get around Waikiki via "The Bus" ($2.25/person to go any distance)
• Honolulu International Airport is a 15-minute, $35 cab ride

Loosely speaking, the entire 1.5-mile stretch of sand alongside Kalakaua Avenue is known as Waikiki Beach. In reality, it's more like three separate beaches, the borders of which vary depending on whom you ask. The Aqua Waikiki Pearl is a 5- to 10-minute walk from the section called Queen's Beach, which is the part you see on postcards of Waikiki: manicured, palm tree-dotted lawns leading to a sunny white-sand beach. Children splash about in the shallow water near the shore, while surfers and stand-up paddle-boarders (the rad new thing to do) patrol the outer waters.

To summarize Queen's Beach in one word: packed. Packed with energy, packed with activity, packed -- most significantly -- with people. Towels carpet the sand like blankets at a sold-out concert. Families with small children, honeymooning couples, even locals taking lunch breaks -- they all merge here, sunning, swimming, and sandcastle-building, all the while doing their best not to kick sand in each other's faces.

• Public beach
• Warm, shallow water -- a decent place to swim, especially for kids
• Sandy, not rocky, ocean bottom -- unlike neighboring Fort DeRussy to the west and Kuhio (aka The Wall) to the east.
• 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 the Star Beach Boys stands

The Deluxe Cityview Room

The large and reasonably priced rooms are the sole reason to stay here. The hotel emerged from a yearlong, $5.5 million renovation in 2009, and it shows. Everything about the rooms is new, and it's impossible to pack in much more for the dollar. A 450-square-foot city view room like the one I stayed in is the best value. The difference between a city view and a standard room is huge, but the upgrade is often just an extra $5 to $10. Standards are half the size, lack a balcony, and feel darker and more cramped because they get less light.

The rub with staying in central Waikiki is the noise. My room on the 9th floor was fairly quiet, but guests on lower floors did mention more noise. I can definitively say that these rooms are quieter than those at the Aqua Waikiki Wave, where they provide earplugs for the guests.

• City view rooms have either a king, or more likely two beds, a queen and a full bed, a small kitchenette, a spacious bathroom, and a balcony.
• Beds are firm and comfortable.
• Cotton sheets and three poly-stuffed pillows per bed are just adequate, but fine for what you're paying.
• Free Internet (via an Ethernet cord, no Wi-Fi yet)
• A 27-inch LG flatscreen TV with basic cable (no pay-per-view movies)
• Kitchenette with a minifridge, a GE microwave, and a 4-cup Sunbeam coffee pot. Suites come with full kitchens, but no ovens. There's a safe in all closets.
• Spacious bathrooms in the city view rooms have a granite (or granite-looking) counter.
• The lighting's not great, but the tile in the shower is new -- not a hint of mildew in the grout.
• Hotel-brand toiletries feel a bit stingy -- just one bottle of shampoo and two bottles of soap.
• The one- and two-bedroom suites have full kitchens (but no ovens), including dishware, cutlery, and pots and pans (not the case with the kitchenettes), making them very economical for families.

Guest Laundry Room

Other than free Wi-Fi and an iMac in the lobby with free access, and free Internet in the rooms (via an Ethernet cord), you'll find no extras here, folks: no gym, no pool, no spa, no restaurant. Just clean, spacious, and bright rooms about 10 minutes from the beach.

• Guest laundry is on the 3rd floor, and it's cheap: $1.25 to wash, $1 to dry. But you may have to wait a long time for the glacial elevator to ferry you between floors.

This is one of the only pet-friendly hotels in Waikiki, and dogs are well cared for.

• $25 per day for each dog, plus a $100 refundable deposit
• Canines have to be under 20 pounds.
• At check-in, the hotel provides a basket with two bowls, a package of treats, doggie bed, blanket, and doggie diapers. Yes, diapers.

While the Aqua Waikiki Pearl provides nothing of note for kids to do (no pool, no restaurant), the spacious low-priced rooms make the hotel a good family value. (Just keep in mind that Kuhio Avenue isn't the kid-friendliest area since it's off the beach and can feel shady at night.) Families will want to upgrade from a standard room to a 450-square-foot city view room, which has a king, or more likely a queen and a full bed, a small kitchenette, a large bathroom, and a balcony. Standards are half the size, lack a balcony, and feel darker and more cramped. You'll pay no more than $10 (plus or minus seasonally) to upgrade.

• Cribs and cots are $30 a night.
• The one-bedroom suites sleep up to four, the two-bedrooms up to six.
• Suites have full kitchens, including dishware, cutlery, and pots and pans
• No more than a 10-minute walk to Waikiki beach
• 15-minute walk to the Honolulu Zoo

The hotel emerged from a $5.5 million renovation in 2009, and it shows. Rooms are immaculate, right down to the grout in between the tiles in the shower. All of the public areas are well maintained, and the floors in the lobby gleam.

Legends Sports Pub

The hotel doesn't have a restaurant, though there's a small sports bar right outside the front door where a beer is only a couple bucks.

• All rooms come with a kitchenette with a dorm-size fridge, microwave, and coffeemaker.
• The one- and two- bedrooms have full kitchens with a stove, dishware, and cutlery, but no oven.
• Convenience store across the street, and Food Pantry grocery store a few blocks away
• Nearby cheap eats include Puka Dog, Starbucks, and a Chili's at the nearby Ohana West.