Ohana Waikiki West Rating: 2.5 Pearls

Waikiki, Honolulu, Oahu

The Cabana Pool Bar

Located on the eastern end of Waikiki, a colorful, five-minute walk from the beach, the 500-room Ohana Waikiki West is about affordable fun: franchise food at the on-site Chili's and cheap beers and country music afterward at the Nashville Waikiki bar downstairs. Free perks, like the pink trolley service around Waikiki or free local calls and a free 15-minute long-distance call to the U.S. or Canada, help to keep a vacation within budget.

But the main draw is its 600-square-foot pool. It's a good size for Waikiki -- though it'd be considered small in any other part of Hawaii -- and there's ample space for both college students to booze it up in the shallow end and kids to splash about in the deep end.

Rooms, however, are a sobering sight -- old, 20-inch tube TVs with awful reception, dirty polyester rainforest-print bed coverlets, and sagging mattresses. On the bright side, they are large enough to comfortably sleep a family or a group of four, and about half even have a kitchenette with a two-burner stovetop for cooking.

But in this price range, you can find a hotel that is closer to the beach or has a much nicer room (though you might have to sacrifice the stovetop). Consider the Park Shore Hotel (right by the beach), the Best Western Waikiki (excellent rooms), or the Aqua Waikiki Pearl (beautiful new rooms at typically lower rates).

The front desk

If you need anything more than a room key, you'll have to wait in line first, then ask.

• No formal room service; some nearby restaurants deliver.
• Porter services and luggage storage
• Daily housekeeping
• No poolside drink service
• On site concierge/activties desk can arrage for tours, tickets to local attractions.

View on a Larger Map

Ohana Waikiki West is located in the eastern section of Waikiki, about five blocks from bustling Queen's Beach. The immediate area surrounding the hotel is especially heavy with souvenir shops; an entrance to the colorful International Marketplace, a place to procure plenty of Hawaiian-themed plastic knickknacks, is less than a block away. Kuhio Street is busy with traffic, but not so loud that you can't get to sleep inside the hotel.

Kalakaua Avenue, a touristy, milelong stretch of shops, restaurants, and high-rise hotels that runs along Waikiki Beach on Oahu's southeast coast, is about four blocks from the hotel. It 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, and yes, even an Apple store -- are interspersed with indoor malls and streetside vendors hawking cheap seashell jewelry and T-shirts. Seemingly every midmarket 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 like the Hyatt Regency and Princess Kaiulani dotting the landscape like pins in a cushion.

• Wide variety of shopping, dining, and drinking -- all within walking distance
• 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.
• Free "pink line" trolley around Waikiki for Ohana guests; stop is directly in front of hotel (you only need to show your room key card to get on).

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 Ohana Waikiki West is located five blocks 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 standup paddleboarders (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 Kitchenette Room

Starting at 400 square feet, all rooms are large, but they're also looking a little outdated and run-down since their last renovation in 2004 -- old tube TVs, synthetic bedspreads, slight mold and rust in the bathrooms.

• All rooms have either a king-size bed or two double beds.
• Kitchenette in every room, which include a microwave, toaster, sink, mini-fridge
• Some rooms have a stovetop.
• Slightly sagging mattresses
• Bathrooms have standing showers (no tubs), rusty fixtures, and mold in the shower's grout.
• Old, 20-inch Zenith tube TV with basic cable (no HBO) and fuzzy reception
• All pay-per-view movies are $12.95 plus tax, including adult films.
• In-room Ninetendo games through the TV with games like Super Mario Brothers for $5.95 plus tax
• Free, hard-wired Internet access; but the connection can be spotty and slow.

The Cabana Pool Bar

• Large pool, at least by Waikiki standards -- a big advantage over the Aqua Waikiki Pearl (no pool) or the Best Western Coconut Waikiki (only a tiny "splash pool"). Open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Weekly karaoke contests at the Cabana Bar (open until 2 a.m.)
• Small fitness center -- a converted guest room -- with only an elliptical machine, treadmill, and some Nautilus equipment
• No formal business center, just two computer kiosks in the lobby ($1 a minute to use; 40 cents a page to print)
• Free Wi-Fi in the lobby; free hard-wired Internet in all rooms
• First 15 minutes of each long distance phone call to the US and Canada is free from all guest rooms.
• Free access to the pink trolley, which runs throughout Waikiki (just show your room key to the driver)

• Rooms haven't been renovated since 2004.
• Dirty bed coverlet
• Moldy tiles, vague mildew scent, and rusty sink and shower drain in the bathroom
• Very slow-moving elevators
• Clean pool

The pool

It might be popular among families, but Ohana Waikiki West is only a good, not great option if you're bringing the kids. The pool is large (for Waikiki), standard rooms can sleep four (all with a small kitchenette area and an optional stovetop), and there's plenty of finger food to be had on-site. Other than that, this may not be the most thrilling of accomodations for families.

• Clean pool
• Five-minute walk to the beach; easy to manage with children
• King or two double beds available in all rooms; connecting rooms also available
• Free cribs and $20 per night rollaway beds; available in all room types
• Small kitchens available upon request (supermarket is less than a block away)
• Affordable kids' menu at Chili's restaurant (on-site), plus the Cabana Bar serves up plenty of finger foods that kids might enjoy

Chili's

Food at this hotel is mostly of the fast food and quick snack variety, but there is plenty to eat within walking distance.

• Chili's, a franchise bar and grill serving Southwestern fare, is on-site and open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
• Cabana Pool Bar, located next to the pool, serves sandwiches and snacks (from $4 to $8) and plenty of cocktails from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.
• No formal room service, just delivery from nearby restaurants
• Late night, Round Table Pizza at the Ohana East (across the street) delivers until 1 a.m.

• Nashville Waikiki (open until 4 a.m.) is Honalulu's only country-themed bar with blackjack and pool tables, dartboards, and bullfighting tournaments showing on mulitple-screen monitors.
• Cabana Pool Bar serves poolside cocktails.