Pacific Beach Hotel Rating: 2.5 Pearls

Waikiki, Honolulu, Oahu

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The three story aquarium

Despite its kid-friendly amenities -- including a three-story, 280,000-gallon aquarium -- and a decent pool and Jacuzzi, Pacific Beach Hotel doesn't quite hit the bar set by some of the other Waikiki giants. Its deeply faded, high-backed Alice in Wonderland-type couches in the lobby, outdated tropical bedspreads in the rooms, and endless souvenir shops on the ground floor, make this hotel feel dowdy and dated.

One of the only notable advantages Pacific Beach has over its competition is that 24 of its 837 rooms are distinctly eco-minded, meaning that the hotel uses recycled or biodegradable soaps and cleaning products, minimizes waste, and limits energy consumption. It's not much, but considering that "green" in Waikiki typically means little more than offering separate bins for garbage and recyclables (as they do at the Moana Surfrider) these small steps are impressive.

So while Pacific Beach is fine for couples or families trying to be more conscious of their carbon footprint, the newly renovated Aston Waikiki Beach, also located across from the kid-friendliest (and most calm) section of Waikiki Beach, has a much more buzzing vibe and a greater share of rooms that overlook the ocean. Other hotels to consider are the Marriott Waikiki, as well as the newly renovated Sheraton Waikiki, which is located in the heart of the action on Queen's Beach and has a huge pool surrounded by boulders.

Pacific Beach is mostly a check-in and checkout kind of place. There are porters at the entrance to help with bags, and requests for extra towels are filled quickly, but calling the front desk can be a hassle -- sometimes it'll ring and ring and ring. ...

• No dedicated concierge; but you can book excursions and luaus at the activities desk, and the front desk does a fair job recommending restaurants.
• Room service is provided by Oceanarium Restaurant from 7 to 10 a.m., 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and 6 to 10 p.m., not quite the length of hours at the Marriott Waikiki, but still a luxury since room service isn't all that common among Waikiki hotels.
• No poolside drink service

View on a Larger Map

Pacific Beach Hotel is located on Kalakaua Avenue, a touristy milelong stretch of shops, restaurants, and high-rise hotels that runs along 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 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 and Princess Kaiulani dotting the landscape pins in a cushion.

• Wide variety of shopping, dining, and drinking -- all within walking distance, and an ABC convenience store is located in the building
• Honolulu Zoo is between five and 10 minutes walking distance.
• Kapiolani Park, an oasis of (relative) calm for people-watching and local flavor, is between five and 10 minutes walking distance.
• Royal Hawaiian Center is between 10 and 15 minutes 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- to 20-minute, $35 cab ride.

The beach

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. Pacific Beach Hotel is located a block from the Kuhio section, known to some as "the wall," for the 50-yard concrete pier that juts out from the sand at the corner of Kapahulu Avenue. (The kids who jump off the pier are known affectionately as "wall rats.")

Kuhio Beach is broader and far less crowded than its more famous neighbor to the northwest, Queen's Beach. The water's shallow and warm, and because the wall creates an artificial cove of sorts, it's also calm, making Kuhio the best place for kids to swim, according to the lifeguards there. On the other hand, the ocean bottom is a bit rocky, so tread gingerly.

• Public beach
• Ocean bottom is a bit 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 the Star Beach Boys stands
• Respected Hans Hedemann Surf School is near the wall, where Kapahulu Avenue meets the sand.

The standard room

Excluding the large flat-screen, "basic," or even "motel-ish," might be the best ways to describe a standard room at the Pacific Beach. The hotel replaced the rooms' TVs and carpets in 2008 and 2009, and the bedspreads are expected to be fully replaced by the end of 2009. For now, the look is still a crazy-patterned-carpet-madly-clashing-with-equally-crazy-patterned-bedspreads kind of thing.

• Standard rooms range from 328 and 350 square feet -- average by Waikiki standards, larger than rooms at Aston Waikiki Beach -- and have either two doubles or one king-size bed (though a few rooms have queens). One- and two-bedroom suites are also available.
• Large safe, fridge and coffeemaker in all rooms; oceanfront rooms also have an extra sink and microwave.
• Beds are comfortable, but only have a thin bedspread with two poly-stuffed pillows, basic cotton sheets, a cotton waffle blanket -- not a down duvet, as found on the beds at Marriott Waikiki.
• Bathrooms are clean, but basic; toiletries are the hotel's own brand.
• Weak showerhead -- no better than a leaking garden hose -- and the water tends to shoot back and forth between hot to cold
• Large, 37-inch LG flat-screen TV with about 30 basic cable chanels and movies on demand
• Sony clock radio; no iPod hookup
• Slow hard-wired Internet connection for $9.95 a day; no Wi-Fi anywhere in the hotel

The 4th floor of the Oceanarium Tower is home to all things kid-friendly: pool; Jacuzzi; game room; laundry room.

• Long, narrow pool -- good for laps -- but there's not much of an atmosphere, unlike the pool at the Aston Waikiki Beach
• Jacuzzi is hot -- some might say too hot.
• Arcade room with outdated versions of Dance Dance Revolution, X-Men, and Point Blank
• $12 access to a well-equipped gym; no yoga or Pilates classes, only spinning
• On-site tennis court -- one of the few in Waikiki -- but it may be converted to meeting space in the near future ($5 per hour, $5 racket rentals; open from 8 p.m. to 6 p.m.)
• Independently owned, and very affordable Hawaiian Rainforest Salon & Spa; massages range $55 to $130, facials $65 to $95, body scrubs $67, manis $35, and pedis $58

Room on the green floor

Located in the Beach Tower, the hotel has transformed 24 of its 837 rooms into what the hotel dubs "experimental green rooms." Despite their well-placed efforts, the hotel hasn't been accredited by the U.S. Green Building Council -- though that's eventually their goal -- and shouldn't be considered a fully eco-friendly hotel yet, but they're taking small steps in a much greener direction.

Green rooms include:

• Paper goods like stationery, toilet paper, and coffee cups made from 100-percent post-consumer recyclable paper
• Energy-saving lightbulbs
• Bulk organic toiletries (rather than throwaway mini bottles)
• In-room recycling bins
• Low-flow [[water fixtures]
• Huper Optic ceramic window tinting to help keep the room cool without having to crank up the AC.
• Housekeepers use fully biodegradable products to clean all 24 rooms.

Located across the street from Kuhio, the calmest, kid-friendliest section of Waikiki Beach, Pacific Beach, like the Aston Waikiki Beach or Marriott Waikiki is a solid family option. But Pacific Beach's amenities aren't nearly as nice (or buzzing) as its neighbors.

• Long, narrow pool
• Arcade with aging video games
• Standard rooms come with either a king-size bed or two double beds, cribs are free, rollaways are $40 per night (available in all room types), and connecting rooms are also available
• Oceanarium Restaurant is a big hit for kids, given its three-story, 280,000-gallon aquarium and thrice-daily feeding dives (usually around dinnertime).

The hotel hasn't been fully renovated in at least seven years, though light renovations to the rooms have been ongoing for the past two years -- new carpets, TVs, and bedspreads (by 2010). But despite these efforts, the walls in the shower are yellowing a bit and the lobby might smell a little damp.

The hotel has one restaurant, Oceanarium, and one café, Aloha Center Café. (Note: Neptune's Garden, a restaurant that's still mentioned on the hotel's website is no longer open). Overall, the food is OK -- the three-story, 280,000-gallon aquarium with more than 70 different species of marine life is the real draw to Oceanarium -- but there's plenty of grub to eat close by, including at the Wolfgang Puck and a Starbucks at the nearby Aston Waikiki Beach, and the delicious Sansei Sushi at the equally close Marriott Waikiki.

• Massive, $17.50 breakfast buffet with eggs, bacon, sausage, tons of fruit (some organic and local), pastries, juice, cereal ... the list goes on
• Popular $34.95 seafood buffet for dinner at the Oceanarium Restaurant
• Quick snacks and sandwiches at Aloha Center Café; prices are reasonable -- a latte is $2.90 and a domestic draft is $4.25
• Room service is provided by Oceanarium between 7 and 10 a.m., 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and 6 to 10 p.m.