Honest Resort Review: Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki

I’ve been answering a bunch of questions on Instagram about the Hilton Hawaiian Village, where we stayed in Oahu. So I figured I’d write up a full resort review here so I could put all of my thoughts in one place. The Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach is a sprawling resort that offers stunning ocean views, a variety of amenities, and a convenient location, making it a popular choice for travelers seeking a luxurious Hawaiian getaway. Though we found it to be “just okay” – read on for why we would look elsewhere on a future Hawaiian vacation.

Resort Review: Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki + Why It’s “Just Okay”

A few things you should know about the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki (Oahu):

• This is an all-suite hotel and timeshare within a group of towers. (The timeshare portion is part of Hilton Grand Vacations Club.) The property is massive, encompassing 22 acres.
• Each suite in the hotel has 1, 2, or 3 bedrooms, a living area and dining area, a full kitchen, a washer/dryer (or at least access to one- ours was on the floor but not in the actual suite), a private balcony, and 1 or 2 bathrooms. There’s also a sleeper sofa in the living area for additional sleeping space.
• The website boasts five pools on the property, including a 10,000 square foot Super Pool.
• The Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon is a public property where anyone can hang out. There are a variety of rentable activities here, like water trikes and paddle boards.
• The Hilton Hawaiian Village is right on a stretch of Waikiki Beach, a public beach.

Walk right onto Waikiki Beach from the Hilton Hawaiian property:

The kids loved the lagoon activities, including this water trike:

If you are staying in the hotel portion, you need to know that the check in line can be LONG. We stayed in one of the towers, which had its own check in process outside of the hotel. When we ventured through the hotel lobby to get to one of the restaurants, I couldn’t believe how many people were waiting in line. If you are staying in one of the other towers (like the Lagoon Tower, where we stayed), you can go right to check in there, where it’s much quieter.

Check in area at the Lagoon Tower:

We are not members of the Hilton Vacation Club, but rented through VRBO.

Check the prices for Hilton Hawaiian Village on this booking site

Pros of the Hilton Hawaiian Village

• The hotel complex is right on the beach! If you want to go between the pool and beach (or won’t have a car), it’s very easy, even with little kids.
• Many food options within walking distance, including a Starbucks across the street from the towers and a market near the pools. At the market you can find bottled water, pastries, salads, sorbet, ice cream, and other to go items.

• A variety of towers and room types to choose from.
• Laundry available, which is great if you’re traveling light and need to do a load of wash in the middle of your trip.
• I liked that our balcony felt set apart from the other guests, so we weren’t staring at each other on the balconies. This could have been because we were at the end of the hallway, so on the shorter side of the building (if that makes sense?).
• It’s very walkable to the downtown Waikiki area, if you want to call it that (the road where all of the shops are). It was about a 12 minute walk to go to CVS one night.

Here’s the view from the lagoon tower on the hallway end. That’s the lagoon and beach in front, and the lagoon pool in bottom right corner.

What can the Hilton Hawaiian Village do better?

• Check in for the hotel area is a mess. Long lines, luggage everywhere, people snaking through roped areas.
• The pool area feels very cramped. We travel with a stroller that can fit down the aisle on an airplane (so it’s not wide), and I still could not push it between rows of pool chairs. The chairs are close together, and you still have to get out early to get a chair or risk not finding one at any of the pools.
• You are given pool/beach towel cards at check in, one per person. You can exchange those at one of the towel huts for towels, and when you’re done turn in the towels in exchange for another set of cards. I get why they do this but found it to be an odd system.
• I asked the concierge for help choosing a restaurant (after having to ask “excuse me?” twice while she was texting on her phone), and she seemed annoyed that I didn’t want to choose one on the property. We had already tried three different places on the property and they all were pretty much the same, but she kept asking, “So you don’t want to eat on property?” And then honestly she seemed like I was bothering her. It made me think she was commissioned on reservations made or activities booked, and wasn’t really interested in helping otherwise.

More Recommendations

• The pools didn’t open until 8:30am or 9am or 9:30am, with no signage posted. On our last morning we tried to go to the pool at 8:30am thinking that was the opening time. It turned out that was for one pool, but not the one we were at. A man walking by had to tell us when it opened.
• Not the hotel’s fault, but I was surprised to see so many homeless sleeping on the beach not just early in the morning but mid morning as well.
• We had to keep buying bottled water, which we did at the on-site market for $4 per bottle. It would be nice if they installed those water purification refill machines, since Hawaii seems very focused on removing plastic materials from use. (For the record, I’m totally in favor of reducing plastic use!)

Overall, we probably would try somewhere else before going back here.

Where the Maui resort we stayed at was a solid 9.5 out of 10, I’d give the Hilton Hawaiian Village a 6.5 out of 10. They have room for improvement, especially for a 4 star resort. Because of that, we would probably try another property before coming back here. Though our kids did love the pools!

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