Halekulani, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii
After our stay in Maui at the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, we headed to beautiful Waikiki to stay at the wonderful Halekulani.
This was our second time to stay at Halekulani in 4 years and we were excited to be returning. It should be noted that this property specializes in providing a Japanese style of customer service that is rare to find in a North American property. The customer service is exceptional and, needless to say, this also makes the Halekulani very popular among visitors from Japan.
Previously we had a Partial Ocean View room that overlooked the pool area, this time we were upgraded to the Diamond Head Ocean Front Prime room.
We received a welcome amenity of fruits, chocolates, and some cookies. They typically provide a coconut cake, but since wee do not enjoy coconut we had let them know in advance and they altered the welcome amenity to our preferences. Please feel free to let them know in advance your preferences so that you enjoy this amenity without potentially wasting this feature.
We left the room in the afternoon to walk around Waikiki and do some shopping. Upon our return to our room we were happy to find a complimentary bottle of wine and assorted cheeses.
The bathroom.
The closet is between the bathroom and the bedroom and, once opened on both sides, it provides easy access to the bathroom. There is also a separte bathroom door located near the entrance of the room. We did find the closet to be a little small.
Every night, as part of the turndown service, we would be provided with items featuring the Halekulani logo.
Here is the view from our balcony. Diamond Head is clearly visible as is the pool area below. The ocean view was also amazing.
We spent on afternoon poolside and, even though it was the beginning of October, the weather was quite warm and a a little on the humid side. The pool area provides a great mix of lounging options including pool side and on the grass in the garden area. Of course there is food and drink service as well.
During our 3 nights at Halekulani, we had breakfast twice at Orchids, which was off the menu. As mentioned previously, since Halekulani caters to Japanese tourists, they even have a Japanese breakfast option. Unfortunately, the quality of this breakfast (mainly the rice) was not as high as you would find in authentic Japanese restaurants or even those we have here in Vancouver.
The day we did not have breakfast at Orchids, we had the buffet at House Without A Key. To be honest, the buffet was good but not on par with other properties we have stayed at and we were very disappointed in the service of the staff at the restaurant as we waited far too long (over 10 minutes) to be greeted at our table and to get our coffee and juice. They did apologize for this and the quality of service was good afterwards, but the frustration of the initial wait and being ignored by the staff at this level of property was hard to dispel.
For our third breakfast we returned to Orchids as the service here was much better than at House Without A Key and this time we stuck to a more traditional North American breakfast.
During our first breakfast at Orchids we had seen another guest eating French Toast and it looked so good that we just had to try it on this visit. It was as good as we had hoped.
We did not have dinner at Halekulani as we wanted to try some of the great restaurants in Waikiki. However, on our final night we were invited to La Mer, Hawaii’s only AAA Five Diamond and Forbes Five Star restaurant, for drinks and appetizers.
Arriving at 6PM, we sat in the bar area and the restaurant was still fairly quiet. This gave us chance to wander a little and take it the beautiful view that the elevated location of La Mer provides.
Every cocktail was served with a pairing appetizer.
As the sun began to set, the restaurant started to fill up and the colours of the setting sun gave the view, and La Mer, and wonderful atmosphere.
Could not help to notice that the cloud in the background almost seemed to be a shadow of the ship on the ocean.
On our next stay at Halekulani, we will definitely have dinner here.
Halekulani Amenities for 2021
- Upgrade on arrival, subject to availability, subject to availability and are valid in select categories only (Partial Ocean View upgrade to Ocean View or Ocean View upgrade to Ocean Front).
- Daily breakfast for two guests per bedroom – choice of Full Breakfast at House Without A Key or Orchids
- $100 USD equivalent Resort or Hotel credit to be utilized during stay (not combinable, not valid on room rate, no cash value if not redeemed in full)
- Early Check-In / Late Check-Out, subject to availability
- Complimentary Wi-Fi
To book the Halekulani, please contact me through my website here.
For more information on this beautiful property or to learn about the special amenities that my clients can receive my booking this hotel through me, please visit my luxury Virtuoso page here
