Last weekend was my birthday and I decided to spend it Hawaii due to the super Air New Zealand fare. After a great trip to LAX with Air New Zealand, and a poor trip with United (seems to be the norm), I arrived in Honolulu.

As I was getting in around 1pm, there was no need to rush to the hotel and so I took the bus. Two buses operate from the Departure level to Waikiki – check the front of the bus for the correct destination. The fare is $2.50 and although they say that they limit the amount of the luggage they allow this was not noticeable as some very large bags were permitted. The journey time is about 70 minutes and it goes via the less scenic parts of the Honolulu, eventually stopping about 1 block from the Hyatt Regency.

The hotel consists of two matching 40 floor Towers – Ewa and Diamond Head, with a shared lobby, shopping and restaurant area. The beach is just across the road from the hotel.

First impression is that there is a deal of construction going on, but this doesn’t get in the way of access to the public areas.

Check-in

This is located on the second floor on the ocean side of the public areas. There is a large check-in desk with a seperate Diamond/Platinum Gold Passport express line. When I arrived there were about 5 people in front of me and it took about 15 minutes to get served. By the time I left there must have been 30 people in line. The agent told me she had upgraded me to the best available room as a  Diamond Member (Ocean view 35th Floor) having me booked the most basic city view room. This property has always looked after me well with upgrades and I am delighted that they did it this time also. The best late check-out time I could negotiate was 2pm on day of departure.

The room was in the Diamond Head Tower and after a short walk to the lifts, and a short wait, I was wisked to the 35th floor.

The Room

The room was a standard king ocean view with a good view of the ocean over towards the airport.

There was plenty of space in the room, with a medium sized flatscreen TV, desk, easy chair as well as two seats and a table on the balcony.

 

 

Bathroom

The bathroom was in two parts – the wash basin and the bath rub/toilet.

Service

At check-in the agent asked if I wanted the turndown service and when I expressed a desire to have it, she asked the time. This worked perfectly on the first night, when the very nice lady from housekeeping found me a bathrobe also. There was no service on the second night for some reason. On the first morning I was called and asked what time I would like my room serviced, which was a nice gesture I felt. The dry cleaning I sent out that day was returned at exactly the time I was told.

Grand Club

Since I had been at the property last the Regency/Grand Club had relocated from one of the towers to the the third floor and has been greatly expanded. Including inside and outside areas, and with a substantially expanded offering. There was a hot offering at both breakfast and evening service. There are two computers with a shared printer, a check-in/out machine as well as Concierge service in the room.

 

 

 

There was a good range of food at both sittings, but sometimes felt like a bit of race to get it before it was cleared out. This never happened, but sometimes people would descent in large numbers. The food was interesting and varied, with enough for vegetarians and meat eaters. The Pork Roll (shown above) were excellent and the eggs in the morning were a welcome addition.

I always managed to get a seat, although the room was quite busy and some people selected to sit outside.

This room is an excellent improvement on the previous Regency Club which I always felt was small.

Birthday

When I returned to my room after the first day there were a selection of fruits, two bottles of water in an ice bucket and an invitation from the hotel to visit their Japengo restaurant as their guest. Unfortunately I could get secure a suitable early reservation for my plans, but the hotel have been nice enough to move it to my next visit. I hope to report on my meal soon.

Check-Out

The hotel has to manually adjust the Resort Fee for Diamonds and so you need to see an agent rather than using one of the machines.

Overall

A good stay at a large hotel for me. The new Grand Club is an area of excellence and with easy access to the beach it was a pleasure to stay here again.