Aqua Oasis

I would stay there again in a heartbeat! The location is perfect. Across the street from the T Galleria (never found out what the T was for). Catty corner from the Trolley pickup. Two blocks from Waikiki Beach. Across the street from a fantastic Japanese Restaurant and near a great Korean Restaurant. Close to Long's Drug Store. Close to International Market Place and Ross For Less. The breakfast in the mornings consists of toast and bagels, butter and jam, pineapple juice, an abundance of fresh fruit, and a choice of some of the best coffee in the world! (On a personal note, due to severe arthritis, I needed assistance in getting out of the huge bathtub in our room. I didn't panic...the tub was big enough to sleep in. I drained the water, dried off, put on a muu muu. My BFF called downstairs to send up someone strong to assist! Within five minutes Stephen was there at our door...giggling! He got in the back of the tub and proceeded to lift me up so I could stand! He said this was for the record books! I graciously tipped him and hugged his neck! My friend for life!)

Great staff, central location, and clean rooms are key features of the Aqua Oasis. If you stay here, you are a 2 minute walk to IHOP, 3 to McDonald’s, and 4 to Starbucks. The beach is a 10 minute walk even though Google says 5-7. A shuttle is available to take you to the Ala Moana shopping mall and access to excellent bussing is a 1 minute walk down the street, across from the ABC convenience store. The continental breakfast here is minimal and we heard much grumbling about it. If you don’t mind bagels, cereal, pineapple and oranges, or icing sugar donuts then you’ll be fine but the “resort fee” that supposedly covers this is far too high, all things considered. The breakfast area is cramped and we often had to sit by the pool in a lounge chair to eat our food. The wifi is included with the resort fee so I won’t call it free, nor should they. It’s adequately quick and quite easy to join. The only real issue we had with this property is the two noisy bars about 5 doors down. They are open until 4:00 AM and one morning at about 3:30, we were startled awake by 9 police cars, an ambulance, and a fire unit after a fight broke out in the street right in front of the hotel. It’s a noisy location at any rate. There was a high rise under construction right next door and they sometimes started at 5:30 AM. Completion is set for several months down the road so be aware. We had a room with a king bed and found it to be very satisfactory. It’s a good choice of hotels but noisy!

I'm grading on a curve, because the Waikiki area is very expensive. For the market, a fine, fine hotel. The staff is great, but be ready for the add-ons. Resort fee of $25 per day, which apparently covered a towel for the pool or beach. Parking is valet only, $35 a day. Average numbers for the area, but be ready. If I paid this much in many other locations, I would have been disappointed, but it was a good value here. Breakfast is a joke -- bread, bagels, some fruit, donut holes, that's about it -- but mostly it's because they obviously don't care about it, very haphazard. Don't think you can make a meal out of it, you'll need protein from somewhere, but not here. A fine room, tv and fridge. And they use real glasses and mugs in the room, a real plus for me, much nicer than plastic and paper cups. It's right in Waikiki, so you're half a block from constant activity and high-end shops. It's like Vegas, people walking the streets till all hours. The club across the street is open until 3:30 every night, and I'm sure there were people awake for it. During the day, it's a short walk to the beaches, so you don't really need a car if that's your plan. Hit the beaches, back to the hotel for a shower and change, out to one of the many restaurants and/or clubs and that's a good holiday. We were more interested in Pearl Harbor and hiking around the island. Oahu just isn't all that big, so you can stay in Waikiki and you're only a short drive to the "real" Hawaii.

Aqua Oasis is a good location, and the price was good. It's a smaller, cozier place in the lobby - cute and quaint. We were stopping in Hawaii for one night, two full days on our way home from a big trip. When we booked the room for two nights, we messaged them saying we will just use one night because we didn't want to check out so early the next morning. We said we'd be gone by 7pm the second day but maybe we could also check in early when we got there (sort of a win win?) I felt like the staff didn't really go out of their way for anything. They had our bags (somewhere) since we got there really early, and I had to ASK them to put them in our room, after they suggested that we come and get them later when they figure out where they went. Shouldn't that just be a service, that when your room is ready, the staff have your bags in there for when you come back? No early check in accommodation, no explanation of breakfast (I only realized later that it was included on our receipt, but I hadn't seen that nor were we told this). We were gone 23 days and this was probably the only place we felt was just generally robotic and didn't try to exceed basic expectation. The room was just okay, once you start really looking at the bathroom, it's a bit rough and in need of some repair, but then again you get what you pay for, so the price reflects the wear.

Great location just a quick walk to the beach and all the Waikiki shopping. Lots of bars and restaurants nearby. Check in was quick and the upgrade to a jr suite was very welcome. Gave our party of three adults more room and a kitchenette which was convenient (thank you!) The hotel is dated, the hallways dim. The room was a good size with a large lanai with 2 chairs and a lounger. Unfortunately it faced on to a construction site, but that wasn’t the hotel’s fault. Excellent wifi. Very large, albeit dated, bathroom. Comfortable beds. Excellent air conditioning and the room never felt damp. The breakfast is basic: cereal (too many of the choices were sweet), pastries and toast (no peanut butter!), fruit, juice, tea and coffee. Not enough tables and people were often eating perched on loungers. The pool is VERY small. As far as I can tell, “resort fee” applied to things most good hotels do anyway, like provide beach towels and a complimentary shopping shuttle. It is also tied to the room rate...the lower the rates will have the fee. So one makes the choice to pay less for a room and then has an additional charge for what seem to be basics these days added on. The staff were really nice and our room was cleaned promptly each morning. We would stay again.