TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

This was our first time in Waikiki. We had an amazing experience. The hotel staff, the cleanliness of the room and breakfast were excellent. The front desk staff Virginia and Sheryl were very professional, friendly and welcoming. They used sense and sensibility to our needs. Virginia went above and beyond giving us the best advice about the hotel, and the surroundings. We are totally satisfied with the staff, room and breakfast. We will definitely consider Holiday Inn Express for our next getaway.

This is a very large property with over 600 rooms I think. It is centrally located to shopping and sightseeing. There are also several food trucks two blocks away. If you are staying for a few days you might want to upgrade so you get a higher floor and view. Higher floors also use express elevators and that is a real plus. I was in a lower floor and the elevators took 10 to 15 minutes at busy times. The property is well maintained and very clean. I found the staff to be very helpful and professional. Parking is first served and there are not enough spaces so later arrivals may need to find street parking a few blocks away. The breakfast is good with a pretty good selection. It is efficiently laid out and is able to handle the large number of guests.

The rooms are teeny-tiny. However, the complimentary breakfast is terrific, and the beds are extremely comfortable. Though the price is not cheap-cheap, it's a pretty good value, considering the high hotel prices in Honolulu.

Before you book this hotel, here are a few things you should know. The rooms are teeny tiny. If you are a cruiser think of the cheapest inside category with a bed and bathroom. A tiny square box is all you get. That's it that's all. Excellent for ONE night. It was my husband and I and we stayed here for one night leading into our week stay in Ko Olina. Our priorities were Waikiki, bus line, near food, clean and near beach. We wanted to check out Waikiki and climb Diamond Head. So we booked using points plus $19. Upon check out they charged a resort fee, $39.17. This hotel served its purpose. Excellent location. We road The Bus (W route) to the hotel around 1pm on a Saturday. Easy Peasy. The Bus drops you off about a block or so from hotel. We also took The Bus to Diamond Head. It is a long walk to get to the entrance of Diamond Head. A good 30 minutes. Prepare yourself. Next time we will catch Lyft. The hotel is near Numerous places to eat, shop and sight see. Short walk to the beach. Breakfast. If you're an HIE person, it's just like all the other breakfasts served plus green beans. LOL! They give you tickets for each morning of your stay. The hotel is clean. Our room was clean. We didn't have any issues. We left our luggage their Sunday morning at Bell Hop and they locked it up for us before we caught the Bus back to the airport late that afternoon. This is not a 4 or 5 star resort. Hence, do not expect luxury accommodations and amenities. This is not for a long stay if it's 2 or more people. Think cheap clean accommodations for a solo person or college students who are just trying to get to Hawaii. The breakfast is the very simple HIE 3 star breakfast. Yes they have the cinnamon rolls. As long as you know what to expect before you book this hotel you will be fine.

This was an average Holiday Inn experience. The price is excellent (we paid ~$200 a night during a weekend) and the location is really good. It’s just a little bit of a mess in terms of the logistics. It’s a huge, tall building and the elevators are awful. We had to wait sometimes 10 min+ for an elevator. Many times the elevators would be full so you’d have to wait for the next one. The king size room we had was extremely small. But, it had an excellent view of the mountains and city. The staff was very friendly! The breakfast was not great…but it was free! So, generally it was a mixed bag. I think if you’re on a budget and you’re not spending a ton of time in the room you’ll be fine. I wouldn’t recommend staying here for a week.