tigersChristchurch
8.0Many charms of yesteryear
Liked mostThis resort style hotel is perfectly positioned in a private, quiet, peaceful and charming beachside setting conveniently located close to but just far away enough from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki. We stayed for four nights in a spacious suite overlooking the magnificent golf course and mountain views with the added bonus of sea views from the side of the large balcony. The room was very well furnished and equipped and cleaned to a meticulous standard. The hotel very kindly and efficiently accommodated our request for early access to the room as we had arrived very early from a cruise that disembarked in Honolulu. The establishment exudes a charm and quality from yesteryear and has real historical aspects to it. For the most part the staff are very friendly, polite and helpful. There is a very useful courtesy shuttle bus available for guests use but one of the drivers is not so friendly and is rude and very disinterested in the customer experience. The complex has everything you would need including shops and a small convenience store, but we felt that the range of dining to be limited and geared towards local patrons use rather than prioritising hotel guests. For three of our four nights stay our preferred dining establishments were either fully booked or given over to expensive 'theme dinners' which appeared to be for the general public benefit and enjoyment, at the expense of in-house guests. This was a frustrating and disappointing aspect of our stay and spoilt our experience. Whilst we enjoyed the overall ambiance and relaxing aspect of our stay, there were a couple of other niggling issues that could have been addressed: the rather antiquated and noisy air conditioning unit in the bedroom (which became an annoying disturbance to sleep quality with its loud on/off action) and, the limited availability of shaded areas for sunbathing around the pool and 'beach garden' areas (which for a hotel of this size was sadly lacking). If the aforementioned issues (including those of dining prioritisation to in-house guests and the grumpy shuttle bus driver) were improved upon, this would elevate the hotel to a much higher standard. On a final point, and it is something that always leaves an impression: it does not take anything from a staff member to ask you 'how was your stay' when you settle up your room account and leave the keys. In this instance, no such question was asked of us!