Aqua Palms & Spa
- Price Range: $$
17 Reviews for Aqua Palms & Spa
If you found this hotel through it's website. You might be under the impression that you're staying in some luxury hotel. That is not the case. But it is very clean and it has all the ammenities that you need. I really love the location. It's a block away from the beach, a 5 min walk from Kalakawa and 5 min walk from the Ala Moana Shopping center with a great food court and Japanese shopping center. This hotel is pretty economical for Honolulu standards. I would DEFINATELY stay at this hotel if I ever visit Honolulu again.
Great place to stay if you are planning on sleeping in the room and then going out to do stuff.
The rooms are nice, but not TOO nice. We got a really good deal for our stay here too (less than $150/night). The Hilton is across the street, so you can take full advantage of it and its access to the beach.
We can see Diamond Head from our room, which is nice. The only drawback is that there Ala Moana is a busy street, and it is noisy. If you keep the door to the patio closed it's quiet enough, but that's kind of a bummer considering how nice it is outside all of the time around here.
I am Yelping right now from the 6th floor on the free internet service that they provide.
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I wanted to like this hotel. I really did. But it's just not a great hotel. Having said that, I should also disclose that I'm here for work, so my perspective is a little different. I don't really care about the location because I'm working, and if I'm going anywhere at night that's not in walking distance, I have no problem driving to it.
I got a deluxe room with a Diamond Head view for $169/night. I can see the top sliver of Diamond Head above all the buildings, and if I go out on the lanai and crane my head all the way to the right, I can just see the ocean. Most of the view is the Hilton Hawaiian Village. So in other words, when they say "Diamond Head view", they mean "Don't see shit". Plus, it's right on Ala Moana Blvd, which is very loud. If you stay on a low floor, you'll definitely hear the traffic and tourists below at all hours of the day and night. I'm on the 6th floor and even with the door to the lanai shut tight it's still a little loud.
The TV in my room is mounted in the corner, like in a hospital, as somebody already mentioned. A little weird, but it wouldn't be a problem if the TV screen were larger than about 18 inches. Seriously, I didn't know they still made TV's that small! My bed is on the other side of the room, so if you want to watch TV in bed, bring your binoculars. The one good thing is that it has a DVD player.
The room has a small refrigerator and a microwave, which is convenient. And the room itself if pretty big, so I can't complain about that. The bed is also quite comfortable. This place also has the best hotel iron and ironing board I've ever seen, which matters to me b/c I'm here for work.
The bathroom is pretty tiny and dimly lit. If you open the door past 90 degrees, you'll hit the bathtub. Plus the fan is connected to the same circuit as the light, so it's always on, which gets annoying.
The parking garage is in the same building as the hotel on the floors between the lobby and the rooms, which is actually pretty convenient. But it's tiny, so if you have an SUV, good luck. Oh yeah, and parking is $18/day.
The rooms have free Internet access, which is great. In fact, I'm Yelping this review from my room in this hotel compliments of their free access. But the bad thing is that their ISP blocks certain sites, which is a pain in the ass. I know what you're thinking, but no, I don't mean porn sites. I mean Netflix. Why block Netflix? I want my movies on demand!
The breakfast consists of the following items and only the following items: raisin muffins, bran raisin muffins, cheap croissants, apples, bananas, pineapple juice, and orange juice. If you don't like those, you're shit out of luck. At least it's free. It's also set up in one of the hotel rooms, and as far as I know, they no longer deliver it to your room.
The workout room is actually fairly well-equipped for a hotel this size. It has various weight machines, an elliptical machine, and a treadmill. The downside is that it's also located in one of the hotel rooms, so it's TINY, and the machines are packed in so tight there's barely enough room to walk around to the different machines. If there's more than one person working out there, you will be right on top of each other. Literally. If you enjoy rubbing body parts and trading sweat with random strangers in a non-sexual way, then this is the place for you! Luckily, I work out early enough that I'm the only one there.
I haven't really interacted with the staff other than checking in, so I can't really comment on the service.
The building itself a little musty and kind of smells, if that matters to you. The room smells fine though.
The pool is nice, but it's pretty small and doesn't look like it gets much sun due to all the buildings around it. But why go to the pool when you can go to the ocean a few blocks away?
The most annoying thing about the hotel is the elevators. Slowest........elevators........ever.........
In conclusion, I think that your reaction to this hotel will depend entirely on your expectations. If you believe the descriptions and the pictures on the Aqua web site and/or want a hotel that's right in the heart of the action in Waikiki, you will be disappointed. But if you want a cheaper (for Waikiki standards), slightly out-of-the-way hotel room that will be used only for sleeping b/c you'll be out experiencing Hawaii during all hours of the day and night, I suppose this will do.
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We stayed here in August of 2006 and paid about $120/night. As everyone is saying, it is a great price for what you are getting.
We liked the fact that it was right across the street from the Hilton Hawaiian Village - they have some shops and restaurants and some cute little penguins! Also, we took advantage of the beach in front of the Hilton - much bigger beach area as compared to some of the hotels on the main strip (Sheraton Moana, Royal Hawaiian, etc), where you are practically on top of the sunbather next to you.
For our free breakfast, we had to fill out a little form that asked what time you wanted your breakfast delivered to your room. It mostly consisted of juice or bottled water, yogurt, and a pastry. There was also the option of picking up your breakfast at the front desk all packed up and ready to go for early morning activities. It was really convenient. Don't know if they do this anymore, from reading other reviews it looks like they just have a set up in the lobby.
The room was surprisingly really nice for the price. There are even granite counter tops in the bathroom. I liked that there was a microwave and refrigerator. The flat panel TV with DVD player was convenient as well.
The staff was very friendly - the bellman got our room switched to a better one. :) Housekeeping did a great job with our room especially after we tracked in all that sand from the beach.
The only thing that was a minus about this place was it was away from all the nightlife. Of course it isn't really a problem if you have a rental car. Also, none of the rooms have a really great view since the humongous Hilton blocks most of it. Just walk across the Hilton and you will have a front row view of Diamond Head. Overall, I would definitely stay here again if i was watching my budget. Oh, it's also within walking distance of a Starbucks. ;)
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Not bad.
HOTEL:
The hotel is very clean
My room was just what I needed plus a mini fridge and table
The free continental breakfast was lacking but good when you are in a bin d and want something quick - 2 muffins and fruit offered each day, plus juice and coffee. Oh and its basically AT the pool.
Pool placement ensures sun almost all day - it is small but nice
Staff were friendly
FREE high speed Internet!
Easy walk to prime Waikiki areas and across from the Hilton Lagoon.
In room amenities were great, shampoo AND conditioner?! WHAT A TREAT!! And it was good stuff that smelled like papaya rather than men's cologne like most places. I took it all home :)
I had a view of Diamond Head - which also means the busy,loud intersection in front.
SPA: not quite a real spa - but rather a converted hotel room with massage beds in it next to the pool, to be honest it was WAY better than the converted cabana the Delano in Miami Beach was using (see my review of that).
For the price in Waikiki my 60 min Swedish was $95, not bad at all. And the lady did a very good job. If you book before noon you get 10% off.
Cons: The parking garage was a bit of a pain - the elevator does not go the floors were you can park so no matter what you have one set of stairs to climb. Also, it is a tight squeeze - if you have a big car FORGET IT. Parking fee is $18 per night.
Elevators in this place took FOREVER. Some mornings I had to wait 10-15 minutes to get downstairs. annoying.
Location might not be close enough to the hustle and bustle for some.
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So on a recent trip we passed through and stayed a night at the Aqua Palms. Actually two nights separated by a week. The hotel had the basics. It was clean and nice.
The pool was small, but I never used it so who cares. That close to the beach...you better not use a pool!!
The best part about our stay was the service. The bell hops to the desk people were all cool. My buddy lost his wallet on the flight there. We were tired, dirty and were 4 hours early for check in. The bell hop talked to the manager and got us into a room so we could get cleaned up. That's good service!
Extra star for service above and beyond!!
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Very good for the price you pay. The staff remembers me every time I go back. Not the fanciest lobby, but they try. There's usually a complimentary continental breakfast in the lobby area. I suppose you can't eat as much as you want since it's just sitting out.
Summary: Great price, fine location, microwave/frig in each room, clean, newly renovated marble bathrooms, small rooms (not for the claustrophobic). I would stay here again.
I liked that the hotel was away from the Waikiki crowds, but close enough to walk there... The complimentary breakfast (2nd floor, go out the door by the elevators to the pool, and make a left into a lounge room) was mediocre but worked for us since we needed to eat our leftovers anyways... They're supposed to give you a chilled water bottle and a discount entertainment/dining booklet upon check-in, but if they "forget," be sure to ask for 'em!... Elevators slooow and hallways sometimes stuffy -- I just had to keep reminding myself to relax and enjoy the ocean view while waiting for the elevator.
A couple tips for those with rental cars: To check-in, pull up onto the sidewalk or into the loading zone adjacent to the garage entrance; then after check-in, use the room key to open the garage gate. Secondly, rent a small vehicle if you can since the garage has tight turns and small stalls. The $18/day parking fee is comparable to other hotels, and we never had any problem finding a parking space in the hotel's garage.
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After reading reviews of this place online, I was skeptical. But our stay was great. And for only $109 per night in January, I thought it was a pretty good deal.
Stayed here for three nights in room #312. The room was not nearly as small as I was expecting. It had a king size bed, a full size couch, small table with two chairs, a desk and bureau. The "kitchen" area has a half size fridge, a microwave and even included some plates and silverware which was nice. The bathroom is pretty small, but was new and very clean which is much more important to me. Our room had a lanai overlooking the pool and the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The room was very clean and we did not have any issues with noise, either from the street or in the hotel.
All of the staff we encountered was very nice and helpful. The location is great in that it is not on the hectic main drag, but it's an easy walk to get to the craziness. It is also a very easy walk across the street to the Hilton Hawaiian Village where you can get beach access and there are also a number of shops and a few restaurants.
The continental breakfast is what you might expect considering it's free. Bland blueberry muffins, some croissants or other pastry, juice and coffee and some fruit (bananas, apples, oranges). Not bad if you just want to grab something quick and head to the beach.
The parking garage was not as tiny as I was expecting either and we never had trouble negotiating the turns or finding an empty spot.
My one complaint would be the elevators. They are ridiculously slow. The one benefit to staying on the third floor was that we could just take the stairs. Much faster.
If I find myself in Waikiki again, I would definitely stay here.
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The hotel and cleaning staff were very friendly.
The location is convenient. It's a short walk to Waikiki beach, but an enjoyable walk.
If you would like a quiet room, demand a room at the back of the hotel. We were on the 11th floor with a mountain view, and we listened to traffic and trolley all night. Luckily I pack earplugs when vacationing.
We took advantage of their Wednesday night Wine/Massage. It was nice, especially since we had just gotten off a very long plane ride.
We ended up shortening our stay at Aqua and blew the budget with a few nights at Turtle Bay.
So overall, not bad with plenty of little perks that made it good (like the microwave, dishes, and their own brand of soaps)... you just have to keep in mind that this is a city.
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Okay, you will either love this hotel or hate it.
I love the fact that:
it has some spa offerings
some rooms have a lanai (didn't get one, by the way)
it's close to a bus stop
rooms come with a fridge & microwave
the internet's free
its near a Starbucks
it's clean
I hate the fact that:
the elevators are slow, really slow
those same elevators are the ones for the parking garage
location is quite noisy
the bad rooms are the worst (very small)
sometimes the internet works....good luck trying to get it fixed.
(mine never worked)
tv is incredibly small and positioned on the wall, you know like in hospitals.
In all fairness, the other Aqua boutiques might be better but I'll never know. My suggestion is to read the other postings on Yelp and not their website, it's deceiving.
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Got a great deal on a room at the Aqua Palms for my girlfriend and i. I'm not sure how to describe the location, other than its across the street from the Hilton Hawaiian Village, and at the east end of Waikiki. We got a room on the 11th floor that faced the city, but i don't think the rooms on the other side had really that much of a better view.
We made use of their free breakfast in the morning which isn't brought up to your room as Rebecca H. had, but now its held next to a pool in a converted hotel room, which where they have a manager's cocktail hour with free wine, and for us a free 5 minute chair massage. The food was ok, fruits (apples, bananas, oranges), fruit juices (papaya, pineapple, or orange), muffins, and bread.
The nice thing about the location is that theBus has like 6 buses that stop right in front of the hotel. There's an ABC store right around the corner.
If you're looking for a nice hotel without the need of being served hand and feet you're golden. The rooms got a good AC, small fridge, microwave, and cable television (although the tv was up in the corner of the room). The bathroom was a little small, but was very clean. Its got a balcony with two chairs and a table, a great place to dry off your beach wear.
Its a pretty no frills, ghetto luxury hotel just a hop and a skip away from the beach. If you're more about being outside the hotel then stay here, if you spend all your time in the room then stay somewhere else.
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We liked the Aqua Palms. The hotel is within walking distance of the beach in front of the Hilton Hawaiian and about 8 blocks from the Ala Moana shopping center. The rooms seem to have been remodeled within the past few years and were in good shape. The staff is very friendly and efficient. We always tip the housekeepers each day, to make sure the person cleaning the room that day gets it, and we were left orchid blossoms to thank us. We've never had anybody show appreciation before, even at more expensive hotels, and it added a human touch to our stay.
Each morning, the hotel delivers to guests' doorsteps cans of guava juice, yogurt, and pastries for breakfast. The hotel is next to a restaurant which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food is average and Denny's-like in variety, but it's reasonably priced. If you want the big buffet expensive breakfast, walk to the Hilton across the street.
The hallways were oddly hot. I don't think they air condition the halls, which leads to a musty odor and humidity, but I don't hang out in halls so it didn't bother me much. The elevators are small and slow.
There is a pool, about halfway up the building. It is small, seems shaded during parts of the day, and overlooks the busy street below. We used it because when we went raw sewage was dumped in the ocean after a storm, and I'd rather be in a noisy shaded pool than have poop in my hair.
Parking is $15.00 a day, and be sure to rent a small car since the garage space is tight. There was a woman who sat in the parking lot all day in a folding chair checking license plates. Please wave to her--her life must be hell.
Recommended for location, amenities, and cost.
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We stayed here for the first two night on our trip to Honolulu/Maui. The room appeared recently renovated and the service at the front desk was great. It's across the street from the Hilton Hawaiian Village and a few blocks away from Waikiki Beach. The only downfall was the super small lanai and the low water pressure in the shower. Other than those two things the hotel was the perfect place to come back to after a day of being out and about.
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My mom & I went here at the end of this past summer. We had a cute enough room and had a pretty amazing balcony view of Ft. DeRussy Park. The hotel was just a 2 block walking distance to the beach. Sounds good, huh?
What made this a difficult stay was that communication was not on the priority list for them, plus the "Spa" part of the title leaves LITTLE to be desired! We had a fair few misunderstandings that were because there were too many people involved in the "he-said, she-said" conversations. I had someone buy a "Spa package" for me who was on the mainland while I was here in Hawaii. It was suppose to be my birthday surprise present, but what was most surprising was that I received a phone call with the words, "How did you like your massage?!" ..............uuuhhhh................ My baffled reaction was "....What?!" The gift of the massage was apparently suppose to be given to me a couple of mornings ago. I had to go to the front desk, talk to not 1, not 2, but 3 different people till I was able to find this "gift certificate" that never seemed to have made it to me. Not like it's scary to have a credit card number floating around someplace that no one knows about! I decided to go through with the 90 min massage the next morning. (sigh)
The spa room was off the pool in a room that wasn't even 3/4 the size of a standard hotel room. The massage was really good, but it was really difficult to fully appreciate because of the whole fiasco. At the end of the massage, I wanted to include the left over "gift certificate" money that was still standing, by using that as the masseuse's tip. But, for some reason/excuse/explanation, I was told that I couldn't! When I went to leave at the end of my stay, I noticed that my credit card was charged with the spa service, along with the tip, as well was my gift-giver!!!! I was suppose to receive a certain percentage off of my spa service as an incentive, but I didn't receive that either!!! I talked to the Hotel Manager for several days straight about issues that were mounting. In the end as we were leaving, I was told that the Spa & the Hotel are two different entities that don't have anything to do with each other. (Comforting, huh?!) Also, to make sure that we were happy enough, we received a reimbursement for parking. Good lord...after all that we delt with!...(and you only know the hi-light reel....Scary, huh?) Either way, when we walked away, I'm sure they were as glad to say Sayonara to us as we were to them.
So, with the cute-enough room, scenic balcony view, crappy miscommunication, parking structure from hell (no SUV's or trucks) that has super short 90 degree turns, with low ceiling and narrow entry/exit, "Spa" that was truly glorified, and hallow hospitality from most all except the Manager....I'm forced to give it a 2 Star. The only thing that made me give it that one extra star is the fact that I spent a lot of time watching the Lunar Eclipse from my balcony & enjoyed eating Leonard's Malasadas, all while watching the tourists walk by from none other than this hotel's room.
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We were pleasantly surprised with this find - we searched hotels.com for something cheap last-minute and got this. Paid $167 after taxes and parking for an early March Friday night stay. Location was very east end of Waikiki near Hilton Hawaiian Villiage and the Prince. About a block or two from the ocean. Room was modern and looked recently redone, tastefully decorated with a subltle ocean theme that let you know you're in Hawaii without screaming it at you. Had a nice, small lanai (patio for you mainlanders). The only knock was that the room seemed a little small - in part due to its size and partly due to its configuration (had a separate nook for a fridge and armoire). I think we'd have gotten a little claustraphobic if we had to stay longer than a weekend. 15 minute walk into the heart of Waikiki.
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Fairly nice rooms - the location isn't the best if you're wanting to be in the "center of it all" - it's about a 10 minute walk to the beach and shopping - but it worked for us.
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