Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Resort

My sister and I have just returned home from a fabulous first trip to Honolulu where we enjoyed a very comfortable stay at the Outrigger Reef. This hotel is right on the beach and right in the centre of things. Our room was a very large corner room with a city and partial ocean view on the 17th floor. The room was well appointed and well maintained. We had a terrific chambermaid (Leilani) who made sure we were well supplied with water, coffee, and towels as well as keeping our room nice and clean. It has a very fine restaurant (the Grille) with a gorgeous view of the beach and Diamond Head (as well as the sunset). The staff are all very friendly and eager to please. The happy hour at the beach front bar is really fun and the prices then are great too! We found this hotel to be very well located for all of our excursions to various points of interest as pick ups for these were usually right around the corner. We appreciated that a lot. It is also steps away from the Hawaiian village and other shopping as well as close to the Friday night fireworks display. All in all, we had a fabulous time here. Read less

What a wonderful hotel with awesome, friendly, helpful staff! Booked an ocean view on a military rate. Upgraded to the Voyager 47 club access at check in. Highly recommend the Voyager club access with island-fare breakfast and evening appetizers (actual appetizers like riblets and noodles, not goldfish or carrots) and drinks with a great oceanfront view. Was definitely worth it. Good poolside happy hour drink service. At checkout, the hotel offers luggage hold and a hospitality room for 30 min to shower in if your flight is in the evening. The great hotel staff, the club lounge, and the oceanfront location helped it make an amazingly relaxing weekend getaway. Read less

We arrived at the Honolulu airport roughly 1 hour ahead of schedule on the 1st of February due to favorable winds. Took the airport shuttle right at the baggage claim "Roberts Hawaii" which was $34 USD for my wife, and our 2 children to the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort, only 20 min wait and about 25 min to get there at that time which was rush hour. Don't bother with $5 USD fee for the baggage cart! Shuttle delivered us right to the front door after 2 other stops, and assisted with the luggage. The hotel porters were helpful in getting the baggage cart over to us and led us into the entrance where you can see several stores, and 1 coffee shop. They then whisked away our bags which came to our room about 30 seconds after we did. The area where you enter is considered the lower lobby and also has 1 of 2 concierge desks where you can get your dinner reservations setup for anywhere on the island, book car rentals, or setup your excursions; the lower lobby floor also features Dukes Restaurant, more to come on that in a later review perhaps. The concierge(s) seem to work through Expedia and Open Table from what I observed, there is also several timeshare people that appear to be concierge persons but aren't, they are looking to waste 2 hours of your beach time at the other Outrigger property. If you do listen to their spiel though you get a $200 credit from the hotel which you could apply to your excursion booking. Up 1 escalator, or if you prefer elevator to the main lobby for check in with no wait at roughly 16:30 Oahu time. Check in was quick, and we were presented with some complimentary drinks, icy cold towels and a small flower for my wife and daughter. I was more than a little surprised at not receiving a Hawaiian Lei or having any special greeting upon check in. This was my 3rd visit to Oahu and 4th hotel on the island so having stayed at the Royal Hawaiian and Halekulani on my last visit in 2012 I felt a bit jipped in missing out the Lei presentation, especially since this was our first visit with the kids. I guess the Outrigger just doesn't do that and only gives the single flowers, too bad! - 0.2 On to the info you are really after, the ROOM! We picked the V/47 Club Oceanfront 1 Bedroom Suite. This room is quite large, almost 600 square footage. We needed the suite due to 2 young children travelling with us, and a need for some alone time in the evenings. When they say Oceanfront they mean 100% view. We were situated on the 14th floor, and had 2 balconies to choose from. 1 balcony was off the bedroom with partial ocean view, as well as a city view and mountain view of central Honolulu. There was a second entrance to this balcony in the main area of the suit, with the curtains drawn from the inside you looked onto the back and front side of the Royal Hawaiian "Pink Palace." The main balcony was the big winner, full view of the beach in front of the Outrigger, full view of the beach in front of Royal Hawaiian and perhaps the Sheraton which I believe is next door to the Pink Palace, as well as a view of the pool and hot tub/Duke's outside dining area where they have music many nights of the week. We stayed in 1428 which is the very last room on the corner adjacent to the Pink Palace; I would definitely recommend this if you need a separate spot for kids. The room itself was fine, nothing too spectacular, one of the reasons this hotel is only getting Very Good rating and not the excellent. I would say it was a bit dated interior and our washroom was only a single door, no private shower/toilet area like I observed in another room (more to follow on that later). The washroom had single sink, super high toilet and a tub shower. - 0.2 The rooms we were in previously at the Royal Hawaiian and Halekulani were much more modernized, Halekulani had 2 washrooms and both had a stand up shower, with separate tub. So for the rate of the room, I was expecting a bit more but the view is just crazing so you're getting more value there 100% over the other 2 I mentioned. Also I had a partial view of Leahi "Diamond Head." Didn't think we would see Diamond Head as there is a V/47 Club Diamond Head Oceanfront Suite option but we lucked out. If you look at the pictures I have attached from our room it appears that we are in or just below the room used to take the photo's on the hotel's website. The maid service, headed by Daisy on the 14th floor was excellent. They offer turn-down if you go in for that and were kind enough to pull-out our daughters bed nightly and return it to a couch each day. This also included them making the pull-out couch up with sheets, blanket and pillow. These ladies really did a wonderful job making us feel at home and were great with our kids. I believe this was one of the best maid staff I have encountered and we have been at many resorts over the years. We also enjoyed the many towels each day since there were four of us in the room it was nice that there was more than enough available at all times. We also looked at an Ocean View room, as my parents were also on our floor as well. They had a single balcony and a better view of Diamond Head with a different portion of Waikiki then our room. Definitely not as good a view overall but still pretty awesome if you don’t want to go for the ocean front costs. Overall their room (1422) was just as good as ours, just nowhere near as big and their bathroom with separate toilet/shower area was superior in my opinion. But if you want the full ocean front view, you know what to do! So that takes us through the room portions let’s talk about the beach and pool. Well you are pretty well on the best portion of Waikiki when you step out of the hotel. It's groomed very early AM each day so when you come out for your swimming or tanning there is no hint of this being the pacific ocean beyond the beautiful small waves cascading on the shoreline, no seaweed, minimal to no rocks. It's almost like you’re on a movie set, just that perfect, maybe rivaled by a few spots we have been to but nothing can beat the food around Waikiki with that beach to match. They had a very large storm on the island on Feb 8th/9th but the ocean at Waikiki was still very swim-able, however, the temperature and rain kept almost all but the bravest away on those days, even the surfers in fact. You can rent umbrellas and lounge chairs on the beach, and even get SUP or Surf lessons as you step out from the hotel onto the sand. You can also get some very nice loungers at the hotel but most of the older crowd gets their early so be prepared to mingle with the 60's/70's folks if you want to sit pool side. Aloha Danny and Ray are amazing at the pool, great entertainers for the kids, and very good at giving you a million towels as required. They also provided pool and beach toys if you ask, and if they have them in supply, no need to buy stuff at the ABC Store. They were also excellent at taking away towels that people had left on loungers if they hadn't been back for a while. Just like the room staff the pool guys were awesome. The beach here is one of the best I have been on, lots to look at, both people and scenery. Despite it being a cooler than normal February on Oahu the waters were still warm and even better with the full sunshine! Only strange thing about the pool area I found was the hot tub or hot pool as my daughter called it. The hot tub is beach level and the other pool (the icy cold main pool) is about 6 stairs off the beach front. The hot tub shares the area with Dukes outdoor beach area and closes later in the afternoon, although some days it stayed open through to sunset. It was hard to figure out if it would be open or closed which I didn't like because sometimes after being out in the water until sunset the hot tub was a necessity. I would say this is the only other area where I am subtracting points from this hotel. -0.1 Let’s talk Voyager Club 47!! This add on is 100% worth the price of admission. If you are really on the cheap you can definitely eat both breakfast and dinner daily here. But if you’re like me and came to Oahu for more than just the beach i.e. your absolute love for great eats then you will likely only sneak in a few apps and drinks nightly before the main event. I think we managed to eat dinner here twice due to fatigue, and our daughter may have had 5 meals here throughout our stay. The website calls this a continental breakfast but it's really anything but. When I hear that I think the Marriott with some bagels and muffins. No this is a full setup only rivaled by the free buffet breakfast (or $45pp USD if you don't have that package) at the Halekulani, but clearly that comes with a much higher price tag and no dinner items. For breakfast they always have some style of egg, a pork product and 2 flyer items - like rice, or pancake etc. They also always have hot oatmeal, several juices, some cold items, fruits, yogurt etc. This is an excellent option for families or couples I believe and as mentioned well worth the additional cost. Only Club47 members have access to this area from 6:30 – 9:00 AM and again from 5:00 – 7:00 PM. For dinner again they have 4 hot items as well as some soups to choose from. Then some smaller cold items as well as nuts and pretzels etc. They also include wine, 2 types of beer (1 Hawaiian and Coors Light). With this package you also get a private elevator which only stops on 3 floors, 14,15,16 and it also means you’re getting the top floors in the hotel so better views. Further to this our room came with a good size bar fridge, 4 waters daily, and upon request a microwave, and crib. Definitely grab the Club 47 rooms if available on your stay, beyond the food the staff (typically 3 people) are excellent day and night and the view of Waikiki and Diamond Head furthers the amazing Club 47 experience. Other than how much we liked the beach, and hotel staff we also really enjoyed the location of the hotel itself. After heading out the lower lobby you hit the main strip of Waikiki on Kalakaua Ave. From the hotel entrance it’s roughly 1 block to the Duke Statue where you can take the free outrigger trolley to many destinations – Shopping centre, Zoo, Diamond Head etc. There are also 100’s of restaurants within 4 blocks or less, and all the buses (there are MANY) are also walkable within a few blocks of the hotel. I definitely would suggest this hotel, price point is fair for what you’re getting and it’s proximal to all the great spots. Keep an eye out for some other reviews in the next few days as we ate at Hy’s, DK’s, Ruth’s Chris, Doraku, Sensi, Cheese Burger in Paradise, Teddy’s, Chilli’s, Yard House, Duke’s and McDonalds to name a few. We also went to Diamond Head, Paradise Cove Luau, the North Shore, the flea market and many other cool spots on the island. Read less

I like the accessibility to get in/out by car and Waikiki traffic. Valet staff is always ready to take/deliver your car even in flooded situations. At checking they offer you a refreshing cold towel and a delicious tropical juice. They now have a free water bottle filling station in the lobby. Staff is also friendly. This is my to go hotel every time I find myself in Waikiki for Business or Family. It is always great to be back - February, 2019! Read less