Older Hotel with very interesting history and wonderful location. The Luxury Suites offer wonderful City and Ocean views. A hard-working team very willing to serve their guests efficiently and patiently and with good humour.

This is the second time we've stayed at the Ilikai. We stayed once back in 2016 and it was fine then - in 2016 the rooms weren't renovated recently but the location is good and it's very chill, good for families. This recent trip (March 2023) we were actually planning on staying at a different hotel (Moana Surfrider) but when we got to the other hotel it was horrible (tiny, dark, damp room, moldy bathroom, street facing and oh so loud) so we canceled that reservation and made a last minute reservation at the Ilikai. We got a great room, newly renovated and on the 25th floor so we had a beautiful view of the ocean and the marina.

It was me, my husband, and our two kiddos and we had a king size bed + pull out couch (queen size?), plus a small kitchen and a balcony overlooking the marina ("sunset view"). With the couch pulled out there wasn't a ton of space but it was still enough space for us to hang out, the room was bright and airy, and we really enjoyed being there!

The location is great. You can walk right to the beach in a couple minutes, there is a smaller lake/beach thing and you can rent stand up paddleboards and water tricycles. Great shopping and food nearby too.

Issues:
1) Our door lock had an issue towards the end of our stay. I won't get into the details but basically they seemed to think we just couldn't work our keys so they kept sending people who couldn't fix it, so it took longer than it should have to resolve. They ended up replacing the entire lock (they said something like this happens rarely, maybe once every 2 years). It DID get resolved but this was very annoying.
2) One of the outlet plugs did not work next to the bed
3) The sprinkler in the kitchen had a slow drip the entire time of the stay
4) The drain in the shower was detached and needed to be regrouted/attached to the floor
5) There was often a wait for the elevator
6) They are not doing housekeeping unless you stay 7+ days
7) Laundry was broken on our floor so we had to go down to the 19th floor

Though there were some issues they were all pretty minor and even still I would definitely stay here again and definitely recommend it. Having a small kitchen in the room is key for our family when traveling - it just makes it easier to make a quick breakfast in the room and save some $$ so you aren't paying $90 for breakfast for a family of four (Hawaii is so expensive).

We booked a three night stay in a Sunset Ocean View studio (Friday-Monday). This is the quieter side of the building in regards to other reviews about street noise (which you don't hear on this side). And you do get a lovely sunset. It's a timeshare property that includes a kitchen and balcony. Plus you are greeted with beads and a Hawaiian juice.

There are resort like activities such as the free scoop of ice cream at Dave's and entertainment on Friday and Sunday night. And you get two bottle of water per day. The restaurant on property, Cinnamon's, has some bad reviews but we had good meals there and found the servers to be very nice.

You aren't in the heart of Waikiki but somewhat walkable to all the action and also only about 15 minutes walk to the Ala Moana Mall. If you want to see the fireworks on Friday night at the Hilton Hawaiian Village you can see them easily by walking to the lagoon.

The room itself is clean, but you don't have daily housekeeping (which is confusing because the words "hotel" and "luxury" are in the title). It was a slightly dated room with an older TV so there is no streaming. But there is a DVD player and a way to rent DVD's but there aren't many movies to choose from. Internet worked well. If you need to work like we do on the road there isn't a desk in the studio and the only places to sit are two high top chairs on the kitchen counter.

In general most of the folks staying were families and retired couples. Since this property doesn't have a large pool or easy access to the beach it might not be a good fit for all. However by comparison to other properties it was a more reasonable price and you can save money because of the kitchen.