We stayed at the Aqua Aloha Surf for 3 nights 4/28-5/30. The lobby is very welcoming and so was the front desk attendant. Providing two bottled waters was a nice treat. As people had forewarned, the parking garage was tiny and when we arrived, there were two spaces that had been reserved by phone, but unclaimed. He told me to check back in 30 minutes and if they were still unclaimed, he would give me a permit. He was nice enough to call the room 15 minutes later and inform me that I could have one of the spaces. If we didn't have a reserved space, I could see that parking would be very inconvenient and feel a little unsafe since the external parking is dark.
The room itself is indeed tiny. We had reserved superior city view through expedia so it wasn't the smallest room, but I'd still say that it was definitely smaller than most hotel rooms that I've stayed in. The bathroom clearly needed renovations as it seemed like an old residential bathroom. It needed caulking and had rusty drain fixtures. I'd equate it to a dorm bathroom. It was also very cramped - there was a sliding bathroom door separating the toilet from the sink and the toilet paper was attached to the door. There was also a small "closet" that was separated by a curtain rather than a door. You could clearly hear outdoor noise alhough my husband is a sound sleeper and it didn't bother him. The walls are thin, however. When we were there, they had people from the junior USTA tennis league staying there and we heard them talking and laughing pretty late into the night. The only other complaint I have is that when I woke up to get a drink from the mini fridge, I saw a roach crawling along the wall directly adjacent to my son's pack n play. That was not comforting since I wondered the rest of the time if it would crawl into his bed or our suitcases. I also didn't feel comfortable walking on the carpet without shoes on.
All-in-all, I'd say it was an okay place to stay, minus the roach. I'm surprised that it is ranked as #21 in popularity though by others(I'd rank it much lower and would consider it 2 stars). Here's a summary of the pros and cons.
Positives: Staff are nice, free continental breakfast (though we ended up going to Keoni's after the first day as another reviewer had recommended -- EXCELLENT place for breakfast and much more satisfying!!), reasonable price, mini fridge and microwave are nice to have, very convenient to full grocery store and restaurants and shops, friendly front desk staff, free internet (they even loaned us a new cable at no charge when we forgot ours)
Negatives: Not convenient walk to the beach when you have a child and are carrying things with you, bathroom needs updating, cramped quarters, bugs/cleanliness
Also a note - while the front desk staff are nice, don't bother asking for advice from the Expedia Local Expert in the lobby. I purchased a Honolulu Power Pass from Expedia and thought it would be convenient to run some questions and gain insight from the Expedia local expert. Boy was I wrong, she was unfriendly and I'd say rude. I presented her with the list of activities included on the pass and she wasn't familiar with half of them and pretty much said she coudldn't help me because she didn't know what I was interested in. It was a complete waste of time and left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I went back to her a second time to ask another question and she was again, useless. Don't expect a friendly person who knows much about what to see and do in the area.






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