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Hyatt Regency Waikiki Review: Pros and Cons

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What’s it like staying in one of the largest hotels on Oahu? In this candid Hyatt Regency Waikiki review, I’m sharing our real world experience and will tell you all the pros and cons. After reading this review, you’ll have good sense of whether or not it’s the right place for your next visit to The Gathering Place!

A little background on our stay at Hyatt Regency Waikiki

We stayed at Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa for four nights over winter break 2024. This wasn’t our first trip to Oahu; in fact, our last trip was five glorious weeks long which gave us a really deep connection to the island as well as plenty of intel on the best things to do.

This return trip was part of a multi-generational trip to Hawaii and included 10 people from ages 3 to 77. We booked three 2 queen city view rooms, two of them on points and the third on a discounted small business rate I was able to access with my World of Hyatt Business credit card. The rooms on points were 23,000 points per night, which is very reasonable compared with Hilton Hawaiian Village at three times that amount.

We earned enough points by combining our Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Freedom Unlimited credit cards. The Freedom Unlimited has no annual fee and earns points faster, but the Sapphire Preferred is required to transfer points to partners like Hyatt. It’s all part of our travel credit card strategy!

I have Hyatt’s top-tier Globalist status, which I was able to extend to the other rooms using Guest of Honor awards. We booked two of the rooms on points because those rooms needed parking, which is usually $70 plus tax per night but free for Globalists (and Guests of Honor) using points. All rooms had waived resort fees, access to the Regency Club for food throughout the day and late checkout as perks of the status and awards. If you travel often but haven’t looked into the benefits of Hyatt status, I strongly recommend that you do – it’s been a great money-saver and lets us travel in a style that’s way beyond what our cash budget would allow! At the very least, find a friend who is deep in the Hyatt world and ask them for a Guest of Honor award for your stay.

Ultimately Hyatt Regency Waikiki was a great value for the quality of experience we had. Speaking of experience, I’ll now dive into the pros and cons of staying at Hyatt Regency Waikiki based on our stay.


Advantages of Hyatt Regency Waikiki

There are a lot of things about the HR Waikiki that make it a compelling choice for your next visit to Oahu. Overall I’d rate it a very positive experience.

It’s a free place to stay in Hawaii

I’m not going to lie, to me the greatest thing about Hyatt Regency Waikiki is that it’s a great hotel that I can stay at completely free. You can too! Just grab the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card and you can get 3-4 nights totally free as long as you aren’t visiting during peak periods. That card will set you back $95 per year, which is a lot less than even a single night at a crummy hotel, and allows you to transfer your points to Hyatt.

I absolutely love that Hyatt waives those annoying resort fees if you’re booking your room on points, even if you’re brand new to their loyalty program.

Location, location, location

If you want to be in the heart of the action and love city life, Hyatt Regency Waikiki is a great pick. You can just cross the street and your toes will be in the sand of beautiful Waikiki beach. That’s especially handy if you just have a short time on Oahu and don’t want to spend it driving around to different beaches. Just prepare for crowds!

I really loved the ability to walk a block or two and have dozen of food options at my disposal. Thai, smoothies, shave ice, sushi and more beckon you from shopping centers all along Kalakaua Avenue. It was so nice to stroll around in the evening rather than driving everywhere.

The hotel complex itself has tons of shops and a few quick eateries as well. There are several ABC Stores on-site in case you forgot your reef-safe sunscreen or need to stock up on your favorite flavor of Hawaiian Sun.

orange Waikiki Trolley going down the street in Honolulu, Oahu

While I really do recommend renting a car in Hawaii to go explore, if you’re visiting Hawaii on a budget for a few days you can get away with walking combined with using the trolley, bus and Uber here.

Great views (maybe)

If you book the right type of room, you can enjoy amazing views right from the balcony of your room! I booked three city view rooms but between my Globalist status and the request that our rooms be adjacent/adjoining we ended up with two “ocean view” rooms in the Diamond Head Tower on the 16th floor (1664 and 1665) and one that was a very generic city view (1666). I put ocean view in quotation marks because a hotel with more precise descriptions would probably label our room as “partial ocean view”.

We were still very happy with the upgrades on those two rooms, but if you want an even better view try requesting rooms ending in 59 or 60 (“ocean front”). Even better, book “Diamond Head Ocean Front View” to guarantee an iconic balcony view (rooms ending 61-63 on floors 25+ of the Diamond Head tower)!

Even if your room doesn’t have an ideal view, the Regency Club terrace on the 3rd floor has a nice view directly onto the action at Waikiki Beach. Our family even watched the sunset from there while we were getting settled in our room!

Spacious rooms with plenty of storage

My beige flag in travel? I really like to unpack as soon as I arrive at a hotel if it’s more than just a one night stay. So I pay close attention to what kind of storage hotels offer for clothing, luggage and assorted other items.

We generally pack light, but for Hawaii we also bring things like snorkel gear, water shoes, inflatable boogie boards and collapsible sand toys. Plus the kids bring plenty of entertainment options for the obscenely long flights from the midwest.

I’m happy to report that the Hyatt Regency Waikiki rooms were plenty spacious and offered ample storage and organization for our family of four. Our ocean view room was on the larger side but even the regular rooms are around 400 square feet. I was able to put everyone’s clothing in drawers or on hangers and use the shelves next to the open “closet” for odds and ends. The closet only had space for two carry-on suitcases, but the others fit perfectly in the space between our bed and the exterior wall.

One thing that’s worth noting if you have different wake-up times in the same room: in many rooms, the vanity area is completely open and faces the beds. Thankfully my gym-going husband doesn’t mind brushing his teeth in the dark, otherwise he would have woken everyone else up at the crack of dawn.

Speaking of bathrooms, they’re all outfitted with Toto washlets! It’s a nod to the hotel’s huge Japanese customer base, but don’t be afraid to try it out yourself.

While Globalist benefits at Hyatt Regency Waikiki are solid overall, don’t expect a suite upgrade here. By some reports there aren’t even a dozen standard suites here, and they’ve mostly been unavailable for months while they’re being refurnished. On the off-chance that a standard suite is available, it’s a city view in the Ewa tower. The price is higher than just booking two city view rooms and asking for them to connect, and you’ll get the same amount of space either way.

Club Access can save money and sanity

One of the big benefits of World of Hyatt Globalist status is access to either the club lounge (if one is present) or restaurant breakfast (if there is no club). What is a Hyatt club lounge? Think of it like an airport lounge: those who are on the VIP list can go in anytime it’s open to get unlimited food and drinks. Some clubs include alcohol, while others like Hyatt Regency Waikiki use an honor bar system for adult beverages.

The club lounge at Hyatt Regency Waikiki is very good in my opinion. While the seating area got very crowded since the hotel was at 100% capacity, I was really impressed by the wide variety of foods available. It’s located on the third floor of the Diamond Head tower, and you access it by walking through the main (paid) buffet.

There are three basic food service periods in the Regency Club at HR Waikiki: breakfast (6:30-10am), hors d’oeuvres (5-7) and dessert (7-9). We found all of these spreads to be more robust than what we experienced at Grand Hyatt Kauai a few months earlier.

We ate breakfast in the Regency Club each day. There were always 2-3 hot dishes to choose from, including option like scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes etc. Hard-boiled eggs, salad, cereal, fresh fruit and a wide array of pastries were always offered – gluten-free guests can always request bread and pastries from the staff thankfully. In addition, one table always had a massive rice cooker and pot of miso soup thanks to the hotel’s huge proportion of Japanese guests. No complaints here! Even with our family’s dietary restrictions, we always found plenty of options to fuel us for a fun day ahead.

Some families – especially those with young kids – lean on the hors d’oeuvres to save money and streamline their evenings. In a city where restaurant wait times can stretch over an hour without a reservation and the time change makes everyone tired and cranky in the evening, this can be a real sanity saver! That said, the offerings are more limited than in the morning and they do rotate. We found it to be enough on an evening when we’d had a huge late lunch and just wanted something simple, and other family members used it on arrival day to get their kids fed and off to bed before the jet lag kicked in.

The menu is not published in advance but I was able to text the front desk in the mornings to ask (sometimes with prodding). To give an example of the evening offerings, one day they served tomato basil arancini and seafood rigatoni along with cold cuts, salad and roasted vegetables. Another evening they offered beef chili (which the kids were more excited about).

I only visited the Regency Club for dessert once during this trip, and I’d say it was hit or miss. They have quite a few interesting options and seem to put out a tray or two of each, then replenish with something completely different when that runs out. Eventually they got to the basic cookies and brownies my husband had been waiting for; perhaps he should have just asked at the beginning!

By now you’re probably wondering how to get access to the Regency Club, and the good news is that there are a few ways. First, if you have World of Hyatt Globalist status (or have been gifted a Guest of Honor award by someone who really loves you) you’ll automatically get club access.

Second, if you stay at Hyatt properties from time to time you may already have one. By staying 20 nights (or combining some stays with elite qualifying nights earned via Hyatt credit cards) you can earn two Club Access awards that are each good for all guests in your room for the entire week of your stay. You can also be gifted a Club Access award, and many Globalists have these to give away since they become unnecessary once you reach Globalist status. The catch is that there are sometimes capacity controls on the use of those awards, so I recommend applying it to your reservation as soon as possible (ideally at booking).

Third, for some dates you are able to purchase Club Access. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this, as it’ll run you about $150 per night in addition to the room rate. For a family of four it might be worthwhile if you plan to be back in Waikiki every evening to make a dinner out of the hors d’oeuvres and you have pretty flexible eaters. If you’ll spend a lot of time out and about exploring, I wouldn’t bother paying for Club Access.

Want to plan the ultimate Oahu vacation? Click here for step-by-step Oahu travel planning help!

Free activities on-site

For budget travelers or people who don’t want to plan much away from Waikiki, the hotel offers tons of free activities right on the property. While we didn’t do them this time, you can sign up for ukulele, hula, lei making and much more.

The first floor atrium, ringed by shops and landscaping, hosts a farmers market and live music several times per week. Every Friday afternoon there’s even a free, high-quality Polynesian dance show! We stopped by for this and it was really well done. If you don’t have the time or budget to attend a luau (or your kids can’t stay up that late) this is the perfect alternative and it’s completely free and no tickets are required – just show up and take a seat! It includes hula, Tahitian dances, drumming and even Samoan fire knife dancers.

If you’re planning to hit the beach – whether across the street or elsewhere on the island – stop by the pool desk in the morning to grab beach chairs and toys. They have a lot but it’s not unlimited; in the photo above you can see what was left at 9am. On another day we went to get chairs at 10am and they had completely run out. Pool and beach towels are available to take out via a keycard-operated machine, which scans them on the way out and on the way back in.

Check out more cheap and free things to do on Oahu!

Odds and ends

  • I really like the reusable bottles and bag provided by Hyatt Regency Waikiki! I know they’re small details, but we used those items throughout our time on Oahu and Maui.
  • There’s no kids club at Hyatt Regency Waikiki, but there are some fun games near the pool deck like foosball and shuffleboard.
  • It’s very Japanese! From the toilets to the breakfast and the mysterious fancy “Japanese only” lounge near the foosball, there are nods to the hotel’s Japanese clientele everywhere. Japanese people themselves are everywhere, which we consider a plus.
  • While we didn’t use it this time, there’s a decent sized laundry room on the 4th floor. The laundry and detergent required payment (unlike the Andaz Wailea where laundry is all free).
  • There’s some really cool art around the hotel – pay attention to the murals!

Disadvantages of Hyatt Regency Waikiki

Because I always want to be honest with you, it’s not all roses. There are some notable disadvantages, but it’s up to you whether or not they impact your choice of where to stay on Oahu. Some of these disadvantages may not matter to you at all.

It’s a very large hotel

There are just over 1200 rooms at Hyatt Regency Waikiki, split into the Ewa and Diamond Head towers. That only makes it the fourth largest hotel on the island (and #1 is more than double the size) but there’s no denying that it’s big.

Some people love big hotels, and that’s totally fine! I personally prefer hotels that are half or a quarter that size. Being at a big hotel, especially at 100% capacity, means waiting in line at the elevators, sometimes chaos at the valet stand and in general less personalized service.

From a practical perspective, it’s really easy to feel turned around. Getting to the ground level generally involves taking an elevator down from your room and then an escalator down from the hotel level to the ground level (because the first floor is retail). There were a few times when I got off the elevator and said “wait, where am I supposed to go now?” In one instance, my daughter and a few cousins were trying to go back upstairs to our room and accidentally went to the wrong tower!

Costs add up quickly without status/awards

Hyatt Regency Waikiki was an excellent value for us, but that’s because we stayed on points and had the benefits of Globalist status and Guest of Honor awards. Without those, we would have been paying the regular room rate, $49 per day for the resort fee, $70 per day for parking and breakfast for 10 people. Since there’s no kitchenette here, you’d basically be limited to either going out for a pricey, time-consuming breakfast each day or relying on cold items like cereal and yogurt.

If you don’t have a large pool of Chase/Hyatt points, Globalist status, a Guest of Honor award or a Club Access award, you may want to shop around different parts of the island.

Guests who want to dine on-site without club access can eat at one of the two restaurants, SHOR and SWIM. SHOR offers a diverse, substantial buffet breakfast at $43 per adult and $21 per child 6-12 and then transitions to a seafood + Korean BBQ buffet in the evenings priced at $84 per adult and $42 per child 6-12.

SWIM offers a small a la carte breakfast menu, which will realistically run you about $20 per person. Even a brewed coffee is a shocking $4. The SWIM dinner menu has tons of options and we were pleased to find a gluten-free pizza offered, but unfortunately the prices are sky high and we didn’t care for most of what we ordered there. You’re much better off walking down the street and getting food from a non-hotel restaurant.

You’re committed to Waikiki traffic

If you want to get out of Waikiki – which you absolutely should – allow plenty of extra time. Staying in the middle of town, at any hotel, surrounds you with tens of thousands of other people who also want to go enjoy the rest of the island.

The internet is really slow

This one won’t matter to most people, but the internet at Hyatt Regency Waikiki was painfully slow – at times just 10-20 Mbps. That’s fine for most travelers who just need to check a quick email, but don’t expect to work remotely from here. For reference, most homes in the US see speeds of 100-200 Mbps over WiFi these days. But most homes in the US don’t have thousands of people in the same building using the internet at the same time!

It doesn’t have the intangibles

Grand Hyatt Kauai landscaping
Grand Hyatt Kauai offers much more Hawaiian vibe than Hyatt Regency Waikiki

The Hyatt Regency Waikiki is a great place to sleep and even a good place to play (for part of your trip). But ultimately it doesn’t have a feeling of specialness to it. The same hotel could be built anywhere else in the world where the weather is nice enough for outdoor living. Some of that is due to the location and scale, and some of that is due to the Regency brand itself.

We stay at a lot of Hyatt Regency properties – at least a half-dozen every year. It’s a dependable option, but there’s really a huge range within the brand. Some like Hyatt Regency Lost Pines and Hyatt Regency Coconut Point are destinations in their own right, while there are plenty that are more simple and business-oriented. Some of Hyatt’s other properties in Hawaii will make you say “WOW” like the Andaz Wailea and Grand Hyatt Kauai (pictured above); we were fortunate to stay at both of those within the last year as well.

Hyatt Regency Waikiki pool

But if you dream of a lei greeting as you pull up to a lush tropical resort from the airport, that’s not the experience you’re going to get here. Instead you’ll pull into a jam-packed valet stand and then walk through part of a mall, go up the escalator and search around for the oddly-placed check-in desk. There’s also a very basic pool, rather than an elaborate resort-style set up with multiple pools on terraces, water slides and other fancy amenities.

We knew all of this going in and we were ok with it. The Hyatt Regency Waikiki’s job was to meet our needs, while the Andaz Wailea’s job right afterward was to fulfill our Hawaii dreams – stay tuned for that review!


Alternative places to stay on Oahu

I really don’t want this review to come off as a “pan” – I don’t regret staying at Hyatt Regency Waikiki, I just want to make sure you know what it is and what it isn’t. But if it doesn’t sound like the hotel for you, thankfully there are plenty of great alternatives on Oahu. You can read my in-depth round-up of where to stay on Oahu by area, or check out these quick picks.

Hilton Hawaiian Village

If all the things about staying in Waikiki appeal to you but you want a more resort-style experience, Hilton Hawaiian Village will give you that. It’s the largest hotel on Oahu at over 3000 rooms spread across 5 towers (including the famous Rainbow Tower). There are more than a dozen eateries, numerous pools, a massive saltwater lagoon, a great beach and even fireworks every Friday.

Turtle Bay resort & condos

Want to be away from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki? Turtle Bay on the north shore of Oahu is the answer. You’ll trade traffic for farm stands and food trucks, but staying in or around Turtle Bay still gives you some major luxury.

The Ritz-Carlton Turtle Bay Resort is stunning – it was featured in Forgetting Sarah Marshall since the property itself is gorgeous and is surrounded by amazing beaches and lush landscape. There are also tons of condos like this one surrounding the Ritz-Carlton, which are more affordable and give you a kitchen to save money on meals.

There’s nice beginner snorkeling in the cove on the right – it’s easy enough that I took my 6yo nephew out – and you’ll be close to some of my favorite things to do on Oahu with kids.

Courtyard by Marriott in Laie

Another nice option that’s more budget-friendly (for Hawaii) is the Courtyard by Marriott in Laie (technically called the Courtyard Oahu North Shore). It’s right near the Polynesian Cultural Center and Kualoa Ranch, plus there are tons of beautiful, quiet beaches to enjoy.

The accommodations here are pretty simple but you can opt for standard rooms, family rooms with bunk beds or even suites. The property has s a pool and hot tub on-site as well if you want to take a dip in the evening. Note that breakfast is not included but there’s a bistro that offers a la carte breakfast options.

I really love this part of Oahu (especially a little south of Laie) – it’s beautiful and peaceful. It’s easy to forget that there are another million people on the other side of the Ko’olau mountains!

Plan your trip to Oahu

We love Oahu and want to help you have the best time there! Be sure to click through more of the articles below to plan your epic trip to Hawaii.

See all of our Hawaii travel planning resources in one place

Travel planning resources:
Compare rental car prices for Hawaii
Buy a top-rated travel insurance policy
5 simple money-saving tips for booking.com

General Hawaii resources:
How to visit Hawaii on a budget
Renting a car in Hawaii: 10 things you NEED to know
What to pack for Hawaii
Is a cheap GoPro knock-off worth it?

Hawaii with kids:
What’s the best Hawaiian island for families?
Is it worth visiting Hawaii with a baby?
Ultimate packing list for Hawaii with kids
Top 10 things to do with kids on Oahu
The best snorkel gear for kids of all ages

Oahu resources:
Best Oahu travel guide book
Perfect 7 day Oahu itinerary
Where to stay on Oahu
Hyatt Regency Waikiki review
Family-friendly Oahu vacation rentals
Cheap Places To Stay On Oahu
10 Fun Things to do on Oahu for $10 or less
Getting the most bang for your buck on your Go Oahu discount card
Insider tips for visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center
The best beaches on Oahu (and why to visit them)
Where to find the best shave ice on Oahu
The best easy hikes on Oahu
North Shore Oahu complete visitors guide
Kayaking to the Mokes with Twogood Kayaks
Family-friendly kayaking with Holokai Adventures
Visiting Pearl Harbor

Maui resources:
Best Maui travel guide book
Family Activities in Maui We Absolutely Love
Perfect 3 day Maui itinerary
5 Things You NEED To Do Before You Visit Maui
Cheap Places To Stay On Maui

Big Island resources:
Best Big Island travel guide book
Perfect 5 day Big Island itinerary
Cheap Places To Stay On the Big Island

Kauai resources:
Best Kauai travel guide book
Best Things to Do with Kids on Kauai
Perfect 3 day Kauai itinerary
Cheap Places To Stay On Kauai

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