Polynesian Plaza

Summary: three stars for conditions and accessibility, but an extra star for the location.
I would like to start by saying that it is what it is for the price it was at. The location was a bit obscure — from where we went in, it was just a tiny gate squished between stores. If you choose to stay here, park at the King’s Parking Lot, which is a few minutes away. I believe it’s $ 20 a day — you take an elevator up and then walk a couple of blocks back to the hotel. The elevator is a bit run down, and the staff gives each guest a key for the elevator, should they try to access it after hours. We stayed in Penthouse 2 on the 5^th floor. The room was clean and tidy, albeit a little old fashioned. We were a family of five, and there was ample space in the room. Originally, I planned to give it three stars, but it earned a star for location: right smack in the middle of all the bustle of the town. Just walking out the doors of the hotel, you’ll find yourself surrounded by shops and restaurants of all kinds. There was one asian restaurant just outside the entrance that always had a line of people. Wanted to check it out, but as we did not have the time, didn’t. Also, the balcony in our room was definitely a highlight. Looking out, it seems like a bunch of the rooms had it, but the ones in the penthouses were definitely the largest. Even on the 5^th floor, it was a covered balcony, so we were not affected during the rainy season in which we were staying (that is, the winter time). The balconies overlook the entire city/​town, which is a beautiful sight at night. Even at 3am in the morning (couldn’t fall asleep, so I did decided to wander around), the city still has a few people meandering about. Also, as a final note, the rooms are accessed by keys instead of cards. Our room had two locks, which proved to be a little hard to open. Anyway, the hotel was generally a good deal for the price.

Very Hard to find, but location is in the heart of town. No hotel parking making unloading and check in difficult. No parking in front of hotel– entrance on main avenue with no stopping. Elevator out of service, with a 5^th floor penthouse room. Room was dated but clean enough. A/​C units were Window box style, but cooled well after leaving on a while. Definitely saved money, but thinking you get what you paid for.

Loved the location. Loved the price, as it was the cheapest we could find for our budget summer Hawaii vacation. The staff was friendly and helpful. The room itself was definitely not a comfortable place to stay.
My travel companion and I went in summer 2013 and got a room for just under $ 100 a night with two twin beds. You could feel the springs in the mattresses, and the courtyard immediately outside was LOUD late into the night. That first night I couldn’t sleep. The second night I was so pooped that I luckily passed out.
It was the best location ever right next to two ramen joints (one with a line out the door every night) and sandwiched between stores and shops and just a short walk to the heart of Waikiki including the shops, restaurants, and the beach.
The staff was helpful as when we were checking out they let us store our stuff there and even check out beach towels even though we were already departing. That bit of extra help and hospitality really made it a good experience.
But the mattresses DEFINITELY need to be replaced.

This place needs to be shut down. I got in at 1 am after driving back and forth across Waikiki multiple times to even find the place. I was told that parking was «sold out» and could either find street parking or park in the bank lot down the street. Elevator was nasty and ancient. Carpet in hallway is literally taped to hold it together.
Room is just plain gross. Travel weary as I am, you couldn’t pay me to shower in this shower, not to mention it was dripping all night. Door to balcony literally doesn’t close and is «secured» by a door chain that was unhooked when I arrived. Air conditioning is a small residential window air conditioner that chills air about 3 feet around it. Barely. Do not stay here. Ever. True what another reviewer said, this is more of a hostel than a hotel. And I’m a pretty non picky budget traveler used to Comfort Inns.

Great staff, and amazing location. Blink and you’ll miss it, right off the beaten path. Thank goodness for the bright Aqua doorway. The pool area is so nice, granted in an urban area, but well taken care of. Bathrooms could be better (showers not conducive to chubby people, or tall people. Or 2 people) but overall a nice place. New furniture, comfy beds and amazingly convenient location if you «absolutely» need something. (Thank you ABC stores) Parking and unloading (nonexistent) sucks if there are more than a couple people, but there is a parking garage a block away, for $ 20 a day that the hotel makes available to guests. If I were a tourist visiting, I might choose a more popular name place, just for the parking, but as a resident, this place was perfect.

As you can see on the comments most of the people say it’s outdated and it should be replace and it’s true
But the hotel follow exactly what we pay to be there
I recommend the place for a staying 4 – 7 nights
Because oahu has so much to see that you might be at the hotel just to sleep… besides, when I was there, they’re told the customers that they’ll be changing the furniture soon, what’s a good thing, the bedrooms are very clean and the Location is one of the best in waikiki for sure
Choose this hotel for a short staying, but don’t go expecting a lot.

Stayed here for 9 nights. Let’s just say you get what you pay for.
Pros:
–great location (5 min walk to beach)
–good customer service and the employees are friendly
–you have what you need to survive
–cheapish
–the shower never ran out of hot water
–my ac worked
Cons:
–outdated furniture
–a bit dirty and smelly (probably because pet friendly, old carpet, and cigarette smokers)
–parking is $ 20 and is a block away
–use actual keys for rooms
–the patio doors do not open/​close smoothly
–loud because of the Main Street. The patio doors allow the sounds of cars and sirens in so easily. It is definitely like an alarm clock.
–no free wifi in the rooms
–they are slowly updating their furniture so a bunch of furniture is sitting outside and on every floor
I’m on a budget, and that’s why I chose this place. I honestly would recommend to spend a little bit more to get a better place to stay. I originally thought «oh we won’t stay in our hotel a lot» but really I would have spent more if I knew better.

This is by far the worst hotel I have ever stayed at that I paid more than $ 200 per night. The entrance was sketchie homeless people were hanging out. Than you got to the check in desk which was like a broom closet where they kept everything including their servers for the network. This was also next to the pool that had tons of mattresses and furniture piled next to it getting wet from the rain, by the way the mattresses and furniture we found out as we walked up to our room were scattered in the hallways all over the hotel. It was disgusting, the rooms were dated with tiny beds needless to say there was nothing good to say about this dump. I complained when I checked out and the guy checking me out laughed and said that he wouldn’t stay in that dump himself but there was nothing he could do. Told me to send a letter to management but good luck. I have stayed in roach motels in third world countries that were better than this hole.

Let’s be real. It’s cheap and centrally-​located, but it’s an outdated, rickety old place. It’s like living in your first studio apartment all over again. The people who work there are really nice. I stayed at a very expensive ($ 450/​night) hotel up the street for half my vacation and this place for the other half. Call me crazy, but I prefer this place. My only complaint: There was no WIFI available the whole time.

My family and I stayed in the Penthouse Suite for 11 days. Its not as lavish as it sounds. 2 bedroom w/​2 twin bed each, living room, dining, kitchenette w/​most necesties (plates, pots, cutting board, micro etc). It was overall O.K. The furniture was outdated but you can make it work. When we got there it was a sauna. One a. c wasn’t working well but they traded it out and brought us a fan. So problem fixed. After that we were fine.
Its location in Waikiki is the tourist hotspot. The beach is 2 – 3 blocks. There is no parking but many hotels dont have parking or they charge. Poly you pay $ 20 a day and it too is about 2 blocks away. Spotting the actual hotel location can be difficult, hidden between shops.
Again overall it was O.K. Its affordable and we really didnt spend much time there. I probably would stay here again.

Vacation nightmare!
We made reservations here after seeing photos that I believe were not even of this actual hotel. We reserved the «penthouse» two bedroom condo with a full kitchen because we are in town for so long. Upon arrival at the «front desk» (a window by the pool), the man already knew the name of the reservation without us saying a word. I don’t know if perhaps they don’t get any guests, or what.
Anyway, we check in and are given actual KEYS to the room. Okay, weird, but whatever. We head toward the elevator. It is worth noting that the only way up is the elevator. There is no stairway to be found. Why take the stairs, you might ask? Well, the elevator is probably the first one ever created. The buttons are all old school and it tells you what floor the elevator is on by a scrolling number wheel like what you would find on an old car with an old fashioned, non digital odometer ticking away the miles. The elevator is tiny and 4 people plus 4 suitcases barely fit on it. It also smells of cigarette smoke.
We open our room and oh my gosh. I swear to you, the smell of lysol and bleach is so overpowering that you can’t hardly breathe. This smell is made worse by the fact that the ‘air conditioning’ did not work and clearly hadn’t been running in a very long time. The room was like a sauna. I am not exaggerating. We begin to look around and this is where the horror freakshow begins to unfold.
The beds are hard as rocks. They are covered in stains which look like black mold. Great. The «couch» has stains all over it. The air conditioning still is not blowing cold air despite all 3 wall units being set to 60°. There are cigarette butts in bowls in the kitchen. The bathroom is FILTHY, nobody would dare to use the toilet or shower, even after a 12 hour day at the airport.
Here is the real kicker. As we all sit down and figure out if we can find another room somewhere else, we begin to find what looks like blood stains all over the carpet and bloody finger prints all over the walls. The balcony door does not close all the way or lock. There’s no way we are staying here.
We were able to check out and get refunded without any questions asked. We wander around Waikiki hotel less, and manage to find two nights at the Luana. After the two nights, we’ve got 7 more to figure out what the heck we are going to do because everyone is booked solid.
Awesome start to a vacation in «paradise».

My family was given a deal on Hawaiian Airlines to stay at the Polynesian Plaza for only $ 80 a night. For Waikiki, that’s a super great deal! Don’t fall for it!
First off, they don’t have an area for unloading and loading. You have to use the area in front of the Hard Rock Café. On top of that, there’s not parking situation attached to the hotel. They use the parking structure a block away in a business structure and charge $ 20 a day. Not a good way to start our stay. When we finally got situated, we entered a hallway and was lead to the front desk. It’s literally a small open window next to the pool. I could tell I was staying at the roach motel. They borrow wifi, charge for everything and give you an actual key for the room. Who does that nowadays?!
The room. Omg, the room. Super comical now, but at the time, I was in a nightmare. Once you enter there’s a kitchenette which I thought was pretty cool. The bathroom was a dump. I used my flip flops while I showered. I wasn’t about to take any chances with that shower. There were two twin size beds in the room. Each mattress seemed like it’s been around for years. Not really comfortable. The furniture and TV probably came from other hotel furniture close outs, super outdated. The air conditioner didn’t really work as good as I hoped it would. The blinds didn’t help at all and were broken. Although we had a view of Kalakaua Ave, the sounds from the street seemed to come right into the room, no matter if the door was open or not. It was super loud. Just an all around bad room.
I appreciated the location of this place. Super accommodating if you want to walk the streets of Waikiki but let me tell you, the room was not good at all. Do yourself a favor and pay the extra cost and stay at a good hotel. I think after all the small charges, we paid the same cost as we would have if we stayed at the double tree a block away. Rooms there are amazing compared to this place.

I can’t believe I haven’t left a review. This place is a crap hole! By far the worst place I have ever stayed at (that’s what I get for letting someone else pick). Honestly, book elsewhere! The beds are terrible, it’s noisy, the place smells, everything is outdated! I could go on and on. This place should just be demolished! The only good thing about this place is that it was walking distance to everything in Waikiki. Even if you think to yourself ‘well I don’t plan to stay in the hotel that much’ please double think that thought and book somewhere else!!!

We’re not especially picky, but this was the worst hotel I have ever stayed at and we bailed after the first night. The parking costs $ 20 per night and was blocks away and unmarked. The room itself was dirty, old, and poorly kept. The windows don’t keep out any sound and the blinds didn’t close so it was bright from the street and noisy the entire night. The promised «kitchenette» was a toaster and ancient microwave, but with the overall look of things I wouldn’t have wanted to eat off their dishes anyway. I don’t know where they got their photos, but it certainly doesn’t look like that now. My only positive comment is that the staff were nice about letting us check out without paying for the additional night. Beware.

Cheap yes. There are many issues to this establishment. But it was resolved quickly by the manager. I appreciate him being cooperative. I want to see this establishment after being reconstructed later this year.

I’ve stayed in motel 6 and other low budget hotels but this place was beyond disgusting. I book this hotel on hotwire and got this disgusting hotel. I will never again book without knowing where I’m staying. I recommend you book for a little more money. It is not worth it to stay at this hotel. I felt I was going to get a disease staying there. 1 thing about staying in hawaii you’re going to pay a pretty penny to stay at a nicer hotel cause their hotels suck. You will pay more for hotel than the airplain tickets. I would never recommend this place. After we got our refund the manager who looked 18yrs old laughed at us when we gave him back the key. They don’t have parking. They still have keys not plastic key cards. They aren’t professional at all.

The person taking the reservation and the desk clerk on duty were both very nice. But the room was absolutely dreadful. It was very dated, and the carpet was super funky, but worse, when I pulled back the fitted sheet, the mattress was very, very stained. As in brown. Was it mold, blood? I have no idea. I was still on East Coast time when I arrived near midnight, so I was totally exhausted. Otherwise, I would have asked for a refund of my $ 170 and tried to find another place. I could not get the sliding door to my balcony to lock and the door to the hallway was only secured with a flimsy chain.
Note: The Aqua family of hotels includes some nicer options. This just isn’t one of them.

My biggest regret in staying here is parking. They give out passes to park at another location for $ 20 but there are plenty of other hotels at the same nightly price which offers free dedicated parking.
The place has no loading zone so they tell you to park in the no stopping or loading zone and put your emergency lights on and make sure have a person present.
The elevator smells like febreeze. Once we got to our floor, the smell of smokers ash and bleach covered the place. The room does have a mini kitchenette if you plan to cook your meals. The air conditioner was ridiculously loud. So if you’re bothered by that, don’t stay here. My family and I aren’t into the hustle and bustle of beach walk, so we would much rather stay outside of Waikiki.

OK, This is an old hotel, with no on site parking. BUT… It is inexpensive, extremely spacious (we opted for the 1bedroom suite-​apx $ 124/​night) which included two twin beds, one full size fold out couch, 1 twin size fold out lounger, and a queen (or kin– not sure, as it was plenty big enough for us), one large bathroom with «Rain» shower :) also a pool, AND located just a couple doors down from the Hard Rock Café! OH! AND a mini fridge, microwave, coffee pot. AND a AWESOME Lanai for PH 1A. The desk staff are friendly and knowledgeable too! And our room was exceptionally CLEAN-​NO pests/​roaches either! Would highly recommend if you don’t CARE ABOUT PARKING (OFF SITE $ 20/DAY).AND SHUTTLES GALORE AVAILABLE TO AIRPORT– My personal Fave is A8 average cost $ 35 one way from Waikiki to airport!

The main hotel we stayed at wasn’t available the night we arrived, so we stayed at the Polynesian Plaza for one night (FYI — this place usually does weekly rentals only according to their info booklet; however we had booked this place through a wholesaler). I’m okay for staying just the one night, but if I stayed any longer, it would have put a huge damper on my trip.
We had trouble finding the place at first. It is nestled in between a bunch of little shops in the downtown Waikiki area. Parking is also lacking. We ended up being referred to a garage that wasn’t even next to the hotel.
Because we only stayed the one night before our main hotel was ready, I wasn’t too picky about the quality or size of the room (otherwise I would’ve given this place one star). Bathroom was tiny. I wouldn’t even use the kitchenette in the room if I needed it. There is no telephone (thankfully, I didn’t need that either). The bathroom is really tiny and had one of the smallest showers I’ve ever seen. The room itself and the entire premises are run-​down and plain looking. The check-​in desk is a tiny open window next to the pool.
Polynesian Plaza is in dire need of major remodeling. It is a shame because the location is great; it is close to all the shops and the beach. But the look and feel were such a turnoff for me as well as my boyfriend. Even the wholesaler we booked through said that comparing the Polynesian Plaza to our main hotel was like comparing a Yugo to a Benz. You guess which one is the Yugo (our main hotel was the Wyndham Royal Garden Resort at Waikiki). However, for one night it was all he had available within our price range.