The hotel is on a great location. We stayed during Thanksgiving week. I got a City View room at higher level, but the ocean view from the balcony is great. The beach a few steps to the right of the hotel which is in front of a military park is the most suitable for swimming. The slope is gentel, so is the wave.

The location is the very convenient, easy walking distance to most of the dining and shopping. We have used the Shorebird for most of the breakfasts, it has great Hawaii fruits to get started, plus many other hot selections. THe hotel staff are very friendly. There many free classes from bead necklace making to hula dancing in the hotel, wish we had time to try the classes but we were too busy with the other outdoor activities.

We used the bus to Pearl Harbor and Hanuama Bay. The bus system is very convenient in Honolulu. Great stay overall.

My husband and I stayed at the hotel for 8 nights and enjoyed it thoroughly. The staff were great and made every effort to ensure the stay was to our satisfaction. We had an ocean front room and all I can say is Wow. The views were fantastic and because we had a corner room we had 2 balconies. The location was excellent. The beach was accessible via one of the cafes on site or by walking 5 minutes around the corner. Lewers st was opposite which had restaurants and shops. The street that meets the main st of kalakaua avenue. Starbucks coffee shop was on site and it also had 3 other restaurants. Pool was great with spa and plenty of lounge chairs.
Tour desks on site as well. The only drawback was that they tried to sell you tiimeshare but that was everywhere. You just say No and that was it.

Would definetely stay here again!!

Just stayed here from Dec 2-8th, 2012. Here is what my husband and I discovered:
1. You CANNOT swim at the beach at the Reef - Reef and shells, sharp rocks that we were unaware of and found out the hard way; cuts on our feet! Just a short walk away, you can swim and surf at the beach in front of the Moana Surfrider.....I would recommend the water shoes for kids no matter where you swim.
2. Mai Tai special at the Shorebird is great from 12-5 and their mahi fish and chips is amazing - use the coupons they give you. They also have a good breakfast buffet and the restaurant right next door is lovely as well.
3. The saltwater pool is fabulous, but you do have to pay to rent chairs on the beach..not cheap.
4. Yard House just down the street has the best beer selection, especially if you want a dark beer.
5. Doraku sushi is amazing (above Kate Spade)...
6. The live music at night is really great and can be enjoyed from the majority of the balconies or by the pool at night...great.
7. The Oro Gold ladies in the lobby/hotel will hard sell you and draw you in with their samples....stay away. The salesgirl told me that she could only give me a special offer that day because she would be gone the rest of the week and we saw her there the next day....ugh.
8. The time share people weren't that bad, no big deal.
9. Reseach your trip because the concierge & Activities Desk weren't the most helpful...better to ask the waiters/waitresses about the island.
10. The ABC stores are great, but the Coco Cove stores are great and have very different things to offer....
Above all, clean rooms, very quiet and very friendly staff.

My wife and I are currently at the hotel and are enjoying our stay, the room is clean and the house keeping staff are great as well as the rest of the staff we've been in contact with, I did see an earlier review that commented on the timeshare sales. The only hotel staff that have said anything about the timeshare sales are the ones we approached and declined the offer of a free breakfast, the timeshare people on the street are a bit of a pain but this is not our first trip to Waikiki and have pretty much learned out to shut them out, they're just doing their job and for the most part are nice and don't push there is usually someone right behind you that they can pitch to. Would we stay here again you bet we have stayed here before as well as other hotels in the area and this is one of the nicer places to stay.