ADVERTISER DISCLOSURE: DaddyTravelsNow is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as MileValue.com This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers.

REVIEW: Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach – excellent budget and family-friendly property in Hawaii

ADVERTISER DISCLOSURE: DaddyTravelsNow is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as MileValue.com  This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers.
For more deals, follow me on my travel page on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter
Ok, once you’ve been to a Hyatt Place property, you kinda get an idea what to expect. We typically get a room with 2 queen beds, and the room comes with a sofa sleeper. Nancy and I stayed here in 2021, and that was exactly what we got. No big shocker there. Here’s what I wrote in 2021 after visiting 3 Hyatt properties on the island of Oahu.
The above blog post will also show you lots of pictures from these properties – so check it out.
We returned to Oahu in February 2023 and we once again stayed at Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach. We were assigned a room on the 14th floor on the Diamond Tower (with views of world-famous Diamond Head). The other tower has 20 floors – the Pali Tower.

Book up to 5 guests per room at Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach

I did some random checks on the max number of guests per one guestroom at Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach. I searched for two adults and 3 children, and the results showed Two Queen Beds and One Sofabed that would fit 5 guests. When I added more guests per room, 6 or more guests, the options it gave me were booking connecting rooms – so you are basically paying for the rate of two rooms once you indicate that there are 6 or more in your party.

Specialty Mountain View Two Queen Beds (had more room to offer)

Surprisingly, the room had a unique setup (unlike most of the typical Hyatt Place guest rooms). The big shocker to me – and I did not know this during the video shoot, I think you could sleep 5+ in this room. I’m NOT promoting to bring 7 guests here….but this is what I noticed:
Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach Specialty Two Queen Beds, Sofa Sleeper + Single Sleeper Chair
  • Two Queen Beds = up to 2 guests each bed x 2 = up to 4 guests
  • Sofa Sleeper = up to 2 guests
  • Single Chair (with a twin size pull out sofa sleeper) = 1 guest

 

Watch the video, and you’ll see that I didn’t even try to see what was under the single chair. It was shortly AFTER I shot this video when I realized that not only was there a sofa sleeper that could sleep up to 2 guests, but there was also a single padded chair.

And when we lifted the cushioned seat, voila! A pull-out twin sized bed which was also facing the sofa (which was pull out sofa sleeper – full-sized bed).

The details of booking our 4-night stay

  • Hyatt Category 3
  • Specialty Two Queen Beds Mountain View
  • Points used 12,000 points per night
  • # of nights = 4 nights = 48,000 Hyatt points
  • Average cost per night $431 x 4 = $1,724 (incl. taxes/fees)
  • $0 resort fees (for all guests)
  • Destination fee (waived for Hyatt Globalists(
  • Valet parking $45 (FREE for Hyatt Globalists booked on award stays)
  • FREE hot breakfast for ALL guests
This is the open-seating area where you could eat your breakfast

Daily destination fee is $35.00 (With Tax – $41.29)

We, as Hyatt Globalists, were not charged this daily fee. But I thought I’d share with you what comes with this fee.

  • Hyatt Place Logo Tote Bag
  • Two Re-usable Hyatt Place Waikiki logo Plastic Bottles for Water
  • Discounts to select excursions and tours (Please call hotel for more information)
  • Complimentary chef’s appetizer at Tiki’s Grill & Bar with purchase of an entree
  • Beach Chairs – Two per room per day based on availability
  • Beach Towels are available
  • Unlimited Local and Toll Free Calls
  • Discounted $35.00 + tax One-Way Airport Transfers To/From Honolulu International Airport (4 guests max, contact hotel to reserve)
  • $5.00 Daily Food and Beverage Credit at the Gallery Kitchen (not cumulative)
  • Lei making class on Wednesdays and Fridays (sign up required)
  • Face masks available upon request
  • Live entertainment – Ukulele player on Wednesdays and Fridays
  • Access to Flow Water Dispenser
  • Coffee served every morning in lobby
  • Active Beach Toys including body, boogie boards and beach volleyball (based on availability)

I, personally, took advantage of the $5 daily food and beverage credit over the course of our stay. We also borrowed beach towels, and beach chairs, and brought home the Hyatt Place Tote Bag and souvenir plastic water bottles.

Close to the beach, shops, restaurants, and more

This property is only two blocks away and you are in the heart of Waikiki Beach with views of Diamond Head in your background. This is the perfect place to catch the sunset. The hotel is on the tail end of Waikiki Beach. Easy access to many shops and restaurants – you will not be bored visiting  this area (unless you are anti-city and anti-beach life). If you want to hike up to Diamond Head, it’s only a short 10-minute drive to the gate. Make sure to book a reservation to enter the park. 
Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach – typical standard room with Two Queen Beds and Sofa Sleeper

Slow elevators?

With the two towers at Hyatt Place – Diamond Tower – 14 floors, and Pali Tower – 20 floors, the tower that’s known for having slow elevators is the Pali Tower. There are 2 elevators in that tower vs 3 elevators in the Diamond Tower. This means that during rush hour, one could stop at so many floors before reaching their floor or the lobby.

Ok so when we booked our stay, we were asked do you want a room near a fast elevator or slow elevator. I preferred a room where we would have more room – so it didn’t matter to me if it was Diamond or Pali Tower. Thankfully, our tower had 3 elevators, and didn’t find it slow at all. I guess, we were never in a rush. We were on the 14th floor. There was only 1-2 times when I felt that we stopped at 4-5 floors before reaching our floor or the lobby, but nothing I would consider as a total inconvenience. Yes, I am that patient, and that’s just the truth.
There was only ONE time when I went to the Diamond Tower to go to the 20th floor. It was during morning breakfast, and fortunately, I did not have to stop at many floors.

The staff at Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach

It’s always the people that stood out for me. From the valet parking crew, to the bell men, front desk, housekeeping, and food service – they never skipped a beat. They were easy to work with. We had one minor issue on our first night with our fridge and AC. Someone from Engineering immediately came to the rescue – replaced our fridge, and adjusted the temperature setting of our AC. There was also one day when I mistakenly left a door tag on our door indicating “Later is better” for housekeeping. But since we were gone the whole day, and the tag stayed on, housekeeping did not go in to clean our room. It was already 6pm, and all it took was one phone call to the front desk, and housekeeping quickly came to clean our room. The bell men were always busy assisting and anticipating things that the guests needed, they were always on the go. The valet crew was quick to pick up our vehicles. And the food service staff worked non-stop, cleaning and refilling the food and drinks during the morning breakfast hours.
There’s a pool at Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach – I didn’t see anyone swimming there. The ocean is just two blocks away.

The honest truth about Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach

If you follow me and know me well enough on Instagram or on my Facebook Travel Group, my family is just one that appreciates all travel, any kind of travel. To be able to go to Hawaii and only pay $5.60 in fees when we use points, going to Hawaii becomes an easy no-brainer for us. I’ve asked the kids how many times they think they’ve been to Hawaii, they couldn’t give me a number. Perhaps close to 20 times. And noooo….this is not to brag, but just to show you how much credit card miles and points have changed our perspective when it comes to vacationing in world-renowned top destinations such as Hawaii.
Since we are not new to visiting Waikiki, we skipped booking Hyatt Regency Waikiki (perfectly situated in front of the ocean). We’ve stayed there before, and would stay there again, but we just opted not to spend more points by booking at the Regency. We opted for the budget-friendly option of 12,000 points per night and Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach was the perfect fit. For us, here’s a recap of why we value our stay here:
– spacious room for all 4 of us who travelled to Oahu (and who knew our room could’ve fit up to 7)
– free daily valet parking (easily saved us over $200)
– complimentary hot breakfast
– no resort fees
– waived destination fees ($160 value)
– near enough to the beach (within two blocks)
We also had the option of using one of our World of Hyatt FREE night award certificates good for Category 1-4 properties. But we opted to use that award by booking one night at neighboring Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach. There are dozens of hotels in Waikiki, but Hyatt is the best value for our points. We had no need to be right in front of the beach. We could have chosen Westin Moana Surfrider or Hilton Hawaiian Village – but the thought of possibly paying resort fees and parking fees did not sit well with me.  Our plan was not to spend a lot of time in Waikiki anyway, so staying at this budget-friendly property allowed us to use less points, and still gave us access many things in Waikiki and outside of Waikiki. There is no doubt that I recommend this for those who are looking for budget-friendly options.

Which credit cards could you use to book a stay at Hyatt?

So the question, how does one earn Hyatt points or book with Hyatt free night certificates? You don’t have to be a frequent traveler to earn these points. In my case, it’s all about having the right set of credit cards. The following credit cards could make this easily possible:

The following Chase credit cards earn Chase Ultimate Rewards, however, in order to transfer points to travel partners such as Hyatt, you will need to have one of the following cards: Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve Card, or Chase Ink Business Preferred.

NOTE: The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of our partner offers may have expired.

For more deals, follow me on my travel page on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.

Leave a Reply

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
%d bloggers like this: