My girlfriend and I stayed at the Pacific Beach Hotel for just under a week starting in mid-September 2007. On every dimension, our expectations were exceeded.

LOCATION. As you'll read in the other reviews, no hotel can have a better attribute than the Pacific Beach Hotel's location. It's near the east end of Waikiki, placing it near Kapiolani Park (which comprises a good picnic area, a couple of historic sites, the zoo, and the aquarium) and far from the somewhat-more-crime-prone area of Waikiki. It's also near Kapahulu Ave, which is the fastest way to "Interstate 1," which they just call "H1," probably because the signs call it "H1." It’s also literally across the street (Kalakaua -- the southernmost Waikiki drag) from the beach. It also contains three restaurants, a hot tub (which was empty every time we saw it, except for when we were in it), a pool (same use rate), a mini-mall, and a convenience store.

BREAKFAST. The room options are Standard, Partial Oceanview, Oceanview, Oceanfront, and Suite. When we booked through Orbitz, the Partial Oceanview room was about 16$ per day more than the Standard Room. The Partial Oceanview (to which we upgraded) gave us a view of Diamond Head (the huge volcano to the east), the beach, the ocean, and some houses tucked into the side of a mountain that was formed when liquid rock hit liquid water. Awesome. Accompanying this upgrade were two vouchers -- per day -- for the breakfast buffet in the hotel. Ham, eggs and cholesterol-free eggs, bread pudding and bourbon-sugar-cream-glaze-ish sauce, bacon and turkey bacon, pastries, fresh fruits (perfectly ripe papaya and pineapple among them), fresh juices (passion fruit and pineapple among them), and fried rice were all offered daily. The rest of the items rotated, and included various sausages, various potato preparations, pie-filling-covered sweet-cream-cheese blintzes or seafood-stuffed crepes, pancakes or French toast, chicken fried steak, and more. I cannot imagine who would choose to stay in a Standard Room when our experience was the functionally cost-free alternative.

SERVICE. We ate at Neptune’s Garden, which I’ll also review on TripAdvisor. The dinner was fantastic and we charged it to the room because we could. Two days later, when we were packing up to leave, we found a coupon for 50% off of an entrée at Neptune’s Garden when you purchase another entrée (note: coupons like this are all over the place; grab a couple of coupon books on your first day and you’ll be pleased.) We handed the coupon to the clerk, who spoke to the manager, who in three minutes produced the receipt from our dinner (from two nights before, remember) and credited our bill for 15$.

SERVICE II. Half of the desk clerks are helpful and accommodating. The other half are even better: helpful, accommodating people who also happen to have the ability to search the internet rapidly. I stopped by and asked one to determine in what stores I could find wine from a particular vineyard. When I called down to the desk from my hotel room 15 minutes later, the clerk had a list ready, and directions from the hotel to each. He also mentioned that, although he couldn’t loan out a wine opener, he’d be happy to open a bottle at the desk if we didn’t have an opener.

GOOD TO KNOW: ELEVATORS. The four elevators operate with old software, meaning that they are occasionally all within a floor of each other at the top of the building -- and you have to wait for probably two minutes. That happened only a couple of times to us in a week, and we were informed that the problem is much less noticeable when the hotel is any less than completely booked (which it was during our stay).

GOOD TO KNOW: INTERNET. If you have a quick internet question (e.g., directions to somewhere or a phone number), call the front desk. Your alternative is the business center. The business center has three computers, all three of which will occasionally be in use (i.e., you’ll have to wait). The business center also has one or two Ethernet ports (if you bring your laptop). Per minute, the former is .25$ and the latter is .20$. If you’re thinking that that’s a bum deal, think again; the insignificant difference in those rates make it impractical to bring your laptop to a tropical paradise. In a twisted way, they’re making your vacation better by making you leave work at home (if charging you a nickel more per minute gets you to leave your laptop home). If you do need to work while you’re on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, you should know that the hotel does not have a wireless service, nor are a significant number of rooms equipped with an Ethernet port. You can dial up, but the rate is approximately triple the per-minute rate that the business center charges for broadband access on their fairly powerful computers. You might as well just go to the business center to check your email and call the front desk for any browsing questions you have.

GOOD TO KNOW: PARKING. Parking is 15$ a day for in-and-out privileges (meaning that you can come and go as you please). Make sure you get your pass before you leave the lot for the first time. We didn’t, and were charged four dollars extra. We mentioned this at the front desk when we paid for the parking pass for the duration of our stay, and they removed four dollars from the total without question. Again, the service at this hotel was truly excellent.

SUMMARY: Pay for parking when you get there. Harness the power of the front desk clerks’ ability to search the internet. Leave your laptop at home. Enjoy a partial ocean view and a free breakfast every day. Find a coupon for and enjoy your meal at Neptune’s Garden. Figure out what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it BEFORE you go (see my review of O’ahu). Stay at the Pacific Beach Hotel.

I stayed in Honolulu for a week for my honeymoon, this hotel was me and my husband last stop. We had the pleasure of staying at the Hale Koa for 6 nights and 7 days, and left there to stay at The Pacific Beach for one night.

I only booked them because my new husband likes aquariums and they have an Oceanarium in there hotel. That is the only thing they had going for them (my opinion). They did not do Room Service, if they did, they had no Menus or nothing so you could order, The room was shabby, the carpet was "psychodelic", I wish I had pictures to share, I did not get any of the carpet, It had like 3-D pictures of fishes and starfish underwater?? something like that. The Receptionist told me at Check-Out that the carpet has been there, but has been cleaned reguarly since the mid to late 1970's. It looks that way.

The room was terrible. It needs to be more thoroughly cleaned. They did give my husband and I breakfast buffet vouchers to eat breakfast for free. The breakfast was ok?? Not as good as the other hotel I had stayed at, for a cheaper price. This hotel was an "ok" stay, I will never stay again, luckily it was only for one night, which was our last night in beautiful Hawaii.

The hotel worked well for my purpose as I was traveling alone on family emergency and hardly in the room.

The room I stayed in was tidy, however, it was very dated and it was in bad need of renovations. The carpet, drapes, linens, towels, shower and shower curtains were very old. The beds were adequate although it felt like there was sand in between the sheets. The bathroom, although generally clean, needed to be renovated as it had a dingy feeling. The attention to details should be addressed as the walls and ceilings needed to be cleaned and repainted. The safe between the beds, small fridge and internet access were all convenient and worked out well.

The best part of the hotel was the view. It was absolutely beautiful from the 16th floor!

I arrived very late (close to 11pm) and the greeting at the front door and at the front desk was very friendly. The lobby was very clean and nice. Lots of shops and fun things to see. ABC store was located near the elevator and was very convenient!

The hotel is in a great location! The ocean is right across the street. Although I didn't use the restaurants, it seemed very nice with the huge oceanarium. You can see the buffet from the lobby and it looked and smelled good.

I would recommend this hotel only to singles or couples on a very tight budget. Because I was traveling without my husband and son on this trip, the room worked out well. However, I would not bring my three year old to stay at this hotel unless the rooms were renovated - especially the carpets. I will however, try the Oceanarium restaurant the next time I'm in town with my family as I have read some good reviews.

Looked up this hotel through Trip Advisor before we stayed at this hotel. The hotel was essentially as described. The rooms were a bit beat up and the carpets were stained. The price was average if the room was in better condition. Would probably not stay their again.

The breakfast was very good but a guest should eat on the second floor. The hotel caters to native Japanese visitors and their cuisine is served on the second floor. However, standard omelets, etc. will be custom prepared by a chef in the second floor buffet area. The first floor dining area is OK but not as nice as the second floor area. The dining area is adjacent to a very large indoor aquarium that is beautiful to observe while eating.