Hotel Review: Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach

Background:

Between my mom and me, we had a total of 4 unused Hyatt Category 1-4 Certificates that we earned from our World of Hyatt Credit Cards. I thought it would be a good idea to use on our trip to Hawaii, and I found that the Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach was a Category 4 property, which would be perfect for our certificates and serve as our base in Honolulu.

Booking:

I planned this trip in early 2021, and at the time, the Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach imposed a 5 night minimum stay requirement in order to use points/certificates at the standard room rate. This was a bit annoying, but we ended up booking 5 nights at first, 4 nights with the certificates and one night on points (15,000). Then, the month before the trip, I noticed they got rid of the minimum stay requirement for our dates in September, which came in handy as I changed our plans a bit and only needed 4 nights.

It ended up being a pretty good use of the certificates, as cash rates were about $300 a night all in including tax and the $33 resort fee. Points/certificate redemptions waive the resort fee which is nice; as well waive the extra charge for a third guest which would have been an extra $50.

Check In:

We arrived to the hotel at around 12:30pm, and since occupancy was low, we were able to check in already which I very much appreciated!

The lobby is on the 8th floor, so from the ground floor you have to take an elevator up. Rooms can be anywhere from the 7th floor to the 20th floor.

The standard room type that you can book with points or certificates books you into a “2 Double Beds” room. The Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach was converted from an office building, so there are many different floor plans and shapes for the rooms. We got a one category upgrade to a “2 Queen Beds Deluxe” which provides extra space, and is nice when travelling with 3 because sharing a queen is much nicer than a smaller double sized bed. Within the “2 Queen Beds Deluxe” category, they say on the website that there are some rooms that have 1 Queen and 1 King bed….I want that room next time!

The Room:

We were assigned a room on the 7th floor, and were told that due to the office building layout design, the 7th floor has bigger rooms.

Upon walking into the room, to the right are the closet and another large cabinet with the safe, mini fridge and Keurig machine. There is also a nice desk area with a spinny chair. I really liked the chair!

2 reusable bottles are provided, and as a World of Hyatt elite member, we get 2 bottles of water per day, which you can pick up at the front desk or have them deliver to you.

To the left is the bathroom, with a single sink, stand-up shower and W/C area. The W/C area was quite large; I wish they actually put a door there to make it more practical. This particular room didn’t have a tub, but some rooms do, so it’s hard to predict what you’ll have as there are many floor plans.

The shower was very large, and had a wand. I wish it also had a waterfall showerhead as there was definitely space for it, but the wand sufficed.

Toiletries provided were branded specifically for the hotel, and had a mango scent. Additionally, the hotel provided a Drybar hairdryer which retails for over $100. It seemed nice, my mom said she didn’t really notice a difference in quality between other hairdryers haha.

The bedroom has 2 queen sized beds, with lots of walking space. There’s also another desk with chair in front of the TV, and a large chair by the window.

The beds and pillows were pretty good, up to the 4 star level. Additionally, I really appreciated the wide walkways, which made it feel very spacious and easy to walk to the bathroom at night and not having to worry about hitting furniture along the way! On the website, it says the room is 440 square feet, but to me it felt even roomier than that.

For a “non view” room, our room’s view wasn’t too bad. You could see some city buildings and the mountains in the back.

The only real negative we had was that a few of the original bath towels were dirty, but we asked for new ones and they were quickly delivered and were clean.

Amenities:

Currently as of my stay, the main restaurant, Lanai, is closed. So there is no restaurant inside the property. But, just walk outside and there is a plethora of choices to choose from! At the ground floor of the hotel, there is a Starbucks Roastery though.

The “Pool” is located on the lobby level on the 8th floor and it’s really just more for dipping, I wouldn’t really consider it a pool. For me, it wasn’t a big issue, but if you’re looking for a nice pool, this isn’t the hotel for you.

There’s a fitness center not too far from the pool if you want to have a workout during your stay.

Currently as of our stay in September 2021, only self parking is offered, and it is $42 per night. The hotel has a parking structure beneath the rooms that is a bit tight, so I would be careful if you plan on parking with a large car. There were a lot of scrape marks on the ramps in the parking structure.

Resort Fee:

The resort fee was included with our award redemption, but typically it is $33 per night plus tax.

It includes:

Location:

Although not beachfront, the Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach is just a block from the famous Kalakaua Avenue, and a 5 minute walk to Waikiki Beach. Plenty of shops and restaurants are nearby, with the International Market Place just around the corner, and the Royal Hawaiian Center is across the street. Having personally stayed at a few Waikiki properties, I actually liked the location as it was very convenient for walking around. There’s a nice donut food truck right outside the hotel called Holy Grail and they have delicious Taro donuts!

Service:

The service was pretty solid, with the associates at the front desk being very friendly! And when we requested toiletries to be sent to our room, they came in a timely manner. No complaints here!

The Verdict:

Overall, I enjoyed my stay at the Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach. It has nice modern rooms and it’s in a well-located spot of Waikiki, very walkable to most restaurants, shops and the beach. The only thing that was a bit of a negative was that there are not any outdoor balconies in the rooms. As it was my first time at a Hyatt Centric, I didn’t mind the limited service but modern rooms vibe, and I will try out other properties in the brand in the future. I would consider it a 4 star level “lite”.

At its current Category 4, this property can be a great use of the Hyatt Category 1-4 Certificate or when using World of Hyatt points.

Have you stayed at the Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach before? How was your experience? Comment below!

Best,

Ty

Have any questions? Comment below or email me at takeofftotravel@gmail.com. You can also view all my other posts here! Thanks for stopping by!