Update on Renovated Version of Moana Surfrider: Old Hawaii Still In the House
Where: Oahu || Grouped in: Oahu Hotels || Tagged:
If you don't remember, I'm Bruce from Hawaii-Aloha.com, a Hawaii-based travel agency with excellent local expertise and an unbiased POV. I thought I would bring you up tp date with whats happening at the Moana Surfrider. The Moana hotel originally took over the Surfrider and combined them into one creating the Moana Surfrider Hotel and it's now part of the Westin chain. This hotel has a very charming to look at and really makes you kind of feel like you are in old Hawaii. There are two wings to the property. The Tower Wing and the Historic Wing. The Tower wing rooms have been renovated and are very spacious, but the Historic wing rooms are small and I think the furniture has a lot to be desired or to put it bluntly UGLY, can't understand why they did that.
From the lanai you'll get gorgeous views of Waikiki beach. I hope they got rid of the cheesy plastic cups, too, for drinks -- totally tasteless for a $10 drink. It does appear that the new Moana will have better food under the Westin flag. They have redone one of the hotels restaurants and Westin tends to emphasize food much more than the previous flag-bearer. The food at the Moana before was pretty mediocre so it's sure to be better than before.
When doing the renovations and rebuilding the connection between the Moana and the Surfrider the construction company found crown molding throughout and actually found the original blueprints in the process. On the blueprints they discovered that just about the entire hotel was done in crown molding, thus making it impossible for them to redo the structure. When going to this hotel most of what you see is the original with retouches which actually gives it a very nice feel of old Hawaii, but yet still redone to look just as beautiful as a new hotel.
In the historic wing there are very few rooms that actually have lanais (balconies). The smaller rooms there are quite small and give you more of a bed and breakfast kind of feel to it. If wanting to stay in the historic wing with a bigger room you should book the larger rooms which are more towards the size of the tower wing. The rooms in both towers however are furnished very nicely and have the "heavenly" products ( those are those Westin fancy beds they promote heavily. Even the cribs and the roll aways are the heavenly line. This hotel really gives the feeling of the Hawaii of old, but still with an elegant new feel to it as well. I would definitely recommend this hotel if coming to Oahu as a great oceanfront property. Location is great, staff is awesome and rooms are very beautifully done with nice furnishings.
All in all I like this place and give it 4 "shakas". A hui ho!
Bruce from Hawaii-Aloha.Com
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Comments
kimo said:
“This hotel has a very charming to look at and’
a charming to look at WHAT?!
“All in all I like this place and give it 4 “shakas”. A hui ho!”
shaka is not a ratings tool. don’t go there.
a hui ho means until again we wheeze.
if you meant “a hui hou”, then don’t try redefining and respelling Hawaiian words.
this is done all too often, much to the chagrin of locals and kama’aina.
—12/25/07
kimo said:
haaa. I just saw this. bruce who wrote the above review has “an excellent local expertise”
(who you callin’ a hui ho?!)
oh. and unfortunately ya better get used to the ten buck drinks in plastic cups. Many places throughout the new El Lay-ed concrete jungle that is Waikiki, offer Mai Tais costing more than ten, and still available only in plastic cups. Reasoning is thin but holds water for their lawyers; drinks are taken to the beach and pool and glass won’t do.
—12/25/07
MarksSurfWidow said:
HI There,
I am one smart local girl in the travel industry that just loves to read what Bruce from Hawaii-ALoha.com has to say….at least its the truth. ok okay okay…so the drinks come in plastic cups…we get it….glass will break….we get that too, however, I have this cup at home that looks like glass but its for my lanai parties and won’t break when you drop them…but its classy looking…so maybe the new Westin might look into that as an option…other than that, thanks heh for da scoop on how small the rooms stay because no one wants a small room when they paying big bucks for one vacation! Keep writing Bruce….I learn something everytime from your articles…oh yeah Kimo….I am one of the local expertise! Chalk one up to Bruce for excellent taste in people!!!! Mark’s Surf Widow….A HUI HOU!
—12/27/07
Lika said:
Great Comments on the new “Moana Surfrider Westin Resort”. I love the old historic properties and there are not much anymore, so great job to the Westin for not modernizing it much. For me I rather have my tropical drink in a coconut like the old days…oh my am I aging myself. I have read Bruce’s review’s on other properties too and you would never read a hotel brochure tell you what he shares and as a traveler, I want to know what I am getting for my money. As for the Shaka rating, I think the HVB should adopt this,.. it’s cute.
—12/28/07
kimo said:
“As for the Shaka rating, I think the HVB should adopt this,.. it’s cute.” so is “I am Hawaiian at heart.” but it’s very haole.
—12/31/07
kimo said:
Ok, I got it. I can join in and get with the program;
Let’s water down and haole-fy everything Hawaiian.
Alter all Hawaiian words and misspell to your own individual liking:
A Hoowee Hoku Ho
is the new phrase.
and… It’s cute.
Let’s drink our 12 dollar maitais out of plastic tiki mugs depicting the ancient sacred gods of old Hawaii, while we sit on Waikiki beach which is now covered with plastic street cones and oversize umbrellas. Cuz it’s cute.
Let’s dilute old traditional phrases and hand gestures and change them toward new mainland usage. I give the Kamee Hammee Haaa statue four Shaka’s. Bro! Cuz he should, could and would be holding a glass of champagne toasting the new whiteman’s year and saying Haole Muh Kuh Heekee Don Ho!
because that’s the new way to spell it. “It’s for the children.” I mean, It’s for the tourists and it’s cute. Now we should all do this and also, think up more ways to water down and disrespect local culture. Use those plastic hula girl dusters while you dress in yer cellophane grass skirt as you do a fake Hula in your hale. That’s pronounced “Hail” by the way. Undoubtedly named after Alan Hale, the skipper on Gilligan’s Island, another very accurate portrayal of Life in the Islands…
This is fun. hey everyone! How many ways can YOU do the Revisionist History Game?!
—12/31/07