This is an eight-story building that spent much of its life as a dormitory for University of Hawai‘i students. In 2011 it became a budget-type hotel (it no longer is). There are no room safes in the rooms, but there is one at the front desk. The lobby has black leather sofas, a row of hanging chairs and a large screen TV.
There are three room categories—the smallest (125 sq. ft.) has twin beds; the largest (225 sq. ft.) has a queen bed and a sofa bed. Only rooms from the fifth floor and above mostly have lanais. Usually we love lanais, but most of them here look into some of the remaining dorm buildings or other small walk-up type apartments. And the lanai cuts into already precious room space.
The bathrooms are tiny, and some are more awkward than others to get around in. They left the showers or tub/shower combos in pretty much original condition except for the rainshower heads. The rooms are white and very stark. The cleaning crew has to work very hard here, and readers alerted us that the rooms may not be the cleanest or bug-free. One cool feature is that they give you a code so that your WiFi device will work most places in Waikiki or Honolulu for free. Check-in is at 4 p.m.
This hotel is in a very densely populated area of Waikiki, with U of H dorms and other apartment buildings very close, so don’t expect peace and quiet, crank up the A/C unit, and try to get an upper floor. At this price and proximity to the beach, it’s hard to complain too much. Parking is very limited, and the spaces are tight (so forget renting that Hummer). Rooms are 125–225 sq. ft. Rates have risen so significantly in the last few years with no room improvements to the point that we feel they are very overpriced.
2424 Koa Ave, Waikiki