Very classy clean, contemporary look and feel. The staff isn't just "on Hawaiian time" but TOTALLY uncaring and incompetent. Check-in couldn't have been worse, or even believed, if you didn't experience it. About 50, yes 50!, people were waiting to get in, while one, (1!) clerk was dealing with us, and she took 20-30 minutes EACH. Finally, another customer got on the phone the the management, and after long runarounds finally got someone to get a couple more people to sign us in. Both were about as slow as the first. Thru this all, the "manage" was parading around behind the clerk, looking us over with disdain as the queue grew, blissfully ignoring the whole sorry situatioin.

The parking structure was grossly overbooked despite the fact most of us had paid handsomely to park there.

Instead of providing free internet access as all decent hotels do today, they also charge and excessive amount.

Looks can be very deceiving. Until this place hires enough competent staff to match it's looks, avoid it.

The Ala Moana is a terrific location, away from the craziness of Waikiki and across from the Ala Moana shopping mall. There is a shuttle at the mall that will take you to Waikiki for $2 per person or you can spend about $7 on a cab.

The hotel has been recently remodeled and is just beautiful. We stayed on the city view side. With the windows open it was very noisy with sirens etc. all night, but nearly silent with the windows closed. We never even heard another guest in their room the week we were there. The housekeeping staff left a bit to be desired. There were cigarette butts on the lanais and one of our toilets looked like it hadn't been completely wiped down.

The front desk and concierge were minimal help. I'm sorry to say that has been typical of my experience in Hawaii so this was no different than I was used to. The parking attendants on the other hand were exceptionally helpful with directions, help finding parking spaces and just generally being friendly.

The beds were fabulous and the rooms were spacious. In spite of the minor problems, we plan to stay there again when in Honolulu.

I stayed at the Ala Moana in November and early December 2006. I had stayed there three years ago and the rooms are night and day after the renovations. They were shabby before.

The beds were extremely comfy with lovely bedding, better than what I expect for that price. I have high standards for bed and bedding at home so most times when I get a hotel room at this price I feel like I have to put up with what I get; here I got great rest.

I liked the slate bathroom and entry floor, and the nice deep tub, and the flat screen TV. Most of all I liked that it felt clean and new, not worn and tired, and I liked the muted color scheme, not all garish like a lot of hotels.

I would not point you here if you're a family with kids (smallish, very adult-oriented furnishings), nor if you care about the pool, and it's not the place to stay for a Waikiki vacation.

It IS marvellously convenient to simply walk over to Ala Moana Shopping Mall. I live on the Big Island which has limited shopping, and find the mall far more entertaining than Waikiki. (I don't even like Waikiki and was happy to be away from it.)

I enjoyed all the reasonable dining options in the Food Court and the rooftop dining and open air bar at the Mall. I liked having a decent mini-frig and the convenience of a Foodland basically next door. One room I had with a microwave and one not -- unsure why, having the microwave was a big bonus. I did NOT like the Chinese restaurant in the hotel, nice people but the wrong kind of Chinese cuisine for me. Also I had to give up on eating breakfast at the Plantation Cafe Sunday morning; the wait was too long (so I walked over to the food court).

The reason I was in Honolulu was the opposite of vacation. I had family in the hospital. Oddly, I found the Ala Moana very comforting. The room was a nice sort of cocoon, very quiet with the slider shut, and the public area was festive. The second floor where they have functions was not nice at all ... it smelled awful due to the old carpet. But I imagine that will change soon if not already, and I only walked through it to exit to the mall.

I chose not to have a car for this trip so I can't comment on the parking. I took taxis and shuttles to get where I needed to go, but the nice thing about being near the mall is that it's got so many resources that after a wearing day at the hospital I didn't need to go running around Honolulu (in cabs) to take care of my own needs; I could do it all on foot.

One can walk over to the Beach Park to get exercise.
The city lights are great at night. The daytime view did include construction and parking, and I would recommend the Waikiki tower as high up as possible to get up above it all.

I forgot to mention the staff -- I was not expecting a lot after reading reviews, but they were perfectly friendly and very efficient. The hotel was fully booked during my December stay, no vacancies at all, so the check-in line was a tad long, but hey, Christmas season in Honolulu with three big events going on, it was to be expected.

Would definitely stay there again.

we stayed at the Ala Moana for ten nights in January and while it was very clean and pretty we did not feel at home at all. The staff wasn't very friendly and the concierge desk acted very put off when we asked them any questions reguarding activities in the area or directions.
The biggest complaint is the pool. It was closed at dusk and when we went down the first afternoon to go for a swim we realized why. It was freezing!!!!!! It was freezing when it was sunny and 85 out so it just makes sense that it would be way too cold to swim after the sun was gone. The entire time we were there (our room overlooked the pool) each time we would come back to the room after a busy day and look down at the pool from the balcony it was empty. Plenty of people sunbathing but the pool itself was empty. If you have children and a pool is important for you after a long day to let them have fun in don't stay here!!! The other thing, there is no hot tub.
We were very glad to get over to Kona for the remainder of our trip and stay at the Royal Sea Cliff so that at night the kids could swim and we could spend some time with our children in the hot tub talking about our day.
If you are a young couple or an older couple and a hot tub soak after a long day island exploring or a dip at night in a warm pool is not important than this would be a great place to stay as it is so very clean. We personally would not be going back even if it was only $50, the social time at night with the kids is too important to us. Not too mention the room is way to crowded for 4 people for more than 2 days, we weren't in the room much at all we just had no place to put three weeks worth of luggage for 4 people which made it feel so much smaller than it already was.