The family and I just returned from a 7 day stay in the Hilton Hawaiian Village and we had a great time. The wife and I were celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary and decided to stay at the village because we were going to have over 12 people in total with 4 children under 11 and thought this would be a great place to spend our 7 days. While the Village is a great property there were a few proplems.

We stayed in the newer Kalia tower the newest of the 4 towers on the property and we had an ocean view. The room was average size, a little small for the amount of money the hotel charges, but the view is probably the reason for the rate. A plus about the room is that there was a little mini fridge in the room which would play a major role in our stay. We had 2 doubles in the room which were very comfortable. There was a standard 32 inch TV in the room with many cable channels. But again for the money that was charged there should definately be a flat screen in the room. But that is a minor issue. In the room were also a wet bar, a safe (which you can use for a minor fee) a writing desk and a recliner. High speed internet was also available for a small fee. The bathroom was a good size with a bath and shower. In our tower itself there was a spa and pool on level 4 and a Starbucks and a store selling those miniture guitars that are so popluar in Hawaii in the lobby.

The grounds at the Hawaiian Village were beautiful and big! To get from one part of the property to the other it took a little walking but at least you had a lot of eye candy to look at while you were walking. There were flamingos, penguins, parrots, many types of birds all walking around on the property. Also many different types of flowers, trees, and other plant life. I definately had the feel of being in Hawaii just by walking around the resort. My wife and mother loved the fact that there were over 90 different types of shops on the hotel grounds. So any time we had to walk across the grounds for any reason it gave them an excuss to "just look". The only drawback with the grounds that I can think of is the traffic. Because there are a lot of people in the Village there are cars that constantly come and go out of the property. So you always have to be careful that you watch were you go when you cross the street within the property when you go to the other side of the Village.

Within the property there are many different resturants serving a variety of foods. There was an Italian resturant, a Japanese steakhouse were they cook the food right in front of you, Bar and Grills, and even a Round Table Pizza. You could also find on the property an Ice Cream parlor, a Hot Dog place and a buffet resturant that was open to the outside private beach. If you decide to eat at the resturants, however, make sure that you bring plenty of cash because they are not cheap. Each resturant is at least 2 times as much as the same type of resturant would on the mainland. Even Round Table and the Ice Cream parlor were much higher then normal. But, I guess that is the price you pay for being in Hawaii. Many of our dinners were spent outside of the resort (luau, dinner cruise and others) so we didn't have to spend the high prices. When we did want lunch we went down to the ABC store right on the property and bought lunch meat, bread chips and sodas and used the fridge in our room. We saved a lot of money doing that. Not that we were being cheap, but i just couldn't see myself spending $30.00 for a kids lunch that they probably would even finish.

On the property there were many places to swim. There was the swimming pool hot tub on the 4th floor of our tower. They were a little small so we were only there 1 time. We spent much more time at the Super Pool, private beach and lagoon on the property. Every time we went to the "Super Pool" we had a good time. We always had chairs to sit our stuff on, there never seemed to be a lot of people there, and the pool was so big we could splash around a little. The lagoon was lovely. Again not a lot of people when we went so we could spread our stuff out of the beach and have a good time. We rented a paddle boat and went around the lagoon which the kids loved. The only drawback with the lagoon and also the beach was you had to rent beach chairs. I felt for the amount you pay for everything they could at least let us use the beach chairs for no charge.

Overall we had a great time at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. They have everything you can think of right on the property and the service was great as well. If a person wanted to they can stay right on the resort and never leave; I wouldn't recommend it because there is so much to do on the island, but you could. The only problems I had with the resort is the size of the room for the money, the price of the resturants and you get nickel and dimed for things that could've been included. But with that said, if your looking for a hotel for the family I would recommend the Hilton Hawaiian Resort.

We stayed for 3 nights in the Rainbow tower oceanfront/diamond head view on the 14th floor. The view was great, but the room just average. It was clean, and the beds were comfortable but the room could use a facelift, especially the bathroom. The room was just large enough for the two double beds with a little space to move around. I'm sure a room with one king bed would seem more spacious. The lanai held two chairs and a small table.
Luckily we were the second room from the end, because we could clearly hear noise from the hall and often from the room next door.

Check in took only a few minutes, and the staff we encountered were very friendly. I wrote separate restaurant reviews, but the dinner buffet was terrible, the steak house was great, and the drinks (and sunset) at the tropics bar were very good. Yes, prices were high, but not any more than other resorts we've stayed in. Lower priced options are nearby, including the onsite ABC store for drinks & snacks.

I loved the location at the end of, but within walking distance of the main strip. It was quieter and the beach was much larger than any of the other resorts. We will probably stay on the north shore for our next trip to Oahu, but if we needed to stay in Waikiki, I would probably choose HHV again, simply for the location.

The *only* reason we stay in Waikiki is because I want to be near the ocean when I come to Hawaii and we are visiting our family in Honolulu. We spend as little time in Waikiki as possible outside of the hotel, taking drives to North Shore or other areas far from the concrete jungle of Waikiki and eating and shopping away from tourist areas. Even the large Ala Moana shopping center is better ambience than Waikiki, unless you are on the beach! When you don't feel creative for a meal, either walk to the coffee shop across the street from the hotel (prepare for a line) or drive to any Zippy's--and on your way back from Zippy's stop at the grocery store for some drinks and snacks to have in the room instead of paying $4 for a coke and $7 for a beer.

Since Hilton Hawaiian Village is away from the heart of Waikiki, the beach isn't too crowded and it's a mix of hotel guests and a few locals. The pools are perfectly nice, not fantastic. Hilton will give you all the towels you need, which is a very nice convenience. We have only been here slightly off season (like April after Spring Break), other reviews have said the quality of their vacation goes down when the village is more crowded. The kids love the pools, the beach, the animals, and walking around the shops.

We stayed in a Diamond Head Tower suite. The suites are on floors 14-17. Floor 16 allows smoking on the balconies, the hotel advises not staying on Floor 17 because you are above the smokers. Floor 14 has longer balconies, which we ended up not using because we spent practically all our hotel spare time at the beach or pool. You enter the suite in the bedroom, then past the bathroom there is a living room and the balcony.

The view from the suites is enough to know you are on the ocean, but not that special. The best thing about the suites is really having that extra room, especially if one or both of you is awake while the kids are sleeping.

This is my second time staying at this hotel. The first time I stayed in the Tapa Tower for about a week and had a lovely, but average, Hilton room. It was very clean and the view was nice. But I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to stay in Tapa again. On the plus side, it was relatively close to the parking garage- which I had to use each day to get my car to get to my work site. The bad- the elevators were always crowded.

This past trip I stayed in the Diamond Head tower for 16 nights. I was there for work again, but brought my boyfriend with me as he had just returned from Iraq and had terminal leave. By this time I was a Diamond member and they upgraded me from a regular room in Tapa to a one bedroom, ocean front suite with a separate living room and huge balcony. It was wonderful. We could choose whether to go out in the hotel for a drink or just relax on that balcony in our own little (beautiful) world.

Beyond the room, I have to say that the staff was excellent. The housekeeping staff was frinedly and did a fantastic job. The reception staff were extremely friendly and helpful. When my boyfriend lost the waterproof container with his room key and credit card even the manager on duty got involved- calling everywhere she could think of to help us.

Here's a funny tip that remained true throughout both trips- the mai tais and tropical itches suck at the Tapa Bar, but they are wonderful at the Shell bar and in the little restaurant on the beach. We had no complaints about the restaurants or shops and found the American Express travel desk representatives very helpful in booking trips.

In a nutshell, the HHV is clean, has great views, good service, and is its own self contained village.