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Sheraton Moana Surfrider
The Moana Surfrider, has recently been reassigned and and is now managed as a Westin property.
Front Entrance
We enjoyed our stay at the Moana Surfrider and would highly recommend it for a romantic or a family vacation.
The location is great - it is central to all places in Waikiki, including great shopping, dining and attractions.
To see our experience click here.
Rooms, Restaurants & Bars of the Sheraton Moana Surfrider
There are a variety of rooms and suites available. All rooms include the signature Heavenly Beds, one king or 2 double beds, flat screen TV's, air conditioning, Internet access (for a fee), voice mail, coffee makers, and refrigerators, including:
- Large City View Room - in original building (newly renovated and less expensive but more complaints of noise from the busy street below)
- Deluxe Ocean Diamond Room - in Diamond Wing - Has a balcony
- Historic Banyan Ocean View Room
- Tower Partial Ocean View Room - in Tower with balcony
- Deluxe Ocean Tower Room - in Tower with balcony and better view
- Tower Suite -1 bedroom suite - 2 oceanfront balconies - beautiful views
Westin Heavenly Bed
Restaurants include the Beachhouse at the Moana, The Veranda, The Banyan Court, and The Beach Bar.
When you stay at the at the Sheraton Moana Surfrider, you are centrally located in Waikiki on Kalakaua Avenue. There are many different types of restaurants and bars within walking distance. Including the Cheesecake Factory and Duke's (famous Hawaiian restaurant).
History or the Moana Surfrider
The "First Lady" was one of the first hotels in Waikiki and opened it's doors March 11, 1901 with 75 rooms. It cost $150,000 to build and was the most elaborate hotel of the time in the Hawaiian Islands. The first floor housed a billiards room, saloon, main parlor, library, office and reception area. It was built in the colonial style that was popular during the era.
View from Tower
The first guests of the hotel were a group of Shriners and paid a whopping $1.50 a night for their rooms. The hotel was eventually sold to the Matson's Navigation Company (who later opened the Royal Hawaiian Hotel), and expanded. The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese forces Hawaii into martial law. Today it is hard to imagine the barbed wire stretched along the beach. Where the Royal Hawaiian was leased out to the US Navy, the Moana remained a guest hotel. It was however usually full with servicemen or people on the island due to the war.
In the late 1940's and 1950's the Moana became the "place to be" in Hawaii. Regularly scheduled flights from the USA made this possible for the "high society" of America.
The hotel was sold to the Sheraton Corporation in 1959. It has since expanded and just recently converted to a Westin Property.
Our Experience at the "First Lady of Waikiki"
We chose the Sheraton Moana Surfrider as this was the beginning of a 4 week family vacation to Hawaii and Australia. We stayed at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel the previous year and wanted to try the Moana Surfrider this year. We stayed for 3 nights as a stopover on our way to Australia.
After a long flight from Toronto, we were greeted with lei's by 2 lovely ladies and treated to a glass of cold lemongrass tea and a cold towel while we checked in.
We used our points and paid for an upgrade to a Tower Suite. This was pricey but it was one of the best decisions we made. It was absolutely beautiful!
Montana enjoying the Balcony and WiFi
We had 2 balconies, a master bedroom, living area, dining area, wet bar, and a queen sized Murphy bed for Montana. We even had a really cool toilet that warmed the seat and cleaned the bowl when you used it! Montana and Warren thought it was really cool! It was perfect for our short stay. The view was unbelievable and we were treated to seeing a few turtles swimming in the water.
Toto Toilet
We didn't eat in any of the restaurants or reserve beach or pool chairs, but we loved the location of the hotel as there were lots of shopping and restaurants to choose from in the area.
We did hear some people complaining of the noise on the city side of the hotel.
Click here for our blog entry about our arrival into Honolulu and our time at the Westin Resort (half way down the page).
Pros: Location, location, location, hotel is full of history, elegance and charm, and still has most of the Westin features.
Cons: Come staff were a little "off" and housekeeping wasn't the best at requests.
Overall we would stay here again!
More Hawaii Vacation Ideas
Volcanoes National Park
Hawaii's Number 1 Tourist Attraction. Located on the Hilo side of the Big Island, it is a must see when visiting Hawaii. If you get lucky you may even get to see the active lava flow into the ocean!
Take a ride on the Atlantis Submarine
Dive below the ocean's surface to about 100 feet and enjoy the beauty of the reef, the fish and other wildlife without getting wet!
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