Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach Review

Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach Review

The Hyatt Centric Waikiki opened in 2017.  It was a conversion from an office building that cost $30 million and created 230 rooms in the property.  The property is Category 4 which means you can use a Hyatt Chase Visa card free night certificate.  Cash rates usually fall between the Regency and the Hyatt Place.  Make sure you remember to calculate in the $33 + tax per night resort fee when pricing out hotel options.

Location

The Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach is located two long blocks back from the beach right in the heart of the tourist area of Waikiki.  Probably the easiest way to get to the beach is to go back to the area in front of the Hyatt Regency which is about a 5-10 minute walk.  It is about a 20 minute drive from the airport.

Check In

I arrived around 2pm having walked over from the Hyatt Regency where I stayed the night before.  You enter the hotel on the ground floor and take the elevator up to Floor 8 for the lobby.

Say hi to the hotel dog.

I had been pre-upgraded to a suite as a Globalist.  I was told it didn’t have a view; if I wanted a view room I’d have to take a 2 Queen non-suite.  I decided to keep the suite and was assigned Room 909.

The elevator requires a room key to get to guest room floors.  The rooms are located on Floors 7-20.

Room

Room 909 is at the end of the hall.

On a higher floor, the XX09 rooms would have a nice view.  Really any of the high floor rooms that end in -09 to -14 would have a good view of the ocean.

The suite layout is unique.  As you enter, the bedroom is on the left and the bathroom is on the right.  Straight ahead is the living room area.

The bedroom can be closed off from the rest of the room with a sliding door.  The bedroom has a king bed and built in storage with wall mounted TV.

On the right is the coffee, mini fridge, and safe.  Two reusable water bottles are provided.

The closet on the other side has robes and additional storage space.

The living room has a fold out couch, chair, and second TV.  The living room is a triangle shape with a lot of windows.

The living room also has a window (with a shade) in to the shower.

One thing to note is that none of the rooms have balconies since this was originally an office building.  The views from my room were of the pool.  In the distance you could see a sliver of the ocean.

Bathroom

The bathroom is separated from with a sliding barn style door.  The single vanity is straight ahead.

The toilet with bidet is to the right.  The wall has a large mural which adds some color to the space.

The shower and bath are separate but share an enclosure.  The floor is stone tiles.  There is just one shower head that can be detached as a hand held.  For privacy you can close the blinds for the window to the living room.

A cool feature I’ve never seen before is that the bath tub fills from a faucet in the ceiling.  Not really practical but a fun detail.

The bath products are custom made in toothpaste style bottles.

“Pool” & Gym

I’m putting pool in quotes because it is more of a water feature.  At the deepest it is about a foot deep.  It is really more for sitting around and in.  Though there wasn’t much shade by the pool so expect some direct sun.  There is a hot tub at one end that is a bit deeper.  Because the pool deck is built on the roof of the old building, they couldn’t dig down to add depth to the pool.  I guess this is their work around.

The gym is located on the same level as the lobby and pool.  Typical machines including a Peloton bike.

Breakfast

Currently there is no breakfast (or any food & beverage) served at this hotel.  That means that Globalists get a paltry 500 points per night instead of the breakfast benefit.  Prior to Covid, the Globalist breakfast was a buffet off of the lobby area.  It will be interesting to see if they ever bring dining back to this property or are okay with not being a full service property.  The restaurant in the hotel is called “The Lanai Restaurant and Bar”.  However since it is located on the 8th floor, it wouldn’t get many/any walk in customers and really would only be patrons of the hotel.

The restaurant has been re-branded as a “Work from Centric” area.  There is no restaurant branding remaining which makes me wonder if it will ever come back.  I’d be interested to hear what Hyatt corporate has to say about it as part of the Centric brand guidelines is a local dining option on site.  I’ve been told the property is Hyatt managed (not a franchise), so I’m not sure how this has gone on.

There is a Starbucks you can access from the entry on the ground floor.  There are plenty of other restaurants nearby.  The Dukes Lane Market on the ground floor is a higher end ABC Store (same company) and offers baked goods for breakfast (in addition to all other ABC Store items).  I had dinner from incredibly popular Marukame Udon across the street – order online so you don’t have to wait in the ever present line around the block.

Overall

I’m working on a post comparing the Regency and the Centric.  The Centric location is good but it is not beachfront.  It is a very modern property and they did a great job with the transformation from office building to hotel.  The furnishings are high quality and have a nice look.  The amenities are weak – lack of Globalist breakfast and onsite food & beverage is a serious negative.  If you are looking for a good room and want to use one of your Free Night Certificates, this may prove to be a good option for you.