Waikiki, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii ....
a destination just beckoning, when Burnaby/Vancouver in Canada, sees its first snowfall on Jan. 14, 2012.
WestJet got us there in 5-1/2 hrs for a 2-week most enjoyable stay at the Waikiki Banyan Resort Hotel. A comfortable suite with kitchen facilities, matched by glorious sunshine, 82F/28C during the entire stay, for beachbumming and tanning, was our lot. My reviews generally focus on perceived interests by our seniors, still active in their Golden Years and - my feedbacks bear this out - on getting value. Accommodation in Hawaii is expensive, and so is food. Travelers head for Don Quijote, Sam's, Costco, Foodland at Ala Moana Center and Food Pantry for supplies; restaurants for every taste and purse abound. The "strip", Kalakaua Ave. hugs the beaches and sees thousands of visitors and residents promenade all day shopping, eating, tanning, surfing.
Forget about parking, instead obtain a card for "The BUS"; take the B Express to its terminus ($2.50 reg., seniors $1.00, exact fair), bring picture ID, get scanned and presto for $10.00 you get a 4-year card onto which you attach a strip for one calendar-month at $5.00; it's another $5 next time you visit. Board any "The BUS" anywhere, anytime, on-off as you please.
Exploring Oahu island, 2 bus-loops offer themselves, at no further charge, one to sightsee the Eastern and Northern part incl. Waikiki, about 4 hrs., and the centre and Western Honolulu, about 3 hrs. There are plenty of sights to visit - let your wallet decide! And, when finally you must bid adieu, "The BUS" takes you to the airport with your card. Aloha! and Mahalo!

Where to start? Play equipment for kids was completely disassembled, we were told it had been that way for about three months, and it would take another couple months to finish a simple upgrade. We were not informed of this prior to arrival, and with three kids it was a frustration. One night the bbq we were using did not work, we were not reimbursed but rather told we probably had too much on the grill (2 steaks). 8 nights in, we realized our condo had bedbugs!We were moved to another condo for the remainder of our stay, only to have a suitcase stolen out of the laundry room with just a few hours unattended (it had clothes out of the condo with bedbugs that needed to be laundered, and the suitcase needed to be sprayed before I would take it into the new condo).We lost count of the number of people on the elevator that we noticed had bed bug bites after we knew what they looked like! Add to that hidden fees to be payed upon departure and parking not included, and we will be looking for ways to let people know to stay away from this place!

We were guests at the Waikiki Banyan from Dec 2nd to Dec 11th and absolutely LOVED IT!!!! We had 9 rooms in total with our group of 42 scattered from the 8th floor to the 28th. Every single member of our tour party loved the hotel. It was clean, hip, and just absolutely beautiful. We are a cultural group from New Zealand who alse had a professional photo shoot on the 6th floor in costumes and with our drums and all...and boy did we attract attention from the other hotels. LOL...The service was excellent! We will be staying here again next time. IF ONLY the Hotel Management had let us perform for the guests by the pool, the expereience would've been a 100/100! so therefore I rate them 99/100. Thanks Waikiki Banyan, look us up on Facebook - Forest View High School Polinetia Fa'atasi to see our photos. Mahalo ....SHAKA!

We spent 6 nights from Dec 18th to 23rd at Banyan. Our first room 1404 on Tower 2 was outdated with dirty carpet and noisy frig. Talked to the front desk the next morning. Jason provided us great service and very helpful. He helped us move to an another room on Tower 1, the room was beautiful and clean. We had a great stay at Banyan and Oahu. Thank you Jason! Cannot wait to come back!