Hotel Tour | Shoreline Hotel Waikiki Review

We just returned from an 8-night stay in Waikiki on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.  We decided that for this trip a boutique hotel would suit our needs well.  Boutique hotels are defined as being cute and modern with small but updated rooms.  They are typically located in trendy or popular neighborhoods.  We have had experiences with boutique hotels in the past and were very happy with them, so when it came down to finding a place to stay in Waikiki, Shoreline Hotel was the winner!

Travelling with our 8-month old, Jasper, we knew that if we chose a larger resort we may not be able to fully take advantage of all of the "extras" available because much of our time at the hotel would be spent trying to keep him rested and happy so that we could enjoy our time exploring, photographing, and eating our way around the island.

The eating part was an important one.  Maybe the most important.  Okay, definitely the most important.

Anyhoo, all we required was a clean, quiet room in a great location, and we got all of that and more at Shoreline.

Located at 342 Seaside Ave Honolulu, HI, Shoreline is right smack in the middle of all of the hustle and bustle that goes on in Waikiki.  If you never plan on leaving the immediate area, you may not even need a car.  Tons of restaurants and stores from the cheap souvenir shops to upper crust retailers like Chanel, Hermes, and Jimmy Choo are just a few minutes away on foot.  The hotel is not located directly on the beach, but is just a couple of city blocks from it - again, just a very short walk.

Because we had plans to visit places on other parts of the island, we did choose to rent a car and took advantage of the $30/day valet service.  Each time we needed the car we called the front desk to give them about a 20 minute heads up just in case there were any delays (you don't have to give them this advanced notice, we just did it to be safe).  Our car was always ready and waiting for us when we needed it.  Public parking in such a dense area can be tricky, so for us it was worth the extra money to use valet.

While researching hotels in the Waikiki area I noticed that most of them charge a "resort fee" - a mandatory fee charged per-night to enjoy some of the hotels amenities, sometimes for even the most basic things, like wi-fi. I was stoked when I found out that Shoreline does not charge a resort fee and provides free wi-fi for all guests included in the regular nightly rate.  There's no breakfast provided, but that wasn't a problem for us because we either prepared simple breakfasts in our room before heading out or we took advantage of the bajillion places to eat right outside of our door.

The staff at Shoreline was soooo friendly!  Because there are few of them, we grew accustomed to seeing the same people over and over, and they even recognized us and our baby (mainly because he always seemed to be fussing or crying, HA!)

We were in room 1230 and the room category was "Partial Ocean View King"  Typical of a boutique hotel, the rooms are small and I appreciated that the furniture was low profile and simple and that there wasn't too much cluttery artwork on the walls.  The bed was comfy and there were lots of extra pillows.

Being on the 12th floor meant that we were high enough to not have any street noise seep into our room at night.  Waikiki is a very busy area so if you are staying here I would suggest asking for a room on the upper floors - they are quieter!

We were so excited when we saw some goodies had been left for us in our room - a drawstring bag with beach towels and a bottle of aloe and a box of caramel macadamia nut chocolates!

Well hellooooo there!  We didn't pop this open right away - we saved it for our last night so we could toast on the balcony to celebrate surviving a big trip with a baby!

Here's a more realistic photo with an unmade bed and some of our junk sitting around.

Opposite the bed is a desk area with a flat screen TV and some small drawers for storage.  This particular room did not have a dresser or other storage for clothing.  There is a closet, but we had to keep most of our clothes in our suitcases for the week.

Our room was equipped with a microwave and Keurig.  The cabinet below had a mini fridge.  Not all of the rooms have these things so if it's important to you, make sure to ask when you make your reservation.  Since Shoreline does not have an included breakfast we found these things to be invaluable so we could make our own breakfasts or snacks in the room (saving money!) as well as having a place to store our baby's opened food, etc.

Shoreline provided us with a travel crib which resulted in Jasper earning himself a new nickname - Jailbird!

He also learned to pull up during our trip!  We're in trouble now!

Each room has a modest balcony with a small chair.  To the left of our balcony we had a mountainous city view with heavy clouds sitting over the peaks.  It's kind of eerie how low the clouds seem to lay and they made me reminiscent of our honeymoon on Kauai back in 2005.

The partial ocean view in the other direction - visible beyond the Royal Hawaiian Resort.

The bathroom was bright with a wide mirror and an extra shelf spanning the width of the room, which was convenient for having some extra space to put your toiletries.  If you need a hairdryer, there should be a drawstring bag containing one in the bedroom closet.

Joie de Vivre brand travel toiletries - there was also some bar soaps and makeup removing wipes.

Just a couple of more angles.

Jasper's first hotel room bath!

Outside of the elevator is a huge chalkboard that is updated each day with fun things like the surf report, weather forecast, local events, Hawaiian word of the day, and a special greeting for new guests or guests celebrating something special.  Little personal touches like this are typical of a boutique hotel and I love it!

I loved the seating area of the lobby - it's bright and cheery with contemporary decor and high ceilings!  The lobby has 3 entrances - one from the main street, one in the back leading out to the loading ramp (that's where we picked up our car from valet each day) and the one you're looking at in this photo, which leads to the amazing (and somewhat new) restaurant, Heavenly Island Lifestyle, which I'll talk about in an upcoming food post.  It was amazing!!

In the main area of the lobby across from the front desk is a business center.

Coffee and hot water for tea are available all the time.

Most of the time there are also apples and newspapers.

There's also cucumber lemon mint water and pineapple iced tea available for free all the time!

It was nice to be able to grab a cold drink immediately after coming inside from the summer heat.

Oh, just lounging around!

We never fully adjusted from East Coast time to Hawaii time, so many mornings we found ourselves up and at 'em at 3 or 4 AM, lounging around watching Disney Junior with Jasper while he chewed on my cell phone, which is his new favorite toy.

Pbbbbbth, you're not getting this phone back!

Up on the rooftop is a small pool.

City and mountain views surround the pool deck.

Overlooking the bustling Waikiki area and taller buildings of Honolulu.

In the other direction you can catch a view of the ocean just a few city blocks away.

We were really happy with our choice to stay at Shoreline Waikiki  and can recommend it to those looking for simple, clean accommodations for an extremely reasonable rate.   Since I know prices change and people may be reading this post long after it was first posted, I won't mention specific numbers here, but check out the main website for booking info.

Mahalo for reading and aloha!

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