With Hyatt’s annual category changes earlier this year, Honolulu was set to lose one of its two Category 4 options. That’s what compelled me to book one last Honolulu award stay using my credit card certificate, which is how I found myself staying at the Hyatt Centric Waikiki in 2024.
Since I’ve stayed at the Hyatt Centric Waikiki in 2017 and 2019, I won’t be doing a comprehensive review again. After all, for better or worse, aside from the hotel losing its restaurant several years ago, not much has changed since then. Well, nothing has changed physically. For a while, they were playing games with award availability, which made it difficult (if not impossible) to use your World of Hyatt Visa certificate here. Had they not done that, I probably would’ve stayed here more. Alas, with news that they were moving up to Category 5, I looked for and found award availability and jumped on it.
Of course, only wanting to use my certificate, our Hyatt Centric Waikiki in 2024 stay was just for one night during Statehood Day weekend here in Hawai’i. That’s not my ideal type of stay, but things ended up working out quite well. But, more on that later.
Hyatt Centric Waikiki in 2024
Check-in at the Hyatt Centric Waikiki is at 3 pm. We left our home around 11 am to run some errands and enjoy shave ice in Kaka’ako. By the time we finished, it was still only around 1 pm. Despite setting my arrival time at 2 pm during mobile check-in, we headed into Waikiki, arriving at the hotel for our Hyatt Centric Waikiki in 2024 at around 1:30 pm. We pulled into the self-parking garage and hopped into the hotel’s dedicated elevators on the upper floors – not the ones that go down to Nordstrom Rack.
Oddly, when we got into the elevator, it wouldn’t let us select the Lobby, which is not on the ground floor. As such, we ended up descending to the ground floor because someone called the elevator down, and we ended up riding up with them to the lobby. The elevators here do require key cards to operate, but it seems kind of silly for the lobby to be locked out, especially since there are no rooms on this floor.
Once we made it to the lobby, we were warmly greeted by several associate at the front desk. I was thanked for being a World of Hyatt Explorist member, informed I had been upgraded (the app provided a notification the day before, too), and was told that they’d try to find a room for us to head to at that moment. After a couple of minutes of searching, the associate helping us found a room that was ready then, asked us if we had a car, and informed me that she’d be waiving my parking fee because I’m a kama’aina. From there, we were pointed to the elevators and headed up to our room.
Room 1710
As I mentioned earlier, for our Hyatt Centric Waikiki in 2024, we were upgraded to an ocean view room. Specifically, we were assigned room 1710, which is a two-double bed room on the 17th floor (out of 22). I chose a two-double bed room, as that was the only available option for award redemptions. Otherwise, I would’ve chosen something else.
At any rate, the room we were assigned for our Hyatt Centric Waikiki in 2024 stay was fairly similar to the one we had in 2019. The primary difference is that the room we had five years ago had a tub, whereas this one didn’t. But anyway, let’s get into it.
As is typical for this property, there are two freestanding closes next to the entrance, including a small vanity with a mirror.
Inside the closest is, well, closet space and an ironing board (right). The one on the left included a safe, mini fridge, a single-serving Keurig, and some drawers.
Across from the closets is the bathroom, which includes a single vanity with a shower stall to the right and a separate water closet to the left. I will say, the bathroom felt a bit dim, which I don’t recall being an issue before. Moreover, the Toto Washlet in our room wasn’t working, though I didn’t ask for it to be fixed.
Toiletries at the Hyatt Centric Waikiki in 2024 are no longer the BeKind brands they used to feature, and is now the Hawaiian Tropic brand instead. To be honest, this isn’t my favorite brand, and I noticed that it’s often found in lower-grade properties, but it is what it is.
The rest of the room consisted of the two double beds, a chair with side table and ottoman, a desk with chair, and a wall-mounted TV.
View
Given the type of room we were assigned, we indeed have an ocean view. Of course, since the Hyatt Centric Waikiki is on Kuhio Avenue, that means the view was between several other buildings, including the Royal Hawaiian, the Waikiki Beachcomber, the Sheraton Waikiki, and the Halepuna, among others.
Comfort
What struck me almost immediately during our Hyatt Centric Waikiki in 2024 stay is how quiet the HVAC system is here. Even at medium speed, our room was whisper quiet. Yeah, there was some corridor noise here and there, but the HVAC was virtually silent. That’s great on its own, but it only matters if the system actually works, and works it does.
I’m happy to report that the water temperature is great, while the pressure is about average for the area. The bed is pretty comfy, though I was more tired than usual, so I had no issue falling asleep either way.
Upkeep
I will say, one thing I noticed is that the upkeep of the Hyatt Centric Waikiki in 2024 isn’t where I’d expect a Hyatt brand to be, especially one of their upper-tier brands. For example, there was unrepaired drywall damage in the public spaces, the fabric surround on the bathroom mirror in our room was unravelling, and the leather on the chair was cracking and falling apart.
Hyatt Centric Waikiki in 2024, Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, I find the Hyatt Centric Waikiki in 2024 to continue to be a solid option if you’re looking for a comfortable, convenient hotel in the area. However, I don’t think it’s worth category 5 redemption rates, though that still may be better than the ridiculous rates Marriott is charging nearby. And while the condition of the property isn’t where it should be, the people here remain amazing.