A Week at the Waikiki Marriott

Reserved 5 days before the stay.  7 suite night awards were applied to this stay along with 5 free night certs and the remaining two nights at 35000 points/night.  The upgrade to a junior suite in the Kealohilani tower was confirmed the same day as the reservation was made.

All suites were sold out when I checked on the day of check-in.
 

We arrived in the early afternoon, around 2pm.  Waited less than 5 minutes as the check-in desks were busy but no one else was in line in front of us.  The only thing that took longer than expected was verifying Hawaii Safe Travels registration.  The associate wasn't able to simply scan our QR codes as apparently some specific user permission is required which he did not have.  We had to login and show the page from the website.  It appears that rooms are not pre-allocated.
 

We got a high floor junior suite with king bed in the Paoakalani tower.  That's the building further away from the beach and more or less above the check-in area.  The view was great due to the high floor.  The room layout was a bit odd due to the bed being in the main room and the sitting area in a smaller adjoining area.

We wanted to be in the tower closer to the beach, and the reservation did state Kealohilani tower so we called the front desk to switch.  After a bit of discussion were switched to a Junior Suite with two beds in the Kealohilani tower.  The view was not as good due to the room's location.  Ultimately this was the right decision for us as it was much more convenient for accesing the beach, pool deck for beach towels (3rd floor), and breakfast (2nd floor).

Overall, the room was nice with a modern appearance.  Water pressure was great and the toilet flushed nice and strong!  Though that does mean you'll hear the toilet in the room above when its flushed.

The view of the beach is blocked by the tall adjacent tower, unfortunately the larger rooms all appear to be towards the back of the building.

The room was quieter than expected though this may be due to reduced activies because of the pandemic.  The main sources of noise were music from the hotel as well as music from the ‘Alohilani one block away.  There is also HVAC equipment mounted in the middle of the parking garage.  It would probably be annoying with a low floor room on the back side of the Kealohilani tower.
 

Titanium breakfast consisted of the continental breakfast option at the Kuhio Beach Grill.  Due to the ongoing pandemic there is a limited breakfast menu rather than a buffet.  The breakfast benefit is basically applied as a $14 discount, though it doesn't apply to the a la carte options (single sausage, eggs, etc).  Coffee is included when ordering a full meal item.  The continental consisted of a fruit choice (papaya was great), a tiny bit of yogurt and granola, and bread (varies day to day).  We also tried the two Hawaiian options (loco moco and a plate with Portuguese sausage, SPAM, eggs, and fried rice).  Both were pretty mediocre as far as Hawaiian breakfasts go.  We would not have had breakfast at the restaurant if it wasn't for the breakfast benefit.

The dining staff were all friendly and fantastic.
 

Overall service was great, we didn't have any major issues.  We did experience some housekeeping issues such as an inconsistent number of towels or missing shampoo but that was quickly rectified by making a reqest through the app.  Delivery of the items was relatively quick and no reminders were necessary.  All the staff that we interacted with were friendly.

Right in front Kuhio Beach, the two protected sections of Waikiki Beach.  These consist of a low wall that blocks all but the biggest waves.  Both have nice sandy bottoms.  The one on the left is quite shallow while the one on the right has a variety of depths.  A great location if you plan on spending a good amount of time in this area, which we did.

A little bit far from some of the restaurants that my wife and I like near the International Market Place and Royal Hawaiian Center.  We generally stay closer to that area, this is our first time being a bit further away.  Overall it wasn't really a big deal.