Hawaii, United States

Wayfinder Waikiki

Price per night from$234.21

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD234.21), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Hub Tropicana

Setting

Surfer-central Waikiki

Brutalist on the outside, surf-shack-chic on the inside, Wayfinder Waikiki rides a colorful, creative wave in Honolulu’s hip canalside district. The pattern-heavy rooms and pool-facing studios layer local artworks over island-inspired textiles, creating a loud but laidback palette which reflects the rainbows over Manoa Valley – just look out from your lanai (Hawaiian balcony) once the mist settles each afternoon. Bright, zingy poke bowls and tropical smoothies fuel surf sessions and toes-in-sand picnics at nearby Waikiki Beach, with frozen margaritas and mai tais waiting for you back by the retro-style pool.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A drink token each for Lost + Found; stays of over three nights will also get a $50 resort credit

Facilities

Photos Wayfinder Waikiki facilities

Need to know

Rooms

228, including three suites.

Check–Out

11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.

More details

Rates do not include breakfast, but you can grab a light bite (fresh Hawaiian fruits, overnight oats, and power bowls) from B-Side Coffee Bar.

Also

There are 10 ADA-compliant rooms across the hotel, except in the Pool Houses.

At the hotel

Beach chairs and boogie boards to borrow, boutique, free WiFi. In rooms: TV, mini-fridge, air-conditioning, pool robes, sunscreen and aloe vera, and Lather bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Any one of the hotel’s color-popping rooms is likely to land straight on your social-media feed – the tropical patterns, rainbow palette, and statement headboards are a retro aesthete’s dream. But for a few added extras, we’d plant our boards in the Pool House Studios, which bump up the Honolulu home-from-home feel with a wet bar, dining space, yoga mats, and a record-player which doubles as a Bluetooth speaker for your holiday tunes.

Poolside

The 70-foot saltwater pool and hot tub (open daily between 9am and 9pm) is lined with lilac pleated parasols that could be straight from a Slim Aarons pool print, delightfully color-clashing with the green-striped sun-beds which complete the retro picture. A couple of palm trees sway from a floating structure in the water, creating the illusion that you’re swimming in a tropical lagoon.

Spa

There’s no spa, but you can get your muscles surf-ready in the 24-hour poolside gym.

Packing tips

You’ll want to save some space in your suitcase to raid the hotel’s store, which stocks surfer-chic merchandise like cooler bags and water bottles designed to take you from boutique to beach.

Also

Get into the Hawaiian groove with the hotel’s music partner, Aloha Got Soul. The local record store curated the Wayfinder playlist, and you’ll find a map of island recommendations stashed inside your in-room vinyl cover.

Pet‐friendly

Up to two dogs are welcome in any room here for a charge of $35 each a stay (plus a refundable $100 deposit at check-in). See more pet-friendly hotels in Hawaii.

Children

Welcome. Cribs can be added to most rooms on request, and there are some interconnecting options or rooms with two queen-size beds. There are boogie boards to borrow, and free access to Bishop Museum for families up to four.

Food and Drink

Photos Wayfinder Waikiki food and drink

Top Table

When you can tuck into freshly-prepped poke bowls from your sunlounger, who needs a table?

Dress Code

Barefoot, bikini-clad, or still in boardshorts from your surf session – keep it coastal and casual here.

Hotel restaurant

Mornings always start sunny-side-up at B-Side Coffee Bar, Wayfinder’s café-style space just off the lobby which serves an assortment of snacks (to grab-and-go on your beach picnic), breakfast bites, daily brewed iced teas and coffees, and mixtape-inspired blended drinks. Redfish features a poke-bowl-centric menu, covering the classic Hawaiian combinations alongside some creative twists. 

Hotel bar

Lost + Found, a poolside speakeasy bar which continues the poke bowl theme, mixes up plenty of tropical cocktails for you to take back to your sunlounger. Redfish also shakes up a mean cocktail.

Last orders

B-Side opens from 6am to 5pm; Lost + Found pours from 11.30am to 8.30pm. Redfish opens for brunch from 7am to 1pm, and dinner from 5pm to 10pm.

Room service

There’s no in-room dining menu, but that just means more time by the pool.

Location

Photos Wayfinder Waikiki location
Address
Wayfinder Waikiki
2375 Ala Wai Boulevard
Honolulu
96815
United States

You can almost hear the waves crashing on Oahu’s South Shore from luxury hotel Wayfinder Waikiki, which is just a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean and one of Hawaii's hottest surf spots.

Planes

Honolulu’s Daniel K Inouye International is the closest airport, which is served by direct flights from various US cities (including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle), and around 20 minutes from the hotel by car.

Automobiles

If you’re here to fly-and-flop, there’s not much need for a car (especially when you can zip around in the hotel’s adorable electric moke). Should you decide to hire some wheels, you can make use of the hotel’s valet parking services (for $49 a night).

Worth getting out of bed for

The many wonders of Waikiki are within easy reach of the Wayfinder, which offers an eco-friendly electric moke rental service ($125 an hour, $475 day rate) for guests to explore Oahu’s South Shore. Home to some of Hawaii’s most legendary surfing, Waikiki Beach is a five-minute stroll from the hotel where you can learn to ride the waves (book in with one of the beach’s many surf instructors), or just catch some rays. The adjacent Kalakaua Avenue is Honolulu’s bustling main strip, lined with high-end designer boutiques and exclusive eateries if you want to shop between beach trips. Just across the canal from the Wayfinder is Ala Wai Golf Course, where you can play overlooking the rugged Koolau Mountains and Diamond Head (there’s a direct trail to the volcanic crater along the Ala Wai Canal Path, or you can hop aboard the Waikiki Trolley which takes an equally scenic route). Hiking the Diamond Head Trail is best done in the morning (especially if jet-lag wakes you up early), and the panoramic views across Oahu from the summit are worth the steep climb. Sunset Beach (a popular snorkeling spot on Oahu’s North Shore) and the postcard-perfect Lanikai Beach (on the island’s Windward side) are easy day-trips from the hotel.

Local restaurants

Downtown Honolulu (home to one of the oldest Chinatowns in the States) gives diners an array of island-meets-international restaurants to choose from. The menu at Eating House 1849 transports you back to Hawaii’s plantation days, and is inspired by simple ingredients from local ranchers, foragers, and fishermen – seafood lovers will appreciate the build-your-own-catch dish. For sushi and sake with a view, reserve a table at Doraku Waikiki (from the family behind the iconic teppanyaki brand Benihana), or try Tim Ho Wan for Hong Kong-style dim-sum and Waikiki-only specials like steamed Kauai shrimp tossed in garlic.

Local cafés

One of the few places on the island to serve the medicinal Hawaiian root drink known as kava (or awa), Da Cove Health Bar & Café is a wellness-focused eatery at the foot of Diamond Head. It’s developed a cult following from the local surfing community (its ukulele-playing founder can often be spotted out on the waves sharing his board with his labradors), for its locally grown, island-caught dishes – including fruity açai bowls, tropical smoothies, and wild Ahi tuna wraps. For some post-surf sweet treats, pop by Liliha Bakery, which makes its pastries, pancakes, and waffles from scratch each day.

Local bars

For sundowners overlooking the Pacific, gather beneath the century-old Kiawe Tree at House Without A Key, Halekulani’s crowd-drawing outdoor restaurant which hosts live Hawaiian music nights just steps from the ocean.

Reviews

Photos Wayfinder Waikiki reviews

Anonymous review

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this Oahu Island-inspired hotel in Waikiki and unpacked their Aloha shirts and seashell jewelry, a full account of their wave-catching break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Wayfinder Waikiki in Hawaii…

You wouldn’t necessarily prioritize interiors when booking a stay in Hawaii, but the Wayfinder Waikiki will make you think twice. They’ve enlisted local creative Michelle Jamie (who grew up surfing the waves of Oahu’s South Shore) from Honolulu-based design studio, the Vanguard Theory, to bring the island’s culture and color into its soulful spaces – there are hints towards Hawaiian heritage at every turn. Palaka-print cowboy cushions (inspired by the islands’ rich ranching history) lean against surfboard-shaped headboards covered in Japanese obi fabric, and ceramic lei flowers (like the garlands you’ll likely be given at some point during your trip) are wrapped around the bedside lamp cables. There are even custom-made shower curtains decorated with Hawaii’s state fish, the humuhumu. The Pool House Studios up the attention-to-detail ante, with record players and vinyl collections (curated by Aloha Got Soul), and a copy of the Easy Tiki cocktail-recipe book on your wet bar. Outdoors, swap surf stories over poke bowls and loaded avocado toast by the curve-appeal pool. And please, repeat after us – you do not need to stay on the beach to experience Oahu. The Wayfinder edges you even closer to Waikiki surf culture, right from its Ala Wai Canal setting.

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Price per night from $190.29