My husband and I stayed here while in the process of relocating to Hawaii. He is in the Navy and transferred to Pearl Harbor and the Palm had a great rate for military travel at about $100 per night with free parking and breakfast. Lodging in Hawaii, particularly in January and February, is VERY expensive (motel style rooms can go for more than $150/night) and parking in the Honolulu and Waikiki areas is very pricey as well so skip the rental car if you can.

When planning the relocation, we were not aware that January and February are the busiest time of the year here and the base lodge was completely booked for the entire month as were most of the other places we called. We were very surprised to find rooms available when we called the Aqua reservation line and shocked when we heard the deals they had for military travel! Our relocation was quite a process as we arrived in Oahu to spend a long weekend, then flew over to Molokai to get married and spend a short honeymoon, and then returned to Oahu so my husband could check in and we could begin house hunting. The Aqua rep was incredibly helpful with travel suggestions and lodging options for the entire process and was also quite knowledgeable about temporary lodging allowances offered by the military. I was disappointed on arrival however as the front desk staff, while pleasant, were not nearly as friendly or knowledgeable as the rep I had spoken to on the phone. They required a copy of my reservation confirmation as proof that the parking and breakfast was included in the room price.

We stayed in a Diamond Head view room on the 10th floor. The room was clean and nicely decorated. The closet and lanai areas were rather small but the room was otherwise pretty spacious. However, the Diamond View rooms do overlook the city so they are noisier than the rooms on the other side of the hotel. They were doing road work for our first night there and I was concerned it would keep me up all night but being on the 10th floor coupled with the hum of the air conditioning drowned them out well enough. If staying in these rooms I would definitely suggest requesting the highest floor available. Aside from the noise, the only negative of note was the internet service. In our travel experience- it seems common in Hawaii that internet is available for free in most rooms; however, it is not wireless and is so slow it took me back to the days of dial up. Wireless internet was available in the lobby. This may not be a big issue if you're on vacation but when juggling a hundred moving pieces in the process of relocating it was quite frustrating.

The hotel is in a very nice area, across from the Hilton Hawaiian Village which offers plenty of shopping and restaurants, and only a few blocks from the beach. There are plenty of dining options a short walk in either direction but I would strongly suggest skipping the 2 most convenience- the IHOP connected to the hotel and the coffee shop on the corner which also offers a discount to hotel guests. The food at the coffee shop was horrible! We were served half frozen burgers and fries. The IHOP was VERY expensive-- even by Hawaii standards- omelets were $15- and if not for the free breakfast provided by the hotel we would have skipped it all together. Definitely try the Greek restaurant across the street as the food was great, the service friendly and the prices reasonable.

Overall we enjoyed our stay here- especially for the price! However, if we hadn't the benefit of the military rate I do wonder if I couldn't have found someplace better for $200/night.