Moana Surfrider, Waikiki Beach

Moana
Waikiki
Beach
Surfrider

Near Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii, you’ll find
the famed “First Lady of Waikiki,” and stunning
ocean views to soothe the weariest soul.
By Kristine Hansen

When the Moana Surfrider first
opened in 1901 guests arrived
with their belongings stored in
steam trunks, and because of
this hallways and pathways are
very wide and accessible for
guests in wheelchairs.
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Waikiki
Beach, on the Hawaiian island of O’ahu, is famous
for luaus and mai tais, and while visiting
you’ll be surrounded by tropical-print Hawaiian
shirts and the gentle sounds of a ukulele
while waves crash onto the shoreline. Since
the man famous for popularizing surfing, Duke
Kahanamoku, summited his first wave here—
a bronzed statue of him lying atop a board is
now on Waikiki Beach—the region has attracted
travelers eager to soak up the ambiance of a
surf town. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways
to embrace the surf culture without ever getting
wet.
Only a half-hour drive from the Honolulu
airport, Waikiki Beach can also be a place to
explore on the beginning or end of a vacation
to the Big Island or Kauai. Built along a private
beach along the Pacific Ocean, the waters behind
Moana Surfrider—the Westin’s only resort
on O’ahu—are a brilliant turquoise, and its sand
is the color of golden straw. Lounge chairs are
available to guests, and the resort itself is just a
few feet away. The resort’s famous banyan tree,
in Banyan Court, is surrounded by brand-new
outdoor tables shielded from the sun by umbrellas, with plenty
of room to pull your wheelchair beneath the shade. That’s just
one aspect of the hotel that was improved during a $25-million
renovation, following up a 1989 restoration that cost $50 million.
Head down to the court any evening between 6:00 and
8:00 for a Hawaiian-style happy hour with a kaleidoscope of
colorful Hawaiian entertainment, including hula dancing and
live music. You can order a cocktail or sip a coconut milk-based
Hawaiian dessert called haupia. Watch one of the world’s most
famous sunsets, accompanied by lit tiki torches and white-tea
scented candles.
Inside the hotel the lobby is open and spacious, with high ceilings,
hardwood floors, lots of windows and tall doors, and a variety
of white furnishings like you might find on the porch of a
beach house. Guests enter through white columns and, catching
a whiff of Westin’s signature white-tea scent that perfumes the
space, are given a fresh flower or kukui nut lei, as well as a cold
hand towel and a guava elixir to sip. When the massive Victorian
property with Colonial architecture first opened in 1901—affectionately
named “The First Lady of Waikiki,” with its entirely
white exterior—guests arrived with their belongings stored in
steam trunks. Because of this hallways inside the buildings, as
well as pathways through the courtyard and onto the beach,
are very wide and accessible for guests in wheelchairs. There
are even little lounges on some of the floors that once housed
the trunks but are now quiet, reflective places to sit and watch
waves crash along the shoreline. A paved path from the hotel
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Far left, palm trees
shade the pool area
and cast long shadows
across Waikiki
beach. Spacious
accommodations are
found throughout the
Moana Surfrider,
both in public dining
areas, as seen above,
and in private rooms,
immediate left.
Island Activities
Moana Surfrider
(808) 922-3111
www.moana-surfrider.com
The Ocean House Restaurant
(808) 923-2277
www.oceanhousewaikiki.com
Coconut Willy’s Bar & Grill
(808) 923-9454
www.coconutwillyswaikiki.net
Yard House Bar & Grill
(808) 923-9273
www.yardhouse.com
Taormina Sicilian Cuisine
(808) 926-5050
www.taorminarestaurant.com
Hawaiian Quilt Collection
(800) 367-9987
www.hawaiian-quilts.com
Hawaiian Moon, beach apparel
(866) 810-5584
www.hawaiianmoon.com
Kuloko Arts of Hawaii, local fine arts
(808) 922-5110
www.kulokoarts.com
makes the trek to Banyan Court easy to traverse, and it continues
on down to the water.
Each of the 793 rooms at the resort has wide doors and a fairly
large entranceway, along with a flat-screen TV and the signature
Westin Heavenly Bed. Many have views of the ocean, as well as
the resort’s beloved banyan tree, which shades large areas of
the courtyard each afternoon. Rooms inside the historic Banyan
Wing are decorated with antique furnishings in rich woods, including
Hawaiian-grown koa. Most rooms have an essential amenity
when it comes to an island hotel room: a lanai, or balcony.
As for accessibility, there are eight rooms available in the Diamond
Wing that are fully ADA compliant, with seven additional
rooms in the Tower Wing that are partially so—one of which in
that area offers a roll-in shower. All entrances to public spaces
and restaurants are accessible.
When it was first opened with only 75 rooms it was called the
Moana Hotel, and it was the Hawaiian island’s most-expensive
hotel development, featuring its first electric elevator. Its unveiling
in the first part of the 20th century invited a wave of tourism
to Hawaii that continued throughout the surf-centric fifties and
into these modern times, bringing families and honeymooners
alike for a little aloha spirit. Today, the hotel’s location on Kalakaua
Avenue, which hugs Waikiki Beach’s shoreline, provides
easy access to visitors in wheelchairs, with sidewalks on both
side of a mile-long street lined with restaurants and shops. All
the while there is the view of the gorgeous shoreline. Hawaiianthemed
shops sell items like Kona coffee, Hawaiian-style quilts,
landscape art, ukuleles, and goods for the beach such as straw
beach mats, visors, halter dresses, cover-ups, and table acces-
026 | January/February 2009 venturetrav.com

sories made from monkeywood. Sushi and
iced drinks are easy to come by in the many
local restaurants, and there are also highend
retailers like Gucci and Hermes for
picking up little luxuries.
On the hotel’s grounds you’ll find many reasons
to stay and play. An outdoor freshwater
swimming pool is available for those who’d
rather not play in the ocean. Several lounge
chairs encircle the pool, providing a place to
relax after sightseeing. A decadent and elegant
afternoon tea—think white gloves and
champagne—is served at the Veranda, a wraparound
porch located on the resort’s ground
level with views of the ocean. The tea service
includes miniature gourmet sandwiches on
a tiered platter, various sweets such as Viennese
tortes, scones and lemon curd, and
cream puffs, a glass of bubbly and a choice
of tea, including signature blends like Moana
Sunset and Veranda Breeze developed just for
the resort.
A similar afternoon tea was served in the
years after Moana Surfrider first opened, during
the early part of the 20th century, so it’s a
nice homage to the period marking the beginning
of travel to Waikiki Beach. There is even
a chocolate tea service, combining a delicious
hot beverage with many chocolates; what better combination could
there be
Beachhouse at the Moana is a restaurant specializing in island
cuisine, with items like American Wagyu beef, seared blackened
ahi wasabi aoli, and Kona lobster bisque with sherry. There are
also meats and field greens sourced from local farms. A breakfast
buffet menu is stocked with favorites like Tahitian vanilla
French toast and steel-cut oatmeal with banana brulee, as well
as sides of papaya and pineapple slices. Coffee is of the Kona
variety and can be brewed in a French press. For more casual
fare guests can drop by The Beach Bar for grilled pupus, which
is “Hawaiian-speak” for appetizers.
Every Wednesday from 8:00 until noon the lobby veranda hosts
Hawaiian quilt-making lessons that only require a nominal fee
for supplies, with complementary instruction. And for a primer
in making a lei, Hawaii’s signature welcome gift, show up for a
one-hour lesson each Saturday afternoon at 1:30.
The beachfront Moani Lani Spa features 14 treatment rooms
and a 1,400 square-foot fitness facility, making a total of 16,000
square feet of pure bliss. Many of the treatments have Hawaiian
touches, like Ka Ua Lomi massage, where the guest relaxes
under a Vichy shower while receiving a massage with island
essences. And in each treatment room there is a wooden bowl
filled with Alae Hawaiian sea salt into which guests are encouraged
to dump their worries before a relaxing treatment. At the
end of each day the salt is released into the ocean—a metaphor
for allowing worries to roll off of your shoulders and not weigh
you down.
In the spa there is a wooden bowl
filled with Alae Hawaiian sea salt
into which guests are encouraged
to dump their worries, and at
the end of each day the salt is
released into the ocean.
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