Two feather-helmeted, granite sculptures guard the entryway to a central courtyard with comfortable wicker chairs and splashing waterfall. Upon arrival, guests are escorted to their rooms for private registration and introduction to the hotel's amenities. Celebrating couples, vacationers, and business travelers enjoy the calm, almost-residential atmosphere of this five-acre oceanfront resort that dates from 1917.

Opened in 1964 and frequented by Hollywood's elite (Frank Sinatra, Tom Cruise, Michelle Pfeiffer), entertainment notables (Faith Hill, Luciano Pavarotti, Billy Joel), every US president from Nixon to Clinton, and royalty (Queen Elizabeth, Princess Grace, the Dalai Lama), this resort attracts the rich and famous and the discriminating and sophisticated. Ordinary families cavort next to the glitterati. Consistent awards prove this resort is among the world’s best .

Arriving guests encounter an outside moat with a five-story falling-water wall, a large, marble-lined lobby, and glass elevators—all heralding the refinements this oceanfront hotel offers for a restful vacation.

Large, grand, expansive, and lively, the hotel attracts an international clientele drawn by its location away from central Waikiki's bustle. It provides easy access to attractions such as the beach, the park, the convention center, and the Ala Moana Center, Hawaii's largest shopping mall.

Occupying 5.3 acres of prime Waikiki real estate, this large resort hotel offers every facility and service needed for a complete vacation. All of Waikiki's shopping, dining, and entertainment is within walking distance, as is Kapiolani Park, Honolulu Zoo, and the Waikiki Aquarium.

By providing easy access to the beach, shopping, and a range of services and amenities, the 31-story Sheraton Waikiki attracts conventions, conferences, wedding parties, and independent travelers who wish to be at the center of Waikiki's day-and-night excitement. The lobby is large and airy, with shop-lined wings radiating from the center.

This casual Hawaii hotel draws vacationing families, celebrating couples, young singles, and some older guests who’ve been returning for years. The large, busy lobby is decorated with Hawaiian art, including a full-sized, century-old, koa-wood outrigger canoe, and royal standards made of feathers. Pacific crafts, toys, beachwear, and sundries are sold in shops on site, and the hotel has several beachfront restaurants.

Giving new meaning to "Global Village," this resort draws guests from all over the world by providing a sanctuary for a vacation as energetic or relaxed as guests choose it to be. Despite the number of guestrooms and the presence of conventions, conferences, and even beauty pageants, the Village never seems crowded and the pace seldom picks up beyond a stroll—unless the five swimming pools, the vast beach, and the blue ocean are involved.

Entering the hotel between the columns of an elegant porte cochere flanked by stately palm trees, guests step back into an era of true leisure. Painted the palest shades of gray and white, the wooden Banyan Wing contains the hotel lobby, which is cooled by trade winds gently propelling guests toward the historic Moana Banyan tree shading the beachfront courtyard. From this spot, the beloved

Pink, as in sheets and towels. An international cast of regulars and first-timers accustomed to hushed, luxurious leisure. More pink, as in striped umbrellas and awnings. Lush gardens and grassy swaths throughout the 10-acre site. Even more pink, as in the lobby's vaulted ceiling and in the wood-beam ceiling of the lobby's T-shaped extension. Art deco touches like huge arched mirrors in the public spaces and above the hotel's shops. Still more pink, as in the long, frilly dresses worn by some female staff and in the shirts of male staff. Gorgeous floral rugs in the lobby. And, finally, blue, as in the large pots balancing atop exterior walls and containing spiky pale-green plants.