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Lifetime in Hawaii vs Sweetwater Waikiki

JulieAB

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2006
Messages
903
Reaction score
92
Points
388
Resorts Owned
Lifetime in Hawaii, Disney's Grand Californian
I own at lifetime but have never stayed there. I have an ocean view "studio" reserved there (cheap owner's rate). I guess they have sofa beds. I'm pretty sure the bed is closed off with an accordion wall.

We stayed at Sweetwater Waikiki 7 years ago and liked it just fine. The murphy bed is more desirable for for my teen, but their bedroom is just closed with an accordion wall too. This seems similar to Lifetime so I'm not sure why RCI considers these 1 bedroom units. There was just one a/c and the bedroom got warm if we closed the accordion. They didn't provide beach towels, which was really annoying.

Has anyone stayed at these recently? Lifetime is cheaper for me and guaranteed ocean view, but we like the location of Sweetwater much better on that side of waikiki and an easy walk to a beach.
 

Tamaradarann

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
3,368
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Points
548
Location
Honolulu, HI
Resorts Owned
HGVC South Beach, HGVC Las Vegas, HGVC Las Vegas on the Strip, HGVC Sea World, Misner Place
I own at lifetime but have never stayed there. I have an ocean view "studio" reserved there (cheap owner's rate). I guess they have sofa beds. I'm pretty sure the bed is closed off with an accordion wall.

We stayed at Sweetwater Waikiki 7 years ago and liked it just fine. The murphy bed is more desirable for for my teen, but their bedroom is just closed with an accordion wall too. This seems similar to Lifetime so I'm not sure why RCI considers these 1 bedroom units. There was just one a/c and the bedroom got warm if we closed the accordion. They didn't provide beach towels, which was really annoying.

Has anyone stayed at these recently? Lifetime is cheaper for me and guaranteed ocean view, but we like the location of Sweetwater much better on that side of waikiki and an easy walk to a beach.

We have never stayed at Sweetwater, but my husband and I stayed at Lifetime in Hawaii twice before; the last time being 3 years ago. We are staying there again from December 28 thru January 4th before we move to the Hilton Hawaiian Village for the rest of the winter. We liked it, but it is not the Hilton Hawaiian Village. I don't know how it would work for more than a couple. At the Hilton you must get a real 1 BR for more than 2 people. Our son came with us to Lifetime 3 years ago and we reserved 2 Studio's so everyone would have their privacy. As far as the walk to the beach, my husband walks the beach every morning for about an hour from either the Hilton Hawaiian Village or Lifetime in Hawaii so for him it is not a concern.
 

cerralee

TUG Review Crew
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
708
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Points
404
Location
ne pa
My husband and I stayed at Lifetime in March of this year. We really liked it. The parking was free and convenient. Our seven year old grandson was with us as well. The sleeping area does have accordion doors and you must go through the sleeping area to get to the bathroom or any closets. It was fine for us and a child. It would be tougher on any extra adults trying to make it work. Getting to grocery stores, restaurants etc., was much easier from Lifetime. I’ll have to check Sweerwater on our next visit.
 

cgeidl

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2005
Messages
1,081
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Location
Fairfield,CA
We had four weeks with the right to use at The Waikiki Banyan for about 20 years. We purchased them from the HOA for $500 per week. We found them clean,comfortable,well located, and managed well. The units are really for two people although we had another couple in the Murphy bed once. We are turning 80 and recently sent a letter telling the H away we no longer wanted to use the weeks. Our two children were not interested at all. The units always were and needed of updated furniture to some extent and always looked like they had a little wear and tear but the maintenance fees I think we’re only about $500 a week which is cheap for Hawaii. We always seem to get two weeks whenever we deposited to trade the weeks and got extremely good units for mariachis Westin Hilton as they were very desirable for a location. Our last time using them was last year.
 
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