Hawaii Convention Center

Opened in 1998, the Hawai’i Convention Center is Hawai’i’s premier exhibition hall and convention center. It is located directly west of Waikiki and sits on the corner of Kalakaua Avenue and Kapiolani Boulevard. The property is bordered by the Ala Wai Canal and Atkinson Drive. Back in 1994, a Seattle-​based architectural firm designed this center to «rise like a Phoenix from the ashes» on the former Aloha Motors and Kapiolani Coffee Shop property. Its construction cost was $ 200 million.
The building and landscaping designs reinforce the Hawaiian landscape and culture. From the structural columns to the roof shape, you can «see» references to the islands. The roof shape is a series of folded fabric sails that help to bring in the cool breezes while creating a dramatic presence. The open public spaces of this center were designed to take advantage of the cool trade wind breezes and natural sunlight or shade. While its interior was locally designed to incorporate historical Hawaiian quilt designs and nature based motifs.
Over the years, we’ve been here many times to attend seminars and the First Hawaiian Bank International Auto Shows. I’ve always been impressed (naturally biased) with this convention center’s cleanliness, design, comfort and warmth. The meeting rooms, ballrooms and exhibition halls have state-​of-​the-​art technology. I found out that events are managed through Los Angeles-​based AEG Live while our Hawai’i Tourism Authority owns the center.
Today, as we sat in a meeting room with theater-​quality screen and sound, I compared my experience with former business conference experiences in larger cities such as Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Orlando, Atlanta and New Orleans and all I could think about was «There’s No Place Like Home»!
#512

The Hawaii Convention Center is a fixture in Honolulu’s urban climate. It’s a place for any and all economic and tourist activity to be here.
The Hawaii Convention Center is usually the place for conventions and large meetings for national and international organizations and groups, who want to gather in Honolulu for their annual meetings. At least that’s what the purpose of the Hawaii Convention Center is. The economic impact of the Hawaii convention center is hard to quantify, but it’s the economic engine that Honolulu thrives on. Our good weather year round is spot on for those who want to come and visit us. The beaches are great for those who would like to lounge the day away and our shopping malls are there for the shopaholic in all of us. The convention center brings the business side to the islands and a chance to market Hawaii to the worth through every organization that comes through the convention center doors.
Ever since I began to discover the marathon distance as the thing to do back in 2007, the Honolulu Marathon has been holding their expo and packet pick up at the spacious ground floor arena at the Honolulu Convention Center. That’s when I started to come to visit the Hawaii Convention Center annually for the Honolulu marathon every December. The Hawaii Convention Center is very spacious, with 3 stories of meeting spaces and other amenities. There’s not much to do here, if you don’t have any business here. Kind of quiet on most days, but crazy busy when there’s a convention in town. It’s a major economic boost though and we, as an island state, are better off for it. Yes, traffic would get crazy, but that’s how life goes nowadays, I guess. The building is very picturesque and takes up a lot of space. I’m sure there’s a lot of parking in the parking garage attached to it, but for me, I usually take public transit if I really need to come here. Bus routes 2, 3, 9, and 13 currently service the Kapiolani Blvd corridor and the convention center itself.
Parking fee is around $ 10, so that’s just heartwarming. There shouldn’t be any admission fee, although why would they charge anything for those just visiting. There is wifi here, but you would need a password, which kind of sucks. The décor and architecture of the Hawaii Convention Center is quite extensive and aesthetically pleasing. You might be better off parking at the Ala Moana shopping center for free and walking to the convention center. It’s only about 0.25 miles away. Getting around this building is quite easy, since there is one main escalator from the ground floor to the upper floors. There’s also restroom facilities for usage here. Not much else goes on here. I would bet that half of the time, the convention center sits empty waiting for bookings to come in. For what it’s worth, the Hawaii Convention Center is a great place to do business, versus the hotels in Waikiki and elsewhere on Oahu. The convention center, for the most part, is quite clean and nice to be in.
Support local!
B+

Beautiful center with large business events and plenty of room to accommodate for annual conventions or even Christmas events. Very easy drop off locations which I would highly recommend instead of self parking. Especially if you want to get in and out. The people who work there are very courteous and always smiling.

I nearly got hit by a palm branch that fell off one of their tall trees during the international foundation conference. I was standing less than a foot away from the branch that fell. The convention center needs to make sure their trees are properly trimmed! I could have gotten hurt.

I’ve been to a couple conventions at the convention center and have always been really impressed with the cleanliness and overall design of the center. The conference rooms have great AC, the bathrooms are clean and the variety of seating areas around the center are comfy and cute.
While at the Schools of the Future conference, I had the opportunity to try the convention center’s catering and was surprised that their food was really tasty! The only dish I was disappointed with was the Nasi goreng. It was terrible. They should have stuck to regular white rice or Hawaiian style fried rice instead of trying to get fancy with the Indonesian version. Other than the lunch buffet, they provided snacks, excellent coffee and cold water.
It’s unfortunate that homeless people frequent the area around the convention center, but I think its proximity to aka moana and Waikiki and the fact that it still looks really nice should attract conventions to Hawaii, and that’s all that matters:)

The annual hocus-​pocus chopsticks and wine party was fantastic. Lots of fantastic food from some of the very best restaurants on the island, and awesome wine as well I will go to this again next year!

There are always events being held here, which is GREAT! However, if I’m being honest, the only reason I’ve actually ever been here, is to run the stairs out back by the Ala Wei… Lol
If you’re looking for a good set of stair to run, is a peaceful area by the water — this is the place! I come here often in the AM for that very reason, and although there are what some may refer to as «sketchy people» hanging out at the park, I’ve actually said hello to many and have received nothing but pleasant «hello’s» back; nothing to be scared of of worried about!
Enjoy your cardio! :)

The lovely Hawaii Convention Center! The best location for events like Kawaii Kon, Comic Con Honolulu, Honolulu Festival, etc! Seriously it’s is! It’s smack dab in the middle of town close to Waikiki and close to Ala Moana (the shopping center and the hotel). So you can do a lot within that location!
The rooms are really nice and air-​conditioned so it’s nice to hold events there. The biggest of them all is the exhibition hall, Kamehameha. It can be split into 3 sections. But that’s where Honolulu Festival takes up.
Besides the wide space of the center, they also serve food to the attendees. Depending on the event, there are concession stands that serve awesome food (one time there was an okonomiyaki tater tots and it was freaking amazing). But at galas or fancier events, they have a different menu. Basically they’ll cater to your event!
If you plan to host a big event, do so at the convention center!

I’d give them a five star rating if they gave us wifi! We pay $ 1,000 for a conference, you’d think wifi is included! Not for us! Other than that amenities were clean and accommodating!

parking sucks here they don’t know how to empty the cars from the parking lot. The parking attendants should be trained by the military. When the military has functions on base like the airshows they are awesome with handling crowds and getting all the cars parked and then they get all the cars off of the base smoothly. Hoorah Military!!!

This is pretty much a copy and paste of my review for the «Hawaii Convention Center»: I attended a couple of events here performing for a conference and the Honolulu Marathon Expo. The interior is very nice. The whole Convention Center itself is huge. When maneuvering around the Center you can see a lot of Hawaiian/​Hawaii prints on the walls. The conference rooms are very nice. It’s really an ideal place to hold large meetings, conferences, and other big gathering business/​networking events. When attending the Honolulu Marathon Expo, there was a lot of space within and around the areas of the vendors. The place is clean and well kept. Some people find it hard to get to the parking but it’s just around the corner. The price is decent as well. It’s pretty easy to find right at the intersections of Kalakaua Ave, Kapiolani Blvd, and Atkinson. The areas surrounding that area are Oasis, Diamond Head Video, 7 – 11, Quicksilver, etc.

$ 200 million was spent building this huge, modern structure in a prime location on the corner of Kapiolani Boulevard and Kalakaua Avenue. It is a engineering feat and impressive to walk through and look at. Several escalators and many entrances help to make travel through this place easy.
I stopped by here today to pick up my Honolulu Marathon race packet and parked in the parking structure. What shocked me was that for my ten minute stay I got charged $ 10. That’s $ 1 a minute and outrageous! Friends of mine park at Ala Moana Center or the 24 Hour Fitness parking lots instead and walk over because of this.
Overall, for a state run business, I don’t think they need to charge $ 10 for parking. $ 200 million was already taken from tax payers. Why does $ 10 more need to be taken every time I come here?

Attended a dinner event for party of 38. Really well done, everything. Food, drinks, and service really good. Hey, been to large events at HCC and must say was under impressed. But tonite, wow, big difference. Asparagus, bean salad, pea salad, poki tofu salad, miso chicken, steamed salmon, roast pork, and primer (of course there was white rice, and roasted potatoes, plus breads). Nice spread and done well, fresh, not overcooked, as in for large institutions. Not one thing on buffet menu was off.
Wait staff attentive and not understaffed. Event well supervised by Executive staff. Hey, these guys trying hard and succeeding. I would plan an event here in future as I am impressed with what Honolulu Convention Center can do to accommodate small groups.

HYPES:
Gorgeous. Upon entering, the area is very well lit with natural lighting during the day. Architecturally & visually appealing, located in a great area off Kalakaua, very clean and well kept & walking distance from Ala Moana Mall. I attended HCC for the first time for Honolulu Fashion Week and I had such an awesome time! It was the perfect venue for an event of that caliber. The room was very large and spacious with an industrial type feel, yet classy and minimalist enough to feel like you’re at a really special place.
GRIPES:
The only gripe I have is the $ 10 parking! I expected to have to pay for parking, but I think $ 10 is overdoing it. At least throw in a valet service or something if you’re gonna charge that much. Ouch! Next time, I might just park at Ala Moana Mall and walk over.

I’ve only been here for a couple of small events but I’m very impressed with how clean it is. The bathrooms (if you read my reviews, sometimes I judge a place by its bathrooms) are spacious and very clean.
The halls are very roomy. The rooms are very clean. Pretty much the way for me to describe the building is CLEAN & ROOMY!
Parking was a flat $ 10, which isn’t bad honestly for a town spot. If you want to save on parking you can find street parking, or park at Ala Moana and walk the easy two blocks.

I have had a few conferences here at the HCC.
Some of the conferences were in the 3^rd floor meeting halls. They are normal just like classrooms without desks. The rooms are normal as normal american can get. The rooms have all the AV needed to run apple or ibm presentations and the rooms can be cool if not warm.
There was the conference that had a huge Buddhist show/​fest and the main conference room was fully packed– it was wonderful to see all the people fit in one hall and not feel crowded. The stage was wonderful in that you could feel like you could reach the stage easily. There were also smaller stages set up in other rooms for smaller comfy performances.
I just went to the Hawaii Tourist Author y show of Willie K and the hula halaus of the Merri Monarch. The show was on the rooftop– 4^th floor. The outside open air has trees — if you know anything about buildings and if there are plants on the roof you know that there is the 6 inch barrier– there are either 6 inches or less for plants like grasses but then there are plants that need more than 6 inches of soil. There are plumaria and mango trees– obviously there needs to be a solid soil root system in place to have these plants. For crying out loud– why in the world are there trees at the top of a roof in a convenience center (sic)? {no it does not help at all} What possible purpose does it serve to generate revenue for a state run facility??? None I tell you. NO! Back to talking about what they wanted– I get it — they had tons of tax-​payer money and they wanted to spend it as frivolously as much as possible. Instead of making a good functioning building there are trees that take up so much space on roof that could have chairs/​bleachers/​seating and a set stage that would be permanent and functional. Back to the show– there were cloth chairs placed out for guests– not a great idea as it had been raining that week. It did rain during the performance. The ground is well built for the sun and rain in that kids were running around in the rain and none of the kids slipped. But at the end of the show– 2 old aunties feel and need fire and ambulance. The floors were so slippery. I am not faulting the working staff — they tried to mop up the water from the rain– but if it has been this long happening they should refix the floor so that people would have different places to walk on so that no one falls. They really should fix any problem that they know of — so that no one is hurt. The cost of the whole building is way too high for the value of having it here in Hawaii– it costs too much to maintain and it is not cost efficient. REally — fix the problems and make sure that it is at a capacity that can make it not loose so much tax payer money.
The escalator is really the largest that I have ever seen. They do a good job of making signs at the base of each escalator which one to take to get to which event you want to get to– usually.
The parking is too expensive– not worth it but there really is no other choice when you need to park down there. It is cool that they have the nene and other symbols for the parking spots so that you can remember better where you parked– especially because it allllll looks the same.

Overall I had a great conference here. The space they have is huge, and fairly well set up. The whole center is effectively open air, so you can walk out of a session and get a warm Hawaii breeze and a great view of the canal. There were water stations everywhere, and bathrooms were plentiful.
The 3^rd floor is set up in a square format, and although it’s generally easy to get around, I found myself walking a long long way each day as I went from session to session. I didn’t see any tech problems, the rooms were kept at a reasonable temperature (read: not ice cold), and all of my interactions with staff were friendly.
Even if it wasn’t in Hawaii, I would be happy with it. I didn’t have to deal with parking, so I can’t speak to it.
⁴⁄₅ Stars.

The place is vast, beautiful and really… I cannot fathom how they get away with charging 10. per car for parking. Anyway, there are many rooms on the upper floor which are neatly decorated and arranged and on the bottom floor has some larger rooms… or at least that’s what I’d experienced in the past. I have been here several times for Hawaii Kon and other conventions. I was there on my recent visit to pick up a packet for my Hapalua half marathon. It has always taken me more than 15 min of wandering around before figuring out where I was supposed to go. The sinage is not the greatest though I supposed if I were a regular visitor, I’d have it figured out.
PS elevators are to your far RIGHT when you walk through the entryway (glass doors), save yourself half a mile and don’t go left if you need them. ;)
Overall though, it’s a nice addition to our island and to Honolulu. 10. for parking though… come on!

This is a convenient location for conventions and meetings. I’ve been here for the Joy of Sake, Kawaii-​Kon, expos and car shows. There is parking in the back of the convention center, street parking and at Ala Moana (park at your own risk!). The place is always clean and has lots of natural light. There are escalators which are nice because it allows you time to appreciate the architecture of the faculty as you’re on it. Elevators are also easy to locate if you need elevator access. Like any event here, the price of drinks or snacks are a little pricey. Bathrooms here are everywhere and are always clean. Sound systems are good for announcements and for shows.

This is the second time to the Hawaii Convention Center to support my university in last night’s college fair. The first was this past December for the Honolulu Marathon Expo.
My first impression of this facility — MASSIVE. In both experiences I found this place as a large venue to hold events where I didn’t feel cramped. I was able to walk and check out the various vendors/​schools freely and comfortably.
In my opinion, both events were well-​organized where there may be several doors to the ballroom, the main entrance was streamlined to the Diamond Head side (near the escalators). My event started at 5pm but arrived early. There were many high school students with their parents waiting outside. At the entrance door I informed the security person I was volunteering and allowed me to enter.
Inside the ballroom is very bright with high ceilings. Because this was an informational event, there were many booths occupied by universities nationwide. I was somewhat overwhelmed how large this facility is and was pleased to have someone direct me where to go. If not, it would be difficult to navigate and can see people walking around getting lost.
As I arrived at my booth it was standard but immediately noticed the difference of flooring. Most the the booths had the vinyl flooring but across I noticed one had carpet! I later found out that there is an extra cost if you request for carpet in advance and also have the option of bringing in your own carpeting. What options you have here!
Because of our recent muggy weather, I was also very pleased of the air-​conditioning.
Getting to this location is quite easy and so happy it’s not in central Waikiki where it would give me a headache, especially with the traffic and parking.
NOTE: On both occasions, I opted to not park here at the facility. Being so close I parked at Ala Moana Center near the Ala Moana Hotel and walked over because I didn’t have anything heavy to transport to the venue. It was a short walk over and was able to save the $ 5 parking fee.