TOP 5 Most Haunted Hotels in Waikiki
TOP 5 Most Haunted Hotels in Waikiki
Waikiki: Golden Beaches, Moonlit Surf, and More...
Behind the postcard-perfect view lies a shadowy history few visitors ever expect. Beneath the din of late-night music and the glow of tiki torches, some hotels conceal chilling secrets—where the past refuses to stay buried, and spirits linger in the quiet corners of paradise. From whispered footsteps in empty hallways to apparitions that suddenly vanish, these hotels are more than just places to rest your head. They’re gateways for something far older, and far more unsettling.
This list is based on the frequency of reported incidents. Here are the five most haunted hotels in Waikiki and the reasons why they’re haunted.
#5 - Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort
Everyone talks about Pele at the Hilton Hawaiian Village but did you know the story was actually printed in the newspaper in 1959?
One afternoon, a housekeeper at the Hawaiian Village Hotel, as it was called in those days, said that the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen suddenly appeared from nowhere. The tall, stately young woman had a beautiful, dark, Hawaiian complexion and a smiling, happy face with long, reddish-black hair. She wore a long red muumuu with blue and white print that extended to the ground, covering her feet. But what the housekeeper remembers most is that the woman seemed to shimmer, as if she were giving off a faint, otherworldly glow.
The woman asked the housekeeper for directions to a certain room. The housekeeping inspector, who just happened by noticed the woman and offered to show her to the room. The housekeeper, watching the two leave, suddenly noticed that the inspector was walking alone. The woman had suddenly disappeared.
The inspector hadn’t noticed. Continuing on her way, she approached the requested room and pointed it out to the woman, only when she turned around, the woman wasn’t there!
“I was talking to myself,” she said hauntingly, “It was unbelievable. The woman had disappeared into thin air!”
Over the years, similar stories have surfaced at what is now called the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Locals and visitors alike have reported sudden encounters with a woman who appears in the hotel’s hallways, or in other areas of this haunted resort in Hawaii. She's often described as beautiful, barefoot, often dressed in red, and sometimes glowing. She may ask for a directions or a ride, or simply smile and disappear.
Some believe these sightings are visitations from Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanoes, who is said to take many forms; most often a regal woman in red or an old woman cloaked in mystery. Her appearances are often fleeting but powerful, leaving behind a sense of awe and reverence, or a quiet warning.
Whether it was truly Pele who walked through the halls of the Hilton Hawaiian Village that day, or something else entirely, those who have seen her never forget. In the heart of modern Honolulu, even now, the ancients still walk among us.
But the hotel is filled with stories of modern hauntings as well.
Guests over the years have reported other unexplained sightings throughout the property, particularly in the rooms and halls of the resort’s towers. What makes these hauntings unique is that the apparitions seen aren’t always dressed in old-fashioned clothing like many expect. Instead, they often appear in modern attire, like everyday hotel guests. Some witnesses describe seeing a man passing by without a word, or even a child standing quietly at the end of a hall, only to vanish moments later.
A particularly chilling account comes from a guest staying at the resort. One evening, while the wife was in the bathroom, her husband sat at the small table with their toddler nearby. As he ate dinner, he looked into the mirror and clearly saw a woman walking across the room behind him. She looked like his wife with her hair tied back, but she had glasses on and was wearing a floral shirt and khaki shorts. He meant to speak to her, but their son interrupted. When he turned around moments later, the figure was gone. He realized the bathroom door had never opened. His wife had never come out.
These stories suggest more than a single spirit. They hint at a place that has absorbed fragments of energy—echoes of people who may have once passed through the hotel, now caught in time. Not all hauntings are relics of the distant past. Sometimes, the spirits that remain wear yesterday’s clothes… and walk among us.
#4 - The Royal Hawaiian Luxury Resort
This luxury hotel in Waikiki opened in 1927 and quickly became a premier visitor destination. The guest list included icons such as Elvis Presley, Franklin Roosevelt, and Shirley Temple. With its classic beauty and timeless attention to detail, this hotel became famous for its elaborate celebrations, its festivities, and… its ghosts.
Hotel workers have said that several guests over the years have complained about a specific room on the third floor. People have voiced their frustration at being locked out of their room, but when maintenance arrives, the door opens with no problem. And although the room is equipped with airconditioning, there is one spot in the room that is definitely colder than the rest of the space, even though the A/C vents are not facing that direction.
The biggest complaints that guests have, though, is the inability to get a good nights rest and a person standing over the bed while they sleep. Tossing and turning throughout the night, sometimes because of strange nightmares, a guest would roll over to see the shadow of a tall person standing next to their bed. They jump up and turn on the light, only to find… no one is there. A call to security and a search of the room reveal nothing out of the ordinary. Although Waikiki is known for being haunted, it isn’t something the Royal Hawaiian Hotel likes to advertise.
Aside from the fairly modern spooks, something ancient lies beneath the concrete and pink stucco. In March 1898, Colonel George Macfarlane leased some space in Waikiki to establish a seaside annex to Downtown Honolulu’s “Hawaiian Hotel.” This space was Helumoa, a huge grove of coconut trees.
In the 1600s, during the time of Ali‘i Kakuhihewa, a sixth-generation descendant of Ma‘ilikukahi, as the story is told, there was a champion fighting rooster that lived in Ka‘au, a large crater in the Palolo district, high above Waikiki. This was no ordinary rooster, however. People said this rooster was a supernatural being of half-man/half-chicken. The rooster’s name is often referred to as “Ka‘auhelemoa” or “Ka‘auhelumoa.”
One day, Ka‘auhelumoa flew down from his home and landed in Waikiki. Furiously scratching the earth, he caught the attention of Kakuhihewa, and then suddenly vanished. Kakuhihewa took this as an omen and planted niu, coconuts, where the rooster was digging.
Coconut trees were incdredibly important to Hawaiians due to their versatility and abundance. Used for food, drink, and materials for building, the niu appears in numerous legends. The water in a young coconut was even used for special blessings and ceremonies.
From Kakuhihewa’s initial planting, it is said that more than 10,000 coconut trees grew.
More than 200 years later, Japanese laborers were leveling off some mounds in this same coconut grove. In preparation for removing some of the coconut trees, they cut off the roots around the tree, and then they went to lunch.
As they were returning from their break, a gale rattled the foliage of the tall palms like castanets. The undermined trees shivered in the blast of wind and began to reel. Upon their fall, even the ground rumbled and, it is stated, the awa and mullet in an adjacent pond leaped clear out of the water.
As the workmen retreated from the falling trees, the unthinkable happened. Flung high into the air by the catapultic motion of the roots was a mass of human bones - entire skulls, femurs, vertebrae, ribs, everything. One skull struck one of the workers in the back as he ran, and when he turned to see what hit him, he almost died of fear!
There was no way to get the men back to work. The only one who returned was the foreman. He began delving in the soil when, close to the surface, he found an entire skeleton. It was in a sitting position with arms extended over the head. There was another skeleton discovered not so well united in frame.
A very aged woman named Kaohi, who was a retainer for Princess Pauahi was still living near the place. She said she was born there and there used to be a heiau on that spot. The bodies of Hawaiians slain in battle were buried within its walls.
#3 - Sheraton Princess Kaiulani Waikiki Beach
In the heart of Waikīkī, where tourists now gather beneath the glow of resort lights, the lingering presence of Hawaii’s last princess has never quite faded. Her name was Princess Victoria Kawekiu I Lunalilo Kalaninuiahilapalapa Kaʻiulani Cleghorn, also known simply as Princess Kaʻiulani.
Her childhood home was ʻĀinahau, a lush 10-acre estate in Waikīkī gifted where Kaʻiulani spent most of her life. The grounds were filled with cool streams, tropical plants, and peacocks, the young Princess’s favorite birds.
Just in front of the driveway of ‘Āinahau along Kalākaua Avenue stood Waikīkī’s first grammar school, a humble graveyard, and a little church, a branch of Kawaiahaʻo Church. The small white chapel, nestled among coconut trees, served a congregation of working-class residents and added a spiritual stillness to the neighborhood.
But over time, the spirit of the land began to shift.
In 1899, after a brief illness, Princess Kaʻiulani died at the age of 23. That night, her beloved peacocks reportedly screamed loud enough for people to hear them miles away. Many believed the birds were mourning their mistress. Her mother, Princess Likelike, had also died at ʻĀinahau years earlier. Her father, Cleghorn, passed away there in 1910.
After the royal family was gone, the estate changed hands. From 1913 to 1917, ʻĀinahau was leased and operated as a hotel. Then came the transformation of Waikīkī itself. In 1916, Kawaiahaʻo Church sold the old graveyard surrounding the little church to the Territorial Hotel Company, which planned to expand the Moana Hotel. Dozens of burials were exhumed and relocated. The land was cleared. In the late 1920s, the dredging of the Ala Wai Canal drained the waterways that once nourished ʻĀinahau. Nature dried up, and memory with it.
Today, the Sheraton Princess Kaʻiulani Hotel sits on what was once the long driveway to the ʻĀinahau estate. Beneath the surface of the swimming pool and souvenir shops lies the site of the old graveyard.
And perhaps something else, too.
Guests who stay at the Sheraton Princess Kaʻiulani Hotel have reported unexplainable chills, feelings of being watched, and fleeting glimpses of shadows in empty hallways. Some say they’ve encountered the gentle presence of the Princess herself—an apparition dressed in old-style Victorian gown, quietly observing, sometimes even offering comfort to the weary. But not every encounter is peaceful.
Others speak of cold spots that never warm, even in Hawaiʻi’s tropical heat. Unseen figures moving just out of view. A heaviness in certain rooms that refuses to lift. Could these hauntings be the echoes of a beloved Princess, or something older—something buried beneath concrete and forgotten?
In 2008, during the production of the film Princess Kaʻiulani, the cast and crew reported strange events while filming at ʻIolani Palace: whispers in empty rooms, unexplained shadows. Then, tragedy struck. One of the production managers died in a sudden accident—at the Sheraton Princess Kaʻiulani Hotel—just days before filming began.
Some called it coincidence. Others, a curse.
Was it a warning? An insulted spirit? The Princess herself, disturbed by how her legacy had been handled? Or could it be the ancient ones, the iwi kūpuna, whose bones were once laid to rest in that sacred place, only to be removed in the name of progress?
Waikīkī may look like paradise. But sometimes, when the lights dim and the air grows cold, the past rises to the surface.
And if you listen closely, you might still hear the cry of the peacocks.
#2 - Moana Surfrider, a Westin Resort & Spa, Waikiki Beach
Often dazzled by its grand columns and ocean views, guests at the Moana Surfrider Hotel rarely suspect they’ve stepped onto sacred and blood-soaked ground. Nicknamed The First Lady of Waikiki, the Moana opened in 1901 and brought with it a tide of tourism that forever changed the islands. Royals and celebrities passed through its halls—Edward, Prince of Wales, and aviator Amelia Earhart among them. But some visitors, it seems, never left.
The hotel’s security log (kept quiet, but very real) details decades of paranormal sightings, cold spots, and inexplicable sounds, making the Moana Surfrider Hotel one of the most haunted hotels in Hawaii.
One name echoes often: Jane Stanford. The co-founder of Stanford University died under mysterious circumstances, poisoned by strychnine in 1905. Some say her final days brought her here, seeking rest after a previous attempt on her life, but she got much more than she bargained for. Many people claim that her spirit returned after death. Guests and staff whisper of a woman in Victorian-style dress drifting down hallways, vanishing before she reaches the banyan tree.
But Jane Stanford’s ghost is not alone.
Long before the Moana’s verandas overlooked the Pacific, this site held Oahu’s most important heiau: Apuakehau. It was here that Kaihikapu a Kakuhihewa, younger brother to Oahu’s high chief, exacted a brutal revenge against the Maui ali‘i. After defeating the invading forces, he executed their leader, Kauhiakama, and left his body on the sacred altar as a warning. Because a person’s bones contain his mana, his spiritual essence, this was a great dishonor. Even worse, Kauhiakama’s bones were turned into fishhooks and ceremonial tools. His skull, a vessel for waste—the ultimate insult.
Today, Apuakehau is gone, buried beneath concrete and colonial grandeur. But something remains. Guests have reported glimpsing a tall Hawaiian man in an ‘ahu‘ula, a grand feathered cape, standing near the edge of the grounds, just at the corner of one’s sight. Regal. Silent. Watching.
Janitors refuse to clean certain parts of the hotel at night. One saw the figure by a column and dropped his mop, never to return. Is it Kauhiakama, condemned to walk the place of his desecration? Or some other aliʻi spirit, restless beneath the weight of a forgotten history?
Waikiki may glitter with the promise of paradise, but the haunted Moana Surfrider Hotel holds more than luxury behind its doors. The ghosts here don’t perform. They linger. They remember.
And if you stay long enough… you just might see them, too.
#1 - Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa
The Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort rises thirty-some stories into the sky, offering sweeping views of Diamond Head and the Pacific Ocean. But for some, the view has been more than just breathtaking—it’s been a final sight. Over the years, this most haunted resort in Hawaii has become known not just for luxury, but for tragedy. A disturbing number of suicides have occurred here, many of them from the balconies of guest rooms. And if the stories are to be believed, those who’ve taken their own lives may not have left the building entirely.
One day, a local taxi driver parked outside the hotel watched in horror as a woman leapt from an upper balcony. The end was gruesome, and the trauma of witnessing such a moment left him shaken. But it wasn’t the only time. A television news reporter, on-site for an unrelated assignment across the street, also heard the result of a similar tragedy just around the corner of the building. She struggled, trying to find the words to describe the horrible sound. No screams. Just the sound of wind and the sickening silence that followed.
Staff at the Hyatt began to whisper about the “jumpers,” not just as victims of circumstance but as lingering presences. Housekeepers reported hearing footsteps pacing on the lanai of rooms they knew were unoccupied. Some said they would find the sliding balcony doors open, despite having locked them the night before. But perhaps the most disturbing stories come from the 15th floor.
It’s there that the air feels different, heavy. Guests who've stayed on that floor have shared chilling accounts of a woman appearing in their rooms in the dead of night. She doesn’t speak. She doesn’t need to. One visitor described waking up to see a pale woman standing at the balcony door, her hand resting lightly on the glass as if inviting the guest to join her outside.
“She was trying to get me to come closer,” the guest said, visibly shaken, “She didn’t say anything. But I felt it. I felt her telling me to jump.”
Another traveler claimed they woke to find the balcony door open, curtains swaying in the wind, though they had locked it before going to bed. When they stepped outside to close it, they felt an overwhelming urge to climb over the railing—despite having no history of depression or suicidal thoughts.
“It was like someone else was inside my head,” they confessed later. “Like a whisper you can’t quite hear but still understand.”
Skeptics will say it’s all coincidence. That a tragic past combined with the suggestibility of a beautiful but haunting view can conjure ghosts in the mind. But those who’ve stood on the balconies, who’ve felt the pull of something cold and invisible urging them closer to the edge, are not so quick to dismiss it.
If you ever stay there, especially on the 15th floor, close your balcony door before you sleep. Lock it tight. And if you wake in the middle of the night to find it open, don’t go outside. Don’t look over the edge. And whatever you do—don’t listen to the voice calling your name.
Visitors Beware (and always have your camera ready!)
From eerie whispers in empty corridors to shadowy figures that vanish without a trace, the top 5 most haunted hotels in Waikiki each hold chilling stories woven into their walls. These historic resorts have seen more than just glamorous guests—they’ve witnessed unexplained tragedies, lingering spirits, and encounters that defy logic. Whether it’s the silent march of ancient warriors or the ghost of a guest who never checked out, each location adds its own unsettling chapter to the supernatural lore of Honolulu. For those brave enough to stay—or even just walk the halls—these haunted hotels offer more than just ocean views. They offer a glimpse into the dark and restless heart of paradise.
Explore Haunted Honolulu After Dark
If tales of ghostly encounters and restless spirits have left you curious—or a little uneasy—why not experience the supernatural side of paradise for yourself? Join a Waikiki ghost tour and walk through the shadowy heart of haunted Waikiki, where legends of night marchers, ancient curses, and hotel hauntings come to life. Our award-winning Honolulu ghost tours take you beyond the lobby and into the hidden history of the most haunted hotel in Hawaii, the most haunted resort in Hawaii, and other haunted places in Hawaii that most visitors never hear about. Whether you're drawn to supernatural Honolulu out of fascination or fear, this is your chance to see a side of Hawai‘i few dare to explore.