Key takeaways

• Waikiki has the oldest names. The Moana opened in 1901 as the first hotel on Waikiki Beach, and the Royal Hawaiian followed in 1927.

• The neighbor islands tell the jet-age story. The Sheraton Maui (1963) and the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel (1965) opened as air travel brought visitors beyond Honolulu.

• Check the credential. National Register listing and Historic Hotels of America membership can both be looked up in public directories.

What makes a Hawaii hotel historic

Hawaii's hotel history follows its transport history. Matson, a steamship line, helped build the Royal Hawaiian and bought the Moana in 1932, and after statehood in 1959, jets opened Maui and Hawaii Island to resort building.

Two designations help separate real history from marketing. The National Register of Historic Places, run by the National Park Service, lists buildings judged worth preserving. Historic Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, admits hotels at least 50 years old that are listed on or eligible for the Register. Neither works like Forbes stars or AAA diamonds or editors' picks like the Condé Nast Traveler Gold List, which judge the stay itself.

Every hotel below is open, has a documented building date, and holds one of those designations or keeps original buildings from a named era, across four islands.

1. Moana Surfrider, A Westin Resort & Spa: Waikiki's first hotel

The Moana Hotel opened on March 11, 1901, as the first hotel on Waikiki Beach, with 75 rooms and the first electric elevator in the Hawaiian Islands, still in use today. The radio program Hawaii Calls broadcast from its courtyard from the 1930s. It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Best for: Travelers tracing the start of Waikiki tourism

Location: Waikiki, Honolulu, Oahu

Built: 1901

Heritage credentials: National Register; Historic Hotels of America

2. The Royal Hawaiian, A Luxury Collection Resort: the 1927 "Pink Palace"

Built for a partnership of Matson Navigation Company and Castle & Cooke and designed by Warren & Wetmore, the Royal Hawaiian opened on February 1, 1927, with a pink Spanish- and Moorish-style exterior. The U.S. military used it as a rest center for servicemen during World War II, and it returned to civilian use in 1947.

Best for: Travelers interested in steamship-era Honolulu

Location: Waikiki, Honolulu, Oahu

Built: 1927

Heritage credentials: Historic Hotels of America member since 2011

3. Volcano House: a hotel on the rim of Kilauea

There's been lodging on the rim of Kilauea caldera since 1846, when Benjamin Pitman built a thatched shelter there, and Mark Twain visited the 1866 inn. The National Park Service records that the current building, designed by Charles W. Dickey, opened on November 8, 1941, after a fire destroyed its predecessor.

Best for: Travelers pairing hotel history with volcano history

Location: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii Island

Built: 1941, on a site used for lodging since 1846

Heritage credentials: Earlier 1877 building on the National Register

4. Mauna Kea Beach Hotel: Laurance Rockefeller's 1965 hotel

Laurance S. Rockefeller opened the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel in July 1965 with 154 rooms, designed by Edward Charles Bassett of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Fortune named it one of the 10 best buildings of 1966. A $180 million renovation finished in early 2026 kept the lobby's original 1965 blue, and the Rockefeller art collection numbers more than 500 works.

Best for: Travelers interested in midcentury architecture and art

Location: Kohala Coast, Hawaii Island

Built: 1965

Heritage credentials: Historic Hotels of America member since 2016

5. Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa: Kaanapali's 1963 hotel at Black Rock

The Sheraton Maui opened in 1963 as part of Amfac's Kaanapali development, an early master-planned resort area. Its first guests flew in on the first commercial jet from the mainland directly to a neighbor island. The hotel sits beside Puu Kekaa (Black Rock), and its cliff-diving ceremony recalls a leap that Hawaiian tradition credits to the Maui chief Kahekili.

Best for: Travelers interested in the jet-age opening of Maui

Location: Kaanapali, Maui

Built: 1963

Heritage credentials: Historic Hotels of America member

6. Waimea Plantation Cottages: sugar-era homes on Kauai

Waimea Plantation Cottages is a hotel made up of plantation homes built between the 1880s and 1930s, when sugar shaped Kauai's economy. The property covers 43 acres on the southwest coast. Guests stay in the houses that plantation families lived in.

Best for: Travelers interested in Hawaii's plantation history

Location: Waimea, Kauai

Built: 1880s to 1930s

Heritage credentials: Original plantation-era buildings, no formal listing

How to choose a historic hotel in Hawaii

• Pick an era. Waikiki covers the steamship years, while Maui and Hawaii Island cover the jet age that followed statehood.

• Ask which building you'll sleep in. Several of these hotels added towers or wings later, and a newer wing won't feel like 1901.

• Verify the designation. The register database and the Historic Hotels of America directory show whether a claim holds up.

Frequently asked questions

What is the oldest hotel in Hawaii?

The Moana Surfrider opened in 1901 as the first hotel on Waikiki Beach. On Hawaii Island, lodging at the Volcano House site goes back to 1846, though the building that's there now dates from 1941.

Which Hawaii hotels are on the National Register of Historic Places?

The Moana Surfrider is listed, and at Volcano House the listed building is the 1877 hotel that now houses the Volcano Art Center. The National Park Service runs the register.

Which Hawaii hotels belong to Historic Hotels of America?

As of November 2026 the program lists five in Hawaii: the Royal Hawaiian, the Moana Surfrider, Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, and the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa.