Haunted hotel guide · Honolulu, Hawaii
The Haunted Prince Waikiki: Ghosts of the Old Kaiser Hospital
Before the twin towers of the Prince Waikiki rose over the yacht harbor, a hospital stood here for nearly 30 years. Its demolition was stopped for a figure nobody could find, and a man in a hospital gown is said to still walk the basement.
The Prince Waikiki is the pair of glass towers at the western gateway to Waikiki, looking out over the boats of the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor toward Ala Moana and Magic Island. It opened in 1990 as the Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki and took its current name after a $55.4 million renovation in 2016. Every one of its 563 rooms faces the ocean.
It is a modern hotel, but it has earned a place among the haunted hotels in Hawaii because of what stood here before it: the Kaiser hospital, which treated patients on this site from 1958 until it was imploded in 1986. Guests talk about whispering voices, odd lights and luggage that moves, and one of Honolulu’s best-known ghost storytellers says he saw a patient who should not have been there.
Prince Waikiki at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 100 Holomoana Street, Honolulu, HI 96815
- Opened 1990, as the Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki; renamed Prince Waikiki in 2016
- Most haunted spots The basement corridors and the lower floors
- Best-known ghosts An old barefoot man in a hospital gown; whispers and moving lights
- Booking the haunted room No room is linked to the stories, and the basement is staff only
- Good to know Every room has an ocean and harbor view; it is a short walk to Ala Moana Center and Waikiki Beach
The ghosts of the Prince Waikiki
The skateboarder on the seventh floor
The story starts before the hotel. The nine-story Kaiser hospital was set to be imploded in 1986, and after several delays a crowd gathered to watch: watch parties in nearby hotels and condos, and people lining Ala Moana Boulevard and Magic Island. The countdown began just after 10 in the morning.
With about 30 seconds to go it was stopped. According to Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui, writing for Aloha State Daily, Honolulu Police had a report of someone skateboarding on the seventh floor of the building. A search found nobody, the countdown resumed and the hospital came down. The crew of Magnum, P.I. filmed the real demolition for an episode called Paper War, which aired on November 12, 1986.
The man in the hospital gown
In 1994, four years after the hotel opened, Lopaka Kapanui applied for a security job here. While he waited outside the human resources office in the basement, he says he saw an old, barefoot Hawaiian man in a hospital gown walking down the corridor toward the elevators. Cooks and servers hurried past without noticing him.
When Kapanui mentioned it, he was told the job had already been filled, and a young security guard walked him out with a line that has become part of the story: “Officially, we don’t have ghosts.”
Whispers, lights and moving luggage
Guests’ stories are less dramatic but keep coming up: whispering voices with nobody there, strange lights moving through the hotel, and luggage that is not where it was left. Some paranormal websites add sightings of a man in a red and white aloha shirt. None of these are tied to a particular room, and the hotel does not talk about ghosts.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- The basement corridors: Where Lopaka Kapanui says he saw the man in the hospital gown in 1994. Staff only.
- The lower floors and public areas: Where guests describe whispers and moving lights.
- The site itself: The ground where the nine-story hospital stood until its implosion in 1986.
History of Prince Waikiki (formerly Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki)
For nearly three decades this corner of the harbor was a hospital. The Kaiser hospital here was running by 1958, when its first baby was born on November 26, part of the health care system founded by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, who also built the Hawaiian Village Hotel along the shore at Kalia, now Hilton Hawaiian Village. On September 29, 1985 its patients were moved to Kaiser’s new Moanalua Medical Center, and in 1986 the empty nine-story building was imploded in front of a large crowd.
The new hotel on the site was built by Japan’s Prince Hotels, part of the Seibu group, and opened in 1990 as the Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki and Golf Club, with a decidedly Japanese style: two slim towers on the harbor’s edge, with every room looking out to the ocean. Its 2016 renovation contractor, Nan Inc., calls it one of the last hotels built along the Waikiki shore.
In 2016 owner Prince Resorts Hawaii, a subsidiary of Seibu Holdings, began a $55.4 million redevelopment led by architects G70, with Creative Resource Associates handling the interiors. The hotel reopened as the Prince Waikiki with a new lobby, new restaurants, 563 refreshed ocean-view rooms and suites and a Watabe Wedding chapel on the 33rd floor.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Ask for a high floor facing the harbor: sunset over the yacht harbor is one of the best views in Waikiki.
- The basement is staff only, so do not go looking for the man in the hospital gown.
- Walk to Magic Island at dusk, where crowds stood to watch the hospital come down in 1986.
- Combine your stay with the older Waikiki ghost stories at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Moana Surfrider and Royal Hawaiian.
- See more ghost stories in our guide to haunted places on Oahu.
More haunted hotels nearby
- Hilton Hawaiian Village: Next door: the woman in red
- Moana Surfrider: Waikiki’s first hotel and Jane Stanford
- The Royal Hawaiian: The Pink Palace and its third-floor shadow
- Haunted hotels in Hawaii
Stayed in one of these hotels? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from guests and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your stay. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Prince Waikiki haunted?
Guests report whispers, moving lights and luggage that moves, and storyteller Lopaka Kapanui says he saw an old man in a hospital gown in the basement in 1994. The hotel stands where the Kaiser hospital stood from 1958 to 1986.
What was the Prince Waikiki before it was a hotel?
The site was a nine-story Kaiser hospital, built in 1958 and imploded in 1986. The hotel opened in 1990.
What is the story of the skateboarder at the Kaiser hospital implosion?
During the 1986 countdown, police received a report of someone skateboarding on the building’s seventh floor. The countdown was stopped about 30 seconds before the blast, nobody was found, and the demolition went ahead.
Is the Prince Waikiki the same as the Hawaii Prince Hotel?
Yes. It opened in 1990 as the Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki and was renamed Prince Waikiki during a $55.4 million renovation in 2016.
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.
- Aloha State Daily: A Haunting at a Princely Hotel (April 2025)
- PR Newswire: Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki undergoes $55.4 million redevelopment (2016)
- Hotel Online: Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki undergoes $55 million renovation
- Honolulu Star-Bulletin: Kaiser, 50 years of growth (2008)
- Magnum Mania: Paper War episode notes
- Moon Mausoleum: Most haunted hotels in Hawaii
- Nan Inc.: Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki renovation
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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