King Solomon Hotel — Hotel in Guadalcanal Island

I was a bit hesitant to book this place after reading some of the horrific reviews, so I was pleasantly surprised overall with my stay. Yes, there are multiple issues, but if you have realistic expectations going in, these are easily dealt with. The seaview rooms have million dollar views of Honiara and Iron Bottom Sound with several other islands visible on the horizon, so I would recommend booking one of those.||||Yes, there are bugs. This is the tropics, so really can't be avoided. Hardly the hotel's fault. Didn't have any mosquitoes but the occasional roach was able to squeeze in under the gap between my balcony door and the floor. Easily fixed by putting a towel on the floor there, but I didn't bother. ||||Front desk staff was very friendly and helpful. They can change money here if you need some (but you'll get a better rate at one of the casinos in town). If you give them at least 1 day's notice, they can arrange a car and driver for you if you want a guided tour of the island.||||Adequate restaurant and bar on the property.||||A/C worked just fine, which was a godsend given how hot & humid the Solomons are.||||Wi-fi. This is an issue that received constant criticism in past reviews, so let me set the record straight. Good, strong, fast reliable wi-fi is available everywhere on the property, including the rooms. The confusion comes from what's free and what isn't. There is free wi-fi that is only accessible from the reception area. It's slow and often craps out. It works, but it's far from ideal. But saying the wi-fi sucks or isn't available in the rooms is flat out wrong. There is a very fast paid wi-fi option that is accessible everywhere, including even the highest and most remote rooms on the property (strong signals everywhere because the telecoms building & cell towers are literally across the street kitty corner from the hotel). I downloaded several GB worth of movies and TV shows for some upcoming long plane rides very quickly and with no issues. Connection was stable for my entire 3-day stay. Paid wi-fi rates are quite reasonable, and you pay less per day the longer you stay. A one day wi-fi pass is 55 SBD / 6.50 USD. A three day pass is 135 SBD / 5.00 USD a day. ||||Cablecar. Here is another common complaint from reviews that are misleading. The hotel is built into a steep hillside with the lobby and reception area at street level and the rooms on several tiers above the lobby along the cliff. There is a quaint cablecar that goes up and down the hill on a metal track so you don't have to climb the steep steps if you don't want to. Lots of people complain that the cable car doesn't work. It does, but it takes some effort and attention to figure out how to get it to run properly. Ideally the hotel should make things easier to understand so they bear some of the blame for the complaints. But the fact is that it works just fine if you know what to do, when to wait, when to push buttons, etc. Several times I saw other hotel guests walk away in annoyance, complaining how it doesn't work as they begin the hike up the hill to their rooms. I try and it works. Ask the hotel staff instead of trying to figure it out on your own and then concluding it doesn't work because it doesn't do what you think it should. ||||Hotel is within a very short walking distance to many of Honiara's attractions, including the National Museum and several restaurants. ||||Overall it's good value for the money in this part of the world, especially when compared with the few other options that are available in Honiara. If you want a comparison, the Heritage Park is just down the street a few minutes walk away. I checked it out and it was quite nice, but certainly not worth several times more than the nightly rate I paid at...

Ooff, what can I say!? We had pre-arranged an airport pickup, which they failed to provide. There was no pay phone or internet (needed a local number to register) at the airport, so we waited to no avail. When we finally found a public taxi and made our way to the hotel the receptionist said they had sent someone the day before (despite our booking and their email confirmation saying a different date!). The lack of any apology or slightest bit of care really set the scene for our stay at the hotel.

Despite booking a room with internet and having written confirmation the receptionist argued with us that we would need to pay extra. She told us she couldn’t do anything until the next day, when we would have already checked out. We spoke with the manager and she didn’t seem to care. You’d have thought internet (although we’d paid through our booking) would have been an appropriate way to apologise for the airport fiasco! Zero fooks given at this hotel!

The kettle in the room didn’t work, there was no hot water at all, loud music from the bar until after midnight, and you could practically hear every word spoken by your neighbours in the next room. Locks on the room doors not very secure, ironing board but no iron, dirty bed sheets, and overall rooms were very basic like a youth hostel. Cute community of kitties though!

Dinner was alright, although they had run about of 3/4 of the menu, so choice was limited to pizza or a roast. Breakfast took a long time to come and when it did we didn’t get exactly what we ordered on the menu (no beans or tomatoes) and we couldn’t eat the fried foods, as it looked like they had been refried a number of times in dirty oil, so quite hard to stomach. We were entertained by a massive rat running around the breakfast area, much to the alarm of some Aussie ladies trying to enjoy their coffee!

Would pay a little more for a more reliable, friendly, considerate,...

First impressions during the day were good, friendly but uninformative staff checked me in and place looked clean/nice enough.||Funicular to the room was novel to begin with, but later became a pain, being super slow, often not stopping at the correct levels or having to go to the top to then have to come down. You'll end up using the stairs alot - so I don't recommend this hotel for people with mobility issues.||Room was nice and big, unexpectedly had a fully equipped kitchen and was clean with clean linen/towels. Bed was extremely comfy. As with most of Honiara no hot water... which wasn't great after days on the ocean.||Restaurant had ok food, mostly Western dishes, not much local cuisine. And while it was friendly, definitely on Island time and super slow. The culture dance on Friday night was good while eating dinner. ||Third complaint was the 'nightclub' on Friday night the restaurant turns into. It was so loud my windows were shaking. I went down at midnight to complain and nothing was done. It also wasn't very family friendly with lots of overly intoxicated people hanging around and yelling - as a single female I felt a little unsafe. Reception said there would be no music on Saturday and I went back upstairs. ||I was really annoyed when their was music on Saturday and it went until midnight. I changed rooms to a higher floor after being laughed at and it was slightly better. No offer of a discount for the room considering I had no sleep for 2 nights. ||Lots of construction around the place such as hand rails and the wooden flooring. Made for a noisy/ dusty place during the day also and the pool area undergoing works wasn't really a place for relaxation. Pool area quite run down compared to photo. ||Pretty disappointed for the money this place charges. Pay just that little bit more and...