Kona Beach Hostel — Hotel in Hawaii

I am a local small business owner. I was in Kona for JoAnn William's Christmas Craft Fair at the King Kamehameha Hotel just down the road from the hostel. ||||I had no idea if the fair was going to be held due to COVID. When I did find out in late October that it was going to be held I had to scramble to find lodging as I heard room accommodations would be booked solid for Thanksgiving weekend. The fair was for the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving.||||I have read the reviews, including the bad ones so I knew what I was in for. But rooms in Kona were booked solid. The cheapest was $199 at the Holiday Inn. King Kamehameha 's cheapest was $420 per night. I couldn't afford that. Kona Beach Hostel was the only viable option because I could afford it and it is just down the road from the fair grounds.||||I booked a room on Oct. 28th. But I made the mistake of booking for Oct. 28th. I called the manager using the number listed in my e-mail confirmation, and asked for help in changing my reservation for Nov. 26th-27th. ||||"Please send me an e-mail with your confirmation number," she said.||||I did that. I waited for an update the next day in my inbox. Nothing. I tried calling the number listed on the website several times. All I got was a recorded message saying that this number has "not set up to receive voicemail messages". I even called their Pineapple Park number (they have another hostel in Kona) only to get that same message. ||||Then I called that number in my e-mail confirmation and I FINALLY got that woman that I talked to the night before.||||"We are NOT a big hotel you know!" was her response. "I will look at your reservation when I have time!"||||How in the world am I suppose to know what kind of operations they have?||||I gave up on this woman changing my reservation. Under normal circumstances I probably would have found another place or perhaps driven back to Waimea and make the drive back to Kona for the Saturday fair. But that would be a lot of driving.||||So I booked again but this time for Nov. 26th-27th. Then I looked at my credit card statement. They had charged me for Oct. 28th and my November dates. They charged me the deposit fee of $55 per night. Total for an overnight stay was $126.73. Since I had already paid $110 I figured I only had to pay $16. I didn't want to call the hostel because of the nasty response I got from the woman.||||On Nov. 26th after a crazy day at the fair I arrived at the hostel with my business partner utterly exhausted. We were met at the reception by a young man. He asked me for my name and confirmation number. I guess their computer system did not detect that I had made two reservations and that I actually had two confirmation numbers. I gave him the current one I had for my Nov. dates. ||||He rang up my bill. According to the hostel my balance was $71.73, not the $16 I was expecting.||||As a result, I did not get a good night's sleep. The room was clean and I liked the ambiance of the place. But I found customer service lacking. I kept tossing and turning and thinking how I'm going to dispute this.||||At check out the next morning I brought the issue up. I had made copies of both confirmation e-mails and I also brought a copy of my credit card statement showing the charges made. ||||And I believe that the woman I spoke to was the same rude woman on the phone.||||"You should have called these numbers," she said pointing to a list of phone numbers.||||"I did," I said. "All I got was a message saying that the number was not set up to take voicemail."||||I didn't mention the other comment she made about not being a "big hotel operation."||||She got on the phone with her boss and relayed all the info from my paperwork. ||||I FINALLY got an e-mail saying that my Oct. 28th date was cancelled and I was FINALLY given a proper refund. ||||It only took a month to get a reply.||||I was so disappointed at this lack of customer service that I said in an e-mail to them that I would never stay there again. I did like the atmosphere and my room was clean which is why I am giving them a two star rating. If they would only upgrade their customer service I may consider staying there again for next year's fair. But as it stands now it's...

I cannot say enough how lovely this place is. Beautiful "old Hawaii" building updated in the past 5 years to make it a hostel. Great views, lots of variety of sitting areas all around the property; walking distance to everything in downtown Kona, which is great as I did not have a car rental. I met wonderful folks, and the staff are very helpful. Sally gave me a load of advice on getting around and introduced me to another guest with a car, saying " How about you two connect, perhaps you can do something together tomorrow". SO very helpful.||||VERY CLEAN property and dorms, and air-conditioning in the room; that is very nice since it is so hot in Kona. I've stayed at well over one hundred hostels in the US and over seas, and this place is exceptionally clean. Every time a staff person walked into the kitchen, I saw her wipe counters and table tops and even the person filling in for the staff afternoon break(Sally), went around the site and wiped tables and counters and such. ||||I met a lot of nice people. (FYI you get what you give. I saw a few folks try to take advantage of the kindness and aloha of the staff, and then complain when reminded of the House Rules. They were not indicative of the folks I met, only they were a few whiney guests. Take negative reviews with a grain of salt)!||||The KITCHEN is great, and is out doors so the ocean breezes are cool & fun to cook in. Lots of space to cook and move around if others are also cooking. Two refrigerators in kitchen and one on the porch. Other people shared some fruit with the house, so I got to try some crazy fruit. Kitchen Hours are great: 6am to 10 pm, and if you need to access things after 10 (which is also start of quiet hours), you can use a refrigerator on the porch outside the kitchen, and have access all night long. That worked great for the morning I was leaving super early before 6 to go the volcanos, so I could make lunch and snacks for the day, and the night before I could store then in the porch fridge to reach them without disturbing folks in the room next to the kitchen at 5AM)||||||Sunset views are super, and it is a four minute walk to a county beach park, with shade trees and sand, or grass and picnic tables under the shade. Twenty minutes walk to center of Kona, and if you walk that far you have passed over 40 places to eat and shop along the walk. ||||Luggage storage after checkout is available for a small fee, which worked since I had a late flight home after checking out at ten o'clock. Made it easy to leave my suitcase, go to town and eat dinner and hang at the beach (showers are at The Pier beach area down the road)!.||||NOTE: I read a few bad reviews, and I know exactly who a couple of them are from. Sadly, there were folks who were trying to take advantage of Victoria, the staff person, and when told they could NOT do something, they became very nasty to her. It was clear they are spoiled travelers who are being passive aggressive on the reviews. READ THE COMMON RULES before you come: kitchen closes at ten at night, with start of quiet hours. I find that reasonable. Check in is 3:00PM to 9:30 PM, and if you need to be late you must let the Hostel know this. After ten o'clock there is a late fee of $20 cash, or more if credit card because they have to charge tax on cc transactions. This money goes to the staff person who has to stay after her shift ends at TEN O'CLOCK because when YOU are late arriving, SHE cannot go home to her family!!||||Check out is in fact 10AM, which is clearly written everywhere, and its directly above the Registration Form signature line where guests sign at checking in. SO, store your luggage and go into town if you have a late flight. That way the housekeeping staff can clean up (including the public areas) which is why the place is so VERY CLEAN!||||I WILL BE BACK AGAIN! LOVED...

This place was the worst. First of all we booked well in advance and had our confirmation set for over Christmas from the 24-28 of December. All was good until Decemver 21st (when we were already in Hawaii staying in an AirBnB) we got an email saying " sorry for inconvenience Kona Beach Hostel booking system have a some problem. You will not lose your deposit. until tomorrow. Please cancel" then send the hostelworld copy and paste message about free cancellation until Dec 22.

We were taken back and emailed back saying no we don't want to cancel, we have no where else to stay. we're not cancelling.

they didn't respond.

we get there when the reception opens on the 24th and the girl explains to us that hostelworld made a mistake of only charging the room for 3$. We had paid for 4 nights, all other night 90USD. She said the manager told her to tell us that we need to Make up the difference...87$. I said that it wasn't my fault they made a mistake and I'm not paying that. WHY SHOULD I? if this were to happen at a hotel or airbnb or any place in that matter it is NOT the customers fault. I told the girl this and she called the manager/owner and it was this mean Asian lady so was yelling at me on the phone saying that if I didnt pay the difference all 4 nights of my reservation will be cancelled. She backed me into a flipping corner, because where else are we to stay when everything is booked because its CHRISTMAS EVE.

she said this happened to FIVE other people! WHY DO WE NEED TO PAY to make up for hostelworlds mistake? I even said this to her.

and about the hostel itself. We booked a partial ocean view private room. we got a room overlooking south into a neighborhood road. Great, just what we spent all this money on. We asked about that ahe she said ya I know... the room descriptions are not entirely correct. You can imagine we are annoyed. Then the receptionist comes to my boyfriend and says they can move locations for us to stay at a different hostel, WAY out of town! Up south. NO WAY I paid the price to be in the main town Kona-kailua.

honestly guys, Airbnb's are the way to go. Just avoid this place. an excessive amount of ants in the room. our room was so ugly. they basically turned a bunk dorm room into a tiny private room.

will never stay here again. way too expensive for what it is and the owner is not...