KAUAI BEACH HOUSE HOSTEL, LLC — Hotel in Kauai

I have never written a review for an accommodation or restaurant, but I I want to warn people before they choose to book this place. I showed up to the hostel around midnight on the night of my check-in. I had called 3 days before to let the staff know that I would be there around 11:30pm to check-in because my flight was arriving late. They took my name down and said thanks for letting them know. I am aware that I was a bit later than I had hoped, but it was a struggle to find a taxi that late at night on a small island. I couldn't call them to inform them that I was going to be a bit later than planned because I did not have a USA phone plan. I sent them an email because that's about all I could do and hoped that someone would see it. When I arrived, there were some guests hanging out in a common area that let me in. I spent 15-20 min wandering around looking for a staff member that could help me. There was a number at reception that said to call for check-in. One of the guests let me borrow their cell phone and I called the number twice with no answer. Finally, a lady came to the common area to tell people to go to bed and was quite rude about it. These people could not have been talking quieter and were being very respectful. One of the guys jokingly said to me, "hey can you grab me some sheets for the couch when you find someone?" There were people sleeping on random couches everywhere and even one IN the reception area and multiple mattresses sprawled out in random hallways with people sleeping on them. The lady was almost accusatory when I told her that I needed to check in.. she was asking me why I didn't call when I got to the airport if I knew I was going to be later etc etc and being very short with me. I explained to her that I didn't have a phone plan and that I had let them know a few days before that I would be arriving late. She told me that she didn't do check-ins and she didn't know where the guy was that does. I showed her my booking and asked if I could be shown to my room as it was 12:30am at this point and it had been a long day, she replied "I'm sure it has". She left me in the reception area to fill out some paper work and wouldn't let me turn a light on to write cause of people sleeping. After a little while a male staff member came out of the shower room I told him I had been there for half an hour and wanted to check-in. He pretty much just gave me the door code to the place then said "do you have any questions?" I was shocked, but too tired to care and just wanted to go to bed. The place was huge and pitch black, he was standing in the reception pointing to hallways and doors telling me where the bathrooms and kitchen were, with no tour of any kind. The other staff lady walked by as I was checking in with a pillow and asked him if it was clean and he said I have no idea, and she said “well I’m going to give it to her anyway”. We finally get up to where I am supposed to stay, n the 9 bed mixed dorm with its own bathroom and patio with ocean views, all the beds were full with people sleeping in them. I booked through the website and I had on my receipt that that's the room that I had paid for. He led me to another 3 bed mixed dorm and I told him that this isn't the room I booked, he said there's nothing he can do about it now. The bed on the bottom bunk was the only unoccupied one and had clearly been slept in. He went downstairs to get fresh sheets, quickly sanitized the bed (which had a completely torn mattress cover on it), made it, left the dirty sheets on the steps going up to the top bunk, then left without saying a word. I am a pretty easy going person and at the end of the day I was just happy I had a bed to sleep in, but wow that was pretty bad. The hostel is in a good location and the guests that I met the next morning were very friendly. But even one guy said he "had never stayed at a place like this before", another guy admitted that "they just don't have enough staff to keep up". I would not recommend this hostel and will not be returning because of my...

I really wish I had paid more attention to the negative reviews on TripAdvisor (including the owner or manager's unprofessional replies), Yelp & Google. While I absolutely LOVED my stay Kaua'i, coming back to this hostel every night was definitely my least favorite part of the trip.

PROS: The location is great. It's close to shops, restaurants, grocery stores. The view. Watching the sunrise every morning was amazing. BRIAN, the nicest guy on staff The quiet hours, which are great when you're up early.

CONS: This hostel isn't cheap. If you're travelling with someone, you might want to spend a little more & get a hotel room or an AirBnb. The day I arrived (around 9:30 PM), the bed wasn't made. I was given sheets & a pillow case. I decided to take a shower first since I had been travelling for 22 hours & when I returned to the room, it was pitch black. Fun times trying to make your bed in the dark... Sidenote: the pillow was as flat as a pancake. Except for Brian, who is an absolute GEM OF A HUMAN BEING, the staff wasn't the friendliest or most helpful. The first day I was there, I asked the girl at reception (one of the international staff) if she could recommend a place nearby for breakfast, which isn't an uncommon question when you work at the reception of a hostel. She just said "no". I can understand that maybe she didn't know the area or really couldn't recommend any place, but the least she could've done was to direct me to the binder of menus that was right next to her. Honestly, most of the international staff who was working there didn't seem like they cared or wanted to work, with some exceptions. After that first encounter, I only talked to Brian if I had a question or needed help. The bathrooms look run down. They're old and dirty. And there's not enough of them. Everyone wants to use them as the same time, so you end up waiting, sometimes for a while. Considering the fact that food is expensive in Hawaii, you can expect a lot of budget travelers to buy groceries & cook. There are only 2 fridges & 1 stove, and obviously, everyone wants to cook at the same time, which leads to a very congested kitchen... And everyone buys groceries, which means there is no room in the fridges... The kitchen opens at 7, which means that you basically can't make anything to eat early in the morning if you're trying to head out before 7. The kitchen also closes at 9:15, which means you're out of luck if you return late and have not eaten. I slept in the girls dorm and there are NO WALLS between the dorm & the kitchen (they literally had blinds between the two rooms), which means you hear everything going on out there. Several people arrived and did not have the bed they had booked, so they had to sleep on a mattress that was in a corner of the room... The door to the girl dorm's terrace was difficult to open & close, so it stayed open most of the time. There are windows all along the walls, so with the addition of the open door, it meant that some nights, it got really windy and even cold. Anyone with a top bunk bed had zero space to put their stuff, so everyone stuff is lying around at the bottom of every bunk bed. There are several couches & two long tables in the common area. While it's nice that there is a lot of seating, I did not feel comfortable sitting on any of the fabric couches because they looked dirty as hell. They were supposedly renovating (the 3rd floor and terrace were closed for renovations) but I hardly saw any work happening. The pictures they have on their website make it seem like a much nicer place, and it isn't. They basically don't let you cancel so you're trapped and have to stay or decide to leave without getting your money back.

I'd love to go back to Kauai someday but I definitely won't be staying at...

Preface: We were in Hawaii and I looked into this place to stay. I'm familiar with being at hostels and I appreciated they had great rules (drama, food, quiet hours). Due to this, I expected no difference in my stay here than at any other hostel. Sadly, I was mistaken.

Long story short - Cockroaches. Rules aren't enforced. Water/Lights failed to work periodically during our stay. Called the owner and he was in denial by stating that the cockroaches were our fault (despite bringing it up to the staff when we saw them and they admitted it was an issue).

Product and Service: 1/5 All the staff who were working there were quite friendly. However, that being one of the few upsides, I was surprised to see individuals not following the rules that were set out and they were not reinforced. For multiple days, we had the entryway completely blocked by another guest. Not wanting to touch their belongings, I kindly asked if they could move their things. They insisted they wouldn't be there long and we needed to "walk around". However, the only way to do so is to walk alongside the railing or to trample around their items. This was brought up to the staff. Until the staff would talk to the other guests about it, we decided to climb up on a railing to get around it. The next day, everything was still there and it was apparent that the staff did not talk to the individual. Frustrated, but not wanting to trample on their luggage/items, we continued to get past by walking on the railing but it was apparent I was frustrated about the situation. The individual approached me and told me, "You got a problem with me? Your an adult, use your words" which ended up waking up two rooms as a disagreement ensued. Although this is between two guests, this issue was brought up to the staff the day before as it's a violation of the contract. However, it wasn't enforced. I expected better.

Value: 1/5 Location and cost compared to a resort, it's obvious that a hostel would be incredibly cheaper. However, my definition of value is the cost matching what was provided. During our stay, we had times when the water wasn't working, cockroaches that ran amok, and disputes between guests that weren't resolved by the staff. This is considering that we paid extra for a more "deluxe" experience with a room.

Presentation: 2/5 The private room was quite small (for comparison, you wouldn't be able to park a car in it). We had cockroaches that scurried along the room and we found their eggs here and there (some of which were found in our luggage). This is frustrated as we followed the rules exactly as stated in the contract we signed and had no food brought into the room. Upon talking to a staff member, they made it clear that it was already an on-going issue that they had. The room wasn't well lit as we needed flashlights despite turning the lights on. I gave it a 2 because the roof access looked nice.

I contacted the owner after our stay and it was frustrating to hear that he wanted to blame us. Told us that we had probably brought cockroaches from our own luggage and that we shouldn't have had food in our rooms (even though we made sure to have the food all stored in the kitchen as stated).

Overall: 2/5 - the positive energy from the staff who were working on-site while we were there is what prevents it from...