Aloha Surf Hostel — Hotel in Maui

My fiance and I stayed here at the end of August (2022). It was our first time at a hostel so we weren't sure what to expect but we both thought it was great! Here are my main notes:

TOURS: The tours are really great. Jared (the driver) isn't paid by the hostel so you need to tip him for each tour. He's great about giving you time to explore on your own while also showing you some unique spots and teaching you about the nature/history of Maui. Most of the tours didn't fill up as soon as the sign-up sheet was posted...except for the road to Hana. A line formed 30 minutes before the sheet was posted and the tour was full in about 3 minutes. Another note about the road to Hana is that I get motion sick very easily (like just wearing noise cancelling headphones even makes me feel funny) but Jared drove super slow and took lots of breaks and I didn't feel sick at all the entire day. The tours were of great quality, and you would pay hundreds for basically the same thing through a travel agency. We only rented a car for one day and just walked or ubered everywhere else, so we really relied on the tours to see the island but I don't regret that decision.

SAFETY: I neve felt unsafe in the hostel. There's almost always lots of people around and most everyone is quite friendly. I did bring a lock for my valuables but kept my suitcase on my bunk and charged my phone in an outlet in the room every night and had no problems. However, Paia itself is pretty hippy dippy and the hostel is located about a 10 min walk from the main street. There are quite a few homeless people around but they're nice and mostly keep to themselves. That being said, I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable walking around at night by myself down there.

AMMENITIES/CLEANLINESS: The hostel has a few bathrooms, the main one being all-genders (which I did find a little uncomfortable but I just didn't shower in those ones and it was fine). They're not very clean (lots of sand and hair) but it wasn't a big deal for me. Obviously it's a hostel in a beach town so there's lots of sand everywhere. The staff did vacuum the dorms every day so they stayed decently clean, but I was asked to stay in a private room for one night (more on that later) and I noticed that room was pretty gross (like stains all over the mattress, hair in the sheets, dirty floor, etc.). The hostel does have a big kitchen which is kept clean and guests are able to keep their food in there which was great. My dorm room was a ways away from the common area and mostly quiet at night, and there was AC so if anything, I was actually too cold at night. My fiance's dorm was right next to the common area and he had some trouble sleeping due to the noise late at night (he also had no AC).

STAFF: I read a review complaining about the staff before staying here and brushed it off as an "old codger", but honestly it was a pretty valid review. I didn't find the staff particularly helpful or friendly (other than Jared) and they were absent from the front desk most of the time (you have to buzz them in order for them to come check you in or help you with anything). I didn't really care about any of that, but then on my last night at the hostel I found a note on my dorm door telling me to come to the front desk. I did, and the guy there didn't know anything about the note. Eventually we figured out that they had double booked my room and so rather moving the person who was about to arrive at the hostel, they asked me (who had booked my dorm 6 months in advance and who was only there for one more night) to move all my stuff into a private dorm (which was dirty) for one night. I'm a pretty chill person but this did annoy me and was a pretty big hassle.

Overall, if you're looking for a budget trip and you're laidback, I would recommend the hostel as a great option. We had very few complains and had...

One of the best if not the best hostel that I have ever stayed at! I stayed at the Aloha surf hostel last year and decided to write a review based on what I still remember which was quite impressive. I will start with the pros and finish with the cons: +the hostel is located in a quiet and nice location not far from downtown Paia which I a quaint little town. It is about 10 minutes walking distance from the beach. +it is designed as a beach house rather than a hostel and has free beach utensils. +there is a big outdoor area with tables and a hot tub. +there is a big indoor common room for rainy days which looks like a living room with couches, games, pcs and a TV with Netflix etc. +there is a spacious kitchen including refrigerators for everyone to use where you can cook and store your food. +there’s free breakfast every morning which consists of pancakes with syrup and chocolate chips as well as apples and bananas. +the hostel offers free tours (you tip the guide according to how much you liked the tour and I promise you that you will love the tours!). The guide Justin was amazing and took us to all these breathtakingly beautiful places, mostly off the beaten path. I have to mention how passionate he seemed about the island and how he participated in all the activities. Thank you again! +the hostel is very clean and it is quiet at night. +when I first got to the hostel the guest were mainly very young, barely legal adults and I didn’t feel comfortable but this quickly changed and a wonderful group of around thirty guest in their twenties up to late thirties formed. Everyone vibed so well and we all had fun individually and together. Overall, the guest are international and pretty active people who want to explore the island and surf. (+the owner has the cutest dog which he brings over every once in a while.) The cons: -the front desk staff consisted of young mainland Americans who seemed to be there to surf and have a good time with one another. Some didn’t seem very qualified or passionate about their job and weren’t very helpful at all when i needed to find an ATM for example to pay for a tour in cash as was required. -as nice as Paia is, there was not much to do when hostel tours got cancelled due to bad weather or when you didn’t get a space on a tour. Busses take hours to get somewhere so you would need a car. -I saw two big spiders in the living room and a rat in the kitchen beams :-o. This is probably unavoidable due to the tropical climate but still freaked me out. I had a wonderful time and would...

Overall: wonderful would stay again, there was one aspect that made me incredibly uncomfortable despite having directly addressed it multiple times.

*there is one very drunk and abrasive man who works there that was consistently, even after direct requests to stop and being told it was inappropriate, attempting to solicit my partner for sex.

It started playful and demure and quickly ramped up to a straight on proposition. He made us both so wildly uncomfortable with these pushy advances that we would not stay again if he was there.

This is the only extreme aspect of the experience but I wanted to make it known because SA is a common concern as travelers and for someone with access to EVERY room key to be so overwhelming it felt really sketchy. Had my partner been a small womxn unwilling to speak up it could have gone very differently. Even other travelers were uncomfortable and vocalized it.

On we go!

Pros:

-Jared was a wonderful guide for the day trips -day tour is awesome, very accommodating -location can’t be beat -clean, tidy, better than expected -held luggage after checkout but before our flight, Teagan was incredibly kind and helpful -the grocery store nearby has such delicious prepared foods! -other travelers were fun and considerate.

At one point we were playing a game in the common area and the people staying nearby felt comfortable enough to ask us to quiet down which, in my opinion, speaks to the overall quality of the experience the hostel curates.

Cons:

-our food was taken from a sealed, marked bag in the community fridge our first night -no pancakes in the morning (if there was a time window we were not made aware of it on our initial check-in tour) -no coffee/tea in the morning, the machines existed but had a note not to mess with it -paper thin walls (earplugs make it not a problem, along with requesting quiet from loud people, but for those who mind it is very easy to hear others) -fewer tours than advertised, due to the fires but just so you know. Jared DOES recommend and Facilitate options on days without tours -we were not made aware of checkout time during checkin so they kept my key deposit

Had a great time, if you can advocate for yourself and your safety and don’t mind an aggressively drunk dude give it a go. You won’t regret staying at Aloha...