Ka Hale Mala Bed & Breakfast — Hotel in Molokai

My girlfriend and I stayed here this summer for four nights. We were extremely excited to stay at a local place rather than at the hotel on the island. We opted to do the $10 extra charge for breakfast in the morning.

We did not get into Molokai until the evening and checked in around 7 or 8. We were greeted by Cheryl as soon as we pulled in. She then gave us the tour of our floor and proceeded to talk to us for the next hour complaining about previous tenants and the mistakes that were made by them during their visit.

From the first night we felt that the guest rooms were dirty. The floor was filthy, there was hair on the toilet seat, and dust caking both the ceiling fan and the standing fan. Neither of us wanted to take a shower or freshen up because the shower was not clean. The light-colored towels were stained (which Cheryl blamed on previous guests) and other towels had an unpleasant odor. We are in no way clean freaks- we just expect reasonable cleanliness at an accommodation we are paying for.

We booked a BNB with a kitchen with the intention of using the kitchen and saving some money on eating out. The kitchen and cookware were dirty, including the sponge at the sink, to the point that we ate every single meal out.

The breakfast experience took an even worse turn. My girlfriend has some food intolerances, and Cheryl advertises that she can accommodate food preferences. My girlfriend mentioned just one of her preferences/intolerances and Cheryl became flustered and upset that she would not be able to cook anything to accommodate my girlfriend. My girlfriend ended up just letting it go and telling Cheryl that it was okay.

The meals in and of themselves were good. The fruit selection was nice, and the hot breakfasts were good. However, we couldn’t enjoy them because the plates, silverware, and mugs were absolutely caked with cat hair. We have a cat, so we don’t mind a few hairs here and there. Cheryl’s cat hair situation was entirely over the top and out of control. The food was rendered inedible by the cat hair. She advertises that she keeps the cats separate to accommodate people with allergies, so be forewarned if you suffer from cat allergies- you will suffer here.

During breakfast, Cheryl also sits with you and tries to make small talk. Any silence longer than 5 seconds was filled by Cheryl. This resulted in an unpleasant and awkward experience. If you like quiet mornings, I can assure you that will not be achieved at this BNB. I wanted a romantic getaway with my girlfriend, and instead, I had breakfast with Cheryl.

There is a stairwell from Cheryl’s area into the guests area (inside) that she utilizes each day to come into your space. I understand the need to take out trash daily in a tropical environment, but Cheryl would also go into the bedroom and move things around. Clearly she is not a clean freak, so I am not sure what the purpose behind rearranging our items was. The indoor stairwell was utilized by Cheryl, as evidenced by the door handle being left ajar, and it was unnerving to think that Cheryl could potentially enter the space whenever. It feels inconsiderate to guests’ privacy. We would’ve been happy to leave the trash by the door or simply ask for more towels if we needed them, instead of her coming into the room on a daily basis for no clear cleaning purpose.

The BNB is located very centrally on the island, and the island is beautiful. There are plenty of beaches and things to see. However, Cheryl advertises a beach just across the street which is not the case. You will have to drive a minimum of about 10 miles for a decent beach.

I would not recommend this place and I definitely will not be back. On the next visit, we will be staying...

EDITED TO ADD: Cheryl, we were not looking for an urban environment AT ALL, and absolutely loved the island, but not your place. Your response speaks for itself. Molokai is a beautiful and rural island, and I would go back to visit in a heartbeat. My friend and I were excited about staying with a local, and having a garden to enjoy. Cheryl is a very engaged hostess, but in a way that made my friend and I feel very uncomfortable and her home is not well-kept and in poor repair.

Upon our arrival, she sat us down to give us the run down on the island...for over an hour. She serves breakfast in the morning, and it is lovely, and clearly made with care but she insisted on dining with us, and keeping the focus of the conversation on her. She often made snide and inappropriate comments that created further discomfort. One such comment was "Should I push the two twin beds together or would it be best if I left them apart? I don't know what your situation is. You never know, these days."

The home was quite dirty. The beds were old and uncomfortable. The bathroom was in desperate need of a dusting and scrub down and the shower was filled with mold and mildew. Dead bugs and dirt were heavy in the window sills and the overall vibe of the place was tired and rundown.

It seemed as though Cheryl was always watching, and would enter the unit when we would leave to make the beds and empty the trash, but this felt more invasive than helpful. There was a weird instance of the sliding glass door to the unit becoming locked after we left...which we discovered when we returned to retrieve a forgotten item. We also discovered that the key Cheryl had pointed out to us during her very long and detailed run down was also missing, which forced us to knock on her door upstairs and ask for help. She then suggested we must have unintentionally locked the door because we slammed it (we didn't slam it) which I later discovered would have been nearly impossible given you had the flip the lock upwards to secure the door, and not down as one might think in a case of accidental locking.

The icing on top of this strange cake was the way she responded to our inquiry of a loss of water in the unit, which happened because there was work happening on a water line. Given my health status at the time of this trip, water and toilets were essential, hence the inquiry. She offered a gruff response to our inquiry, and was not sure when the water would come back on, suggesting that she has buckets of water in the garage we could use if it did not get turned back on by the evening. When we informed her we would look for another place to stay "just in case" she responded "just in case what?" in a very rude and accusatory tone.

In conversations with my friend, we agreed that we both felt more on edge staying here than at ease and it would be best for us that we stay somewhere else for the remainder of our trip. Cheryl did show graciousness and did not charge us for the two nights we stayed, despite our...

We are a week into a 2 week stay (return visit, last time was in 2019) and I can't wait anymore to post a positive review. Soooo highly recommend.

We come here to listen, talk, & learn. Also, to shop from roadside stalls & cook. And eat. And be in the ocean. For us, there could no better to stay.

Kitchen has multiple coffee producing machines (kettle, keuring, coffeepot), plus microwave, gas oven & 4 burner stovetop, 3 ft fridge, lots of pots, pans, trays for all kinds of practical cooking. We baked breadfruit, made burgers, fried rice, eggs, 'oio patties - you can take care of your food needs here, if you choose to. (That's hard when there is good food for sale everywhere but it's a nice problem to have.)

The lanai looks onto a full land parcel of garden, whose trees you may pick from to add to your meals or as a beach snack.

The unit must be more than 1,000 sqft just on the inside. It is bigger than our whole apartment at home. 2 people max during COVID-19 for safe shared space. Also, owner is teaching remotely in the above unit so be respectful of that work and of the students' learning time. No sound transfer aside from footsteps - just a heads up that people are still working and learning from home even if you are on a restful vacation.

We really linger at breakfast and chat and learn a LOT. It is a pleasure to learn from a longtime resident who teaches students and has been on boards and committees and in community meetings for years. The owner's recommendations for car rental, local events, or respectful tour operators are...