Ke Iki Beach Bungalows — Hotel in Oʻahu

Plucking something from the 1950's for us to enjoy in the twenty-first century is key to the charm of this place. There are a couple kinds of accommodations; we chose one of about five, I believe, ocean front cottages. There are two duplex ground level and one raised single unit sitting on a wonderful and uncrowded beach. The beach is the key here, there are few places in Hawaii or in dozens of other beaches we have visited around the world that offer this proximity to a beautiful beach. Certainly not at the price of Ke Iki or for two or more time as much.

Unless you are a great water-person, during the winter, I suggest, you merely watch the ferocity of the shore break. I understand in the summer when the swell comes from the opposite direction, the beach is one for snorkeling and swimming. You are a fifteen minute stroll northward up Ke Iki road to the most famous surfing beach in the world, the Pipeline. You can walk up the beach but the sand as beautiful and clean as it is, is deep and a challenge for this old guy to walk on; although I did it a few times. Going the other direction, about the same distance, is Waimea Bay, an equally famous beach. This is the spot for world class surfers or arm chair surfers. Did I mention the whales. You can watch humpback whales and their babies, breaching and swimming. A pair of binoculars helps in this endeavor.

Our room was clean and neat, with fresh linens, all in a 50's Hawaiian-beach kitsch. It really is perfect. Nothing at all fancy, a bit thread-bare and rusty but all part of the allure. Our room, the Gardenia, came equipped with a small flat-screen TV and limited satellite offerings. We only turned the set on once in two weeks. My wife told me not to mention it because we want our gracious host, Greg Gerstenberger and his charming wife Annie, to be successful, but at the same time to keep this place on the QT; but they have the fastest wireless network of any hotel I have been in, anywhere in the world. For you techies: 400 to nearly 700 Mbs download and around 100Mbs upload, Enough to handle all your streaming or internet requirements.

Maid service is available for a fee. There is a barbecue grill and minimally stocked kitchen with microwave, stove and oven, refrigerator and coffee maker. The Gardenia is a small suite with a kitchen. There is a separate bedroom, with a curtained cut-out opening between the living and bedroom. It allows you to see out the front windows from the bedroom or close the colorful tropical-themed curtains for privacy. The living room has a day bed, an uncomfortable couch, your dining table with only two chairs, a coffee table and a small built in armoire. There are some pegs in the rooms to hang the minimal amount of clothes you will need to wear on the North Shore. There is a large window off the living room facing the incredible view of the beach and ocean, all framed by palm trees on the property.

If you want you can actually talk with and make friends with the few folks in the other rooms. The place never seems crowded and on the best days, there are only a few dozen folks on the beach. Our neighbors gave us charcoal, beach chairs and mats when they left.

There are a few places nearby to eat. We depended on the Foodland market, less than a 10 minute walk and across the street. The have an excellent variety of prepared food, groceries and a deli selection with great island food. There are several different Poke dishes and they are fabulous. Try the Sunrise Shack, a mile up the road or Ted’s bakery a little farther. There are permanent food trucks adjacent to Woodland ranging from good to OK. In the town of Haleiwa—Ke Iki is located closer to the world famous Sunset Beach—about 5 miles south are a variety of restaurants from informal to Hawaiian informal. Part of the fun is exploring which places you like or don’t like.

Come to the Ke Iki Beach Bungalows if you want to be on an uncrowded beach with sunsets, whales, beautiful sand and azure water....

Pros and cons you must know before staying, especially if you’re planning a wedding or event!…

Cons: The manager - unfortunately planning our wedding here was an absolute nightmare, and not because of the typical wedding drama, but because this is the most unorganised and unprofessional hotel manager we’ve ever come across. The communication was horrendous, we’d send 2 or 3 questions and he would partially answer 1 with as little words as possible, responses took weeks sometimes, and responses often contradicted an earlier response. Communication matters, especially when planning a wedding! Most importantly we were charged more for our stay and we had to do all the work to show him he charged us too much, there was no accounting done on his end and no apology either! The ‘chill’ manager profile doesn’t work when planning events. Financials - we thought we were getting a good deal. While it might be worth the money for a short stay, it is NOT for a wedding. 1. We were charged more in error by the manager. 2. We were also charged a $2500 site fee by the manager which included NOTHING (manager just said it was necessary) and by the way we booked out the entire property, plus some of his friend’s properties nearby. How does this make sense??? Bungalows - the bungalows are pretty no doubt BUT there is only one bathroom per bungalow, there is no cleaning during your stay (despite being charged a cleaning fee), and the rooms say they can accommodate way more than they actually can. Don’t trust the day bed situation. Unfortunately noise has to be down by 10pm, which is fair enough, but he came up to the Dj on the wedding day at 9:30pm and told him to stop! So we had to argue with him for 10pm, not fun to do this during your wedding.

Pros: Location - no doubt this is a beautiful somewhat secluded beach with amazing sunsets and views. The beach is large and close to other more popular beaches for snorkelling and swimming. The grounds are also beautiful and well maintained. Bungalows - the beds were comfortable and kitchens adequately stocked. Loved that they had barbecues with coal as well. They also offer free yoga everyday in a beautiful setting, this was great!

I need to be clear… our main issue here is the manager and how he operates the business. He’s not helping the hotel out, and it very negatively impacts many aspects of guests stays, especially as an event and...

Pros: lovely location right on the beach (although winter waves means only the brave and experienced should go in the water) and the Hibiscus bungalow is quite nice and updated with two bedrooms (beds are comfortable), a modern kitchen/bathroom and a comfy living room. There is a large patio. It's a corner unit so pretty large. Cons: No amenities provided and the place was cleaned in a very basic way between use. Place was not ready when we arrived and I could see it was the same bath mat as before it was cleaned. There was grime on the Britta filter and coffee maker. From the booking to throughout the stay, the manager Greg was incredibly curt (not friendly in the least), non responsive and made no effort to greet us. We had to find our parking spot and bungalow on our own. He booked a large family gathering in the connecting bungalow and so we had to contend with a noisy group playing music all day and lots of kids running around the entire weekend. There is no real divider between patios. Zero privacy. The bungalows are not meant for that kind of occupancy and even his Airbnb profile specifies no parties. When I texted him about this and said that if we knew, we wouldn't have booked it, he only responded by saying he booked them that morning. No apology or offer of compensation. He took down the wrong card number and I had to bring my card to him to charge the stay at the end. At that point, he tried to act all friendly. I didn't even bother to get into it with him. As other reviews have stated this as an issue to, he clearly doesn't care. We met the owners and I suppose they don't either. We paid close to $1800 for two nights for this type of...