Uncle Billy's Kona Bay Hotel

Easily the worst hotel in the history of hotels. Surprised there aren't hourly rates. Location saves this place. Rooms stink. The fire a few years ago actually improved the place. DO NOT BOOK HERE unless you are desperate.

In 2014, we stayed at Uncle Billy's Kona Bay Hotel for a week. For the price, the hotel was decent, with no complaints. The amenities were fair and reflected the cost, which was surprisingly less than our car rental expenses. The best part of our stay was the hotel's proximity to numerous scenic views and the ocean, making it a convenient and budget-friendly option for exploring Kona. I hope you enjoy your stay as we did!

I can accept an old building. But, this building is decrepit! Screen door was nailed shut so you must use the a/c which is bad if you have asthma. The drapes didn't close properly. So, complete privacy was an issue. The bathroom was the highest level of unacceptable. The tub seemed dirty, no trash can, walls and floors were victims of bad repair and the parking spaces were a tight squeeze to get in and out. The lobby and pool were very nice, the staff was fabulous, and the convenience to restaurant, shops, & nightlife is super. The blame falls on the owners and no one else.

I needed one night only prior to boarding the Pride of America. Location is amazing! Service was great! I love the history of this property and the fact that it's family owned. My room was fine, bathroom and entry way need a lot of updating. Exterior walkways to rooms need updating as well. I had NO issues with bugs in my room, not one. View of Kona bay from the balcony couldn't be better. This is by far not a luxury hotel and not somewhere I would stay for a vacation, but it was fine for one night.

We stayed for 3 days over Christmas 2015, and Uncle Billy's was comfortable and clean, with a great location in the centre of Kona. For the price, we were very impressed. The room (#305) was a reasonable size and the main bit looked like it had been updated. The bathroom was not updated yet, and was definitely due for one, but was not terrible, none-the-less. The pool was very pleasant and the staff helpful. We paid for parking, but the public lot out the back never seemed to be full, even though it was peak season, and is worth considering if you want to save a few dollars for margaritas or beer at one of the myriad of nearby restaurants. Great value-for-money hotel; would stay again.

Room was clean except the floors were fithly, we ended up putting used towels on the floor to walk on. The location was good and worked for us, the price was good as well and all rooms had balconies. All the staff members were great. We'd consider staying again, but will definitely ask to see the room first.

I had read reviews prior and hoped that some people were overly critical of Uncle Billy's based on some good reviews. We stayed there one night because we got in late and didn't want to drive too far. The receptionist was friendly, but it took a very long time to check in even though we had a prepaid booking. The room itself was pretty gross like it hadn't been deep cleaned in a very long time. We decided not to shower there because of how bad the tub was. There was actually a hole in the tub that someone sloppily tried to patch. We didn't use the pool, but it also did not look clean. The pluses were the free breakfast, pretty scenery, and great location. Next time would pay more or drive a bit farther to get a better place though.

This place is a scam. We booked the hotel online but when we arrived we were told the rate we selected is for Hawaii Residents. No where on the booking site or our confirmation email mentioned this. They told us our rate would be $100 more a night. We didn’t have a choice but to stay for a night. The worst thing is that the room is not really what it was described. It is smaller and very rundown. The bathroom door almost fell off when I tried to close it. It is not clean and not well maintained. For $300 a night that we were charged, it is a complete ripoff. We talked to many locals, all of them knew how bad they are. There are better hotels in the area to stay and less expensive.

Choosing a hotel online is always hard. I loved the price and location of this hotel, but was freaked out by all the negative reviews. I definitely don't believe this is the nicest hotel ever, but it was certainly adequate and I would stay here again. If I had read the reviews before I booked I am sure I would have chosen to stay elsewhere, but am glad I was not scared away. I prefer to be close to the action and being able to walk places is priceless to me. I like that parking was a reasonable amount and that it came with breakfast included. You could even choose to park for free if you used a lot a few feet off site (there was one day when this was full). As reviewers report this is not the best breakfast, but fresh fruit, bread and cereal are better than nothing. I think perhaps people are confused by the luxurious free breakfasts I get when traveling in Europe, this type is pretty standard for places I stay in the US. Rooms also have a fridge and microwave so it's easy to fend for yourself if you need something better. Staff were nice. There was security at night. One night they were successful in telling loud people to take it inside their room, another night they were not. You can hear everything going on outside around you. Rooms have a porch which some people seem to like to hang out on. The pool could be nicer and open later, but this is Hawaii and there are plenty of places to swim. I would have loved if the smaller pool was heated, but I guess most people probably don't need this when it's 80 out. We had a problem with our sink, but they got it fixed and offered us a room change if they didn't. There were some bugs, but I assume that is typical of Hawaii. I'd just be sure the empty your food waste frequently.

This place is just OK. It's a generic hotel room that's close to the "strip" in Kona. You're close to the water and walking distance to drinks/food/shopping. That's what you're paying for. Although it's one of the cheaper places in this area, it's still very expensive compared to what you could get a few miles away up in the hills. The rooms are a bit humid and it's hard to dial in the temperature/humidity for optimum sleeping. The beds are just OK. The breakfast has big 'ol slices of pineapple, which is appreciated. Next time we'll just save some money and stay at an AirBnB up/down in Captian Cook.

First time visiting Hawaii, came with my husband for our honeymoon! Uncle Billy's Kona Hotel was the perfect spot! I chose it because of its amazing/convenient location. We were in the downtown area of Kailua-Kona with shopping centers, restaurants/bars, and most importantly the ocean. We stayed at the Superior Studio - kitchenette & ocean view. Definitely worth paying extra for this room! The studios are located across the street from Uncle Billy's front desk/standard rooms. It was a breathe taking view of the ocean from our balcony! My husband and I slept with the sliding door open and fell asleep every night to the soothing sound of the ocean's waves. Hands down, best part about our room! In addition, I chose Uncle Billy's hotel because it was affordable. Aside from its location, I wanted a room with a view without wasting all of our money on the hotel. Its all about location, comfort, and going out. Thanks to their reasonable price, my husband and I were able to focus on the activities/adventures in Hawaii! During a tour that we attended - we were picked up/dropped off at our hotels. We saw peoples hotels even resorts - nice to look at but in the middle of nowhere. Literally nothing to do around there. When we got dropped off, people were amazed at our location. It was described as "the downtown nightlife." There is just so much to do! If we weren't off to one of our adventures (snorkeling, ziplining). We walked around the stores/shoreline, visit beaches, and tried different restaurants. *HIGHLIGHTS: balcony, ocean view, complementary breakfast, free WiFi, location, location, location*

Hubby and I ended up here after our original travel plans got messed up and so to avoid a nightmare situation (talking unwashed bedding, etc) we decided to book an actual hotel. Our plans were last minute so every other hotel in town was booked. We got one of the ocean view rooms with a kitchenette. The view is gorgeous. No bed bugs or roaches. The staff was nice and polite. AC worked. That's about all I have to say that is positive. The carpet hadn't been changed in at least 30 years. Because the room is literally right on the water, I'm sure mold & mildew is a struggle for any hotel in the area. It is clear though, that no steps were ever taken to mitigate this issue. Actually- the entire hotel reeks of mold. You can smell it just walking through the complex. I'm sure one inspection from the health department would shut the whole operation down. Why these rooms even have carpet is a mystery to me. Gut that place and tile everything! Use throw rugs if needed, but carpet is not a good idea. The bed was epically uncomfortable. Nothing but a thin sheet between us & mystery stains on the mattress. We actually went to Ross & bought the cheapest sheets we could find and threw those on top of the bedding already there. I never once took my shoes off in the room & lysol'd the ish out of everything. Our mini fridge smelled like something died in it even after I sprayed it down with lysol. We slept with the sliding door open. While the view was amazing and falling asleep to the waves at night was a treat, it doesn't make up for the horror show inside the room. My husband & I saw hookers hanging out in the parking lot. Once rooms opened up at another place in town, we moved. The price is attractive & the rooms look decent online, but some things about a place don't come through in photos. Don't ruin you Hawaiian vacation & book here. Seaside Hotel has reasonable rates & they are clean. Better yet - make travel plans at least 6 months in advance to get the best choice & rates and don't stay here.

Uncle Billy would be so disappointed in how his property is being maintained. We were supposed to stay 4 nights, but after one we had about enough. Vacations are supposed to be relaxing, however you cannot relax when your every thought is "how much exposure to black mold causes harm?" and "please, please don't let a roach crawl into my ears or nose when I fall asleep!" When you wonder if you need to wear your flip flops when you shower, or If it's safe to walk around bare footed in your room, or even if it's safe to leave your bags open/unzipped out of fear that a roach will get in there and come home with you...it no longer is a vacation. We checked out this morning, and hopefully Uncle Billy's will have enough integrity to refund us for the nights we are not using.

What a dump...stay elsewhere. I can't even say you get what you paid for - anything over $50 is too much. Dirty and gross - dead bugs on the ceiling in the bathroom. Vents look like they have never been clean. Safe doesn't work. If the owners would gut the place and do a major remodel this could be a great boutique hotel. Never again will I stay here Oh and to top it off - we received a parting gift from the hotel.. a cockroach crawled out of my suitcase when I got home. Just ewwwww

Maybe cheapest price in Hawaii who located just on beach. Don't complain it's old or blarblar if you didn't pay four season price. I rather pay less and save money for a helicopter tour to watch the crater. There maybe some dudes thought...to keep customers away so they could always have rooms when they wanted. Everything were decent. Not horrible at all compare the one I booked at Fresno. How? When you stepped in the office, you smell strong cigarette smoking.... the clerk asked you add money for the room you booked well .... all the clients looks like homeless ... NOT HERE. This one is very nice. Wish could enjoy their breakfast, but they don't provide anymore.

The location of this hotel is great, especially for the price. There are a lot of shops to walk around to right outside of the hotel and the beach is within walking distance. The continental breakfast was below average. Another review mentioned about hard boiled eggs, they did not have that for us. They did have the fresh papaya though, which was awesome. The hotel room we stayed in looked nice (picture attached with this review, pardon our mess). There was a musty smell, however, also there was no air conditioner and we had found two cockroaches. My impression is that they rent out a number of the rooms to locals on a monthly basis, which is not a big deal, they all seemed friendly. If I am looking for a cheap place to stay in this good location, I would come back again.

I really don't know who this hotel is for. Why would you go there? Do you wasn't to take your kids? Why, because you want them to swim in a birdbath? Do you just want to have a room to drop off your bags? Why, because you want to take bugs home with you in your luggage? Do you want to take your wife? Why, because you want your wife to resent you? The only people who I think would appreciate this hotel is crackheads who want to get high and pass out before they get to the room. There's plenty of people sleeping outside, so you won't be alone. This hotel is an inspection away from getting condemned. They probably don't care about reviews. They know what they are. They just hope people are suckered in by the relatively low prices and don't rely on repeat customers.

If this were a much lower price I would be more generous. But for $150+ with tax? I expect more than a room that hasn't been updated since 1980, a fan bobbing ready to fall off the ceiling, an air conditioner that rattles, and floors that smell like wet dog. Also, the internet can't stream anything. In agreement with Bridget's review from November 2018: this place needs to be completely gutted. And moreover, the folks who run it should consider at the very least not being so tight on the old linens. I mean, how much money do you make? I get it, your business is all one-timers, no return customers. For a reason. For the money you can do much better.

Let me tell you something. No place is perfect, but I was placed in two different rooms that had roaches.

I used to go to this hotel everytime I'm on the kona side, this will be the last time! Honestly if I didn't have kids I would have slept in my rental. Also not in pictures was the toilet seat full of urine that I cleaned off because my child had to use it! I wouldn't recommend this hotel to go to for anyone!

This place needs a TOTAL gutting. Could be a very cute and nice vintage hotel. Looks as if it was built in the 1950-60's when the "tiki" look was in. There looks as if there was a halfhearted remodel in the 1990's. Bathrooms are ancient and sink was haphazardly cleaned. Killed a bug upon entering the room and found another shortly afterwards. Luckily no bites in bed at night, bed was comfortable and seemed clean. Little things like cigarette burns in carpets and chairs even though it's a no smoking room are there because furniture and carpet have not been replaced in years. Odd smell in room, musty or bug spray?!? No AC. That being said they had a nice continental breakfast, one star for that.

The only thing this place has going for it is its location and its front desk staff. The woman working at the front desk offered us a free upgrade to an oceanfront room and we were stoked! We were bummed when we got there though and saw that it was adjacent to a park where a bunch of homeless people were hanging out. There was also a loud party going on in the rental space in the park but luckily our super freaking loud A/C unit drowned them out. The breakfast in the morning was a joke. It was coffee, mini muffins and a couple of dry cereals. We ended up walking down the street to get breakfast which is lame because we had figured that into our budget when booking this place. The "free" wifi didn't work at all the whole time we were there. The parking lot was full of some super sketch folks too. We were supposed to stay two nights, but cancelled the second night and booked an airbnb instead. For far less we had a much better experience the second night. For being right in the heart of downtown this place could really use a facelift! Where is Gordon Ramsey when you need him?!

Yeah, not the best place for the price. Not best for regardless. I'll pay money for honest work and honest price. Not ready, at 415pm. Pre check in at 12pm. Not worth it really unless you got no where else. Room still sub par. Clearly no motivation for workers to work. Management always fault.

This place is a joke... Dirty and nothing works. TV doesn't work and the floor hasn't been vacuumed. Ive stayed in 3rd world hostels cleaner. Keep looking

My friend booked us a night here on a whirlwind meetup in the BI. I knew the reputation from other BI friends but also knew we would only be in the room for a few hours so no biggie! The front desk was very nice. Everyone was very helpful and they got us setup with a room when we got there. The room itself had the illusion of clean and for the most part no harm no foul. Yes, it's old. Yes, it's dirty and yes I'm pretty sure that is black mold all over the ceiling by the A/C and bathroom. All of these things are still not that big of a deal to me. So we cruised town, and hit the sheets early because we woke up in the middle of the night to head to the volcano. It was at 2:30am when we woke up and I turned on the lights and realized we were in someone else's room. As I looked around I realized the current occupants (the roaches) were making new homes in my bag. Let me put it out there. I've been in Hawaii 10 years. 2 different islands. I've had roaches, ants, mice, bed bugs, b 52s, you name it in MY OWN HOUSE. So while I 'get it' that this is Hawaii I also know it's possible to eradicate these problems because I've done it myself multiple times. So to pay money to sleep in a roach infestation is just the one deal breaker for me. Fix that and I'd probably come back but with the amount of babies I saw it's obvious it's gone on awhile. They're in the chairs bad. Beware.

@89/night I was really expecting a train wreck of a hotel. Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of things that I did not like, but with the price that I was paying in paradise, you really truly have to set your expectations appropriately. LOCATION: Smack dab in the heart of Kailua-Kona village. Alii drive is the main strip in this "sleepy" town, and Uncle Billy's is set right in the middle. This is very convenient because you WILL find yourself walking up and down this strip to get to various hotels, landmarks and restaurants for various reasons. Across the street is the Kona Inn shopping mall, and next door is a parking lot swap meet. 1 Star for this prime spot. *Pls note during our stay, there was plenty of activity such as a Motorcycle club event and Outrigger Canoe race, noise out on the street and surrounding rooms was loud and woke us several times. SERVICE: We spent 3nights here...Everyone was really friendly, and the maid service was prompt and efficient. We left in the morning, came back in the early afternoon for naps or changes, and found that our room was always cleaned soon after we left. I hate coming back to a room mid-day only to find that the room was not yet cleaned. Another star earned... ROOM: Could definitely use refurbishing (lost one star, see pictures). Building itself such as doors/frames are feeling the effects of the humid air. However, the rooms are spacious with lanai's. Breakfast consists of coffee/juice/papaya and carb of choice. No Bar or Restaurant Nice pool and hot tub. I Would visit again when on tight budget.

I dont say its perfect but for the price its really a good place to stay in to.. i dont know why people have bad reviews here. We stayed in this hotel for 4 nights and we love the service. For the price its worth it. We're on vacation and not gonna be in room for like till you sleep so why look and pay for expensive one and fancy if you can go to this hotel.. i love it here.. super reasonable price.. good customer service and all !!!! Dont listen to the peoples bad reviews.. if you are adventurous and not gonna stay in hotel the whole day you should come here.. some of the pictures you can see the view from our room and inside..

I slept with my clothes on top of the sheets. I showered with my flip flops on. I spent more time away from room, because I couldn't handle it. The pool side was sketchy and the bottom of the pool had broken glass. Great place if a street alley has no vacancy.

Okay, in a way I'm glad that I'm the first one to review this place. I feel like I took one for the team, although my intestines and other internal organs aren't so thankful. Why did I eat here in the first place? Hungover? No. Lose a bet? No. On a dare? No. Sheer stupidy, it doesn't get any simpler than that. I should have known better, but I had a major brain fart on this fine sunny day. The food was barely manageable, from the runny and lukewarm scrambled eggs, to the cold and limp bacon, cold and uneventful sausage. Almost everything was either cold, gloppy or just purely unappealing. The only saving grace was the freshly cut pineapple and papaya. The pineapple was sweet and juicy, with just a hint of acid. The papaya was a majestic orange and was very fragrant. It was bursting with flavor and very juicy. Please learn from my mistake and run, run far away from this place when you pass it.

Overall it's okay for a budget traveler looking for a place to rest their head. It's a cross between a motel and a hotel. In the central part of the Kona downtown area so you can walk to restaurants without a problem. Recommendation: It depends on what you want. I would stay here again if I was on a budget, I wouldn't stay here if I had a family or worried about cleanliness (or was a germ freak). Pros: 1. Uncle Billy's let me stay until 3pm on the day of check-out for no extra charge. 2. Breakfast is complimentary and coffee is good. 3. Hotel stay was $75 a night. 4. Lots of parking spaces and it is $5/day. 5. Room comes with a small refrigerator. 6. Grounds were nice in the daytime. They have some pretty flowers. 7. Private lanai (or balcony) 8. Very close to the farmer's market. 9. Good location. Cons: 1. Breakfast is only coffee, tea, hot chocolate, juice, papaya, muffins, and bread. Not much variety or meat but hey it's complimentary. So the bad part is that it's only from 6:30am to 8:30am. If they could extend it to 10am, that would be more of a pro. 2. Rooms are clean but kind of old looking. Some parts were rusty, some parts were gross. The bath towels had some stains on them. I carry a can of Lysol at every hotel I go to. 3. Not a family hotel, can get kind of creepy at night in the parking lot or when entering the hotel. They used to have this family buffet restaurant called Kimo's but now it's defunct and there are left over items which make the eating area creepy. 4. Hard to find the front desk, it's actually in the center of the hotel, I thought it was a hotel bar at first. Last tip: If you're on the Big Island, I would recommend renting a car. If you want to go up Mauna Kea, then rent a 4WD car. You can drive on Saddle Road with a 2WD car without a problem if you wanted to get from Kona to Hilo or vice versa.

I don't know where to begin. The one star is basically for the location and the other is for the view. Upon check in, I was given the wrong room and had to prove to them I ordered a kitchenette suite. The guy helping me got frustrated, he then sent me to deal with the other person working the front desk. I'm not sure why he couldn't help me. But I thought it was rude. When we got to our "suite", which was located on the ocean side ( very nice), we couldn't believe it. It's a regular sized hotel room that had the closet removed and put a "kitchenette" in its place. Then they built a separate "closet" on the other side of the room. It was tiny, danky and dirty. The few pots and pans had to be washed because they had grease in them. The cutlery is under the sink and also had to be washed. The furniture had dust all over it. The bed was a slab of concrete and painful to sleep on. We went to Ross' and bought a mattress pad and 2 new pillows for the bed. That didn't help. The AC unit is a rust bucket, and the railing on the lanai has many broken banisters which makes it a safety risk if you have small kids. The sponge they left us to wash dishes was used and smelly. When they brought us a new one, it too was used and smelly, so we threw it away. The daily housekeeping staff was nice, but they didn't come around until 3 pm every day. I understand that beachfront properties are prone to sea air elements that contribute to decay, but this place doesn't get any love at all. We've spent many years on Maui and I've never seen any place as dumpy as this. If you're young and on a budget, I'm sure it's easier to accept. But at our age and experience with coming to Hawaii over the last 30 years, I would never stay here again. We over 50 folks value our sleep. I would also like to add that the first 2 nights we were here, there was live concerts at the community center next door thy kept us up until late in the evening. There are also several homeless people who sleep on the beach below our lanai. We even witnessed a few late night and early morning drug deals by a guy the shows up on a scooter, right . We will never come back here, nor do I recommend this place to anyone. Not comfortable for families.

Motel 6 would be preferable. There's no coffee, microwave or even clock in the room. It's clean but smells a little moldy. Has an incredibly small bathroom. We're on the bottom floor & can't leave the curtain open as people walking by can look right in & there's no sheer behind the curtain for even minor privacy.

Based on the reviews I was a bit leery but you just can't beat the price and location. When I got up the room I was pleasantly surprised! The room was very clean and smelled nice. The bed was nicely made, comfy with 5 really nice pillows ranging from thin and firm to very thick and soft so there's something for everyone. There were 3 chairs which we used for luggage so I can't comment on them much lol. A nice desk with a lamp and chair then a beautiful dark wood dresser with a large, flat screen TV. I checked the mattress for bed bugs based on what I saw in these reviews and saw none and have gotten no bites. The one thing that I was unimpressed with was the bathroom. The toilet and shower/bath combo is in a very small space and they're not very nice. In fact, the toilet itself is like one you'd find in a public restroom. However the bathroom is very clean, even smelling of cleaning products and totally functional. I certainly didn't come to Kona to hang out in a bathroom though, so it hardly matters to me. The service is great with really friendly, kind staff. The free breakfast has delicious fruit, muffins, breads and cereals. They were accommodating and helpful. It is true that they don't allow hanging of wet clothing/towels off the balcony, but we just used the two chairs and little table out there instead. Not a huge deal. The vending machines are affordable, the ice machine works great. The location of this hotel is perfect! You are right in the middle of town. Literally smack dab in the center, with everything in walking distance. You can walk out the front of the hotel, cross the street and be in a shopping center. Walk out to the right for shave ice, a restaurant, more stores, places to book activities, a wonderful donut shop. To the left for bars, restaurants, shops and beautiful views. I would/will recommend this place to friends and family and I can see myself coming back. If you want a hotel to be pampered in and you feel like staying in the room a lot, then pony up for a resort. But that's not why I came to Kona! I came to play!! So this room is for sleeping, showering and keeping my bottled waters cold, all of which it is perfect for.

DONT BOOK HERE!!!!! When I saw the reviews I thought maybe I could ask for a recently remodeled room...NOT. The toilet looked like it came from a public restroom. All fixtures were at least 15 years old and there was hair in the drain!! What they called a kitchenette looked like a teenage boy had built it with just plywood and paint...they need to tear this down and start over

Dirty. Old. Breakfast is danish, juice and coffee. Not great. Plus side-great location. Cheap.

The only thing this place has going for it is the location. We showed up at 3pm check-in, waited in an hour long line to be told that only 1 of the 3 rooms we booked were ready. We requested rooms near each other on any floor but the ground floor as the ground floor opens directly into the unsecured parking lot. As the other two rooms weren't ready, we took the kids to the beach and then went to dinner. 4 and 1/2 hours later the last room was still not ready. We asked for an ETA, as the littlest kids needed to go to bed. They assigned a ground floor room, and the other two rooms were on the 3rd and 4th. We rolled with it, only to discover that the phone was inoperable (the line is broken) and the wifi is basically unuseable. When I walked to the front desk to complain about the fact that I felt unsafe in the ground floor room without an operable phone, I was told that as I had asked them to expedite my room, I was stuck with ground floor. Here is my problem with this...1, we had ordered upper floor rooms, 2, we had to wait 4 1/2 hours for the room, so how is that expedited, and 3, should we need to call 911 for any reason, we would need to use our cell phones, which will dispatch emergency services to our home in California, rather than here without detailed directions, which I could not give as there is nothing in the room with their phone number or address printed on it. Also, for the long wait, we came into a only moderately clean room with the last tenant's soap remains still in the slimy soap dish. I travel often and usually overlook minor issues, but taken as a whole, this place has sincerely riled me up.

One word: bedbugs. I am writing this as I am packing up my car. Cannot and will not sleep in a bed infested with bedbugs. I would love to write a positive review about this hotel...close to all the action of Kona, it's Hawaiiana, free breakfast, cheap stay, but bedbugs gotta go! I do not recommend staying here until something has been done about the cleanliness of this place.

Well, I've stayed in less luxurious places and dirtier places and older places but, for the price, this was not a good deal. Our room smelled super moldy. The toiletries were sitting in a next of dead bug wings. There was a very weird, unused cubby hole in the bathroom wall that had a pulled out outlet with bare wires showing. I think there was either a string of bug guts or mold on the wall near the sink. The room wasn't very clean and the furniture and carpet were clearly ancient. All of that aside, the location was great and we were walking distance to all of downtown Kona. The lady at the desk when we checked in was friendly but I'm not sure what she thinks 'walking distance' is... It was about 9:00 pm and she said there wasn't much food available in 'walking distance'... Within .5 of a mile we passed several bars, one really nice looking restaurant and found a perfectly satisfactory dinner on an outdoor patio with umbrellas to shed the warm rain. The design of this building is very cool and with a total remodel they could take this place back to the future and make it a modern-day tiki sheik place. I'm guessing that this hotel is another victim of the Air B-n-B movement-they can't charge enough to make enough money to do the desperately needed remodel so they just keep creeping along and renting rooms to tourists and local losers (the trash cart was being called to clean out a room while we were checking out. "Throw away all the clothes!", yelled the manager.) Anyway... I wouldn't stay here again and hope they can pull out of their sad shame spiral.

They have really comfortable beds and nice balconies! The tvs didn't work for our first room but they fixed it. The lobby is nice and they have good breakfast options. Moani & Sophie are amazing, if you have any problems they fix it for you. I liked talking to Moani late at night, if you're bored at night she keeps great conversation and company!

This place is quite an experience. The location is great in the heart of Kona and the price isn't bad, but my room was outdated and wasn't the cleanest. I found an interesting little package that had a needle and vial as soon as I walked into the room. Some random person knocked on my door within minutes to retrieve their personal item. Interesting place to stay for a couple of nights though.

One of the worst accommodations ever. I gave it two stars just because of location. You go to the pool the bathroom around the pool is not working. You go up the stairs to your room and every level has garbage stacked on it that they haven't thrown out yet for days . Front office staff is very unfriendly. Breakfast had nothing but carbs. Bread, muffins, oatmeal, no fresh fruit no hard-boiled eggs nothing. We've stayed here many times and it keeps getting worse. Even for people who have stayed here several times,they don't accommodate with a better room location. This will be the last time we stay here again. We come every year for the annual Brew Fest in Kona.

Staff is super cool but this place is a dump. Ac doesn't work it's about 90 degrees in my room. Flushed about 5 huge roaches down the toilet. Had to sleep on the entry tile with wet towels on me to stay cool. Great location but I would never stay here again. And rooms were expensive considering it looks like it hasn't been renovated in 20yrs. It's midnight I can't sleep it's hotter in here than outside but I've already killed 5 more roaches so I can't open the lanai doors. Asked if I could get another room they said they are booked. So either I sleep in the bathtub or stay up all night until I check out. I'm a mellow guy but this is disgusting. 3 of the roaches I killed crawled on me and they are big. Totally grossed out I feel like I'm in a 3rd world country. Expect I paid almost 200 a night to stay in this shit hole

In short, stay here if you are on a budget and you want to stay in downtown Kona, if not, this is not worth your money! The only PRO is the location. Located right at the downtown Kona. Now the long lists of CONS: 1. Paid parking, as of April 2016 the rate is $5.21/night. There is free public parking right at the back. Either way, make sure don't leave any valuables in your car. There was a car that got broken into the night we stayed, it was not fun to open your doors to the police in the morning and hearing about lost laptop and such. Front desk mentioned security patrols at night for the parking lot, but that has proven to be ineffective. 2. WIFI? What WIFI? The free WIFI they offered is nonexistent, better luck using your own LTE. Even though my phone indicates a 2-3 bar wifi signal, I can't even refresh my emails, let alone do anything else with that. 3. LOUSY breakfast. They offer free continental breakfast, for which I have to ask, are you kidding me? We got to the breakfast area at 7AM, and the only things offered were: juice, milk, coffee, cereal, white bread, wheat bread. I think I underestimated the real estate this hotel is sitting on, and thought for $120 a night I would be treated to at least some scrambled eggs. The coffee was burnt, the bread nothing to write home about. Save yourself the embarrassment and go to the numerous real breakfast joints for a fix. 4. Room was not clean. There were HAIR on the towels. HAIR on the bed, HAIR under the pillow... The toilet in the bathroom is like the ones you see at public restrooms. No water reservoir, just a badly rusted flush handle and pipes. I'm better off using the restroom outside, at least they weren't so rusted! Oh and, the flushing power was so great, that once you push down the flush handle, water (and stuff) is splashed everywhere! Oh joy! 6. Only accessible power outlets are the ones near bathroom and under the dining table. The ones by the bed are all the way behind the headframe that you have no way of accessing it. 7. It is good that the room comes with a large balcony. But the curtains don't cover properly. So at night at a certain angle, be careful or risk exposure. That tape on the curtain clearly lost its holding power. Overall, would not return, not for the price I paid.

Worst place to stay!! Will not go back... my room was far from clean when I arrived... mold on the shower curtain,hair in the bathtub,toilet bowl wasn't clean,bathroom light didn't work half the time and they never fixed it,my fridge quit working and I had to throw out a lot of food, they took their time finding a new fridge for me, I wanted my room cleaned a few days and it never got cleaned, the breakfast they provided was mediocre... and one lady at the front desk was extremely rude to me!! Other than the one lady at the desk all other employees were pleasant... I will say Robert was extremely pleasant.. I could tell he likes his job Robert gets 5 stars... but my overall stay I'd give no stars if possible... spend some extra money and stay somewhere else... you get what you pay for in this case..

This is the worst hotel that I've ever stayed at. The bathroom was filthy from the ceiling to the floor. When they said that they can clean it made me upset since I arrived at 8:30 pm and my room should've been spotless. I refused all services while I stayed for the weekend due to if they couldn't do the job right the first time I defenitly didn't need any of there cleaning. Instead I cleaned it myself. I had 1 soft bed and 1 hard bed.

Stayed here from July-5th Through July-15th. Was over $1600.00 and was not worth the money at all. Only thing this place has going for it is the location, and the Air conditioner in the room. Housekeepers don't do their jobs, everyday I would have to find housekeepers to get supplies that they never put in the room after coming in for the trash. The room had a huge ant problem. We were in two different rooms because the first room they put us in the air conditioner leaked into the wall, and bubbled it out with water, so we had to change rooms. The ice machine does not work. Overall not a good place to stay. Spend your money elsewhere. I tried explaining these issues to the front desk, but they didn't seem interested in hearing the issues.

They screw up our booking trying to give us a single bed, we go to the office and they try pushing me to sleep on a roll away bed. Then they finally put us in a double room of a much lower quality than we booked. No price adjustment. In the morning we were woken y loud construction noises in the neighboring room. The parking lot is manned by little Hitlers who won't even let you park before you check in, breakfast is generic rubbish hotel breakfast, cleanliness leaves a lot to be desired for, rooms are drab and dated. Sucks. Utterly horrible. Avoid.

If I could I would no star this hotel. The staff was very hospitable but this place should be condemned. Riddled with black mold. The AC is contaminated with mold. My entire family was experiencing headaches and flu like symptoms cheap bootstrapping of construction projects galore. Don't ruin a good Hawaii trip with a stay at Uncle Billys just for a cheap good location. Not worth it!

DO NOT STAY HERE! If I could give NO STARS I would! For the price you think your getting a decent low cost motel and instead it is a run down Motel-6 like dump! To start the room was rundown and gross, the toilet looked like a public toilet. There were incomplete cookware/dishes in the kitchen after the front desk told me it was stocked with everything I would need, then I killed 2 spiders while I was cooking, the pool lights were out, my husband killed a cockroach in the bathroom, not to mention the other bugs crawling the the walls. After the pool we showered and the bath would not drain! As I am getting dressed & I hear my family yelling that they found 2 cockroaches IN THE BED!!! I was D-O-N-E! Luckily the manager approved a refund and we left as fast as we could!

Worst place to stay at , people that stay here don't respect sleeping hours and the front desk doesn't tell them anything. It's 2 am and our neighbors keep hitting the balcony to open up bottles. & we keep waking up because you sleep with your windows open since the hotel has no AC. Not worth the price. I'd rather pay couple extra hundred than stay here again.

On the plus side: the location can't be beat for convenience at that price and the staff is unfailingly kind, informative and friendly. I've been treated terribly in places much nicer than this so kudos to them for keeping good spirits in a hotel that needs a lot of work. On the negative side: roaches & bedbugs. Opened the door to my room and the smell was a wall of bug spray. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have helped as I killed a dozen roaches in all different stages of growth in my first hour or so there. This is somewhat to be expected in the tropics, so that would be somewhat forgivable. Maybe some better weather stripping on the door as there's a hell of gap that lets sunlight through, along with anything else that would fit. What isn't forgivable are bedbugs. Didn't see any in the bed when we first got there, but I found several on the last morning after we woke up on Day 4. I don't know if they'd been there all along or the housekeeping services's fresh bedding came with them. What I do know is that my fiancée and I are itching like crazy now and there's nothing to quite welcome you home like taking your luggage directly to the laundry room to wash everything at midnight after a long flight and then bagging everything else for weeks to kill any potential bedbugs we might have brought home. Not the ideal end to a Hawaiian holiday. Didn't want to enjoy those souvenirs right immediately anyway. As a smaller side irritation, the wifi never really worked despite being able to see the reception desk across from our room. Glad I was able to take care of everything I needed to with my phone, because I sure wasn't able to do it with the wifi. In short, spend the money to stay somewhere nicer in Kailua-Kona if you can. Their location & price doesn't make up for the misery.

Horrible desk service, place was wet and had mildew, wet smell from carpet and sofa. Bathroom light didn't work either. Front desk aunty gave us attitude for wanting to check out, wasted 15 minutes trying to get refund. Only wanted a decent clean place to stay for one night but got unprofessional, rude service.

Tile floors are slimy and slippery, the carpets smell of mold and are sticky. Beds are hard, toilet looks like a public park one, everything outdated. Needs major facelift for the prices being charged. And they charge for parking! One and only plus? Its location. Right in the heart of town, walking distance to shops and restaurants. Is it worth it? No! Pay $20 more and do yourself a favor.

Check in time was 3pm. We finally got our room by 7. Since it was such a to do to get the rooms we asked the front desk, Shawna, to kindly give us a coffee pot for the room- since the messed up on the rooms anyway and gave us ground floor rooms instead of the rooms we asked for- that would have come with coffee pots, and she refused to do the curtesy... which that is neither here nor there, just poor customer service in my mind. Got into the room, and they forgot to supply enough towels, the Wi-Fi was down, and our room phone didn't work. We asked for more towels and they (Shawna) had the audacity to state that it is what happens when they have to expedite rooms to get them ready. Again... this took 4 hours and a room switch that shouldn't have happened. They state that they aren't allowed to touch the Wi-Fi, and as far as the phone is concerned, they sent a security guard to the room with a new phone and said it wasn't the phone in the first place, it was the line. That "sometimes it's hard to keep everything fixed all the time." All the while they all seem to be very unapologetic and lacking in any give a craps. I only give them a 1 star because I can't give a 0.

I only wish I could give negative stars. Let me elaborate..., The AC-practically non-functioning version of a WW2 era air chiller system complete with mold and more. Oh, and noise. The Buffet- trashy and second rate. Even I know to core a pineapple! No Kona coffee...???? In KONA?!?! The Room-after reaching an agreement with the roaches we got a pitiful nights sleep. The Staff- to put it bluntly, they don't like "whitey". If you're a person of color or a local you might be met with nicer responses. They are surly and technically ignorant. WiFi- Non existent. Don't waste your time. In short, if you don't have a gun held to your head you can do much better than this crap shack. We are leaving here tomorrow, when another more expensive place opens up down the street. Horrible, all the way around. Cheapest hotel on the island and WAAAAAYYY overpriced at that. Avoid at ALL COSTS! The ONLY way to make this place better is to rase it and put a real hotel in its place.

Service is really bad. The sheet was stained and there was hair in it. When I called the front desk the guy was impatient and said that I checked in at 5pm and I told him so late. The wifi is pretty slow as well. The room is smelly, though non smoking. Never come to this hotel again.

The most important thing to know is that this place is a bargain. What you get at this price point is actually not bad. It's not fancy. It's not even pretty. Everything about it is completely dated. It has icky quirks (a random half eaten sandwich in the trashcan of my room). But it's inexpensive. I paid roughly $120 to stay a night here. I chose it for the price alone as I knew I'd be spending a single night before moving to the Volcano House for my Mauna Loa summit. And it does have upsides! What? Well, every room has a balcony. And the balconies are sizable. Every room has a coffee maker and Kona coffee supplied. It is centrally located in the heart of the shopping and restaurant district of Kona. It has a pool (which looked absolutely clean and usable). It has a free breakfast (hard boiled eggs, fresh papaya, muffins, cereal, Kona coffee, juice). If you want fancy, this is not your place as you won't get it here. If you want a bargain, you've found it.