Terry K.
Yelp
First; I've never used a Hostel before. That being said, I wasn't too sure on what to expect during my 8 night stay.
For me, check-in was quick and I was given a couple sheets and instructed to find a bed in my room and place my confirmation sheet on the clipboard at the end of the bed. So I located a bed, verified with the front desk that the person on the old confirmation sheet was no longer there, and made up the bed leaving my bag on top. Later, I came back on find my bag had been moved and someone sleeping in that bed. He didn't speak English so, that was a loss for me. That put me on the top bunk right in front of the small wall AC unit in the back room (the front room beds had to deal with the downstairs noise). I slept with ear plugs to muffle the noise. The unit also made it too cold for me to sleep...so I blocked most of the air with my backpack...but at least the room still had some cooling.
The room was messier than I expected to find. There was stuff, clothes, suit cases here and there...but usually around a bed. The refrigerator (old) was about the same...impossible to tell what food belonged to who. The floor looked dirty (it was) and the bathroom was also pretty messy (at the end of the day, I guess that is what it should look like after guests are hitting the beach and then returning to clean up). It almost appeared as though there was no housekeeping services...but I later saw that there was a daily service. So apparently, we were messing up the place that quick! There are lockers in the room (takes US quarters only), but only one worked as the other 3 had foreign coins jammed in them. I was on the 4th floor so the free WiFi wasn't very good due to range. The bathroom definitely needed to be renovated. So these were a few negatives for me.
There's no smoking anywhere on the property per a local law. But a couple of my roommates went on the patio any way to smoke...one of the other roommates complained to the front desk. They put up no smoking signs all over the hostel including inside our room.
I had a rental car so I was really popular with my roommates. I parked on the street and usually had to walk a little ways for free parking. But never too far (at least for a jogger).
You are located just a block from the beach and the Honolulu zoo. Also, this place is located at the end of the "tourist strip" of stores and restaurants....so walk up one side of the street as far as you wanted...then back on the other side. So these are definite pluses to picking this hostel.
I did a short 5 mile jog around Diamond Head every day...usually in the morning, but a couple runs were in the afternoon. Going clockwise, I was in city for the first couple miles...but the second half was all along the ocean side where there was some awesome views. This again is another plus in my book.
Now the water coming out of both the kitchen and bathroom faucets had a foul smell too it. To me, it smelled like something rotten or dead. I dreaded brushing my teeth..yuck! I mentioned this to the front desk and the hostel manager said he looked into it, but didn't notice it. So on check out, we both checked it out together. He agreed there was a weird smell to the water coming out of the bathroom faucet. So this is a negative to this place. I have no idea if anything was actually done to resolve this but suspect some effort was made based.
There are only 3 washing machines and 4 dryers (US $1 each). When I went to use them, the housekeeping staff were using all but one of each. Why aren't they using the hostel industrial washers/dryers?...I later found out they don't have any. The rule is they leave at least one washer and one dryer open at all times. That is good in theory, but if more than one guest wants to do clothes at the same time, it doesn't work. So this was a negative.
Breakfast: toast, coffee, water, peanut butter & jelly...no juice. I don't usually eat breakfast so I this goes down as a neutral rating cause I couldn't honestly rate a free breakfast...if that is what it really is.
There's a big screen TV down stairs and some charging stations. Lots of people would hang out here depending on the time of day. I met people of all ages from everywhere around the world here. So overall, I don't know how to rate this place..compared to a hotel, it wasn't even close...but it's not supposed to be...you're sharing! I asked a lot of the other wayward travelers staying at this hostel how it compared to others they've stayed at...most said it was about average. Some have had better and some had stayed at much worse. So overall, I feel the place was a little run down and needs some updating. But it is manageable. The price is tough to beat. It's been years since I last visited Oahu..I was extremely disappointed in what I found due to growth and tourism. I probably won't ever be back to this island for vacation...that being said, it is not because of this hostel. Reference other reviews for better advice on this place.