We stayed here after hiking Mauna Kea. I really just wanted a bed to sleep in after hiking and before going backpacking. The guy who booked our room seem surprised when I called. The room was ok, clean and the bed was comfy. It took almost 10 minutes to get hot water in the shower.
I wouldn't really call this a B&B as breakfast is fruit coffee and toast. There are many long term residents who out number people stay as hotel guests.
I didn't have any great expectations so I can't say I was disappointed, except for the shower issue. It's a shame, this place could be very charming but the owners are just letting it rot.

This place is definitely not for everyone, but if you want a clean room and a decent bed for the night at a reasonable price, within walking distance from downtown, you'll probably like this place. It definitely isn't a bed and breakfast - yes, there is breakfast: some coffee, toast, and bananas. For those who complained about the frogs - many places you stay on the Big Island are loud because of the frogs. While it is load, there are incredible plants surrounding the hotel. If I were going to be in Hilo again, I would stay here again.

My husband and I recently booked a trip to Hilo, Hi and stayed at the Wild Ginger. For a budget hotel this was not a good deal. The hotel is run down and rather primative. The room that we stayed in smelled of mildew and later I noticed mildew on the curtains - eew! I was also dreading the thought of using the shower. The shower stall just looked dirty and moldy while the bathroom (tiny as it was) was very primative. The hotel had also settled. What I mean is that the floor is not level. There is at least a 6" grade difference from one corner to the other of the room. So, this meant that the bed was also at a sever slant. In order to not roll out of the bed we had to put phone books under the bed to try to level it out. As others had noted the frogs were extemely loud all night long. I also had no idea how close to the highway that the hotel was. When we checked in later in the evening I could not see the highway through the foliage - but I knew it was there that night because I could hear all of the traffic and there was no missing the sound of the traffic in the am. I also need to mention other guests and foot traffic along the front of the hotel. Not to sound rude but I did not feel safe. Some of the guests looked/acted liked they were on drugs.

That day my husband and I were curious at what other accomodations we could find and at what cost. It was amazing - we found a beautiful room on the bay for about $20 more a night and I was not afraid to use the shower - no frogs - no questionable people.

The rip off was that when we checked in the woman charged the full weeks stay to my credit card (rather than collecting the standard 1 night and collecting the balance upon check out) and they have a 48 hour cancellation requirement. So, this meant that the owners of the Wild Ginger collected 2 nights stay when we only stayed one night. I couldn't stay another night. I hope someone finds this helpful when they are looking for budget accomodations and does not make the same mistake that I did. I'm still kicking myself for this choice and the fact that the owners of this "hotel" collected a couple extra nights fees (with an increase in the nightly fee since we did not stay for full 5 nights but paid for 3) this really stuck in my craw.

After reading the reviews of other travelers about Wild Ginger, I think I should write my review here. I can't understand why some ppl commented it was clean. To be fair, I write the pros and cons about it here.

Pros: very convenient location, unbeatable price ($50 sth per night) in Hilo and friendly host

Cons: It was shocking when my husband and I entered the room. Three large cockroaches were on the wall. No hot water at all. Everything in the room was very dusty and filthy. Frogs were so loud that I thought there might be hundreds of them outside. If we had to stay in Hilo for a few days, we would have had checked out the room on that night and found another hotel without a doubt. Thank God we just stayed there for one night.

I have traveled 23 countries and stayed in many diff hotels/motels. This is absolutely the dirtiest one I have ever stayed.