I am a solo traveling 25 year old female and love Hilo. Decided to come here alone after renting out a condo on Craigslist for $98 for 2 nights, cleaning fee, and taxes. The motels here seem to be dumps, and renting a house was out of my price range for being within a few miles to Richardson Beach. Gave this place a try since I didn't want to stay at a hostel.

Now I am fine with places as long as they are clean, quiet, and where the place itself appears safe. This wasn't exactly the case here.

This is super ugly and looks like how a Russian orphanage or halfway house would have looked in the 1980's.

The room itself appeared to just have Goodwill's finest. I kept banging my legs against the metal bed legs each day. In my room on the 6th floor, I was not able to get a WIFI signal on my laptop which sucked because I like going online at night. I was able though to get the hotel’s signal on the lanai….

Many of the people here seem to live here. Half are the sort of people who dig through peoples' recycling bins late at night to then sell things if you catch my drift. Lots of young girls with babies hanging out in the parking lot with tattoos between their breasts. The other half appear to be mainlanders who were looking for a change in their lives. Most of them were friendly though.

I was really nervous leaving my car in the parking lot as well as leaving my room during the day after reading a lot of the reviews here. Didn’t have any break ins!

Oh the bottom of the place next to the lobby is a bar and restaurant. I could hear music really late at night. Annoying, but at least I have a bar right next to me I suppose.

Pros-
1. Cheap
2.You can view all the gorgeous Banyan trees from some rooms and in the lobby
3.Friendly residents
4. Location

Cons-
1. Sketchy people that live here and hang out around it (saw crackheads)
2. Ugly needing a ton of $ for repairs and renovation
3. Can't get the WIFI signal in many rooms
4. 2 out of 3 workers are unfriendly
5. Loud bar music can be heard late at night

Bottom line, unless you have a long stay in Hilo, I would look into another hotel. Thing is, all are pretty much on Banyan Drive and run down.

I hated this place the first day I got there, but then I warmed up to the place.