This used to be a beautiful hotel. The location is nice, but not when a tsunami is on the way. It is a high crime location with a lot of shady characters hanging around the bar. It is also low income (section 8) housing. Would recommend you look up the address in FamilyWatchDog.com do see who is living here. There have been rapes in the complex. Individual units may be fixed up inside, but the place is poorly run and maintained. The university should never have encouraged students to live here by providing shuttle service.

The condo was clean and well kept. There is security in the evenings and weekends. The grounds were pleasant and filled with numerous ponds throughout the property. The location was perfect for us, close to shopping and restaurants. We enjoyed our stay!

My studio unit is clean & pleasant, I enjoy the ducks & geese, haven't seen any rats here & only a few small roaches. Hey, it's the tropics! Management & maintenance do a decent job of keeping the grounds tidy & amenities running smoothly. There is some noise at times, so I use earplugs or headphones, no biggie! Waiakea Villas is one of the best places to rent within Hilo city limits & is in a great part of town right by scenic Wailoa Park & close to Hilo Shopping Center. Rent is very reasonable, considering that water, electricity, & garbage collection utilities are included. There's daily US Postal Service, plus DSL broadband & cable service are available. Laundry rooms have brand new Neptune machines that cost only $1 per double load & work splendidly. The other reviewers are a bunch of immature whiners who'd rather still be living at home with their mommies.

This place has both long term and overnight kind of place. Mostly it seems longer term on studio-or one bedroom apartments piled up on top and around eachother and all round a central court yard where a small pool fills with laughter in the afternoons when school lets out .... Think Hitchcock's "Rear Window" meets "Hawaii 5 0"....There is wildlife like Ducks and roaches, rats and tree frogs and birds. There is a man made stream running through the place for the ducks and rats to swim in. The Koi eat most of the mosquito larvea but I haven't seem the koi in awhile. I like the call of the Puerto Rican tree frog so it's not annoying to me but many would like to silence those "!@#$%" critters. They do have a high decible. The laundry rooms are along side the rooms, the recidences, This means that there is always that laundromat flavor around the laudnry room areas when they are in use, which is often during the weekends especially. None of the machines work well many don't work at all making the poor machines still kinda spinning groan and since the exhaust vents have been clogged since, say, the Carter administration there is often a steam sauna feel in the rooms. I will give the place kudos for having cheap enough rent and letting people in who might have a hard time finding somethng else where. There is no way to predict when a drinking party of revelers or someone's very own music festival will erupt on a balcony near you. Luckily it won't be when you have to get up the next morning, nor go on for very long. There is one section of studios butting up against a night spot area and that too can get noisy. Sometimes drunks wander into the grounds from the bar area at night so don't be alarmed, they just want a wall to piss against. This is an old Regencey (I think) with some short term rentals but it seems most are for sale or now owned by people who come part time or rent out their places either for short or long term. If you are a party animal or young college student without too much homework you may enjoy it here. Older people looking for peace and quiet go elsewhere..