This place is about as close to camping as you can come, including spiders and the mold you might find no the inside of your tent... including the wet mildew funky smell. Hardly worth it if it were free. Do yourself and favor and stay somewhere else, that's clean and bug free.

Well, needless to say, this place isn't the Four Seasons. Hope they improve the conditions as it's such a beautiful area.

The less expenive rooms are available even during Marrie Monarch festival - if your lucky - not usually. everything is booked.
I always book the Jade Cottage or a room in the main house.

Where to begin? Have you ever gone camping? Then you have experienced better accommodations than this shack.

Let me start by saying we got the cheapest and ONLY room available on the windward side of the Big Island because it was Merrie Monarch week, so we didn't have high expectations.

That being said, for 2 people the "room" was barely big enough for our suitcases and us. We had to cram in along with the dehumidifier (the loudest one on the earth I think), the dorm style fridge and the portable electric heater. There's no TV or phone, so you are completely shut off from the civilized world and there's no way to call for help. The shower was no bigger than a phone booth, but at least we had running hot water.

We spent as little time actually in the room as possible, staying out until we were tired enough to fall asleep ASAP.

Our 2 days were capped off by a visit from a Hawaiian Lava Bug. At least that's what I told my wife it was when she saw it crawling in her suitcase. She admitted after we checked out that she knew it was a good ol' American cockroach, but was too tired at that point to freak out (see above), and that is why I married her, but I digress.

The Big Island is so beautiful that we still enjoyed ourselves, but more so after we left the Lava Lodge. So unless you are as desperate as we were or a masochist stay anyplace else.