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Seaside Hawaiian Hostel – reviews, photos

419 Seaside Avenue, Honolulu, Oahu, HI 96815
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Seaside Hawaiian Hostel
4.0 of 5 stars 47 Reviews
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47 reviews from our community

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Date Rating
Salt Lake City, Utah
1 review
5 helpful votes 5 helpful votes
“Good overall, but has some problems”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 28 March 2011
5
people found this review helpful

I have mixed feelings about this hostel. First, the good stuff:
Great location. Very close to bus, motorcycle/scooter rental shop, and only a few blocks from the beach. And if you don't mind a longer walk uphil, Diamond Head is also walking distance, or a short bus ride away otherwise. The Hostel has quite hours after 11 pm (if I remember correctly), but they're not enforced. There's also a ton of restaurants, bars, etc. all over, and partying goes late into the night all around the hostel, so if you have trouble sleeping with loud noises, this might not be a good place for you.
The owner's very nice, but the staff isn't always that great. I guess it depends on the time of your stay, but I encountered a couple of people with attitudes.
You can get free snorkelling gear (minus the flippers) and bodyboards for use. There's free wifi. Cheap surfboard rentals. They also provide a modest breakfast of coffee, tea, toast and jelly. During my stay they also barbecued hot dogs for free for the guests.
Now, for the weird/bad:
If you book a private room, you should be aware that the only way to get into the room is by going through a dormitory. In my case my boyfriend and I had to go through a girl dormroom at the beginning of our stay and a boy dorm at the end, which was a bit weird for all parties. I talked to one of the girls from the dorm and they agreed that the arrangement is weird, and said that my boyfriend scared them because he walked out of the room once while someone was changing. I also walked out of the shower (which is located in the dorm room and shared by private + dorm) once or twice on one of the guys changing. It's really not a big deal if that kind of thing doesn't bother you, but it's good to be aware that your private room is located inside a dorm.

My biggest complaint with this hostel is that I ran into bed bugs. After the first night of staying there I woke up with my right arm covered in big, red, itchy bumps. My boyfriend didn't have anything, so we thought it might be some weird allergic reaction. However, after the next night I woke up with even more red bumps, and my boyfriend woke up with a bunch as well, but his were smaller. That's when we thought it could be bed bugs. We notified the owner that we think there might be a problem and he responded by moving us to a new room, washing our laundry, and taking action to clean our old room. I was very happy with the response, but unfortunately for the rest of the stay we kept waking up with bed bug bites every morning. I know that these were bed bugs because I caught one and googled an image of a bed bug to make sure that's what it is. So even though the owner was very prompt about moving us, and washing our laundry, I'm concerned that both rooms we stayed in had bed bugs. It might be a bigger problem than anyone in the hostel let on. I realize that we could've brought the bed bugs with us to the new room, but judging by the amount of new bites I woke up with every morning, I have a hard time believing that it was the work of 1 or 2 bed bugs. But to be fare, I didn't hear of any other guests complaining of bed bug bites during my stay. I reacted very badly to these bites by developing big, swollen, red, itchy bumps at every bite site, while my boyfriend got tiny red bumps that didn't itch a whole lot. So it's possible that other guests didn't notice their bites, and I did because I reacted to them so badly. But it's also possible that this was a strange isolated incident.
I guess I don't really know what to make of our case, but I figured I'd lay this out for anyone who cares to read it, in case it'll help someone with their decision of where to stay.

  • Stayed March 2011, travelled as a couple
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 3 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Service
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Jasper National Park, Canada
1 review
“bed bugs”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 25 January 2011

You should know that we brought home bed bugs with us. I know they work at the problem, but while I had no bites during my stay, I have them now :(

  • Stayed January 2011, travelled with friends
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 2 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 1 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 3 of 5 stars Service
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Mark Smith, Owner at Seaside Hawaiian Hostel, responded to this review
21 February 2011
At checkout this guest reported no problems whatsoever. More than a week later we received an email with wild claims "more than 70 bites", "Dr. said bedbug bites can take over a week to present themselves" and demanded in their email a full refund for their stay of 4-5 days for 2 people of almost $200.00. I refused. They then contacted the local health department who came out and examined the beds they were using and found no bedbugs and we passed the inspection. Guests check into this hostel from other hostels in the area complaining of bedbugs at the place they are coming from so I know bedbugs are endemic in warm climates. Bedbugs are hitchikers and accompany travelers and their luggage but it is impossible to screen everyone who checks in. We are proactive in locating and destroying potential problems but it seems there are some people ready to exploit this to their advantage by receiving services for free by threatening to damage a hotel or hostels reputation if they don't give in to these threats.
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Montreal, Canada
Senior Contributor
29 reviews 29 reviews
Reviews in 11 cities Reviews in 11 cities
15 helpful votes 15 helpful votes
“Noisy, but friendly staff, sociable travelers, great location”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 6 January 2011

If you're a deep sleeper, this place is good value for the price. The staff are friendly and have a ton of stuff to loan you, though it will take a while to get assistance since they tend to be slow or chat amongst each other and make you wait. Rooms are pretty clean, though have a wet smell to them, some ants and small roaches (they could really use some ant hotels in every corner). Free internet plus a communal laptop, they do activities, made an Xmas dinner which was really nice, and there's an outdoor area where you can just chill and meet people. Location is great.

  • Stayed December 2010, travelled solo
    • 3 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 2 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 3 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Service
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Ask itsy_bunny about Seaside Hawaiian Hostel
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Reviewer
3 reviews 3 reviews
Reviews in 3 cities Reviews in 3 cities
2 helpful votes 2 helpful votes
“Exceeded Expectations”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 5 November 2010
1
person found this review helpful

Nice place. Staff is nice but not overly organized. Bus 19 or 20 will take you from the airport to seaside in about 90 minutes for only $2.50.

Access to bus routes from the hostel is great. You can get almost anywhere on the island with two buses and only $2.50.

Place felt very secure with gate and FMCS as well as keyed rooms. Female dorm is great with it's ow bathroom.

Although i was offered ear plugs, I found it remarkably quiet at night while i was there, considering it is right I the heart of Waikiki. However i am a pretty sound sleeper.

  • Stayed November 2010
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 5 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 3 of 5 stars Service
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Ask Zenurez about Seaside Hawaiian Hostel
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Nottingham, United Kingdom
Top Contributor
65 reviews 65 reviews
Reviews in 20 cities Reviews in 20 cities
16 helpful votes 16 helpful votes
“Cosy, personal and just what I was looking for”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 7 October 2010
1
person found this review helpful

After spending 3 weeks trekking around Costa Rica with a group of 14 people, I felt a bit apprensive about my 5 night stay in Hawaii by myself. However I couldn't have been more wrong. Everyone I met at the Seaside Hawaiian Hostel was lovely, there were a few people who, like myself, it was the first time staying here, but loads of people use this hostel year after year - surely recommendation enough that it's brilliant. All the staff were extremely knowledgable about Oahu, anything from arranging my airport transfers to helping me find a $2 bus to the North Shore to recommending an amazing Scuba Diving company (Captain Bruce) - they helped me out via email before I even left the UK with the diving!
The rooms come with a cupboard that you can fit a padlock onto for all your valuables.. which I forgot, however there is a store 30 seconds walk away thats open late and sells everything!
This was my first real hostel experience, and I only hope future experiences are equal to this :)

  • Stayed August 2010, travelled solo
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 5 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
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Additional Information about Seaside Hawaiian Hostel

419 Seaside Avenue, Honolulu, Oahu, HI 96815
Price range (per night):* INR1,118 - 2,516

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