Sadly, my experience was not what I hoped after reading the reviews. I booked a private room, which looked very nice (but it was hot), but the bedding had many bed bugs. There were regular beg bugs, plus little red bugs, and a cockroach (which happily, was dead). I asked if I could change rooms, which was not possible, but the staff member I talked to didn't seem very sympathetic or helpful. Also they get you to give a key deposit (which is fine), but the keys can't be returned before 7am, when the office opened. They offered me a strange work around where I could return at 9pm to collect my deposit, but given there were at least 6 people leaving the hostel before 7 that morning, they really should get a better system. The bathrooms were clean, but the toilets and showers were quite cramped and lacked privacy. The plus side was that there was a good vibe in the hostel with lots of hostellers and staff getting along well together. The good vibe was unfortunately not worth it for me.

The staff and management go above and beyond the the level of service you recieve!!! The facility is very clean, as well as a centrally located for all activities on THE BIG ILSAND. Thier positive connection with the universe was very enlighting.The comman areas were well kept,relaxing, making it very easy to make friends.

I stayed at the Hilo Bay Hostel during 3 days the first week of October 2012. The staff is friendly and the place is beautiful. It's like a old house on the second floor of a building. The bathroom, the showers, the kitchen, the common area and the bedrooms are really clean. I was in a 8 females dortoirs. The bed was comfortable and the sheets clean. The room a bit noisy because of the busy street, but it was the only thing that was negative.

At Hilo Bay Hostel it was a very nice place, kitchen, showers, dinner room, social room GREAT, beds was not comfortable, and since we had to have the window open because of the heat the noise from the street we were not able to sleep well. BUT the people there was VERY nice , and helpful .