The category of "B&B" for this hotel is a bit misleading. The hotel is so special that it belongs in a category of its own. We have stayed in high end luxury resorts in places like Tahiti, Seychelle Islands, Bali, etc., and found the overall experience of the Holualoa Inn to be as special. The price is high, but worth it. It's like arriving at a multi-millionaire's private home and being welcomed as a special guest.

We spent a total of 7 nights, in two of the six rooms. They are all beautiful, but different, so it's hard to recommend one over another. The staff are all so wonderful that I don't want to mention any one by name, for fear of leaving someone out.

Although there is no dining room on the property, there is an excellent restaurant that is a 5 minute walk away (I think it is called Halualoa Cafe). We ate at about 10 different top end restaurants on the Island and thought that the one in Halualoa was actually the best of them all.

In terms of "practicality," first time visitors to the Big Island should know that the most beautiful beaches and hikes and sites are spread out all over the island. In other words, you need a car to see this island. We used the Halualoa Inn as our base, and went off every day after breakfast to explore the island, returning to the tranquility of Halualoa for dinner and the evening. We would have done the same thing if we had been staying at the Four Seasons or the Mauna Kea.

One recommendation: by all means rent a 4 wheel drive car! The most beautiful beaches on the island are not accessible to 2 WD cars. These beautiful beaches are usually not marked with signs on the road, and can only be identified as "take the dirt path on the left between mile marker 90 and 91 on the highway". The best way to find them is to buy a copy of the Big Island Revealed guide book. (The hotel has a copy.) In accordance with local custom, I will refrain from identifying the most beautiful beaches, as we want to keep them secret!

We will definitely return to the Halualoa Inn.

Holualoa Inn was our first base after arriving in the Hawaiian islands from the UK, and it was a great place to wind down.

The B&B is beautiful and immaculately maintained. The rooms are not air-conditioned so we had to keep the windows open at night, but the property is about 1500 feet above sea level so it never felt too hot and there was a great breeze through our room (Orchid). We thought the noise from the tree frogs would be a problem - it was extremely loud all night - but we actually found it quite soothing and enjoyed the "back to nature" experience. The only problem was that, whilst the window nets kept out the mosquitoes, a few midges still managed to get through and we found ourselves keeping the lights very low when we came back to the room at night in order not to attract them. We still ended up with a few bites though!

The pool is spotless and attractive but can best be described as invigorating. It's unheated and was absolutely freezing! To be fair, the B&B warned us about this before we arrived (but not before we booked!).

As other reviewers have said, the breakfasts were delicious - nicely presented and very varied. The Kona coffee was amazing and the fruit (mostly home grown) was served perfectly ripe. The "treats" and juices that we left out each afternoon were another nice touch, not to mention the macadamia nuts, which we loved.

The common areas were superb, and there were so many places to "hide away". Everything has been thought of, even down to a laundry room. We just wish we had been able to stay longer - there is so much to see on the island, we didn't really get chance to enjoy all the facilities.

The staff were great. They couldn't have been more helpful, and were really good at recommending drives, beaches, restaurants etc. If anything, they were almost too attentive. Our tour of the property when we arrived took 45 minutes and we found the service a little too personal in some ways (as perhaps evidenced by the style of some of the management responses to each review) but we still loved it.

There was one uncomfortable aspect of our stay however which has resulted in our downgrading from 5 to 4 stars, and that relates to the request on the final bill for a tip. Coming from the UK, the American approach to tipping is alien to us, but we have been to the States on enough occasions to understand the approach and, wherever we travel, we always research tipping etiquette in advance and tip at the appropriate levels.

We had seen one or two earlier negative reviews on TA about the tipping policy at Holualoa but were still a little surprised to find a note at the bottom of our bill saying something along the lines of "many of our guests ask us about tipping, this is what you might like to tip at 10%, 15% and 20%." The 20% suggestion amounted to $200 for a 3 night stay which, quite frankly, we found insulting. At the end of the day this is an already expensive b&b with just a handful of staff, it is not a 5 star hotel, and to even receive a suggestion that we pay $200 was, in our view, quite insulting. We stayed at several similar b&bs whilst in the Hawaii islands and none of the others took this approach. We therefore felt very uncomfortable when settling our bill and, in fact, left a much lower tip than would otherwise have been the case. It has left us with a slightly negative memory of this otherwise excellent property and we really hope that this comment may encourage the b&b to re-think their policy on this.

Tipping issues aside, we would have no hesitation whatsoever in returning to Holualoa.

My husband and I went to Hawaii for 1 week and stayed at cheaper hotels for part of the trip so we could splurge and stay here 2 nights-- it was worth it! Absolutely gorgeous mansion looking down at Kona with it's own coffee grown on site! Beds were super comfy and the food was delicious and local. Both mornings we were there we enjoyed coffee on the upper terrace and breakfast with new friends around the main dining table. When we asked the staff a good place to go snorkeling they gave us snorkel gear to use free of charge! Would absoluetly recommend it to couples looking to get away on the big island.

If you are looking for any extraordinary island experience away from the hustle and bustle of a beach resort experience, you will find it at the Holualoa Inn. Instead of the beach, you will stay in coffee country artist community, yet have all the luxury of a koa wood filled Bali style Inn: excellent breakfasts, friendly helpful staff team, gardens to walk around, and many private areas to just sit and read and enjoy the view. The beaches and restuarants are near but not walking distance. It is expensive but worth it. I agree with previous reviews that the down side is that because it is really a multilevel home, noise from people walking and talking in halls can be a problem if you are planning to sleep in.