Beautiful home away from home everything that the big island has to offer Shaka shak is that place to start right!...with there beautiful home in the right location easy access to everything to your convenience..the perfect place to be!..thank you! Cynthia and Natasha broa!
Aloha and thanks for leaving a great review. I am delighted to know that you appreciate the beauty of an authentic Hawaiian plantation house. It is the historic details that give this mid century house a lot of character. You are always welcome here. Mahalo!
The review of this property is from our stay a few months ago, so please understand that some things may have changed from then. Do not be misled by the positive reviews. This property was unsafe, and, unsanitary. First, the unsafe. Parking here was very difficult. There is a high probability that your vehicle may be damaged due to very tight parking conditions. Vehicles must be moved around each other on a driveway only wide enough for one vehicle. The room that we stayed in had a first floor balcony door with no lock. We believe that an outside entry door from the open garage was also left unlocked at night. Second, the unsanitary. This property was not adequately cleaned. There was trash thrown in the yard, and, vehicles that were inoperable, with weeds growing around them. Another disturbing issue was the breakfast that we paid for. It was both odd, and, unsanitary. The following is a list of what was offered during our stay:
1. Coffee (no juice, milk, or any other liquid)
2. Pancake mix (a large bag of dry powder that you must mix yourself and ladle on to old griddles)
3. Bread (1 previously opened bag with a few slices left)
4. Jelly (1 previously opened jar with a spoon covered with jelly left inside the jar with the lid on)
5. Peanut Butter (1 previously opened jar. Does anyone eat this for breakfast?)
6. Hershey's Chocolate Syrup (not sure how this would be used)
7. Instant Oatmeal (1 previously opened container of plain oatmeal that you mix with water, then microwave)
You must also rummage through the kitchen cabinets to find plates, bowls, and, silverware.
There were many other deficiencies which we will not take the time to detail in this review.
We have traveled extensively, and stayed in many hotels, and B&B's. Our stay at the Shaka Shak was the most uncomfortable that we have ever experienced. It appears that the owner has responded to other negative reviews with excuses, but don't believe them. We hope that this review prevents other travelers from the same experience that we had.
Guests who expects a traditional Bed and Breakfast should be paying around upward of $150 in Hilo. We are a budget accommodation, our nightly rates are only 78 - 88 a night. Please do not expect so much for such little cost. Even a hostel in downtown Hilo charges more than us for a private room with shared bathroom to 10 - 15 people. We have hosted hundreds of guests, most love our set up and our service, we just cannot please everybody who walks thru our door, due to unreasonable expectations.
Please check out the verified reviews on booking.com for a more accurate assessment of our property.
This is not a hotel. It is a hostel in an unsafe area. Even though we booked for three nights we left for another hotel without refund soon as possible because it is very unsafe. There is no lock on the front door and balcony door. I heard someone sliding the window in the night. I was scared for my life!!! There was also loud noises outside from broken water line. I did not sleep all night. Unsafe, cold, and loud all night. The owner is very unprofessional and bad customer service. She would not do anything or show any interest to address any issues. I would not treat any of my customers this way. I wish I read all these reviews before I booked it on Booking.com. I know they will dispute bad reviews so please see the pictures. Let my experience be a good lesson. We do have other options as customers.
The guests wanted to get out of the 2 night minimum I've established for Christmas week, the busiest week of the year by making up false accusations. I am pretty sure they just needed 1 night in Hilo after going to Mauna Kea, but all the hotels are booked solid, so they pre-planned their shortened stay by complaining to booking.com directly within the hour after they checked into their room (hoping they will get refunded on the nights they didn't stay). Their original issues were just: 1) wet sheets (I checked, they're dry) 2) missing bulbs, there are 2 other working bulbs on the lamp picture that they cropped (there are also ceiling lights, 2 floor lamps and 1 table lamp); and 3) traffic noise (the property they stayed at is in a residential neighborhood with families and retirees, we live in the downstairs portion of the house (guests stay on the 2nd floor above us) on a dead end street, it is very quiet here). I went up to their studio to clear up their complaints, due to booking.com calling me immediately after receiving the complaints, only to be yelled at by the wife. So I sent booking.com and the couple an email. addressing their issues and my explanation. After reading my rebuttal and perusing my past reviews, booking.com did not grant their request. Wife apologized to me in the morning for her unruly behavior the night before. But when I told them that they can depart but they will not be refunded, I referred them to the Cancellation Policy we have in place, she started shouting at me again. The husband even threatened me with bad reviews if I don't agree to refund them. OMG, they wrote more worse allegations in retaliation to my declining the refund. I will talk to a legal counsel on how to deal with these type of false negative reviews. Please check out ALL reviews, we are on Tripadvisor and booking.com, and it is so obvious what are real and which are exaggerated. Please folks don't believe everything you read on tripadvisor (there is a reason why they didn't leave one on booking.com). It is not right to talk to the innkeeper in the intimidating manner they did and threatened me with a bad reviews, if I don't comply to their demands... this is classic bullying. Thanks for reading my response. Aloha!
First the positives: quiet residential location, clean, friendly host and useful kitchen and sitting area with simple breakfast included.
However, we had some issues with our room. It was next to the shared bathroom with only a thin wall separating the two rooms. Hence, no chance to sleep until all other guests had finished showering and dry-blowing their hair. It also meant that we woke up early each morning from the noise. Worse was the quality of the double bed. It was squeaking and sacking and not what you should expect from a guest house or hotel. In the end you pay for a decent place to sleep and with this bed that is not what we got.
The other guests were friendly and relaxed. The setup of this guest house makes it easy to talk to each other and to exchange information. Parking is provided.
Thanks for staying and the positive comments. The bed you slept on is a firm memory foam, it is like Tempurpedic. A lot of guests like this, but some do not. I wished you have told me while you were here, maybe we could've switched you to another room with a traditional spring mattress. Anyway, I have placed the blow dryers in the individual rooms instead of the bathroom, so as to have the ladies dry their hair in their room, thus effectively shortening the bathroom use and alleviating the noise factor, but somehow you still heard it. We do offer ear plugs for noise sensitive guests, please ask for a pair next time. This is a shared vacation rental, there are some noise that go through the walls, as in any other B&B and guest house. We hope you stay with us again in the future. Aloha!
If you want to live in the wildness, then this is the place. Maybe it’s just my luck but our patio door was broken (when I asked to fix it because I don’t feel safe have the door open, she wasn’t happy and told me it should be open because it’s nice outside, what the hell!) and lizards were either on the bed or nightstand. I understand it’s an island but I can’t sleep knowing there might be a lizard walking on me in the middle of the night. The lizard is probably from the broken patio door but the host blamed its from her last guests. Not sure what kind of guests would bring animals inside. God knows what other animal is inside of the house. Also, There is a pancake power for you in the morning as breakfast, only if you can get up early because there are at least 7 people in the house. Don’t expect to be quiet until 9 or 10pm. We felt the vibration of the tv sound from first floor. We traveled far and wanted to rest, that wasn’t pleasant!
she is a host and she supposed to ease your fear/misunderstanding if anything happens. When we trying to understand and ask her what’s going on because it looks nothing like the picture she posted. She had THE worst attitude and told us to pretty much suck it up and nothing else she can do. So if you want to stay, don’t complain about anything. Complaining or asking won’t get you anywhere.
I know the price is cheap but we found other places around her place. It was 100 Times nicer and same price! you just have to find it. It was our fault to fall for her pictures without doing any research. she is a sweet person until you ask anything bad about her house. Good luck to all the future guests. Btw it’s the frog sound outside of her house, it’s extremely loud Like millions of them, if she said it’s everywhere on the island, its FALSE! we found a place close to her and doesn’t Sound like her place at all. Much less frogs. It’s quite beautiful and calming.
Aloha. The guests need to understand that we run a clean and budget friendly guest house in Hawaii, not the Disneyland Hotel or the Ritz that they paid a low nightly rate, same as a private room (shared bathroom with 12-15 people) in a Hostel in downtown. This is my private home and I treat everyone as my own personal guests and friends. I give very helpful tips to maximize their short stay in Hawaii, so they do not miss the best tourist places. I advise the best itinerary, so guests do not waste their time. They booked and stayed in a 250 square foot room with 2 double beds with a balcony, flat screen TV with cable. I fixed the patio door immediately when they brought to my attention. It was just off track. Then she saw a gheko at the balcony, she freaked out. Sorry this is Hawaii, I explained to them we have these cute gheko's on the island, as well as the coqui frogs that sing during warm nights, but as soon at it hits cooler temps later at night, the frogs quiet down. Again it is not my fault that coqui frogs have invaded the Big Island. I offered the mother and daughter ear plugs. There did not encounter rats or mosquitoes or cockroaches inside our fully screened house, and yet she seem to insinuate that our home is full of crawling vermin. I feel that despite the warm hospitable welcome I extended, she now is being very disrespectful and vindictive. They wanted to cancel their 1 night booking and demanded a refund at 930PM and I kindly referred them to our cancellation policy on booking.com. My attitude was misconstrued to being "worst", only because I did not agree to refunding them the night they decided to leave, as I feel that their complaints were baseless. They complained to booking.com and their request for refund was turned down. So here I am reading their very negative review. Please check out reviews from other guests who actually stayed the night for a more accurate assessment. Thanks!
