The ISO

The rooms are definitely dated but clean. If it wasn't for the excellent location I would rate lower. Great place to walk the beach. Restaurant was only open for dinner and over priced as the food was average at best. Yoga class offered each morning for free. Instructor was nice and hosted a good session. Grounds were well maintained with plenty of parking. A block away is a shopping area with a grocery store, Starbucks, Ross clothing store and various small businesses. Easy walk to various restaurants.

Not worth the price and definitely no aloha spirit present over there. More a 2 star place which is run like a cheap motel than a so-called boutique hotel.

All in all, the image portrayed through their website is very far away from what you get.

We stayed at the ISO for a week during our honeymoon. Despite indicating it was our honeymoon, they gave us a room with separate beds. We complained about this and a few other things and they kindly offered to switch rooms, which we decided to decline because it was not convenient with only 2 nights left.

This was the most poor experience of our 4 weeks on Hawaii. Please treat your guests better.

Cons:
- expensive for what you get
-The staff seems to lack some basic hospitality training, they do not say welcome when you arrive or wish you well when you leave.
- “complimentary breakfast” not enough and very cheaply done.
- you cannot go for drinks at the restaurant unless you dine in, even though the restaurant was quiet

Pros:
- Nice location at the beach and premises with the swimming pool
- Complimentary yoga class in the morning

Very nice hotel in a comfortable location, easily accessible with the car and with some options within a walking distance or by bike (available in the hotel to rent).

The room was fully equipped, including a fridge & coffee machine. The hotel provides refillable bottle & a purified water fountain in the hall. Amenities and enough clean towels were provided for our 3 nights stays, if more needed you can ask the reception. However worth noticing they don’t have daily cleaning service, but rely on DIY services providing you with the resources to ensure a clean room & nice stay. It was surprising but we actually appreciated it as a way to reduce waste & understandable with the min staff they have.

The Grab & Go breakfast is a nice concept that allowed us to enjoy beautiful sunrises from the room or the beach.

The only BUT was the staff, they were not as welcoming or helpful as most Hawaiians. We asked for recommendation for hikes, place to visit & food trucks… and they were not able to help but gave us the standard coupon magazine of the island. The service with not aloha spirit, in this sense was disappointing.

My new husband and I recently honeymooned here and we would go back again! Right on the beach, this location is scenic and beautiful! Daily morning yoga, quick grab and go breakfast and bikes to rent. The staff was super helpful and gave us anything we needed. The location is great too- near a store, great restaurants and the path near the beach goes on to a fun market! Beautiful and fun place to be!

The location and price makes this hotel, as does the amazing free morning yoga. Service wise, it's pretty basic (small coffee, room clean on request, no microwaves, very little sounds proofing on the rooms, etc), but definitely worth it for the ocean front views and easy bus and grocery access. Big, clean family rooms are a plus.

5 nights stay and no room service. Lobby smells a bit. Our first two rooms were not acceptable (check your beds!!!)
After asking 3 times we finally got a better one. Narrow parking lot.
Good location with nice bars in direction south. Safeway and restaurants are in walking distance.

We had a wonderful experience at the ISO. If you're looking for a 5 star luxury resort this isn't your place - but for us and for the price and location we thought it was great! The hotel is older and dated but the rooms have been completely repainted , have new floors and updated bathrooms and are very clean! The beds were very comfortable - this place is about the location & view. We were able to sleep to the sound of the waves and walk outside our door to the ocean and pool & use their bikes - we love kapaa for the bike path and convenience to stores , food trucks , restaurants and beaches. The staff was very kind, welcoming and accommodating and also allowed us to add on extra time to wait for our late flight for a cost but so worth it! We would recommend this for anyone looking for "not fancy" decent priced accommodations that are clean comfy at a great location with spectacular views- mahalo !

This hotel is right in the middle of the Kapa'a town, you can just walk by, and you can find places to eat and shop. In fact, our room is right above Bull Shed restaurant which should be a great steak house if you're into that at Hawaii. There is a pool right in the middle and a small beach by the corner. I love their Grab-n-Go breakfast, we love to explore and no time to sit around, so grabbing breakfast and exploring Hawaii is perfect at ISO.

The only main issue of my booking is the room. There is an A-pillar in the room at is obstructing our comfort in living in this room. I understand we get what we pay for, even though it is not cheap. I have counted multiple times where I hit my head in these pillars. I hope they could remedy it for other guests I just don't know how.

And speaking of that room. I believed in this facility there were about 60% open rooms at the time we booked it, I am almost sure they could put us in a better room than that, but they chose not to. I get it, You-Get-What-You-Pay.

Let's face it, hotels in HI are just expensive. You can't compare a room in Kauai to a room in a lot of other locations. My room was clean, looked to have been renovated in the last couple of years, had a lanai to sit on, great wifi signal, free parking, could hear the ocean at night, and was on the beach. They have a basic grab and go breakfast, morning yoga, and bikes as part of the resort fee you pay. Nicely kept property. Staff were all professional and nice. Great location. Lots of construction going on everywhere, so be patient as you head out for your adventure.

The property was beautiful! This is only the second time I've stayed right on the beach, and for the setting and amenities, it was quite reasonably priced.
The beach however is not great for swimming, and it would always completely disappear during high-tide.

The staff was friendly and informative and gave us free water bottles, which you could fill in the lobby. Would have been better if they had a water jug inside the room, but still a nice gesture that saved us money purchasing water. Staff also gave us enough towels for our entire stay, which made housekeeping unnecessary. Check-in process however, was probably the slowest and most tedious I've ever experienced. I work at a campground, and if WE checked in reservations this slowly with as busy as we are, we'd be unemployed within an hour. I have never seen front desk staff take THIS long to check in a guest.

The room itself was beautiful. We ended up booking an oceanfront with one bed, but they ended up giving us an ocean view on the third floor with two beds, which actually worked out better for us. The only issue we had was the TV was very confusing to figure out.

The complimentary breakfast was decent and plentiful, however we booked this hotel last minute for Thanksgiving weekend, and one of the reasons we chose it was because we read it had a restaurant. The restaurant was only open our first night there, which was Wednesday night and the entire remainder of Thanksgiving weekend it was closed, so we ended up having to find food elsewhere. We were surprised that an all-inclusive property like this, didn't have its restaurant open full time.

That being said, the location is great for sight-seeing, but if your trip is only centered around sight-seeing, you can probably get something less fancy, as we didn't even have time to use the free bicycles, yoga or greenspace.

Word of warning though, there is a section of road literally just south of the hotel that's always jam-packed with traffic in the afternoon, going southbound. The first time, it took us 30 minutes to drive less than a mile, and the second time, we almost missed our rental car drop off deadline because of the traffic. If you feel this may be something that will inconvenience you, you might be better getting a hotel south of the river.