Reviews (100)
Location was great and staff seemed nice. However, several maintenance issues. We did not have warm running water for our entire stay. They had maintenance check our water pressure however it did not fix the issue. We came home to a large cockroach in our tub. The staff is friendly but I would not recommend this hotel if you are concerned about cleanliness and comfort.
Simple place in a great location on Kauai, could use an elevator for sure but I would stay here again next time I visit, if you're looking for a luxury resort this is not that but it had beautiful sunrise views and our bed was comfortable.
Location is great. Older style building, and kind of in the center of island due to road being point A to point B.
Clean, super view, friendly staff, near business food complex, Safeway, Starbucks, pool, nice Restaurant on side, free bike rental, free quick breakfast starter, etc Value is in for travelers, not so for homestay or service
Great spot. Easy in and out. Nice enough. Easy grab breakfast, wifi, bikes, yoga, parking, all included at no cost.
Nice central location on the island for access to the North shore and the south-west side within an hours drive or less. The ISO has a stop light nearby for easy access to the main road and is a short drive from the airport. The ocean views are incredible. The hotel offers sunrise yoga, a 'grab & go' cold breakfast, & free use of bikes. The ISO is right on the 8 mile Ke Ala Hele Makalae bike/walking path, which offers incredible views & beaches not seen from the main road. There are also several restaurants in walking distance, as well as a Safeway grocery store across the street. My family and I enjoyed our stay at the ISO!
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.
Old, needs work, odd check in process. Good enough for a one night airport stay.
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 !
Rude staff. Bad service. I would never recommend to family or friends! On our honeymoon and got to the restaurant, (which was right below our room) then basically got kicked out 8:20. We were told that their kitchen was closed. Would be nice to know their kitchen hours I guess!
Reading the reviews it seems like there are two threads: 1. Those that understand the market rates for Hotels on Kauai, understand the fact that most hotels on island are dated, and have reasonable expectations because they understand they are choosing a budget option. and 2. Those that want a resort experience for half the price of an actual resort on the island. (Resorts on Kauai start at $500+ a night, the ISO starts at $250) Hotels on Kauai are expensive. That's just the way it is. The hotel amenities and breakfast will not match that of a 4 or 5 star hotel. It's a 3 star hotel. Expect decently comfortable beds, dated interiors, and modest amenities. The fact that they offer a fantastic location, super easy access to the beach and walking trails, and bike rentals is on par with the category of hotel. The breakfast is humble, yogurts, cereals, pastries, and boxed juices. Again, about what I would expect for the category. The rooms have air conditioning which isn't all that common on Kauai so that's another plus. Whenever we stay there we ALWAYS witness entitled tourists treating the hotel staff extremely poor. Complaining that there aren't things like "fresh cut pineapple" (which isn't even really Hawaiian), or other amenities that a 4+ star hotel might have. Their reasoning is always the same. They paid a lot of money to stay there so where is all this stuff? Again, hotels in Hawaii are EXPENSIVE. There is no way around that. If you want a 4+ star experience for less than $500 a night - try the Caribbean. If the amount of beratings by guests is as regular as it appears to be I honestly feel sorry for the staff. I'm sure its these same people who leave reviews complaining about the lack "aloha" spirit because the staff isn't bending over backwards for them, which is to be expected at a 3 star hotel and lower. If your looking for an experience where you every little need is attended with urgency and pleasure no matter how you behave - try the Caribbean - or
Such a great location. From my Understanding all the rooms are ocean facing which is a huge plus. No housekeep during our stay which we preferred to reduce waste and housekeepers time. Fresh towels and pool towels were readily available. A great option and location to stay. 30 minutes from north shore and 30 min to south shore.
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!
If you're in Kauai to hike, and not hang out all day at your hotel/resort, then this might be the best value in Kauai - where even the most run down hotel is $300 a night. For that price, you can get an ocean view here and fall asleep to the sound of waves crashing. The hotel rooms are modern enough (they dont look terribly dated as of January 2023) though the bathrooms are quite small. The exterior wood is cracking in some places. If it had a better pool and garden area, this could easily be a 4 star hotel. While the rooms are accessed from the outside (motel style), this makes it extremely convenient to get to your car quickly. Also, the corridors outside are carpeted - I initially thought this was gross, but it dampens the sound of roller bags in the morning.
I stayed one night (with a friend), and although we were clearly in the oldest section, it was clean and well-priced, and from the balcony, we had a lovely view of the ocean. There was a free yoga class on the grass at 7am. A ‘grab and go’ breakfast offered apples, individual cereal bowls, milk/OJ/chocolate milk, granola bars, packaged muffins, and yoghurts. Check-in was easy; the two ladies at the front desk were friendly, and we were gifted a water bottle that we could fill with filtered water from the cooler in the lobby. We didn't use the restaurant or pool but sat on the sandy beach at the waters edge for a couple of peaceful hours. What was funny was the internal pillars in our room. The A-framed roof meant the posts were oddly positioned. One blocked entry to a closet, and another meant I couldn't climb out of bed that side... I wish we had stayed in the newer section, but ultimately, it was clean and suitable for our needs.
Update to my review below: We were subsequently contacted by management who apologized and offered us a full refund. They also will be making changes to their security procedures. Mahalo to Iso for reaching out. We would consider staying again as the rooms are quite spacious and the prime rib at Bull Shed is excellent. Hint: get it grilled. 5 a.m., the morning of 12/28/22, i woke up to find a stranger in our room. Seriously. By the time I came to my senses, the young man was walking out saying that he was security, which he was obviously not. Not knowing what to do, I tried to talk to him until I could ascertain whether he had taken anything, then he was saying he was looking for his girlfriend, and just left. Fortunately, he wasn't threatening or violent and we later found out he hadn't taken anything, so we were lucky. Called the police but I couldn't really ID him since I didn't have my contacts on. Nothing was taken so I just left it as a report for their records. All this time, I saw no hotel security and front desk was closed. When the front desk opened later, I reported what happened. Altough the clerk seemed concerned, there was no refund or discount offered. No follow-up contact from management. No apology. In trying to figure out how he got in, we realized that the door was not aligned properly and did not securely latch unless you pulled it hard. Also, above the toilet there is a window with glass jalousies and a simple screen which can be removed from the outside just by turning the pins with your hand. These windows open to the walkway outside. I did not check whether the jalousies were glued in, but if not, these windows can easily be entered. I told the desk clerk of these issues and can only hope they do something about it asap. Once again, we were fortunate that nothing was stolen and thankfully no harm came to myself, my wife and my teenage son. Still, I think we deserved something, at least a heartfelt apology, for this horrible
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,
Rooms look cheap. Lots of dust and germs in the room. Make sure you bring cleaning supplies if you want to stay here
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.
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.