Lodge at Moloka'I Ranch (The), Maunaloa

If you like a slow pace and peaceful place to go then I recommend the ranch highly. A quiet greatroom with couches and chairs for just sitting around. A fire at night, tables for computer surfing, board games or whatever. A grand piano with live music on the weekends sets the room off. It's so peaceful that I thought I was the only guest at times. The food is O,K, and the bar is just fine. The staff was quite pleasant dispite the extra long hours that they work. Don't expect split second service as the whole atmosphere is way laid back. Very quiet with no crowds, no shoping, no hustle and no bustle. Not much on the island but some nice sights and beaches. I chose to spend most of my time relaxing at the lodge. The new carpet upstairs really cleaned up the common areas.

We spent 7 days at the ranch. We had planned to stay at the Lodge for 3 days and the tentalows for 4 days. After checking into the Lodge we drove down and looked at the tentalows, drove right back to the Lodge and asked if our room was available for 4 more days. The Lodge is beautiful and the Tentalows reminded me of some of my deer hunting camps. My wife said "you can stay in the tents, I will be up in the lodge". We loved the Island and the ranch. Our room was very clean,large, well decorated and we especially liked the balconey where we were able to watch deer from. If you like isolation, beautiful beachs and scenery, you will love Molokai. The drive around the island is a wonderful adventure. We would go back in a heartbeat!

This hotel is amazing and I would recommend it to anyone. Just be aware that some of the staff members don't seem to care at all about the guests. From the front desk, every request I made was met with a "no." The wait staff in the bar restaurant sometimes ignores the guests to the point that my husband and I would have to walk up to the bar and ask someone to take our order, even when we were the only people in the entire restaurant and we were in plain view of the bar waitress! Also, I had an incident where a parent was watching his children at the pool and asked me if I would request the bar staff to send a glass of water to the pool. The bar staff responded by telling me to tell him that "all he has to do is pick up the phone (by the pool)!" I told the parent what the staff said, so he went to the phone and it wasn't even working! So then he asked me to watch his kids while he went up to the bar and got a glass of water. For only 21 rooms at the hotel and for the price, wouldn't you expect more? I did. But, the hotel itself is beautiful and the island is a dream, so in a way, putting up with some of the staff was sort of worth it. Just be warned. Also, some staff memebers were great, especially the manager.

Also, be aware that the food at this lodge was very expensive and not that great. Further, if you take a boat over to the island, be prepared for motion sickness, even if you are use to boats. That isn't related to the hotel exactly, but you should know ahead of time (we didn't).