Uncle Billy's Kona Bay Hotel, Kailua Kona

My room was on the 4th flr., non-smoking. It had 2 queen beds, tv w/remote, air conditioning, ceiling fan w/2 speeds, complimentry shampoo which I didnt expect and a real small fridge that was adequate. In the fridge was 1/2gal. guava juice, 6pack coke, 6pack beer and some exotic fruit which I put all in and the fridge as able to handle all that. They have continental breakfast and had sliced local papaya, pineapple chunks(canned), bread for toast and english muffins with condiments, plus juices and coffee. Most places dont even have that. This is right in the middle of all the shops and restuarants. The farmers market is right next door. Only 5min. walk are 4 or 5 restaurants and across the street is the Kona Inn restaurant which I ate there and it was great. Price was $78 per night plus taxes. I parked my rental car in the lot on one side of the hotel and was close to the elevator. They had washers, dryers and laundry soap you could use. you had to deposit quarters, like anywhere else. Yea, I saw a small lizard on a chair. But you know, this is Hawaii and its tropical and the place isnt that urban like a large city. you have to expect those things. Granted somethings may have been outdated, but the room was clean and when the a/c was on and the fan going, it was great just to lay down and relax a minute. If you want real fancy stuff and updated flat screen tv, then go somewhere else and pay more. If youre going to leave the room about 9am and not be back until 4 or 5pm, then this is the place.

I stayed there last night. It is the cheapest place to stay in Kailua. It is a good, safe place to spend the night. The staff are all very polite and friendly. The location is very convienient, with shopping and restaurants close-by. If you want fancy-schmancy, go elsewhere. I liked it.

I have stayed at Uncle Billys 4 years in a row. My husband and I were married there 3 years ago. We love this place, never had a problem, the staff is so wonderful. This is the only place for us in Kona.

this place is awesome., total dive hotel cheap don't eat at uncle billys breakfast buffet though, your there to enjoy hawaii not the inside of uncle billys bathroom plus the food sucks. me and 3 of my buddies shared a room we just took turns who sleeps on the floor no big deal. you are right in downtown kona so walkin to the restaurants and bars are no problem. good times if i had a family thats the last place i'd stay. a few tweakers and druggies of sorts around. somebodys room got broken into one nite, people were yelling to call the police but i think the guy ran off. i'm sure the staff wouldn't have called or cared anyway, they were..... interesting. i give it 2 stars, ones for the excitement of the unknown though! enjoy

Don't ever go to Uncle Billy's in Kona... Unless you like sleeping with rats. Yes, my girl and I were disturbed by one giant Kona rat at 3am. It at my malasada, jumped on the bed and then ran out through crack in the lava rock wall. We tried to get the room comped the next morning but the management refused and offered to comp the breakfast instead so we settled. Breakfast was bad and only the birds and mongoose enjoyed it. Two whole weeks later, I get my credit card statement back and we still got charged! This is how they treat their kamaaina! Ridiculous! I'll never go there again.

The fun never stops. I loved it so much I think I will head there next year too I want to take all my family with me!!you have to go some day, so why not now???

The room was small but clean and located right downtown. You can't beat the price. I would stay here again if we decide to stay in Kona. The bed definitely could have been more comfortable. It's not a reason to choose a hotel but they had the best set of toiletries I've ever gotten at an inexpensive hotel.

Thanks for all the reviews everyone. Believe me, I read all of the ones here, and a lot from other URL's. I must say, I was indeed expecting average and even "below average" when we arrived at KONA BAY. I was looking for the nails on the walls, roaches, the dirty furnitures, the ants, dirty bed sheets & bug mites underneath the bedsheets. The place was clean. We didn't have any issues w/ the shower turning hot to cold either. We stayed there for 5 nights and did not once encounter any of the episodes that were brought up negatively about Uncle Billy's. I agree w/ all posts about the place being outdated, but from reading all the reviews I was expecting that. I want to thank the ones who posted about staying on the top floor (4th). I did what was advised and upgraded to Uncle Billy's standards as "deluxe" and took the top floor. Perhaps the other floors were indeed run down and infested, but there wasn't anything that surprised me in our room. We stayed in room 4006. It was perfect proximity to the elevator and stairs. Parking lot was well lit at night. I didn't see anything weird happening, but took the advise of others and emptied the car out nightly to minimize the risk of a car break-in. I can see where most of you would get scared seeing the "thug" looking locals lurking around. A "hello" or even a head nod turned them from looking like local thugs to smiling local guys you want as your friend if you were in trouble around the premises. I kept in open mind when reading posts that this place was perfect if you want to stay at KONA BAY just to sleep & shower. Now I can honestly say I do agree 100%. Would we stay here again? Sure. Would we get lucky and have the same clean room? I hope so. Something enlightning to close with: One couple we met were staying in the Sheraton Hotel. They were saying how nice the pool was but was getting bit at night w/ the bed bugs. Another family we met there was staying at the Hilton. They were raving how great the place was but got tired leaving the resort everyday... They said from their hotel door to the parking lot it took 15 to 20 minutes because they had to ride some fairy boat. They would travel another 30 minutes everyday to get to Alii Drive just to have dinner. If you stayed here at Uncle Billy's, Alii Drive is basically your front yard. Minus that dumb fairy boat. To the many post that were writing about the green lizard and how they horrified you during your stay...These green things are called Gekos. They're a symbolic part of Hawaii as all of us tourist who wish to vacation there. I know right now there are readers who well take this post as gratifying and assuring. These particular readers will be people who book Uncle Billy's already and are just now reading these bias reviews. My advise to you all is have a happy & fun vacation. A 5 star hotel can be just as much as a nightmare as a 1 star hotel. I can now testify to this.

unfriendly staff,noisy area, closed eatery dirty pool,bad parking, i will not stay at any of their hotels anymore in kona or hilo if you go to kona dive with the mantas its expensive but quite an experience

We checked into Uncle Billy's, were given a kama'aina rate of 104 instead of 140 for a "deluxe room".....which was far from deluxe! THEN, not only 10 minutes after getting up to the room, encountered a barrage of construction noises, right next to the room! we called the front desk, as it was 4:15pm, did not receive an apology for the noise, AND when we asked, were told that they would start at 8am the next morning. We were not offered another room, so we PROMPTLY checked out of there. No aloha there for kama'aina guests wanting to escape the construction noises of Oahu in sleepy Kailua-Kona. My advise....DON'T BOTHER!!!