Banyan Harbor Resort, Lihue

We stayed in #132. The buildings are located across the street from a truck depot and they get going at 6am- too loud for open windows or patio doors. We were up anyway as the roosters start incessant crowing at 3:30-5:30am (not Banyan Harbors' fault- roosters are all over). We rarely had the windows and doors open as the cigarette smoke was continuous from another unit- the non-smoking policy is not enforced. A/C worked OK but very loud- timers worked OK. The unit is old, not redecorated since 80's? Felt uncomfortable sitting on the living room furniture due to stains and generally dirty look. The mattress was well-worn - 3 inch valleys -his and hers. Cleanliness: cabinets very dirty, no handles, dark grime from years of repeated opening without cleaning; dishes- OK but we washed before use- the inside of the cabinets had dirty, torn liners with hairs and grime; floors, swept maybe but not washed (white socks test? had to throw them out); bathtub dirty, with long hairs under the mat (left the mat outside) but OK with 2am cleanser scrub after a 10 hour travel day; no roaches or bedbugs! (Will update review for scabies), but several flies on Days 1-2, but with vigorous fly-swatting, no more for the rest of the week. Pool area new and nice, but smoking by loud 20 y/olds (kids of staff?) necessitated daytime use. All in all, at about $100/night with kitchen, kinda worth it, but a newly remodeled unit next door (#134) went for $150, and we regretted not taking it. Had to have a kitchen, otherwise the Marriot was $250/night. Banyan Harbor #132? Not our cup o' tea.

This was by far the worst place I have ever stayed in, and I hope everyone who is considering staying here rethinks it: the other reviewers mentioning 1) the 4-hour timer AC (which in our unit lasted 30 minutes), 2) BED BUGS (we were covered in bed bug bites) and 3) ROACHES and just plain dirtiness of the unit are not lying. The front desk people are lazy and rude, and it is very much like staying in project housing. I would never ever come back here and would never recommend it to anyone.

We traded our time share in keywest for banyan harbor. I gave up a luxury 2 bedroom condo for a resort that has not been remodeled in many a year.The bedrooms had small double beds that had worn out mattresses. The room air conditioners were all on timers. This was annoying when you had to get up at night to turn the a/c back on. The worst was we were suppose to get a mid week cleaning with fresh linens when they didn't show I called the next day to ask why. I was told they didn't have time. I asked if they would be doing it the next dayand was told they did'nt have time! I went down to the office to complain about the situation, The lady in the office was rude and made me feel as if I was being totally unreasonable for wanting our room cleaned. I have owned a buiness for 30 years and would never treat my customers in such a manner. The island is beautiful and well worth the visit Banyan harbor is not.

After a long and rather boring flight in from Los Angeles, we arrived at the airport. We got into our taxi which took us to Banyan Harbor and dropped us off in front of the main desk, which was a small building quite some distance away from the other rooms. At first it seemed like a nice place. The office building was nice and the foliage growing on it gave it a nice feel. However, upon entering we were rudely given the papers to sign and we tossed the keys to the apartment. Now we had to walk about a hundred yards just to get to our apartment, in the sweltering sun. When we opened the door, the entire place was a dark as anything I have ever seen despite the sun being out and blazing. The kitchen was ill-equipped with only a fridge and stove (which didn’t look clean). I opened the cabinets to see what was inside and several roaches jumped out and landed on my face. In a moment of sheer panic, I ran backwards and into my husband who had opened the drawer which contained the utensils. I knocked the drawer out of the socket and sharp flatware spilled everywhere. After cleaning up the awful mess, we climbed the stairs with filthy carpets and went into the bathroom. The bathrooms had what looked like mold everywhere and I was afraid to touch anything. The master bedroom had sheets that looked like hadn’t been changed in years and was only sparsely furnished. When I opened the closet, a few moths flew out, giving me yet another scare. It smelled of decay and I decided to keep my clothes safe in my bag. The entire complex lacked restaurants, and only had a soda machine guarded by security who glared at you every time you passed by. For the night we went to the pool to swim and found that dead bugs had practically clogged the filters. Afraid of drowning in bugs, we changed and went to the local restaurants which were within comfortable walking distance. They were great, but when we returned we had to endure the withering looks of the guards who we in front of the entrance. At night my kids started coughing from something inside their bedroom and their asthma nearly required us to go to the hospital. After broken sleep, I was awoken by the thunder of one of the maintenance people on their bike gunning their motor and causing the windows to shake violently. Needless to say, that was a living hell. I would not recommend that anyone go there for any reason at all.

If you plan on spending any length of time on the island, you can't beat Banyan Harbor! Where else can you get a fully equipped kitchen, washer & dryer, A/C as well as all of the usual amenities you would get in a hotel? The location is ideal (centrally located), and the staff is SUPER. We would live there if we could :-)