Hilltop Legacy Vacation Rental

Having read all the horror stories about this property on TA, google reviews, and Booking.com, I have to admit that I was dreading my stay at this place. I am glad to say that we did survive and although it was not as horrible as we had imagined, certain aspects of the horrible reviews were true. I hate to write bad reviews, especially since the owner's father was really nice and he did his best to be a good host (The owner himself, we never met during our stay). Checking in: the property uses codes for the front door and rooms, and you're supposed to get these codes before you arrive as there isn't always someone there to check you in. I tried to contact them a week before arriving via the Booking.com app. No response. Twice. I then tried emailing and texting them and finally got a reply confirming my booking, but still no code or instructions. We decided to try our luck, and luckily the owner's father was there to check us in. However, he was surprised his son did not send us the codes, as he said he was not always there. So if you decide to stay here, please make sure you did receive a code, especially if you don't have a local mobile number to call them with and want to avoid huge roaming charges. The property: I can see that this was a beautiful family mansion in the 1940s. Unfortunately it seemed no renovation has been done since then. It is riddled with rust, mold, worn carpet and furnitures, and rotten wood. It felt like entering a museum from the WWII era. It was clean enough though, as long as you don't look too closely. Walls are also very thin, so good luck if you have early risers neighbours. Housekeeping: this area is quite lacking I'm afraid. When attempting to use the coffee machine, I found that the inside was covered with some fine herb-like leaves. So I took it to the bathroom to rinse, and what came out was 2 big dirt-like lumps. Upon closer inspection, they appeared to be old tea bags that perhaps the previous occupants decided to throw into the machine, and have been there for God knows how long. I was shocked and beyond disgusted at that point and could not bring myself to pick them up. The owner's father apologized profusely, cleaned the mess and the coffee machine for us, but I couldn't bring myself to touch the thing for the rest of my stay. That night, we also intended to drink the hot chocolate they provided in the room, only to find out that it has expired in April 2018 (5 months ago). As for the positives, the location is great. Quite close to shops, laundry, gas stations, but you do need a car as it is up a hill. Views from the room was fantastic.

We got the sky room (I think that was the name) and we were very happy with the room over all. There was a lot of space, a small kitchen and a bathroom with a tub. We saw a few bugs tho but nothing drastic. The weird part was that we never met the guy who rents out the rooms, we spoke with him via text messages, and his dad greeted us when we came there. The town itself tho was kind of small and boring and there wasn’t a lot to do there, and it would not be suitable if you didn’t rent a car since it’s literally on the top of a hill.

We were extremely disappointed with this accommodation. We arrived late at night, managed to check in (after calling the owners which cost us a lot due to having only our UK mobiles). The room can only be described as a very old fashioned hostel. It was old, unkept, extremely hot and noisy (we heard every word of next doors conversation). We stayed one night and booked elsewhere - this dented into our holiday money so put a cloud over the rest of our holiday. I’m not someone who travels for luxury (I’ve backpacked the world) but I do want to feel the price I’ve paid is reflective of the accommodation. This was not and we were extremely disappointed :(

first let me start by saying that this is not a hotel. this is an appartment with 4 rooms and we got the small room -and they weren't kidding when they said SMALL. there is no orivacy in the toielt, everything is old, no place to put your stuff, the wife actually started crying when she so the room. nothing like you see in the pictures. not recomended!! BUT- first you need to considure that there are not too many hotels in hilo most of the places are appartments. second the location is good. and third the guy who welcomed us was nice... but I'm sorry to say that its just not recomended ):

pictures are misleading nothing like the pictures the out side of the building needs painting needs new beds no air conditioning no curtains in the bathroom no privacy bed is no Good no breakfast as promised

The property is well located, our room was very spacious, with a kitchen, bath and great view. However, cleaning is not their forte. Fortunately the toilet and kitchen were ok, but I dropped something and when I looked under the bed there was like an inch of dust!

I really like the charm of this place. We were in Room 1 with a king bed and a beautiful view of the harbor. A cool big house with several rooms. Living room with a pool table and lots of outdoor space. Not fancy, just cool and different.

We were not happy with the Hilltop Legacy. We were givein the smallest room (like a really old dorm room), an old sutdent desk to hold the coffee pot, a small refridgerator and microwave (high points). An electrical nightmare of extention cords to run all of this, an old matress, sheets like harsh dish towels, strings for light pulls in the bathroom, and one luke warm shower in the AM, while the other one was so lucky to get a cold shower. Drying off with what felt like a copper srubby for towels. Not my favorite. I tend to agree with another reveiwer who said the room was so small you couldn't swing a cat--I really think you couldn't swing a tailless kitten. The other high point was the view. I would not recommended this to anyone unless really desparate. My friend had stayed at another facility associated with this one, but her expeirence was wonderful and worth it. This place made some of our Mexican hotels look like palaces in retrospect.

We stayed at this beautiful house in January 2016 Although some of it,is in original condition and a bit worn,it is a lovely place to stay Very welcoming owners and father Beautiful gardens,lovely views,great location We made this our base for 3 nights while we explored the area Our daughter had a different room to ours which had a beautifully redecorated bathroom We had the room with the balcony,with great views our Hilo We enjoyed our dinner on the balcony each night