Patey's Place - Koa Wood Hale Inn

Very good hostel, shame about Zero
This is a really good hostel, one of the cleanest and best organised I have stayed at -- the private rooms upstairs are particularly good. It's a five-minute stroll down to the action in Kona town. However, we found that Zero, the Hostel manager who likes to think he has some sort of local notoriety, to be very rude and unhelpful. We arrived at about 1 p.m. unaware that the office was closed between 12 and 5 p.m. We knocked on the office door to see if we could store our bags before checking in only to be confronted by the totally obnoxious Hostel Manager, Zero. He belittled us for knocking on the door, was highly confrontational and in no uncertain terms told us to come back at 5 p.m.. If it was not for the lack of other options in the area we would have left then and there. For the rest of our three-day stay Zero stormed around in a bad mood creating a highly unnecessary tension. My girlfriend and I felt very uneasy around him. if you don't want to deal with people, don't work in hospitality. He has a serious attitude problem. Thanks for the reggae CD at the end, but it was too late. I'm sure we're not the only guests that have been put off by your attitude. You may know all your rules well but most guests have just gotten off a plane or long bus ride and don't notice all the signs. You're not running a prison, it's a hostel for customers. The rest of the staff working there were great and they run an excellent hostel.

Great place with wonderful atmosphere
Wonderful location, very warm and helpful staff, clean and cosy apartments. It's the best hostel i've been in.

Thumbs Up! Customer Service Rating is 10/10
Great location! Great price! Great Personality (Both the owner and the place)! Clean and cozy! Conveniently located beside the beach/shopping/food. Airport is pretty far, but no worries at all, Zero gave me a ride to the airport to pick up my rental car. That was at 6 o'clock in the morning! It was awesome fun to ride on the scooter, what a way to see Hawaii! I was traveling alone and Zero gave me a CD full of really funky songs to enjoy while driving around Kona. I had a fantastic stay at Patey's and the friendliness from Zero and another nice lady made it even better. Met some very friendly travelers at the hostel too! Wait, there is more, after I left the hostel, I realised that I have left my glasses behind. I dropped Zero an email, and he was able to locate my glasses and was more than happy to send it back to Australia for me. I am so grateful for everything he has done for me. I strongly recommend this place to travelers. You will have a good stay, great fun, the owner will go out of his way to assist you in anyway. And you don't have to worry about leaving behind and losing your belongings.

this is one of the friendliest hostels i've ever stayed at. I stayed here in march of 2007 for two nights (by the way, any comments left about this hostel pre 2006 are when it was under different management). the dorms are small, so probably fill up when it's a busy time of year, but it's nice to only have to share a room with three other people. the kitchen, bathroom, and main room are all spacious and clean. the dorm area is pretty much like a two bedroom apartment, where each room sleeps four. plus there's a very large patio/porch area complete with hammocks! the staff are super helpful, and i can not stress enough how friendly. the guy who manages it, zero, lent me snorkel gear that i used for a few days, then himself and another girl who worked there invited me out on the town for the night. a few shots that zero bought later, and i was a wee bit tipsy, and having the best time with really great people!

After staying in a number of Hawaiin hostels and managing one myself I know that many hostels on the islands have an attitude. However, Zero and his staff are really helpful. They keep the place clean and were very flexible with some guests that needed an extra night. It is a good location if you do not have a car, close to markets and a swimming beach, though not the best. Hitchhiking is a possibility on this island and I had a great time even though I didn't have a vehicle. Having a vehicle is recommended though, because it's a large island and there is a lot to see. It is possible to hook up with people at Patey's and share rides as it has a homey feeling.

What an improvement! Pateys Place used to be across the street at a dumpy, but artsy property, and was infested with locals who behaved poorly, and bugs. Now that Pateys Place is the same as Koa Wood Hale, it is fantastic. The new manager is super-chill, on-the-level, and very friendly. His name is Zero, but he is a ten in my book. Easy to talk to, willing to help, and no stress. He got rid of the deposit system, and takes cleanliness and security very seriously. Now they have two internet terminals for $1 a day (no joke), a BBQ grill and two-person hammock on the sun deck (great ocean view and sunset view), a couple of bikes for rent, information about places all over the island -- so good. Zero introduces everybody, quietly plays roots reggae in the office, and treats everybody like a guest in his home. Super clean, super chill, centrally located -- a great place to start or end an adventure to the adventure-filled Big Island. Great value for the money, and a place to feel welcomed!

I had a fantastic time at Patey's, because I showed up without major expectations, and was happy to have an inexpensive place to stay in paradise! The owner took me surfing (lent me his board) and then we cruised around town. Guests came and went; people from all over the world stayed there and one day I shared a rental car with a German tourist and drove to Volcanoes National Park. Patey's place is (or was) a hostel, and if you need a place to lay your head after a long day in the surf and sun, I think it's a fine place.

We were there in November 2005. The hostel is now closed down but they have a dormitory in a different place on the same street. It's like an apartment block full of two-bedroom apartments and you can rent a private room for $65 a night. You get access to your own apartment and you only have to share with one other private room. One of the apartments is a dormitory apartment and there is one male room and one female room with a shared kitchen and bathroom. There would be a maximum of eight people in the dorm apartment and a bed is $25. This new location seems newly renovated and clean, but it is pretty much across the street from the old one so it's still a hot uphill walk from the center of town. It's a bit expensive but there is no other hostel in town. Honestly, if possible, give Kona a miss because there is not much there. Instead hire a car and see the rest of the beautiful island. The owner is a bit weird, too.

I would advise all single girls to NOT stay here! It's the scariest place I've stayed in the last three years of travelling. I was here at the end of May 2005. The staff are freaky; when I arrived the owner was drunk. His friend made some lecherous comment to me. In the middle of the night one of the resident cleaners let himself into our room (three travelling girls) and slept in the free bed. Another local guy was asleep on the sofa when I left. Oh and by the way these photos aren't of the same property!

I stayed here in April 2005. I liked the location, but with "live-in" guests to clean the facility and an on-site management apartment, I thought this could have been a lot cleaner. It seems to be a fairly recently renovated building, but it needs some scrubbing. Dust and cobwebs on bunks, cockroaches (I know in the tropics that they are common) were all over (and went psycho) when the lights were turned on, and fridge and kitchen were disgusting. I have backpacked around the world and am very accommodating and realize it's not the Ritz Carlton; however, next time I'm in Kona I will pay the extra $130 a night for a hotel room elsewhere, or sleep on the beach.

They moved down the street into an apartment in a nice house. It's clean but small (eight dorm beds). Their policy is strange (deposit for everything) and the staff are strange and not really very helpful. Since it's the only option in Kailua, I'd go there again.

This is the best hostel to party at on the island. Try to get a bunk in the downstairs room; it's much cleaner. Staff are friendly. There is a minor problem with theft. The place could be much cleaner. I heard they were going to tear this place down. I do not know if that's happened. I stayed here on and off two months.

I stayed here December 2003 - it was okay. It's a long hot walk to the hostel in the day, but at night it's not so bad. There wasn't really a common room, and there were a bunch of long-termers living in the hostel who made me feel out of place. The dorm room was cramped and messy, and it was really hot to sleep in at night. But, there was no other hostel in town. I've been in worse, I guess.

No No No! I have travelled around the world and stayed in many hostels around Oz, Nz, Europe, and America. This one was crawling with insects and lizards and insufferably hot in summer. Sweat yourself to sleep and hope the lizards don't bite. I stayed there one night in Aug 2002. Hopefully they have cleaned up their act, but if not I would give it a pass. Ask others who have stayed there more recently -- it would have changed.