Hawaiian Sanctuary Eco Retreat Center, Pahoa

Bad

Liked: The breakfast was crunchy and not much taste. The kitchen staff was in transition. I bought water and protein Shakes and became self sufficient. When I arrived it was late no water for taking my pills. I only had one set of towels I kept my room tidy. No housekeeping. Ok by me. There will be no recommendations from me.
Disliked: Water and clean towels midway.

Exceptional

It was not the experience...

Liked: The room was open with louvered windows, letting in the natural breezes. We each had our own bed to sleep in. The outdoor shower was very refreshing, which we enjoyed very much. The bathrooms were kept clean. Receiving a complementary coffee was nice. We appreciated getting to know some of the residents.
Disliked: We didn't anticipate that we were going to need to walk on muddy, water-filled potholed roads to get to the external bathrooms. We also had to use the flashlight feature on our cell phones to see our way in the dark. The shared kitchen left something to be desired. There was only one functioning burner on the stove while we were there. The cookware was less than desirable to cook with. I washed it before and after using it. There were signs posted in the kitchen about "doing your own dishes," but there were usually dirty dishes left on the stove, the table, the sink area. We used the hot tub twice; the first time, there weren't any towels, the second time we thought the water had a strange, unpleasant smell so we didn't use it again. The prices for the yoga classes and meals at the lodge had been raised higher than our reservations listed, so we didn't use any of those services. When we redeemed our coupon for the complementary coffee, we received an admonition about how that would be going away due to high overhead costs. When we requested clean towels after a week, I was reminded that office hours were from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Being from Washington, we didn't adjust to the time change right away. We were always gone before 9 a.m. and didn't return before 2 p.m. Consequently, I never requested a broom to sweep out our room. Despite taking our shoes off outside, little stuff still got tracked into our room. I used an article of clothing to "sweep" the floor. We used the gym once. Most of the equipment was rusted and some didn't work at all, such as the treadmill. Ironically, there were signs in several places asking guests to respect the quiet times, yet on Friday nights, dances were held. very near to our room, from 6-11 p.m. which prevented us from being able to sleep.

Superb

A nice place in the...

Liked: Very friendly staff, clean cottage with tiny kitchen, located outside town in the middle of nature.
Disliked: Check-in was a bit complicated, and we were not aware of the (loud) electronic music festival that takes place every friday until 22.30h. In general it was rather loud at night (maybe we were unlucky with neighbours), so the nights were not very relaxing. Our little kitchen was not well equipped (also no coffee maker), cooking was difficult. The shared kitchen that was available seemed chaotic and dirty, however, we did not use it.