Hilo Bay Hotel (Uncle Billy's Hawaiian Family Resorts)

Uncle Billy's is better viewed at night than during the day. The blue water in the promotional picture is in reality a fetid tidal pond that the hotel is built on and around. The grounds are dirty and covered with litter. The surrounding area and the bums loitering around it reminded me of gangland territory in Chicago. What is really sickening is that innocent people might get sucked into this place.

This is not a big Resort Hotel so don't expect one. The room was dated but clean and comfortable to stay in for the night, so you can get in your car and travel around the island and see and participate in the available activities (fishing, snorkleing, hiking, bike riding, and touring). Hotel parking is very limited. The staff was very helpful and friendly and Uncle Billy's Resturant has a nice evening show and good food.

As one reviewer wrote, if you want a resort and plan to spend a lot of time in your room, Uncle Billy's is not for you. Otherwise, if you are on a budget it's perfect. We only stayed one night, but for less than $90 had a bay view room with a kitchenette and a full breakfast included. The furniture was indeed dated ( like many of the Mom and Pop motels in Florida) but expected that when we read other reviews. Our room was huge and had a lanai on the water and over looking the koi ponds. The ponds did indeed look drab, but we didn't fly to Hawaii to see a motel's fish ponds. We were gone most of the day, but enjoyed the room's spaciousness when we returned. The room was clean and we did not see one bug. We had a second floor room and had to climb steps with heavy luggage ( no elevators) but the desk clerk asked if that was a problem for us.We said no, which allowed us to check in early, as rooms on the bottom floor had yet to be cleaned. The furniture is dated, but overall, we found the place charming. As you walk into the open-air lobby, there is a basket of flowers for your hair, with a hand-written note saying - take one. We easily got a parking space in the front lot when we arrived and later after sight-seeing. Our breakfast was great and dinner at the hotel couldn't have been better for the low price. We plan to return to Uncle Billy's on our next visit to Hilo, stay a bit longer and save more money to spend on adventures.

Just finished four nights at two Uncle Billy's locations on Hawaii including Hilo. Summary of advice to others in three words: DON'T!

DON'T! AND DON'T! Place is dirty, smelly, and full of bugs. You don't even get what you pay for! I've paid less in Honolulu and gotten much more! Courtyard and ponds are filthy and unkempt--which reflects the whole experience. It's a fleabag dump and cars were broken into in the parking lot one night while we were there as well. Save your money and look elsewhere.

I stay at Uncle Billy's everytime I visit Hilo. Great atmospher,friendly staff and good rates. Don't change a thing Uncle Billy's

First of all, I'll start off by letting you know that I stayed at this hotel through a package deal offered by Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays, so I don't know how much this room actually costs. I stayed in room 219, which is a limited ocean view room with kitchinette.Think of Uncle Billy's as the Motel 6 of Hilo. The look of the rooms won't impress you. The decor is dated. The grout between the tiles on the floor might not be completely white because they're old -- not because they haven't been cleaned. The walls are a little thin. If you find this troublesome, consider one of the other establishments, and expect to pay substantially more.I'm a person who has hostelled throughout Europe, so I've seen some great places, and some really bad places. Uncle Billy's is okay if you've got that backpacker mentality. My room was clean, the appliances worked, I always pack earplugs, so thin walls never bothered me. I'm out during the day time and spend a minimal amount of time in my hotel, so I never saw the fish ponds or the pool, except from a distance over my lanai. So, from my perspective, Uncle Billy's wasn't that bad.If you're the type of person that will be spending a lot of time in the hotel, and want a resort style atmosphere, than Uncle Billy's is definitely not for you.

OH, MY, GOD!!! where to start? This little hotel sits, like a turd in a rosebush, between 2 much nicer facilities. It's outer appearance is quaint at best. Topped with a mossy blue metal roof, it's walls are adorned with mildewing paint and the occasional fern growing from the cracks in the building. The mildew smelling lobby leads to a courtyard with koi ponds and pathways. The only thing more frightening than walking through this area in the daytime would be to attempt it at night. The ponds are so full of moss and algae that the fish are not visible. The walkways are encrusted with decayed vegetation and are very slippery. It was apparent that the landscape maintenance crew had taken an extended vacation.

We have visited this wet part of the island several times so dampness, insects and various other things associated with wet tropical living do not come as a surprise to us. However, our room did hold more surprises. Our curtains were cleverly scissor-cut to outline the window air conditioner. The windows did not lock, nor did the sliding doors. The wallpaper had little black spots on it that we later determined to be mildew that was coming through the paper. The showerhead blew off the pipe when the water was turned on full pressure. There was however, some in-room entertainment! I spent a while trying to track the path and origin of the ants. Remember, this is the tropics, ants are common, just not all over the room. I finally found the source of our little friends in the track of the sliding door. A very large cockroach about 3 inches long was being eaten alive by these tiny ants. Entertainment at it's finest!

The place was not what we would consider busy although there were other guests. We were ignored in the hotel lounge, (which was not busy) and our arms were stuck to the tables by some mystery sticky goo. When finally served, our drinks were watered down beyond belief. Despite all of this, we did enjoy a meal at the hotel's restaurant. The food was decent, but the price inflated.

We made every effort to enjoy our stay here. We examined other rooms but found them to be similar. We love this side of the island, and the town of Hilo is a nice place to be. But, you can bet our next stay won't be at Uncle Billy's.

This hotel is dirty, damp and smells moldy. It is very cheap and you get what you pay for.

My husband and I have stayed at Uncle Billy's both in Kona and in Hilo for 3 different times and we prefer the one in Hilo. No, it isn't plush, but neither is the price. I have read some of the reviews and feel that the people were evidently spoiled for high class living because we found none of the problems they mentioned. As for bugs, there are not many places on the water that won't have some some type of bug from time to time. As for our stay, we were very well pleased and enjoyed our visit to Hilo. The staff was very friendly and accommodating to us.

We stayed next door to Uncle Billy's Hilo in the Hilo Hawaiian (which is nice) and stopped in to see Uncle Billy's because I'd been considering it for our hotel. Although we did not see a room, the grounds and lobby were dirty. The fish ponds were filled with garbage. I was so glad we decided not to stay there.