I was one of 30 college students who had the opportunity to live in Hawaii for 3 months while starting my freshman year of college online. This sounded like a dream during this time of uncertainty with everything going on in the world with COVID. Little did I know how unwelcome I would be by the people who would be hosting us for our stay.
From the start, the owners of Arnott’s created a hostile environment. They took advantage of the stigma surrounding college students thinking with that in mind they could get away with their rude behavior, but never should any owner of an establishment get away with speaking to their customers the way they spoke to us. They would openly make snarky comments to us for issues that seemed of minor inconvenience. As some of the other students have mentioned in other reviews I too witnessed Glory, one of the owners of Arnott’s, blatantly called one of my friends “stupid for being in college” for mistakenly leaving the door open while the AC was running. He just happened to be the closest of his roommates’ insight as Glory marched over to their room and continuously harassed him for no reason other than to be a bully even after he apologized multiple times. I myself had an encounter similar to this as Doug, the other owner of Arnott’s, quite literally called me a disease. This was unwarranted as I had my mask on when I politely asked Doug if he would mind if I could look for a package I was waiting for in the pile of mail. He answered me by saying, “ as long as you don’t get too close”. I half took this as a joke as I carefully stepped forward to give him a chance to back up and as he does he continues to blabber on about how “you are bringing this disease on the island” and how “you are a risk to us as your the ones carrying the virus and not being careful enough ”. To give some more context, this was after we had all quarantined for the full 14 days and made the greatest effort to protect our 30 student bubble to ensure we wouldn’t ruin our experience.
I can only reiterate what others have already said, but I am very disappointed by the way we were continuously blamed for issues that were in no way our fault. The washer and dryer machines would break or not work for pretty much every load, but it was always “why are you putting so much laundry in”. The old, rundown bikes that they provided and assured us were in good condition would break down multiple times while riding them, but we were responsible for WALKING the two to three miles back from town if we couldn’t figure out how to fix them.
I should also mention that Arnott’s was supposed to clean our rooms weekly, but made the conscious decision against that for safety reason with the virus, which was understandable. However, once we got home some thousands of miles away we were bombarded with charges. Some as much as $1,500 with some of those charges being appliances we never began with or “cleaning charges” when that is a service that should be free with such an establishment when promised. They asked us to treat them with respect, but that respect was not reciprocal. It saddens me that such an exciting experience was met with such distaste by the people who were getting a great deal of money at a time when others were struggling financially. I do understand that this is a scary and challenging time, but their behavior went beyond what is acceptable.
I would like to mention the people who were able to somewhat make up for the outrageous behavior of the owners. Sarah (the manager) was always so kind and understanding and would give us the benefit of the doubt when there were any issues. The security guard and the landscaper who we saw daily also engaged in friendly conversation with us.

I was part of the group with 30 college kids, and although the experience was amazing, I did have a few issues with the lodge. Firstly, the pictures do not show fully what the apartments look like. All rooms at Arnott's are made up of a living room and two bedrooms, but the living room also has two beds in it. I slept in the living room, given no privacy or space to store my clothes. It also will only be air-conditioned if the doors to the bedrooms are open. I became close with my roommates, so my initial issues became less of a problem. I bought drawers and a hanging rack to store my clothes, but I ended up losing money because I could not transport them back home, it would have been nice for Arnott's to provide more amenities for people who stay in the common room. The kitchenette had no oven, which is disclosed, but the fridges are very poor quality and are only meant to hold a very small amount of food. It is not meant to be used to hold food for four people for three months, and it did cause us several issues throughout our time there. We actually bought a separate mini-fridge, because the Arnott's amenities were not adequate. If you were traveling by yourself or in a smaller group, you would have to rent the entire space that can hold 5 people in order to truly have privacy. The walls are very thin throughout the entire lodge, but especially in apartments as well. The staff at the front desk was great, but many of my peers had issues with the owners, Doug and Glory. It mostly stemmed from them inviting college students to stay there for 3 months and expecting them to not act like college students. We took the Mauna Kea Summit tour with Arnott's which was very enjoyable, but was priced a bit too high for what it is, in my opinion. Overall, most of the complaints I have are things I can deal with, but I think it is important for the Lodge to be more upfront about what they offer.

I have traveled all over the world and stayed at all different kinds of places. This was by far the worst experience I've ever had. They gave us the impression that we would all have either single rooms or a room with two twin beds. It was an unfortunate surprise when I walked in and saw that one of my room mates was having to sleep in the living room with no privacy what so ever. Only the bedrooms had ac units which they don't allow you to turn below 72 degrees. This was a huge issue because even when leaving the bedroom doors open for air circulation, the rest of the apartment would still be muggy and make you feel like you need to take shower. On my first day there I had to kill more flies than I had to in the past year. The bathroom doors have about a 5 inch gap between it and the floor giving you minimal privacy. The hot water wouldn't work unless you showered in the morning. Before we came, the owners, Doug and Glory gave us their word that the WIFI would be strong enough for all students to sufficiently attend their online zoom classes. Frankly, they knew it was not strong enough and just wanted our money. The first day I came, Glory was immediately being extremely hostile and rude. I didn't see this lady smile once over the course of three months. My friend left the door open one day by accident and you would not believe how cruel Glory was to him. He was a genuinely sweet kind hearted boy and kept apologizing and saying he wouldn't do it again. She continued to belittle him and went as far to say, "You're really stupid for someone who is in college!" Even after she had got her point across she continued to yell at him creating a scene.
Doug was sexist and would say many things that were not politically correct. When talking about the washing machines, he described them as "washing as well as an old indian woman." When giving instructions on the fire extinguishers he specifically said, " This is a fire extinguisher, most boys know how to use them and most girls don't." I thought he was being sarcastic at first but he continued on with these un-professional and disrespectful comments.
After spending thousands of dollars to stay there, we were treated as if we were a burden to them. In the rooms there was a scarcity of silverware and dishes which were extremely low quality. They then gave us a list of things at the end that needed to be in our apartments when we left, many of which weren't there to begin with. After the rough experience of staying there for three months, the rude owners made every person leave their room by 11 am. Many kids did not have flights till the night time and were forced to sit outside and wait even though Arnotts did not have any other guests coming that day. Two weeks after our small group of college students left, they sent out emails charging some rooms up to 1500$! Insanity. One of the rooms was charged 300$ because they had decorated their outside back wall with removable chalk. Something that can be easily washed away! Arnotts is a corrupt business with rude and unwelcoming hosts. The fines they gave out made it seem like we put holes in the walls and stained all the carpets. They saw the chance to upgrade their old run down facility and took it. The location is also too far from the town to walk so they would charge us 5$ a day to use their run down walmart bikes. The chains would constantly fall off. One time my friends chain fell off on his way back to the lodge and was still pretty far away. The bikes had to be back by 5 pm and even after my friend called and asked if Glory or someone could pick him up, she was the opposite of empathetic and snapped at him making him walk it back and still be back by 5 o'clock with no exceptions. Another friend of mine fell off her bike and her bike helmet broke, but to no surprise Glory made her pay for a brand knew bike helmet even tho It served no protection to my friend. If you are looking for a relaxing trip to Hawaii, you're looking in the wrong place and on the wrong side of the island. There is nothing at all to do at Arnotts lodge or anywhere near it. Homeless people walk by with their shopping carts and the entire area outside the lodge smells like sewer water. If you sat in any chair in the common areas, it would either be soaked in lysol or covered in fire ants. My girlfriend sat on one of the couches and got a huge rash on her leg which we later learned had happened to our other friend previously. Over all I am extremely disappointed with the way I was treated and disappointed that this business tries to get every dollar out of you that they can. DO NOT STAY HERE! I REPEAT, DO NOT STAY HERE!