Volcano House

The rooms are outdated. Listen to the other reviews about dinner at the rim. My husband and I both got steaks and they weee inedible. They seemed cooked from frozen, and were too tough to eat. But of course people come for the view and not the food. We happened to book on an eruption weekend. It was spectacular. All of the staff were amazing except for Leah, the staff manager. I was purchasing some cards from the gift shop to send to relatives. I asked a very nice, helpful worker a question. Leah jumped into the conversation from a few feet away to say, “not to be rude but…” and then proceeded to be rude. I asked the nice worker if the other woman was new. She said, no Leah is the manger. If Leah treats guests this was I can’t imagine how she treats the staff. Leah shouldn’t be in a customer facing role. If anyone on staff is being mistreated by this woman, speak up to the owners. You deserve better.

We spent 2 nights here over Memorial Day weekend. Located in Hawaii Volcanos National Park, you’re on the crater rim and so close to all the trails. The pros: 1) staying in the park means you can easily walk steam vent bluffs or sulfur banks before breakfast and have the trail mostly to yourself. 2) The breakfast buffet is delicious, affordable and view of the crater is amazing!! 3) you’ll definitely see native birds zipping by as you’re enjoying you’re omelet. 4) there is complimentary coffee in the mornings in the lobby 5) the sitting area overlooking the crater is the perfect place to enjoy your complementary coffee Cons: 1) parking can be hard to find at peak times and during eruptions 2) the daytime front desk woman is very unfriendly to locals (we thought she might be having a bad week, until we saw her being so nice to tourists- yikes!) 3) the room we had was pretty dusty and could use a deep cleaning.

I'm originally from Hawaii and have been to the Volcano Park several times over the years. We decided to stay in Volcano during our last trip to the Big Island in late March 2026 and spent 2 nights at the Volcano House. All in all, we enjoyed our stay very much. Ambience: We've stayed in NPS accommodations before and the Volcano House had the same nostalgic, mid-century feel, which we enjoyed. The registration, restaurant and cleaning staff were all friendly and efficient. Room: Our room was large and sunny, with a lanai area and a super convenient refrigerator, where we stored fruit and lunch supplies we brought with us. WIFI was fine. Food options: We ate dinner at both the restaurant and bar, and had the restaurant breakfast buffet and they were all fine. The restaurant in particular is pricey but there are no other restaurant options in the park and they were very busy in the evenings. Convenience: Staying in the park allowed us to explore areas early and late in the day without the tourist hordes. Things to note: • There are no TVs anywhere except the bar, which doesn’t open until lunch. This usually isn’t a problem for us, but the college basketball playoffs were on when we were there and my husband wanted to watch an early game. (WIFI was strong enough in our room to watch on his phone.) • It got jeans and sweatshirt cold at night while we were there, though the room had pretty adequate heating. Bring a rain jacket, as it gets foggy/rainy, particularly in the morning. • As others have mentioned, the NPS visitor center, located across the street from the hotel, is currently closed, with some parking blocked off. Because the hotel doesn't reserve parking for hotel guests, it's extremely hard to find parking during the day. The hotel recommended at check-in that we leave our car in the lot during the day. We did see that parking was challenging at many of the popular areas, especially at the lava tube. • The hotel is clearly a tour bus stop, and during the day buses are lined up disgorging tourists to use the restrooms and stretch their legs. The lobby area and restrooms are not large (women's lobby restroom has few stalls), resulting in long lines and hordes of people from morning through dinner. Make dinner reservations at the restaurant when you check in (the bar doesn’t take reservations), and stop by a grocery store on the way to the park.