Kalo Terrace Student Suites, honolulu-hi

Copied from my Yelp review I stayed at Kalo during my semester abroad and satisfied enough that I decided to stay there for another two months through the summer. Maybe the other reviews are outdated but I want to help other exchange students know their options. Building and facilities: The building is old but has been well-maintained. It's a lot cleaner than any of my friend's dorms on campus that I've seen - especially if you keep it clean. In 7 months there (including summer), I saw literally 5 cockroaches and most of them were dead and outside, except one tiny one in our apartment. However, lino kitchen floors and stove are hard to clean. You can hear noise from outside but hardly anything between apartments or rooms, although you can hear if you stand in the hall outside the room. I had a pretty good breeze coming through my apartment and with two fans in the room, it was pretty livable, even in summer. The rooms are a good size, especially if you have a single room. Location: Right off lower campus. I had to walk at least 10 minutes to get to class, but that's nothing. I liked being able to escape the campus atmosphere after classes. It's near lots of grocery stores and restaurants, convenient bus stops to get to town or the beach. There were some homeless living nearby but as of summer 2019 there were much fewer. I wouldn't say it's much more dangerous than most places in Honolulu or on campus. It's not advisable to go out alone at night anywhere anyway. The building itself is gated and pretty safe. RAs: Most of the RAs were very friendly and helpful. I found that they took having a 24-hour on-call RA seriously. When I had problems with drunk people making noise just outside the gate on the Study Hall (bar)'s "Thirsty Thursdays" in the early morning, the RAs were quick to handle the situation and someone went out to talk to them, security cameras were checked if the people had gone, etc. They will enforce the rules, especially to keep the building safe (thank you thank you thank you). The RAs are helpful even just for everyday questions I had, and I really appreciated that as an exchange student. Maintenance: Super good. Living in student housing, where previous residents probably didn't take good care of stuff, things inevitably broke down. All you have to do is make a fix-it request on the website (pretty easy). Plumbing problems like a leaking kitchen sink and clogged bathtub drain were fixed within the day. I got a new fan within a couple working days. I was concerned about pests when I moved in, they had pest control come in and take a look right away. They didn't find any, but it made me feel a lot better. The building gets sprayed pretty regularly anyway. I was notified in advance if any work would be done in the apartment. The maintenance staff I happened to run into were nice and unobtrusive as possible. Management: Replies quickly on working days and helpful if you have any questions. For international students, you can ask for virtual tours. If you need something, just ask. I had an easy time getting extra days to accommodate my flight schedule, early check-in and late check-out. Also, you won't be charged for anything that was there before you came in because you fill in a check-list of what's good and where there's damage to the apartment when you check in. Events: You pay for it, so make good use of them :) I enjoyed the ones I went to. One-thing though: you should read the contract before moving in. The most important things (payment, what's refundable and what's not, other possible fees) are clear but some rules are outdated and in the process of being changes/clarified, definitely ask questions if you have any. For example, you don't need to give move-out notice in advance to get your security deposit back. I found that really confusing at first. However, they give a list of rules that's a lot clearer when you move in. Overall, I needed privacy and a kitchen, so Kalo was well worth it for me.

I enjoyed my time here, it is a good deal for the price with a single. Good things: - A short walk to UH Manoa campus, 5 minutes through lower campus and you are at the law school, so 10-15 and you are anywhere in upper campus. - Really close to a lot of restaurants, a few bars frequented by students, a post office, UH athletic facilities, etc.... 24/7 7/11 a block away is great - Pool is well maintained - Laundry on site is convenient and there are plenty of machines (although they are still all coin operated) - Bugs were never a problem - Communication with staff was good and they returned my security deposit promptly after I moved out. "Bad" things: - There is noise from the freeway, if you can't deal with that you might have trouble sleeping. Some rooms have better windows than others for completely sealing to block some of the noise. - There are some homeless that live in the area, permanent camps that are set up near the underpass get dismantled pretty frequently by authorities though. They were never any trouble for me, those I met tend to keep to themselves. - Some furniture is getting to the end of its lifetime and should probably be replaced.

I had an outstanding experience at Kalo Terrace Student Housing, and I owe it all to the fantastic team there. From the moment I moved in, they made sure I felt right at home. The facilities were always clean and well-maintained, creating a comfortable and safe environment. I love their quarterly sprays for bugs because I am not a big fan of bugs. Plus, its proximity to UH Manoa and food places , the grocery store, 7-Eleven, Pieology, and coffee spots made it extremely convenient. The resident advisors were also incredibly prompt in answering any questions I had. I couldn't have asked for a better place to stay during short stay here, and it's all thanks to the exceptional service provided by Kyli, Joe, RA and Maintenance team and the wonderful location of Kalo Terrace.

I lived in Kalo for more than a year and really enjoyed my stay. It's a nice place where you will have your own personal place and the RAs are friendly and helpful.

I'd give this place a solid 0.5/10. The reason why I rate it so low is that: 1) Sewage leak. The toilet started over flowing when I was taking shower, and the floor below was getting all the sewage water from the ceiling, and we couldn't use the toilet and bathroom for 37 hours. 2) "Roach Terrace - Student Housing Rip-off". The roaches are every where. They crawl out of bathtub, sink, kitchen sink, and etc. One time, there was about 2 inch roach hiding under my pillow, although I don't keep and bring ANY food in my room! AND the company doesn't pay for pest control, so you have to do your part. I keep about 4 roach traps in my room, and still find them on my bed and walls. 3) "The Great Ant Colonial Expansion." The kitchen is a highway for ants. They all coming from cracks in bathroom and gets into EVERYTHING in kitchen. Your plates and bowls are infested with ants and roaches. 4)" Fees, fees, fees, and fees!!!" I can't stress this enough. They charge extra EVERYTHING!! You have to pay for your mattress $400 when you move in. The security deposit is $800 and they only give you back $400 because other $400 is for the mattress. VERY nasty way to do business! AND they give you penalty fees for everything and those are absolutely ridiculous. And you have to sign this legal contract with them that make you binded, and you have to pay $1000 just to unbind your contract with them. So you can't move out even if you really want to. That's why I am still in this place... 5) Wifi outage. Wifi goes bad all the time, and it completely shuts down for several hours or even a day! The whole building loses connection to the internet and they still call it "student housing"??? 6) Room is literally an oven. I live on the fourth floor and the sun is hitting this thin layered concrete for a whole day, and the room becomes a literal oven. I'd say it heats up close to in a car on a hot day. They did terrible job for their construction because they wanted to save little bit of money. It is like a torture in here. They recently added another fan in the room but they make it even HOTTER, because it is blowing a hot air on you so you sweat more. You can keep your door and front door open but there are people here waiting to steal stuff... 7) Noise. You live right next to H1 freeway, so don't expect quiet and peaceful sleep. You'll be waken up when all the trucks and cars going to work in the morning. 8) Security. I gave 0.5/10 because they have CCTV and remote garage door. But when you see the resident assistance in the office, they are not watching the cameras. And those qualities are so bad that they can't even recognize faces at the night. Also there are bunch of homeless right outside of the apartment, and they come to find useful stuff from our gabage. So ladies you might wanna be with your friend or have defense tools, because they are always right by the gate and entrance. And police rarely patrols by our street, so don't expect them to come.