My friend and I really enjoyed staying at Marlene's place. We were looking for something in downtown Hilo so we could have an easy drive to the Volcano and also just checkout some spots on the NE and SE side of the big island. It was as described and we liked how close it walking distance to shops/restaurants.
We even ran into Marlene one day and chatted with her for a while. She had so many great recommendations--like going to see the volcano at night. So glad we listened to her because we ended up staying at the Volcano until it got dark and we did not regret it. The view was so much better at night vs. during the day and we lucked out that it became active a day before our arrival so there was a lot to admire.
Only downside was that it can be loud since it is downtown. We only noticed it really loud one night when some man somewhere downtown was disturbed and screamed f-bombs between 1230am-530am. That happens in Seattle too, though and it was only an issue 1 evening.