The location of this airbnb is nice as you can walk right out to the beach and it is just a short drive from Hanalei town. It's not a swimming beach though but lovely for a morning walk. Heads up on the offer to upgrade to the house - we got "upgraded" at an additional cost to the house which is next door the studio bnb that was advertised. We regret saying yes to the house. While large, we didn't need the extra space and we were expecting something similar to the few photos provided of the studio, but the house has significant wear and tear and pretty worn down decor. In short, it was misleading to arrive at this house that we paid more for, expecting something similar to the nice photos of the studio and feeling duped. We were not expecting extreme rust on the doors, dampish old brown carpet, salt and muck on the windows, stale coffee, or...giant flying cockroaches. We saw a couple of roaches prior to even using the kitchen. Of course, when one is in tropical weather, bugs are to be expected and we were ok with the ants and geckos, but my wife was squeamish around the roaches and felt uncomfortable even cooking in the kitchen or using the common area. If you too are wary about this possibility, this is a heads up.
Since there is no A/C at this place, you rely on the open windows with screens for ventilation but that increases humidity in the house which is too welcoming an environment for roaches. On the first night we relied on leaving the screen door to the upstairs bedroom open to cool the room however upon noticing there were big tears on the screen door we kept the door closed for the next few nights. For a place that asks you to leave your shoes at the door to not bring sand in, but then offers run down carpet that is almost damp to the touch, and no welcoming touches at all, we felt we paid extra for a sub-par place. Yes the beach is right there, but an airbnb should feel like a home away from home, and we didn't feel comfortable inside the house. We would not return to this bnb.