Where do I begin? Inna's place is located nicely and there are some definite positives about staying there. Inna is responsive and communicative. You can review details below of my account, but in the end, it just wasn't the right place for me or my family. First, the place is a small (430 sq ft) unit. When you add the kitchen, it's like being in a small hotel room. It is a place for a single person or couple. I was there with my wife and son, and we felt cramped. It did inspire us not to be in the apartment very often. We would leave by 10 AM and come back at 8ish each night. The terrace is kind of useless (tiny). Also, I have pictures for all the things below, but I don't see an option to upload.
Also, I had to work 3 days and went across the street to the hotel restaurant, the apartment is too small to work for any kind of extended period.
Pro's:
1. The location is wonderful. You are right at the Marina and can walk to the west end of Waikiki beach in minutes. There is an ABC store across the street as well as restaurants close.
2. Although Inna and I did not agree on some things, her communication is good. She is responsive and does want to accommodate her guests.
3. It's a good value compared to other places in Waikiki.
4. It is remodeled, and you can tell they did put some work into it. The Air Conditioning (AC) blows cold, and the fans are nice. The kitchen is nice and the LVP flooring is nice as well.
Cons (this is my 10th AirBnB stay + another 10 on VRBO and this is my first negative review):
1. When you walk into the place, you get the musty smell. Now, the apartment is older, so you can expect that.
2. It was dirty, I have many pictures, but I do not see a way to upload these. The stove top was just gross, the handles on the kitchen were greasy, the pillowcase I slept on smelled musty, the bed sheet had sand on it, the hide-a-bed had dirt all over the top of the mattress (when I pulled it out for my son to sleep on). The bathtub needs a good cleaning. The counter tops in the kitchen looked fine, but as soon as you touched them, you could feel bumps of residue.
3. The mattress was lumpy, although I did get used to it.
4. The furniture is super cheap (in the "living area"). It's not meant to be used for long periods.
To be completely fair and transparent, Inna did try and have a cleaning crew come in, but honestly, I just wanted to leave. I contacted Inna the first morning we were there (we didn't get to the condo until around midnight) and told her that I was not happy and would like to check-out. I offered to pay for two days and the AirBnB fee. She did try and accommodate us by offering to send cleaning back in as well as purchase new linens. Again, I just wanted out of the place. It really needed about 3-4 hours at least of deep cleaning. We went back and forth for a while, but I finally gave in when she replied with this comment:
"FYI, our family of 5 also uses Airbnb for traveling, and i'm here to tell you that not all places we ever stayed at were up to my cleanliness standards. In fact, only a few i didn't have to do anything there myself. if you want to spend less money, it is just the nature of the business when you're not staying in a hotel and there is no consistency with cleaning level across the board. we understand this process, it's limitations and the efforts that go behind people's work to provide travelers with alternative to hotels accommodations. I wish all our hosts were as accommodating to us as we are to our guests. Once we stayed in a condo where i had to replace all pillows and spent hours of my vacation time washing with bleach the rest of the linens so the stains on it would finally come off. so, i do get it and things do happen in life, but we didn't make a huge deal out of it and certainly didn't cancel our reservation because the cleaners didn't do their job 100%.".
To be frank, I really did not care about her personal experiences. Also, her comment about making a "huge deal out of it" really got me going. At this point it was obvious we did not see eye to eye. It was her right to not give me a refund or allow me out of my contract, so my only recourse was to either eat $1400 or stay and give the most honest review I could. I hope this review sounds fair, it is not my intent to hurt anyone's business, but I feel that I had to be open for other renters’ sake.