A family of 4 with 2 young children stayed for 4 days 3 nights.
Host: Howard communicated prior to check in and just before check out. He answered any questions we had in a timely manner.
Cleanliness: I was concerned at first due to recent reviews about cockroaches and almost considered cancelling. However, we did not want to cancel last minute. Despite having food in the kitchen garbage during the 3 nights stay, we did not encounter any bug issues with the exception of 2 mosquitoes.
House: The house was nicely decorated on the inside and host left plenty of amenities for guests to use. As previously mentioned in another review, we did not have adequate hot water for showering for a family of 4. Despite urging the children to have quick showers, the 4th person didn't have any hot water left to shower. AC and Wifi were good.
The host notified us on the day of arrival that the dryer was broken. We asked if it would be fixed before we leave and it was instead suggested that we use a laundromat close by. I was disappointed that the dryer was not going to be fixed promptly as hosts usually will try their best to fix any issues. One reason I choose airbnb is because of laundry. Otherwise, I could stay in a hotel instead. It took 2 days to hang dry our clothes. We were not going to spend our vacation sitting in a laundromat.
Location: The pro is that the house a block away from the centre of Hilo. You can easily walk to shops and restaurants. However, there was evidence of homelessness in the Hilo area and the location of the house (only in our opinion with small children) seem to be not a great neighbourhood. We opted to drive rather than walk even if it was a block away.
Conclusion: While the house was nice and clean, we would opt to stay in a different neighbourhood even if it's farther away from the town centre.