This was our experience for a ten-day/nine-night stay first two weeks of February 2020:
Our total price was more than $200/night due to Hawaii taxes (GET and TAT of 14.75%); airbnb fee of $184 and cleaning fee of $65. We understand current AirBnb policy is that occupancy tax needs to be listed in the AirBnb ad post and collected separately from the rental fee. The price also dropped from $159/night when we reserved to $125/night (possibly due to the factors below). We were not offered a refund or adjustment which I can understand, however, would have been a nice consideration.
Per prior reviews, this is a ‘no frills’ room in a duplex in a good location with a temperature problem; the reason the room gets so hot (we had highs in the 70-80 range and lows in the 60’s) is because it is the only room in either duplex that has both of the long walls shared with the garages for each duplex. The heat collects all day from the hot sun (no shade) on/in these garages and then seeps through the shared walls into the bedroom until 3-4AM when it finally has dissipated enough to cool off. The two days it rained most of the day, the room was cooler. If you turn the ceiling fan on high, there is an annoying loud squeaking, so we kept it on low speed. To reach the control strings on the ceiling fan one must stand on the bed unless they are quite tall. I would avoid renting this unit any time other than Dec-Feb as you will be very hot unless the owner agrees to use the central AC. Due to the noise, the portable AC unit and fan were not options for us, plus the weather was cool enough to manage with the ceiling fan.
The furniture has been changed from the photos. The nice coffee table is gone and so are the nicer linens and nightstands. The only drawers in the unit are small single drawers in each bedside table (no dresser or chest of drawers). One luggage stand. Closet is small and half filled with the mini-fridge on a stand. No chair; no clock.
No cable; we chose to not log onto Netflix; watching sports or news does not appear to be an option. The wifi worked fine for us. Only garbage in unit is a 1 gallon garbage container in the bathroom. Eight inches of counter space on each side of the sink in the bathroom.
Quiet hours in reality were 11pm until 7AM; loud (right outside the patio door) yard work equipment is running shortly after 7AM; crying baby from the next house woke us our first night at 3:30AM; hosts partying until 11pm with friends a different night. This didn’t bother us, but might bother others. Very quiet neighborhood through the night.
You can hear almost everything between this room and the rest of the unit; this includes toilet flushing, cooking, cleaning, talking (including much of what is being said), etc. There is a second bedroom that shares the lanai (second identical patio door perpendicular to ours), however, the hosts parents, staying in that room, did not use the lanai and tried to be respectful of our privacy in the close quarters. That bedroom as well as the rest of the unit appears to have opening windows to help with cross ventilation and cooling.
We were given a total of four basic bath towels for the two of us for the nine nights (ten days) and no offer of second set of sheets. A very small shampoo and conditioner tube plus tiny bar of soap were provided. Not a problem for us as we brought our own.
The carpet is in good condition and good quality, although a tile floor would be much cooler and more serviceable. The location works to walk to the beach and to nice resorts/restaurants which is where we spent our vacation. It is a 15-30 minute walk depending on which resort/beach you walk to. The beach club access also provides closer parking to the beach if a shorter walk is desired. We did not use the BBQ area in the complex as the room is not equipped with any cooking utensils (we left the knife we bought). We did bring our small Breville Nespresso coffee maker and this worked great for our morning coffee.
Sadly, the main reason we would not return is the mattress, sleeping couch and pillows. The Serta Perfect Sleeper Royal Suite Supreme II mattress is shown in online reviews to not hold up. This mattress has already died. Sags, lumpy, way too soft and you can feel every movement of your sleeping partner. Pillows are also lumpy; not high quality linens. The ‘sleeper couch’ is overly firm. We have traveled the world; over a dozen times to Hawaii and over six times to the Big Island; this is the second worst mattress that I have ever slept on. The host may not be aware. Our host was pleasant and friendly in our interactions. We may have simply expected too much.