As I write this review, I am viewing the Maui Eco Retreat's listing showing a beautiful pond from the room's deck. My rule of thumb when arriving at a vacation accommodation is simply: Is it as described and depicted? In this case, it was not.
While awaiting our host, my wife started read a guestbook which contained comments made by previous guests who had stayed in the Lotus Room. Needless to say, the reviews were critical and concerning because the guests were so disappointed with their stay. This, coupled with the fact that the "pond" did not at all resemble the one shown on the website, was troubling. The water level had receded to expose a black plastic liner and no water was visible due to the entire surface being covered by weed-like vegetation.
Raphael arrived and went over a map of the property and house rules. Upon inquiring as to why there appeared to be no water in the pond, he explained that the pond had to be covered with water plants or guests would not be able to sleep due to croaking bullfrogs. While seated at the dining room table with Raphael, he received a phone call from guests that could not reach the retreat since they did not have a car and had been dropped off by bus at the community center in a nearby town. He was curt, twice repeating, "What do you want?", and requested that the inquiring guest give the phone to someone "that speaks English." He gruffly asked if the guests "had luggage", told them he would pick them up, hung up and with exasperation exclaimed, "Europeans!". All this transpired in the presence of a German couple who were in the kitchen within earshot.
My wife and I did not believe, after viewing the accommodations and the interaction with Raphael, that our stay at the retreat would result in a happy memory of Maui. Though we understood we would not be receiving any refund, we opted to find a more enjoyable place to stay. Since we had already paid for our 5 night minimum stay and did not desire another encounter with Raphael, we left with no regrets that same day we arrived (Wednesday). Kutria did reach out to us on Thursday (while we were out on a pre-scheduled, day-long sailing/snorkeling trip), so I contacted her the next morning. She was gracious and explained that if we had notified her immediately, she could have possibly rented our room and refunded a portion of our rental fee. I thanked her and stated, under the circumstances, we did not expect a refund.
We were fortunate to have had the financial means to seek an alternative to what we encountered at the Eco Maui Retreat. We are concerned other visitors may not have that option. This review recounts our experience. We hope it provides valuable information to help people make important decisions about their stay in beautiful Maui.