My husband and I recently stayed at Nani’s home for a week - it was the best AirBnb experience that we’ve ever had...and we’ve had many.
Nani and her husband Joe are the most generous and hospitable hosts imaginable. Throughout the week, they offered us fresh food from their garden, and encouraged us to pick herbs and fruit from their trees. Joe and Nani were available to provide excellent guidance regarding the area. And Joe, who loves to barbecue, would occasionally volunteer to barbecue our food.
The property is an idyllic, small working farm with chickens, cows, a pond stocked with fish as well as a super friendly and obedient dog. It was so delightful to wake up in the mornings and look out over the tranquil landscape while drinking our coffee on the very comfortable covered patio under which is the outdoor dining table, BBQ and large jacuzzi (terrific after a day trekking about) - all of which is shared with the hosts.
It is located about half way between downtown Hilo and the Volcano National Park (approx 25 minutes to each). The last 1/2 mile of road is rutted and unpaved but can definitely be managed in a regular rental car (which is what we had) although a 4WD would be even better in order to experience some of the less accessible activities on this side of the Island.
The large AirBnb unit is the self contained bottom floor - Nani & Joe live upstairs with each having its own separate entrance. In the unit there is a spacious living room with a pool table (that converts to a ping-pong table), a sauna that we didn't take advantage of, an indoor dining table and two comfortable bedrooms. Everything is quite clean and the water pressure was uniformly good. The kitchen is well equipped and very easy to cook in - if there is anything that is missing (and that wouldn't be much) or that we forgot to pick up at the store, Nani ran upstairs and gave us hers. We are avid home cooks so having a good kitchen was very important to us, especially since there understandably is not much commerce nearby.
Overall, we enthusiastically recommend Nani and Joe’s home for an escape to a rural and comfortable wonderland.
Note: Be sure to follow Nani's directions, GoogleMaps takes you very far out of the way to a dead end.