The Haleakala Princess Cottage was a very mixed bag for us and the first vacation rental where we had such an experience.
First: the good. The grounds and the area are beautiful. The landscaping in particular is well maintained and a pleasure to look at. The cottage itself has some nice, unique features like bifold doors that really open up the space. The décor is pleasant, if uninspired. A big plus was that the beach amenities like towels, toys, chairs, and boards were all there for our use. Cathy responded to all our messages promptly.
The location in Kula is ideal for visiting the Haleakala Summit and for simply getting away from the swathes of tourists around Maui. At 3,000 feet it was nice to enjoy the cool night air and take in a beautiful, starry night sky.
All around, this place is a good value as you're unlikely to find decent two bedroom rentals around Kula near this price.
Now: the bad. When we arrived there was no soap in the showers, no paper towels in the kitchen, and no extra toilet paper. We mentioned it all to Cathy and she had the caretaker, Norm, send over the necessities. Not a huge deal, but also not exactly a wonderful start when you've been travelling for 16 hours and expect at least the necessities to be in place.
The unit is also not as private as we thought. From the master bedroom window, a main house bedroom is about 10 ft away. We didn't open the blinds on that side to give ourselves privacy, as well as allowing the guests in the main house to have some privacy. The description also mentions that there are two houses on the property. There are actually three: this cottage, a larger rental home, and an owner's unit. While the parking and entrances for the two rental units are separate, the walkway from the main house parking to the main house is only a few feet away from the cottage which can make for some awkward encounters even when you're inside if you keep the doors and windows open.
The grill was filthy. The flavorizer bars are completely corroded and the bottom is coated in grease. When I tried to grill the one time, the flare-ups completely decimated my meal. The side burner was also dirty. It's unfortunate as it is a good Weber grill that works great when maintained. I didn't mention this to Cathy as fixing something like that takes time (ordering parts, someone coming out to fix/clean, etc.) and it was our second to last night there.
We had an issue where the landscapers blocked the sensor on our gate with a block of wood. That meant that the gate did not automatically close behind us and that it was left open for a night. Kula isn't Chicago, where I'm from, so it isn't as big of a security risk, but it was still unsettling to find our gate open in the morning.
Finally, the hot tub didn't heat up for us. The outdoor lights by the hot tub also didn't light up. The listing and rules claim that they do maintenance on the hot tub weekly on Tuesdays, but we tried using ours on a Thursday with no luck. We called the after hours number provided and they said that they would try and fix it the next morning. Unfortunately, we were checking out the next morning. So, no hot tub for us on this trip (even though the title mentions the hot tub prominently). Cathy mentioned that guests sometimes access the fuse box and turn off the outdoor lights to see the stars better. That's fine, but then they should lock the box or at least check that the switches are all turned on when transitioning from one guest to another.
Because of all this and a few other small things that aren't even worth mentioning in comparison, we felt like we had a very cold experience at the cottage. My wife and my kids both agreed. It was unfortunate and enough that we wouldn't stay at this property again nor would we stay at a Maui Vacation Rentals property.
Even though it seems like there was a lot more bad than good, don't take the negative as harsh as it may seem as this is a 3-star review. Cathy and Norm were never rude and they were communicative, but unfortunately our experience had too many things go wrong for it to be considered positive.