When we booked it was hosted by Jason but we were contacted by Brandi the entire time - she was lovely and informative and got back to us really quickly about issues we had when we first arrived.
The apartment is modern and stylish, exactly like the photos. We were very impressed when we arrived. The bed and pillows are amazingly comfortable and the curtains are all blackout (although the kitchen one leaves a gap so I used an eye mask once it got light outside). The air con is great.
The block is a bit dated but I believe is under renovations. This is only what I gather from notices that would appear in the lifts regarding water shut offs etc (this did not affect us as I would be during the day while we were out). Occasionally an elevator wouldn’t be working but there are three in total.
We weren’t informed of a private pool party the one day we decided to use the pool area. It happens every year, this time it was 13th July so I recommend you plan your day to not be at the pool. We were also knocked out of bed at 9:10 by security banging on the door constantly, to allow a maintenance guy to put some bug killer under the sinks. Again, we weren’t informed by the host, but saw a notice in the lift on the way back to the apartment the evening before but we were already full of drink so an early wake up with a hangover wasn’t great.
Both of these issues could have been relayed to us prior to them happening so we could arrange our days better.
The block itself is a 10-15 min walk (with waiting for crossings) away from the closest beach, Waikiki beach was just a little further, so quite a good location. We got Uber’s to certain places (diamond head, and the aquarium for a luau) as they were cheaper than the little trams that went around but we didn’t try the local buses.
We had breakfast in the cafe downstairs once and it was lovely. We also got food a few times in the burger and sushi place and loved it.
Nearby, try cheeseburgers and the attached Waikiki brewery; food was very good and the special brews were lovely to try.
We saved money on activities by using trip advisor to book snorkelling with turtles and surfing lessons and both were amazing experiences. Just a note; at the moment Manoa Falls is closed through the week for maintenance and no one seemed to know this (even the Uber driver was surprised as she dropped us off). We were told it was open on weekends still, but falling rocks had forced the maintenance.
Altogether this place is an absolute bargain for Waikiki. Because your facing the mountains you see so many rainbows! The views are stunning and don’t compare to anywhere I’ve been before. The apartment itself is clean, bright, spacious and impressive, hopefully the block will catch up in the near future. We would definitely stay again!