I've waited til the very end to write this review because I'm really conflicted about how I want to leave this. Let me start by saying that I have stayed at Aina Nalu before and really enjoyed the property. I was in a different unit, so based on that experience, I was really excited to see that this unit was available. Based on the pictures it looked great for our dates in Lahaina and quickly booked it. Booking was easy and check-in went smoothly. The location of the unit is great in that it is a first floor unit, and the backdoor opens steps from the saltwater pool. The unit is very tastefully decorated and very well-appointed. The kitchen had every tool you could need for cooking and it was great to see beach chairs, umbrella,s and a cooler available for use. The linens and towels were great quality and in excellent condition. The beds were very comfortable and there was lots of closet and drawer space to unpack. In addition to ceiling fans, there were air conditioning units in each room that were on timers which were very convenient and they worked well. The property is so conveniently located just 3 blocks from Front St which makes it very convenient to go downtown and not have to deal with parking. All of this was great.
Unfortunately, we were very disappointed in the cleanliness of the unit. We learned after booking that the cleaning deposit was $583. This is more than twice what most cleaning deposits are but knowing how nice this place was based on the pictures and my previous stay in another unit, I was willing to accept this charge. However; upon check-in, I was actually shocked at the condition of the unit. The floors had not been swept or vaccumed, and the blinds and ceiling fans were very dusty. The blinds in the bathrooms were pulled down and when we raised them there was lots of hair stuck to them and the windows in the secondary bathroom were filthy. Additionally in this bathroom there was a used shampoo container on top of the shower wall and worst of all, a dead cockroach in the middle of the floor. In the kitchen, the first bowl I reached for in the cupboard had dried on food. In the living room, the couch was stained.
We also should have had bracelets left for us to wear for using the pool per the check in instructions, unfortunately, they were not there and it took us multiple attempts to find someone who could give them to us.
We never had wifi. The SSID was not listed in the search and when we tried to add it, the SSID and password did not work. We reached out to the management group to help us with the wifi, and they responded quickly and told us to unplug the router and replug it in to reset it. We did this and it not only did not restore wifi, but also knocked out cable. Again we reached out to management and unfortunately, because it was the weekend, we did not hear back from the management company to resolve this. Eventually the cable resolved itself, but we never were able to connect to wifi.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay for many reasons, but the very high cleaning deposit made me think that the place would be immaculate and it fell very short of my expectation.