We stayed here for a family vacation (all adults) for 5 nights over the New Year's holiday 2021. Overall, our stay in this adorable, roomy Hilo house was very nice, with a few *notes and caveats * below.
~ Location - The location is truly useful to get to amazing places like Volcanoes National Park, and there are many services nearby for shopping, groceries, gas, etc.
1) Amenities - While we enjoyed our overall stay, we had a few glitches with the amenities in the house.
~ Missing standard items - There were some standard items missing (hair dryers, can openers, sink plugs) which Anthony addressed when we drew his attention to them. In general, he was very responsive to us with questions we had, which we appreciated.)
2) Trash - The one notable inconvenience for the house was the trash. There are no outdoor bins for trash / recylcing that get collected. Anthony informed us only after we'd checked in that we would need to take the house trash to a transfer station about 2 milies from the house.
The trash Transfer Station is essentially a free local dump and requires you to transport your trash there in a car. We waited in a line of cars for 25 minutes to drop off our trash at the end of the stay, which wasn't a fun experience.
3) ** NOTE for those staying over New Year's holidays**
We were there at New Year's, and it's a time when many of the local residents set of their own large fireworks (you can purchase them on the island). We weren't aware of this local Big Island tradition prior to renting the property.
In addition to fireworks going off around the Hilo area, the neighbors on all sides of the house were setting off large, loud fireworks starting early on New Year's Even day, and all through the night. The explosions were quite loud and near our bedroom windows.
Fortunately, my family enjoyed the fireworks shows (really some amazing ones).
We were able to sleep (ear plugs also helped) but for those people who have family members who would be bothered by these loud noises, this may not be the property for you.