We had a lovely time at Koreen’s place. It’s remote, near a small town with lots of farms nearby. You’ll see goats, cows and hear the crows of roosters in the distance and the coqui frogs at night. The gardens are beautiful with all kinds of tropical flowers growing. We also saw banana trees, pineapple bushes and coconut. It really feels like you’re “away” from it all. On clear days, the night sky will blow you away.
Other pros- the house is clean, communication is swift and easy - Koreen is a wonderful host and accommodated most of our needs. The sauna is amazing. The screened in lanai was probably the best part of the place although I wish the table was bigger out there (can only accommodate 2 ppl). I’d say the house is best for 2 ppl or a couple with one other person. The kitchen is well stocked with pots/pans that are new and ceramic. We didn’t have a problem making multiple meals there (there’s a grocery store about 10 min away and a farmers market on Sun). Oh and there’s a heated toilet!
Location is about an hour from Hilo, close to a state park where we did a native plants self guided hiking tour that the kids were super into. There are a lot of great hikes in the park. It was about 1.5 hours from volcano National park.
The cons- The Murphy bed in the biggest room is not comfortable. Same with the pillows. I didn’t get the greatest sleep. The full size bed is pretty small and couldn’t accommodate our two kids. We used the futon fold out in the other room but it’s not designed to be a bedroom - no curtains - so our little one was up at the crack of dawn. Also the bathroom can only be accessed by a bedroom or the yoga room so if you’re using both rooms, you’ll have to creep by someone to use the bathroom (not great with kids). Also, there’s no ocean view from the house as claimed - you can see the ocean on the drive up but not from the house.
Overall, we had a good experience (pros>cons) and we made it work for a lovely Hawaiian vacation!