I did not want to post a negative review of this place. Due to the great location (walking distance to shopping and great restaurants) and the included extras (beach chairs, boogie board, beach toys), I am giving this place 2 stars.
The first night we arrived, we noticed windows were open in the house, which wouldn’t have been a problem, but there were no window screens. I really want to believe that the bugs came in through that.
However, I grabbed a pair of scissors out of the utensil drawer and saw two small-medium sized cockroaches. I immediately messaged the host and he came knocking with a fly swatter in hand and got rid of the bugs (also showed me a can of Raid underneath the sink). The host also joked that we don’t have bugs/insects where we are from (We do. We’re from Texas, the roaches are outside the home, not inside). Everyone has bugs however, Airbnb hosts are set to a certain standard. I knew then, we weren’t using anything in the kitchen. By the back bedroom nightstand, I saw a dry, shriveled up colored-contact lens (took a pic of it). My husband found odd hairs on the white towels by the bathroom. This Airbnb was not clean.
The next morning, I saw black ants by the coffee maker. The following night at 11pm, a huge tree roach was in our bedroom. We did not stay the full length of what we paid for (stayed 2 out of the 3 nights) and that was pushing it.
I am really trying to keep in mind that perhaps the Hilo tropical area, just happens to bring in more bugs than normal. But roaches, inside the utensil drawer and then in our bedroom? Nope.