We stayed from 2/5/22 to 2/14/22. The condo was in a very nice location in Poipu. It was equipped with modern appliances and AC. My guest and I love coming to Hawaii to snorkel and enjoy time in nature, so it was nice to be able to cook at home and wash our clothes. We paid a premium for the comfort of home away from home.
On the third morning of our stay, we discovered 2 large holes 2 bananas that we had purchased the night before. It had been less than 8 hours. Once we examined the holes, we knew there were rats in the condo. We informed Cynthia immediately with a photo of the bananas, and to our surprise, she knew right away that the rats were back. We have the entire conversation in text with Cynthia admitting that the condo had a rat issue just 3 weeks prior to our arrival. She disclosed that they had taken measures such as trimming the trees outside the lanai and set traps, but didn't mention that they had caught anything. We were appalled to hear that she continued to host guests knowing that there was a rodent problem. Had we known, we would've stayed elsewhere. She told us that the previous guests had reported chewed screendoors as the reason for the rats' entry. She also insinuated that we had left the sliding doors open allowing the rats to get in. We're responsible travelers who care about other people's properties wherever we stay, especially in tropical places like Hawaii as we do not want mosquitoes, bugs, etc. to enter the condo. We found that accusation to be insulting, actually.
We expressed that we were uncomfortable with strangers entering our private space when we were away, especially during a pandemic, but Cynthia wanted to send pest control into our condo. We had morning activities booked for most of our stay, so accommodating her request would've meant canceling our excursion without refunds. I was debating with my guest whether or not we should try to find another place last minute. However, finding a place with everything we needed in the same location wasn't possible. Everything was already booked or out of budget at that point. The thought of losing a whole day to pack and move was also daunting.
We made every effort to not have any food out. We used bag clips for our chip bags and enclosed them in another bag. Unfortunately, the rats still got to the hurricane popcorn. On 2/10/22 evening, we witnessed a rat about the size of a football scurry across the living room. It ran from the loveseat and disappeared under the entertainment/media stand. We had to santize every surface, and I even contemplated sleeping in the car that evening. We called Cynthia, and again, she made it seem like it was our fault for letting the rats in. She apologized the next morning, but at that point, we were so jaded by our experience. Fortunately, my guest had a solo activity on 2/11/22 morning, so I obliged to let pest control in to set traps. For about 2+ hours, I had to hang around the condo to give information about the rats and relayed messages from Cynthia to Solomon (pest control). He investigated and determined that the rats probably got in through the hole in the wall on the lanai storage closet. Whoever installed the AC left a hole, although it was patched on the side of the condo, there was space between the closet and condo wall. Solomon told me that a rat only needs a hole the size of your thumb to get in. After I told Cynthia about the hole, she asked if I could stay and wait for her handyman, Jeff, to come and patch it up.
We paid $400+ per night (with cleaning fee included) to live with rats for 10 nights. In the end, Cynthia refunded us $292, the base rate! It was a joke of an offer, but we really didn't want to spend any more time out of our vacation to dispute back and forth. We had already lost so much time with texts, phone calls, and time with the entire ordeal. We expected tropical pests like cockroaches, lizards, mosquitoes, but never did we expect to live with wild rats on the first vacation we took in 3 years. We've been to third-world countries without ever having rodent issues. By the way, there were cockroaches in the shower stalls. This was not the luxury condo experience we expected.
All the towels in the condo smelled like sour urine and were over-used. The washer needed to be rinsed with vinegar as it also had a moldy smell. The bedding for the sofabed was old and smelly.
We noticed in the guestbook that there were guests back to back from 3 weeks prior. That's not nearly enough time to eradicate a rat population living in the walls with full access to plumbing pipes. She should've vacated the unit to handle the infestation thoroughly before renting it to the next guest. I was still in Poipu for a few more days after our stay at the condo. I ran by one morning along the coast and saw that the unit had lights on, so it was rented out right after we left. I doubt the cleaning crew left the traps there. No rats were caught with the traps by the time we left.
We texted Cynthia the night before and asked for 12 PM checkout so that we could shower after our morning activity. She read the text immediately, but the next morning told us that it was too late for her to adjust the schedule with the cleaning staff. This was also disappointing as we accommodated her by wasting our time to deal with her pest problem, but she couldn't even attempt to give us an extra hour. Again, we didn't want to waste our time arguing with her,