In general, this is a nice condo and it met our needs. The building is pretty tired, and lacks some of the higher end finishes that newer construction could offer. The apartment itself was immaculately clean when we arrived, and had many amenities and nice touches—plenty of towels, snorkel gear, a pack-n-play for our baby to sleep in. The Murphy bed was a big difference maker for us—the bedroom was quite small and dark, and we preferred to be out with the ocean view, plus it gave a private room for the baby to sleep in.
There were a few negatives about the place, many of which were misconceptions on my part, which may be helpful for other travelers to be aware of. Firstly, the parking garage is a LIABILITY. The spaces are narrow and paired off between long columns, so it’s incredibly difficult to turn into a spot if another car is already parked next to it, and you won’t be able to open most of the doors after you park (in some cases the driver’s door too depending on the space). This made it difficult with a baby. I scraped up the front bumper on my rental because of a blind guard near the ground that extended 3-inches beyond the visible column. I could go on and on, but I’ll leave it at that.
The apartment was aesthetically a little dated—I think the drab tile flooring was the main thing that gave it a somewhat dingy feel. Some lighter/whiter colors for the decor and bedspreads could cheer up the place. Again, that’s more of a taste/mood preference on our part. We looked into another unit that had been updated and it gave off a much different vibe. The air conditioning unit was very noisy and annoying—the compressor kept buzzing every few seconds which I never quite got used to and made me want to tear my hair out from time to time. The owner said there wasn’t anything that could be done about that. The power also flickered out a couple times, which reset our baby’s noise machine and threw out the Internet briefly. It was not a major inconvenience, but an annoyance.
As for the location, the reason I booked the place was largely its proximity to downtown Laihana. What I found out was that it really was not walkable. For one thing, there’s very little shade in the summer heat. The bigger factor, however, was the lack of a continuous sidewalk and safe place to push a stroller. The immediate neighborhood lacked a little polish—the streets and adjacent homes were nice but a little neglected. It wasn’t quite the pretty neighborhood I was imagining.
The pool was nice, but what I didn’t realize was that the steps down to the ocean were not to a beach—they’re just steps directly into the water (or some slippery rocks jutting out of the water if the tide is low). So if you’re expecting to be able to walk down to a nice sandy beach as I did, you’re out of luck. Again, that was a bad assumption on my part, but one future travelers should not make.
In hindsight, I probably would have stayed in a different area. The perceived benefit of being able to walk into town or down to the beach wasn’t quite as feasible as I expected. Plus, given the difficulty of the parking garage, I dreaded the frequency with which I had to drive places. I’d probably look at places a little further north where the beach is nicer, or in the Kihei/Wailea area for a quieter stay.