When we arrived, there was immediately a concern because another woman inside the elevator with us coming down to complain that there was no hot water. She had switched rooms 3 times by the time we had arrived.
When we got to the counter, I was told they had no received any information from our host. After a few minutes of panic, they finally found the keys and paperwork. It was concerning that they immediately specified any issues we had fell on our host and only our host, meaning our water issue was not something that could be addressed by them except for “we’ll see if the water is fixed.”
It was also listed that there would be a laundromat downstairs. Upon our arrival, we had pieces that needed to be clean, so we were relieved that could be run downstairs after our long flight. All of the machines were broken, and according to the lobby, had been broken since the night before.
We immediately contacted the host and Airbnb support as we needed to shower. We were told to give them an hour to wait and see our host’s response. She immediately contacted us and told us she would check and then that she would FULLY refund us as we had (at this point) only been there for an hour and a half. She sent me the refund that only covered the rest of our nights, meaning we were still charged $200+ for a night we would not be staying. I pointed this out and she said she would send me the rest of the refund when I agreed to the adjustment. Taking her at her word, I accepted and we packed up to leave.
Once we arrived at our new accommodations at around 3pm (we had arrived at our Airbnb around 12pm), I received a message from support and the host saying the rest of my refund would not be processed as there was hot water and the laundromats were not something she could control, despite the fact that she had already stated that she would in fact fully refund us since we had only been there 2 hours.
For some travelers, the positives might outweigh the bad: the Airbnb was clean (scuffed up and slightly damaged, but clean), the area was convenient, parking was fine and comparable to pricing in the area, and the price was much lower than what would be in this area of Hawaii. I will also add that the host allowed us to check in early, which was a welcome surprise after our flight.
For me, however, I felt (at least for the days we were staying), the appliances and facilities would not be reliable, and since all of our issues would be up to our host, there was minimal that could be done to alleviate the situation. Instead of trying to stress ourselves out going back and forth, we decided to remove ourselves and felt the host was dishonest in saying she would fully refund us but did not. Had she said upfront she would still charge us for the night or because of the cleaning fee, it would be a different discussion. Airbnb support was also not very helpful as they said it would be up to the host since hot water had apparently been fixed by the time she arrived (unsure about the laundromat).
In all, this room was exactly what you would expect from the price. If you only plan to be in the room to sleep, then you have exactly what you need: a bed.