I can’t recall a time before now that I’ve left a negative review but here it is:
We arrived promptly @ 3 pm and entered the room. Had I not punched in the code myself I wouldn’t have believed I was in the correct rental. It looked nothing like the pictures and the curtains were drawn; a poor attempt to reduce the heat.
Upon arrival I did know that the a/c wasn’t available between 5am-9pm but what I didn’t know was how unbelievably hot the unit got in the afternoon. It is direct sun and you have to pull the curtains in an attempt to stay cool if you’re there anytime between 1 and sunset. I had to actually get ready for our luau in the jeep because it was so hot I just sweat after getting out of the shower. I’m also a person who enjoys an afternoon nap after being at the beach all day; that was not possible.
The next issue was the roaches. I’ve been to the islands many, many times since 2014 and have never dealt with an issue this bad. I ended up buying Raid at the grocery store so my room always had the aroma of pesticides. On the second night I made the mistake of leaving an ice cream dish on the bedside table while I was in the bathroom and came back to a roach in the bowl. That’s when I had more than I could take. I messaged Susan immediately regarding the a/c & the bugs. She responded the next day and apologized for the inconvenience and told me they had bombed prior to my stay. She gave me free a/c for the remainder of my stay but at that point I wasn’t comfortable in there. In her response she stated that she was grateful to be able to share her million dollar view with guests but in my opinion a view is only worth a million dollars if you can actually enjoy it. Between the curtains always having to be closed, the amount of people poolside in front of the window, & the bugs it left little to love.
I attempted to find another place but couldn’t locate one that would accommodate the short amount of days we had left so I made the best of an awful situation.
I kept raid by the bed, slept with the lights on, never used the kitchen, & frequently used beach bathrooms to change clothes (or the car).
At the end of our stay we received our departure instructions which asked us to rate the unit like an Uber/Lyft and not a Hilton. I found that kind of a strange request but I took some time to do just that & what I can say is out of every AirBnB I’ve stayed in on 4 of the Hawaiian islands this one was the most disappointing and at over $300/night I think it’s preposterous to be required to spend more on a/c when other rentals include it and to have to deal with bugs crawling 12 inches from where you lay your head. I wish I could say something more positive because Hawaii truly is a magical place but I have never been happier to go home which is completely heartbreaking. I got married there, my moms ashes were spread there, and I attended 2 of my dearest friends weddings in Hawaii. I tell everyone I know that they need to experience Hawaii at least once in their life.. just maybe stay down the road from Magic Sands so that you can relax.