Our stay should have been from 6/26-7/3 but we left the morning of 6/27.
First, all the positives. Thomas’ apartment is as described. It is stylish and the tiki decor is accurate. Thomas had great communication with us and took care of a couple of issues right away. Our original checkin time was for 4pm and Thomas was very generous to allow us entry at 3:30pm. We arrived at 3:30 and unpacked and a few things from Costco away. We were leaving to go to Safeway and realized the door wouldn’t lock. I contacted Thomas and he took care of the issue right away by replacing the lock himself when we ran to the store. I also let him know there was feces splattered in the toilet from previous guest and he took care of that too.
So why did we leave? We dropped off groceries and then went out for a short bit. Before we left my husband saw and killed a roach in the kitchen. When we got back is when I noticed a major health hazard. It was about 7pm by this time and I wanted to heat up something in the microwave. When I opened it a roach went running. On closer inspection, I noticed the microwave was fairly dirty with food from previous guests. I opened the oven and more of the same. I started looking around and saw that the roaches were a big issue. I contacted Thomas and he replied quickly that roaches are normal in Hawaii and someone could spray in the morning. As I was thinking how to respond, more roaches showed up. I started inspecting more. Every kitchen cabinet had roach poop in it. Many had dead roach parts such as dried up legs, torsos, and antennas indicating this wasn’t the first time roaches were an issue and it had been going on for a while. I spent from 8pm to 4am on and off calling AirBnB waiting for the “Urgent Personnel” to contact me and help me get out and in different place. During this time, I watched roaches off all sizes and ages run all of the kitchen and den.
The roach issue should not have been solved with a simple spray. It was a huge health hazard due to poor cleaning up of the bugs, their old body parts, and their feces. AirBnB agreed and that is why I was refunded nites not stayed, given back 30% of my stay that night, refunded the cleaning fee and given a $750 coupon for the new place we’d be staying.
If Thomas’ response again is that this is normal, he’s wrong. The active infestation with guests, the poor cleaning leaving dead roach parts in utensil drawers, pots and pans, leaving roach feces in all the cabinets, not to mention the kitchen appliances being dirty with food from previous guests is not normal.
Thomas lives close by. Close enough to buy a new lock and install it while we shopped at Safeway. Thomas can’t feign that he’s clueless about poor cleaning and the state of the apartment from roaches. I’ve never left negative feedback or pics before. If I can add some of the many pics I provided to AirBnB to document the issue I will.
Future guests, the apartment is very dark. Even with lights on it’s hard to see sometimes. Make sure you use a flashlight to look for long standing roach issues. There were guests who stayed a week or two before me who left positive feedback with no mention of roach issues. They either didn’t use the kitchen or didn’t really look due to low lighting. The poop and body parts had been there a while.