Great view but many unwelcome and unnecessary surprises.
We spent nine days in this apartment. Two couples in their mid-thirties and a 9 month old baby. The location is great, the view is amazing, the pool is just ok (it does not offer any shade whatsoever), the bbqs were convenient and communication with our host Viktoria was always fast and friendly.
Sadly, this is where the positive experience ends. We encountered a number of unnecessary surprises that negatively influenced the quality of our stay.
Would we stay here again. No.
Would we stay with Viktoria again. Probably not.
Host or agent?
Viktoria is extremely nice and proactive in her communications. She offers a free concierge service that helps make reservations, find things to do etc. She is not a typical Airbnb host. She did not seem to physically have been to our apartment in a while and seemed more like an agent managing the booking, checking in/out process remotely. While she has the superhost badge, she certainly did not come across as a superhost to us/provide the service we are used to from superhosts we have stayed with in the past.
Overall Viktoria and the company she works for seemed more concerned with providibg the concierge service than hosting which led to a a lot of extra communications due to mixed and inaccurate information (see more below). It was so bad that Viktoria gave us an additional 10% discount because issues kept coming up. The worst issues were: inaccurate listing, lack of cleanliness and unnecessarily complicated communications.
Inaccurate listing
Even though the photos clearly show balcony furniture on the large balcony off of the living room we found it to be empty. Viktoria told us that the balconies had to be emptied due to the ongoing construction. True and understandable for the smaller balconies on the side of the building. However the large balconies were all furnished except for ours. We were told to make use of indoor furniture.
Overall, the place is a lot more dated than the photos make it appear. Viktoria told me that she had not updated the photos/descriptions in more than 12 months prior to our arrival. Appliances are generally old and dated. Every time one of the next door neighbors cooked something slightly smelly, we could smell it in the entire apartment.
Cleanliness/Dirty
When I contacted Viktoria after we landed on Maui she told me that the apartment had just been cleaned. The place was however very dirty when we arrived. The carpet in the living room was filthy (she later exchanged it for a different one), there was visible dirt and dust in all rooms and under beds/furniture. It was apparent that Viktoria had not checked the place prior to our arrival.
Mixed communications
Viktoria's pre-arrival communications stated that we can park wherever we want. Upon arrival we found a laminated parking sign in the apartment instructing us to park in slot 79 only or risk being towed. Viktoria cleared things up for us, but we needed to again get in touch with her. This could have easily been added to the comms beforehand to avoid confusion. She did update this piece in the listing between our arrival and now.
A similar issue with the locks on the laundry rooms. Apparently the codes need to be entered very slowly in order to work. This is not mentioned in the arrival communications and required us to get in touch with Viktoria yet again. Again, this could have just been added to the comms.
Overall things to keep in mind
- The internet in the apartment is slow. It is not fast enough to stream netflix.
- The fridge is old and loud. The ice maker was frozen solid when we arrived and it took Viktoria four days to get someone to come look at it.
- Missing basics: Very little toilet paper and no dish towels in the apartment.