First of all, the location is great! It is minutes away from the stores (safeway, walmart, times etc.), food chains and local restaurants, mall (Ala Moana), and beaches (Waikiki and Ala Moana). The apartment is very clean and spacious with a full kitchen. The bathrooms are well stocked with tissue papers, towels, shampoo and conditioner. The bedrooms have comfortable beds and sheets. Even the sofabeds in the living room are comfy!
For the extra touches which my family found very thoughtful - aside from the plates and utensils provided in the kitchen, there were also paper plates, plastic forks and chopsticks if you don’t want to wash the dishes. There are also pots and pans, cooking oil (lots of it), seasonings, and condiments. There’s a coffee maker, ground coffee, sugar and creamer. There were a lot of bottles of cold water waiting for us in the fridge when we got there. These were perfect as it was hot outside when we checked in. My family appreciated the well stocked kitchen because we just shopped for groceries and cooked some of our meals to save time and avoid restaurant crowds as we were there to visit my sister and her family.
For the not so good experience - I like the self check in process. However, I think the instructions were not so clear because upon reaching the place, we had searched for the lockbox but couldn’t find it until I called the host and asked. I also kept going back to my emails but don’t think I received the lockbox code until calling Samson. Good thing about it is that Samson replies quick and he answered my call right away.
There’s only one parking space available so if you have a large group and have more than one vehicle, then you’ll have to look for street parking. Luckily, we only rented one van, so it wasn’t a problem.
Overall, even with the minor issues, our experience staying at Samson’s place is really great and made us feel comfortable and at home. The thoughtfulness, the quick response and the cleanliness of the place added to the great experience that we had. If ever my family needs a place to stay at when we visit my sister again, Samson’s place would be my first choice for the warm and lovely experience that we’ve had.