We stayed here for 2 months. This is a total rip off. Stay away unless you are absolutely desperate.
About check-in. We arrived late at night, the check-in was very smooth, although the first things that welcomed us were 2 giant cockroaches on the porch. We later discovered a couple more inside the house. The host might say "hey, this is Hawaii :) "
About cleanliness. The first impression of the house was that it SMELLS! The kitchen is dirty, mugs are all covered by coffee stains, the dish rack looked gross and the dishes and glasses in the cabinet were greasy.
About utilities in the house. It took us a while to get all the lights and fans working because half of their remote were not working. There is an AC in each room and they are comfortable and quiet. There is a big tear on the couch and the tall chair's seat is coming off.
About the noise. We had constructions going on right in front of the house for 3 straight days and on the third day, we lost electricity. I contacted someone the host asked me to contact when the noise issue happened on day one, the person said they'll follow up but never did and then the host said that person is not a staff but someone living in the adjacent studio. Yes, that's right, there is ANOTHER PERSON living right in your backyard and the host conveniently omitted that information. On their listing pictures, there is a nice white tall fence surrounding the backyard, but in reality, that fence doesn't exist and you literally have someone living in your backyard. And this person might tell on the host about your little misbehaviors.
Back to the construction issue. I'm not saying that it's not okay to resolve this issue with the host, but I disagree with how the host handled the situation. The host NEVER apologized for this incident and completely blamed Hawaii electric for not sending them a notice about the construction. While Hawaii electric staff showed me a notice that they did send, so it's their words against the host's. Being the host, I think you should own up to your stuff, whether it's your fault or not, you need to take the responsibility.
About the location. This place is 30 minutes walk to Waikiki, so if you don't have a car, you have to rely on either walking or Uber.
About safety. Nothing bad happened to us but multiple Uber drivers mentioned that we should NOT come out at night because there are lots of homeless people in this area.
About being a quiet neighborhood. You can hear the nearby highway occasionally but it's not bothering, what's bothering is the neighborhood dogs barking relentlessly for no reasons. And your next door neighbor is a spitter, they like to spit in their yard countless times a day, you can't see them but hearing the sound was gross enough.
About communication. The host seemed very entitled and are used to taking advantage of the situation where Hawaii has become more and more popular and they can just sit there and collect rent money. When I told them that I'm unhappy about the situation, instead of providing help, they said "You are welcome to move out if you are unhappy. We will gladly open up the calendar to re-rent the property to another guest who will appreciate the property. This will not be a problem as we receive requests daily to do so from multiple platforms... We also enjoy having happy guests in our home and do not appreciate unreasonable behavior." Knowing based on their cancellation policy, we'll likely get nothing back. Yes, they have plenty customers begging to rent the place, so go figure.