Pros: the partial ocean view
Cons: There were plenty of red flags and finally the straw that broke the camel's back.
First, the host messages us with an incorrect State of Hawaii Covid policy. She says travelers have to be tested rather than presenting the fact that we could be vaccinated as well. How can a Hawaiian resident present the wrong information to travelers?
Next, she asks "What time are you arriving in Honolulu?... Check in will be 3pm or once the cleaning is done". Why does she need to inquire this? Why can't she just have the room clean and ready by 3pm?
Cleanliness: On first impression, the bathroom smelled of mildew but we couldn't identify the source until we took pictures of mold on the 4th day of our stay. On that 4th night, we found a small or baby cockroach next to the bed and then identified a huge crevice starting from the floor extending to the side wall panel - research shows baby cockroaches is a bad problem to deal with. When we asked the host if this was a problem previously, she obviously denied but really would baby cockroaches be a first time issue? We have pictures to prove that the crevice would a be a viable source of the problem, but as presented it was not dealt with prior to our stay. We also took pictures of the dead cockroach within the hold of our paper towel (I know, even having to document this... sounds silly but it is much needed).
We started to call Airbnb to report the issue and frantically find hotels in the area. Safe to say, we moved out about 30 minutes after the problem arose and are now in a clean hotel environment for the remainder of our stay. I believe we should be entitled to a full refund, but if the host refuses that just shows we were being too nice not to report the uncleanliness from the moment we walked in. (I guess she'll reply as to whether she fully refunded us or not).
Just save yourself the trouble and stay in a comparably priced hotel where your accommodations will be fully respected without the headache that you'll experience with both the host and with customer service when things go wrong.