The good,
This condo is really well equipped, ground floor, easy access to the pool and BBQ.
The bad,
If you are a family with kids or like spending time on the beach, do not stay here!! This facility in general is great but is not ideal for kids, it’s really set up for retirees. Kids kicking balls on the grass or splashing in the pool is not allowed along with many other strict rules. Also, don’t leave a grain of sand in this place or you will be charged an extra cleaning fee.
The ugly,
Laurie sent us an email after our stay saying it was left in the worst condition she’d ever seen, with excessive sand all over the floor, the fridge and freezer, the dryer, it was a big deal. I have photos of our kids chilling on the lounge floor and is was not the case. She claimed we didn’t clean the condo and left large amounts of food in the fridge, the fact was we followed the check out instructions and then some, and left a small amount of food in the fridge as per the instructions on the fridge to leave for the cleaner and the food bank, also there was food in the fridge when we got there. For these reasons and some other ridiculous reasons she gave us, she kept a portion of our damage deposit. We were not stoked and it was a shame to finish our amazing stay like this.
I would not recommend staying here if your are a family with kids or unless you are willing to possibly loose your damage deposit for ridiculous reasons.
I’d be surprised if this review makes it on the page so in this case I will also write a google review.
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Response from the Owners
We believe in full transparency, as we’ve stated at the top of this page of reviews, and as such we have chosen to post this unfortunate, and we believe, unwarranted negative review. We’ve owned our little Maui sanctuary condo for nearly 6 years. While owning your own business has its fair share of stressful and challenging events, none has come close to the calibre of the below guests, not even the State of Hawaii closing our business for nearly a year during the peak of COVID.
Please read and decide for yourselves. Of the over 45 testimonial reviews we’ve received during our ownership, none have been less than 5 star and stellar. We take great pride in that fact and endeavor to always provide the very best for our guests.
Against our better judgement and our company policy (in this case, allowing a parent to rent for their adult children’s family of four – we only allow the responsible renter to stay in our condo and this was the one and only exception that I’ve made to our policy) I made an exception and it has created an unfortunate situation.
The backstory; A parent celebrating their 50th anniversary wanted to rent two units for their two daughters and their respective children (daughter #1 and family stayed in our unit). The parents were staying in an upper floor unit and the mother asked if I knew of any other units in addition to our own that they could rent for daughter #2. I recommended my next door neighbor’s DG14 unit. The mother was able to rent that unit successfully.
We’ll address each claim from this unhappy guest below (our comments/replies in italics and bold for clarity.) In fact, it is not the mother or daughter who provided this negative review, but the son-in-law of the Mother who actually rented our condo.
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The good the bad and the ugly.
The good, This condo is really well equipped, ground floor, easy access to the pool and BBQ.
The bad, If you are a family with kids or like spending time on the beach, do not stay here!! This facility in general is great but is not ideal for kids, it’s really set up for retirees. Kids kicking balls on the grass or splashing in the pool is not allowed along with many other strict rules.
The above comments about our complex and the enforced rules, in general are true, the pools, and most especially the pool closest to our unit do not allow children to engage in ‘roughhouse’ play as children will do. It’s expected that they do that at the beach and leave the pool for those wishing to have a relaxing time. While I agree that kids need to be kids and should be allowed to play so long as it doesn’t bother guests , roughhousing is not allowed as clearly stated on the signage at the pools. This is outside of my control. To date, no guest has ever complained to us about this and we host a 50/50 mix of families and retirees.
The same goes for the garden and lawn area. These rules are put into place by our board of directors and are outside of our control. Fortunately our proximity to the beach and beach park is approximately 300 yards, close enough for families to walk and play/swim and be loud to their heart’s content. We received notice that our general manager had to ask this family to stop breaking the rules. Agree or disagree with the rules, they are there for the comfort of all and to prevent damage to property. (our neighbor three doors down just recently had to replace their glass windows due to a ball or some other object being ‘played’ with on the lawn – it was $7000 in damage)
Also, don’t leave a grain of sand in this place or you will be charged an extra cleaning fee. The ugly, Laurie sent us an email after our stay saying it was left in the worst condition she’d ever seen, with excessive sand all over the floor, the fridge and freezer, the dryer, it was a big deal. I have photos of our kids chilling on the lounge floor and is was not the case.
Our housekeepers have been part of our team for the entire time we’ve owned our Maui home. I’ve received reports over the years of guests who forgot to take out the trash, or didn’t start a load of laundry (as requested in our ‘Check-Out’ list of cleaning tasks, so it’s not uncommon for a few things to be overlooked.) According to our housekeeper, whom I have no reason to disbelieve after her many years of devoted service, she relayed to me that the state of our home after this family departed was the ‘worst I’ve ever seen in your condo.’
We expect some sand, it’s a beach house after all, but the amount of excess sand (found in the fridge and even the freezer) along with sticky-gooey hand prints on every surface (per our housekeeper). Coupled with nasty food and dripping something-or-other on the stove and general uncleanliness caused her to have to clean an additional two hours over and above what is the norm or average.
In this case, we withheld from the cleaning deposit, the amount charged to us by our housekeeping company . After speaking with the guest and listening carefully to their version of how they believed they left our condo, we released back to them a portion of what we kept, splitting the difference in the excess cleaning fees.
In our nearly 6 years of owning our Maui home, we have NEVER kept any cleaning deposit moneys for ANY reason, until this family’s stay.
She claimed we didn’t clean the condo and left large amounts of food in the fridge, the fact was we followed the check out instructions and then some, and left a small amount of food in the fridge as per the instructions on the fridge to leave for the cleaner and the food bank, also there was food in the fridge when we got there.
We did not withhold excess cleaning fees for this particular item even though our housekeeper relayed that the family did in fact leave food behind. The guest is correct, we have allowed and encouraged guests to leave food behind upon departure, (things like mustard, ketchup, salad dressing, cooking oils and such for the next guest and any usable or unopened food for the food bank/homeless shelter or for housekeepers to take if wanted). The fact that food was left behind is irrelevant and had no bearing on the funds withheld, even though our housekeeper pointed it out. The majority of our guests thank us for not having to re-purchase condiments and such or for having flour, sugar and the like for baking.
For these reasons and some other ridiculous reasons she gave us, she kept a portion of our damage deposit.
We don’t consider it ridiculous to relay information given to us by our staff.
Below is the check out report received after this family departed. Again, I have no reason to doubt its validity.
KIHEI AKAHI (UNIT – DG13) CHECK OUT REPORT
GUEST DEPARTURE (Unit Status) DATE: 12/19/22
• SAND excessive amount of sand throughout entire unit (Had to Vacuum 3 times)
DRYER was Full of Sand and needed to be Vacuumed out
• FRIDGE & FREEZER both had Sand and needed to be Vacuumed out FOOD left in Fridge (Large Amount)
• STOVE TOP covered with grease and excessive amount of cooked foods~
Also looked like some kind of batter had dripped down all over the front of oven door and handle
• KITCHEN FLOOR had a ridiculous amount of food particles~had to use a scrapper to get up dried stuff
• BEDROOM CLOSET “ALL” Beach Gear had been pulled out and when put back was just thrown back in~ Had to untangle the Beach Chairs and everything was covered in sand had to remove everything, rinse all off and vacuum out closet floor
• WHITE SHEETS – (1)Fitted / (1)Top -Both had Blood Stains and needed Spot Treatment
We were not stoked and it was a shame to finish our amazing stay like this. I would not recommend staying here if your are a family with kids or unless you are willing to possibly loose your damage deposit for ridiculous reasons. I’d be surprised if this review makes it on the page so in this case I will also write a google review.
It’s nice that they admit that they had an ‘amazing stay’ and their email prior to departure stated the same. Their last sentence comes off as a veiled threat. In fact, in our phone conversation, this guest alluded to his intention to leave us a negative review if we did not give back his full deposit, so this review comment comes as no surprise to us.
I’ll reiterate, we have NEVER withheld cleaning fees from ANY guest at ANY time with the exception of this guest. In addition, we returned more of their deposit money after our phone conversation in an effort to give them the benefit of the doubt that everyone’s perception of ‘clean’ is different.
There’s a bit more to this story. After sister #2 departed our neighbor’s property (DG14), I received a phone call asking me about sister #1 who was our guest. It was relayed to me that sister #2 and family left DG14 in complete shambles. The housekeeper of DG14 is a personal friend of ours of high integrity. She relayed that she spent an additional 3 hours above the normal allotted time to clean the disaster left behind. One could infer that this is not the tidiest family.
Please read our other reviews both here on Yelp (look for the 5 additional reviews hidden by Yelp for some reason) and on Google and decide for yourselves. The light shown is on this guest and their review says more about the guest than it does about us, our business, or our condo and it’s a shame they feel the need to disparage our business in this manner.
As always, we will focus on the Aloha in life. We’ve had wonderful guests (and many are repeat guests) from all ages and all over the world through the last 6 years that we consider Ohana (family) and that we welcome back with warm Aloha!
