A perfect place
Submitted: January 25, 2012
Stayed: December 2011
We rented the property between December 31 2011 and January 9 2012 for 4 adults and 2 children, both below the age of 18 months. The house is great. The location is perfect, not too close to Alii drive and yet closes enough to get to any beach in the Kailua Kona area everyday. We woke up to the sounds of birds chirping and watched the sunset from the Lanai. The place is well maintained with all the necessary supplies. There is snorkeling equipment and picnic supplies too. It is very comfortable and has Wifi internet.
The main downside is that there is another tenant/caretaker (not property manager) who lives in the studio next to the garage. That in itself was not a problem- she pretty much kept to her self as did we the first two days. At that time there were just 2 adults and 1 child on the property.
A couple of days later we were joined by our friends with their baby. Then a day later we had very little hot water, there was water but tepid, if heated at all. We paid no heed to this and waited another day. The situation did not improve, and it was a pain not having hot water with 2 babies around. So we read the instructions the owners had given and went to check the water heater in the garage. The water in the house is heated by solar power and electricity by turns. The switch has to be on electric all the time. There is a timer and it was set such that at night and other times when solar did not work well the timer comes on the water is heated by electricity at that point. We found the switch had been flipped to solar, which meant the water was heated exclusively by solar power with no electric heating. It was December and the sun did not shine brightly everyday so no wonder we got only tepid water. We flipped it back and in half an hour we had hot water.Later that night I went to make sure that the switch was on electric. At that point the caretaker came out and asked what I was doing and I mentioned that we had not been getting any hot water. To this she said “you use too much hot water”. We realized she had flipped the switch.This episode was not just an unnecessary and rude encounter but made the stay somewhat distasteful. Why she would do such a mean thing to tenants is beyond our understanding.
The property manager is efficient and nice. I would urge the owners to update the VRBO details and mention all the great things going for the place. We would rent the house again if we were in Kailua Kona. We had a great holiday.
Recommended for:
Age 55+,
Pet-friendly,
Families with Young Children
Owner's Response: Update on Jan 25, 2012 review. The caretaker mentioned in the review no longer lives on the property. Also regarding the solar system and hot water problems, that has been rectified and we have no problems since that review.
Helpful votes: 2/2
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