For background, I was looking for a rental for me, my husband and son (3 yrs old). I wanted it to be located in Kailua (where the locals live and away from crazy touristy Waikiki), walking distance to beach, stand-alone unit, and included amenities such as kitchen, beach equipment, and AC. This rental included all of the above and more....the highlights for me were the following:

1) The unit is above a car port, which is separate from the main house, which was perfect. Giving us more privacy than a unit attached to the main house. But we had access to all the amenities included in a main house such as our own laundry, dedicated parking spot, the whole lot was gated (perfect b/c we have a kid), outdoor shower with hot water (this is so key) so we could wash off after the beach, and more! While there isn't a stove-- the hot plate worked perfectly so we could at least cook breakfast every morning and there was a microwave as well if we wanted to heat up leftovers or food. There are all the basic appliances and things you need in a kitchen for a good vacation stay. One thing I noticed is many rentals don't have AC, but this one does and it actually works! My husband is super sensitive to the heat so the chance to be able to use AC to cool us down after a hot day/activity is a huge plus in making the unit so comfortable to stay in. One more thing, water pressure of the shower was strong + hot.

2) The location was better than I expected (it exceeded expectations). Not only was it literally a 2 min walk from the private beach, the house was less than a mile away from Kailua town center--- which is super cute to walk around to get coffee/breakfast in the morning, grab essentials (there's a Target, Whole Foods, AND a regular supermarket), or dinner etc. There are also cute shops if you're in the mood for shopping as well, which was a great plus. The house was also about 1 mile walk the other direction to Lanikai beach, pillbox hikes, etc one of the most scenic parts of oahu. Kailua was also a fast drive (depending on traffic) to the North Shore (<1 hr) or down to Waikiki (15-30 min) so great for dinner or site seeing.

3) While this location is on a semi busy street so you will hear cars..but we didn't really hear much of anything else. The neighbors and owners were all very low key and quiet which was a huge plus. We would have the AC on at night, which helped as white noise and blocked out the street noise.