Guest: Kevin (-)
Date of Stay: 11/11/06 Review Submitted: 05/14/11

“The pictures don’t lie. The place is incredible! We all admire your sense of style. Very comfortable and great location.

Recommended for:

Guest: Kathie (-)
Date of Stay: 08/12/08 Review Submitted: 05/14/11

“I wanted to personally thank you for knowing that a rental unit in Hawai’i need not have the equivalent of a ‘tropical-Hawai’ian shirt with black socks’ look. Have you seen your competition on VRBO? Kinda scary. No one comes close to Big Island Bliss!”

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Guest: Judy and Preston (-)
Date of Stay: 09/18/07 Review Submitted: 05/14/11

“We arrived late at night, and one of your neighbors called up to us as we entered and said, 'You have the best view in the complex' and how right he was! Sitting on the lanai at breakfast or sunset is bliss.”

Recommended for:

Guest: Paula and John (-)
Date of Stay: 01/04/09 Review Submitted: 05/14/11

“We would just like to say that your property has met our (high) expectations... We appreciate your passion for detail and good taste.”

Recommended for:

Guest: Steve and Lorie (-)
Date of Stay: 06/28/09 Review Submitted: 05/14/11

“We had an absolutely wonderful time at your beautiful condo. It was all - and much more than you said it would be. Your hospitality and consideration for us went far above and beyond what anyone would reasonably expect - and certainly beyond any other place we've rented - and we've rented quite a few - but yours was the by far the best across all the “categories”. Every imaginable comfort was in there to make our stay comfortable and most convenient; we felt very much at home. Spending our mornings and evenings on the lana’i was just wonderful. We really could have simply stayed there all day - the sightseeing wasn't necessary for a relaxing vacation.”

Recommended for:

Home in Paradise

Guest: Bill (Jacksonville, Oregon)
Date of Stay: 11/11/10 Review Submitted: 12/17/10

My wife and I just got back from a three week stay at this condo. We stay often in different condo's on the islands but this is the best of all! Why? We were greeted with a bowl of fresh fruit and a pound of 100% Kona coffee for starters. I am a tea drinker by choice but I always relapse to coffee when I'm on the Big Island. The central air conditioning is a huge plus if you have ever stayed at a condo with the window air conditioning in the living room while you burn up in the back bedroom. It's all cool here! The ceiling fans, top floor location and cross breeze is really nice. Especially if you have the sound system tuned in to the Hawaiian music channel. Our Granddaughters came over for a week while we were there and the body boards, masks,fins, etc. came in handy. I have never seen an owner leave these items for guests to share. The layout of the house is wonderful. The 2nd bedroom opens to the living area with sliding doors which allows a feeling of spaciousness as well as being able to close that area off for privacy. The 2 big flat screen TV's,with HBO, and the free wireless access along with a stack of DVD's and surround sound speakers allowed me all my creature comforts of home. But wait! There's more, The Lanai is huge, surrounding the unit and overlooking an old lava flow,which has been landscaped, as well as the ocean and incredible sunsets. I read another comment on this unit but I failed to have any of the problems they mentioned. The TV does take a little patience to operate. However, it does have an I-Pod dock, DVD, Cable, etc so one has to be electronically literate to operate the systems. The instructions are on the coffee table. In the long run though we didn't find much time for TV. We were to busy vacationing. The laundry,kitchen and bathrooms were all in working order. The internet contact and phone conversations with the owner was pleasant and engaging. We felt that it was important to the owners that we enjoyed our stay. I really felt like I was renting from a family member and that our happiness was their happiness. Or in other words, the Aloha spirit was always shown to us. I would not hesitate to spend more time here and highly recommend this condo. That is unless you want it next Thanksgiving, which is when I'll be back. Aloha, Bill & Kathie

Recommended for:Girls getaway, families with teenagers, romantic getaway, age 55+, sightseeing, families with young children.

A True Dissapointment.

Guest: MW (Ventura, CA)
Date of Stay: 10/17/10 Review Submitted: 11/28/10

My wife and I travel to the big island yearly... and this is the first bad review we have ever been forced to write. Let me start out by saying that the condo was well staged, and had nice furniture. The description did it justice in this regard. There were however some serious issues that came up with the condo which really started to hamper our enjoyment of the vacation. This... combined with the apathy and general rudeness of the people in charge of the property made it quite a sour experience. Most of these would not be big issues on their own... however combined they made a difference. The list of major issues - (There were also a lot of smaller ones): 1) Hot Water Heater - The first issue we had was with the water heater. It did not work for the first couple days. 2) Broken Tub - The cold water handle to the tub was stuck. (I fixed this myself) 3) Air Conditioner - This was an on and off issue throughout. Near the end of our trip. And we actually ended up having to stay ant the condo one day to wait for a repair-man. 4) Oven - They oven did not work. 5) Television and DVD player in Master Bedroom. The Television is choppy at best in the master bedroom, and there was a cord missing that goes to the DVD player. 6) The general apathy or rudeness of the people in charge. I highly recommend you look elsewhere for your rental.

Owner response: We deeply regret that this party was disappointed with their experience at A301. We have been hosting happy couples and families, to great and consensus acclaim, at our second home for four years (as evidenced on the Reviews page on our condo's website). We feel the considerable efforts we made on this party's behalf and the attentiveness with which we addressed their complaints have been undervalued and mischaracterized. We were originally contacted for a booking at A301 by one of the two couples who ultimately rented together for this week in October 2010. We quoted our seasonal rate to this first inquirer, which included our one-night-free discount for a stay of seven nights. That inquiry seemingly went away. We were then approached, without an introduction of shared acquaintance, by the other of the two couples, who confided that they were honeymooning. We offered this latter party a celebratory two night's free stay and the reservation was booked. To welcome the honeymooners, we provisioned the condo with Veuve Cliquot, Kona coffee and a platter of fresh local fruit. When an issue arose during their stay, we promptly dispatched our own crack licensed contractor (a rare resource on the Big Island) to effect the requested modifications. Although no previous party had complained to us of the hot water setting, our contractor honored this party's request promptly. When a district-wide power failure knocked out the oven, we again sent our contractor to the rescue: he reset the clock, and it was immediately restored to function. Unfortunately, previous guests must have upset the settings or hook-up for the Master Bedroom TV; we overnighted a replacement cable for this repair, and the guests who succeeded this party (and who were returning to A301 for their fourth stay) took up the challenge and have since set things aright in the Master Bedroom. As illuminated in our rental documents and alongside the thermostat in A301, the Vista's water-cooled air-conditioning system requires periodic maintenance by the complex's resident manager. The [new] manager was accused of being rude to this party when they requested service. When we made inquiries with the manager, a very different account of this conversation emerged. We have asked this party for a careful reconstruction of the conversation that took place between themselves and the resident manager, as we feel this issue must not reoccur. We await their account.

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