BEST Vacation EVER!!!

Guest: Sue F. (San Diego, CA)
Date of Stay: 05/09/11 Review Submitted: 01/15/12

My husband and I and our 2 kids had the BEST vacation ever here!! The Alii is beautiful! The condo was perfect for us! The kitchen is beyond well stocked, salad spinner, tupperware...it was like my kitchen at home!- which is So nice, we've stayed at condos all over and you never quite know what you're going to get. We cooked in a lot b/c going out with kids is not completely relaxing. :) The BBQ area is like a mini vacation. We brought down a couple beers and juice boxes and hung out to watch the sunset while my husband bbq'd. Lovely. We could walk to many restaurants around the Alii...the pool was PERFECT. There are two shallow areas for little ones and an Adult pool, if you want some peace and quiet (I went there while the girls napped one day, thanks to my husband needing a nap too)...and the beach, ahhh...the water was amazing and mellow enough that we could bring our kids in on floaties. Fun! We rented a cabana- it was great to get out of the sun when we wanted and all the staff was so friendly and helpful! Kirk was so nice. Margie, the owner was so easy to deal with and we feel like we got a really good deal for our unit- you can see the ocean out the kitchen window and master bedroom. The linens on the beds were really nice and we felt that the unit was nicely appointed. We plan on making this a yearly vacation and are so thankful to have found such a nice unit and thank you to Margie for letting us share your slice of paradise!

Recommended for:Sightseeing, adventure seekers, girls getaway, age 55+, families with young children, families with teenagers.

Kaanapali Ali'i is fantastic, but...

Guest: Charlie (westminster, co)
Date of Stay: 12/20/11 Review Submitted: 01/05/12

The Ali'i property is fantastic - beautifully cared for, centrally located to restaurants and shopping, fantastic pool and on great section of sandy beach with safe swimming, and the staff went above and beyond in every respect. This unit however is in desperate need of basic care and a remodel. We arrived late at night to find the unit was only stocked with only a partial roll of toilet paper, not even enough to get us through to our grocery trip the next morning. This owner does not pay for cleaning or maintenance services so we were on our own. There was a general stench of mildew in the master bedroom, wet sheets in the dryer, mold in the grout of the maser bath, a ring of filth in front of the washer, and a dirty bidet. The unit is advertised for six, but the kitchen table only sat four, making meals as a family not possible. All of this we were able to tolerate, but the kicker was the massive leak into the kitchen and family room. The owner uses private maintenance to deal with such things, and although this issue was entirely beyond the scope of the maintenance man’s ablities, the owner would not call in an actual plumber until day 5 of the leak, despite my repeated calls for a remedy. The leak was so significant that we couldn't move from the family room to kitchen or use the breakfast bar, and the leak continued until eventually the kitchen and family room were uninhabitable. We watched as the maintenance crew found evidence of mold behind the kitchen cabinets and warped cabinets from prior leaks not properly addressed. When I insisted that the owner move us to another unit because we could no longer tolerate the situation and because it was not safe (my 70 yr old father and husband both slipped and fell due to the water), he said "it is just a little bit of water" (we watched maintenance vac up 15 gallons, twice!). Ultimately, on the 5th day of the leak, the owner did move us to a lovely unit at no charge to us, and we thoroughly enjoyed the remainder of our vacation at this stunning resort.

Owner response:Aloha! I would like to respond to this review by first saying that we are so glad you ended up enjoying your overall stay at the beautiful Kaanapali Alii. We love our unit and take pride in keeping it as nice as we can for our guests. We have been vacation rental owners for over 30 years and our record of treatment to our thousands of guests is something we take pride in. We were never notified of the guest’s initial dissatisfaction with the unit; if we had been, we could have taken measures to rectify the situation. We don’t pay the rental program to rent our unit because we like the control of renting it ourselves. This is the reason we can rent our unit for such a reasonable rate. There was an emergency leak in the unit that took our plummer some time to find the true source of the leak. We feel that our response was sufficient, especially due to the fact that it was Christams week and getting someone to come out was difficult. Also, we moved her to a premium unit for the remainder of her stay and do not know of any way we could have been more accommodating. The leak has been fixed and the cleaning has been addressed. Please know that we love our unit and have thousands of happy guests. Live aloha!

Recommended for:Romantic getaway, families with young children.

Vacation

Guest: Julie (Washington)
Date of Stay: 09/10/11 Review Submitted: 11/12/11

The condo was awesome. Has everything you need in it and the view is gorgeous. The owners are extremely helpful, as to places to visit and restaurants in Maui. Have already reserved for the coming year!

Recommended for:Tourists without a car, people with disabilities, age 55+, families with young children, families with teenagers.

Had a great time!

Guest: We love Hawaii (Los Angeles County, CA)
Date of Stay: 07/22/11 Review Submitted: 08/07/11

This condo is wonderful! It is right on the beach!! It has the best of both worlds--all the amenities of a luxury hotel, but the convenience of a condo (meals at home, space for a family). It was the first time we had used vrbo and the owner was very helpful! We will definitely visit again!

Recommended for:Romantic getaway, tourists without a car, people with disabilities, sightseeing, adventure seekers, girls getaway, age 55+, families with young children, families with teenagers.

The Alii

Guest: Karen (Morro Bay CA)
Date of Stay: 05/03/11 Review Submitted: 06/01/11

We rented three units at the Alii this year and loved all the amenities, the pool area was great for families with small children, and we used the bbq area almost nightly. The units were a great fit for us with two bedrooms and two bathrooms and the kitchen had everything we needed. We would love to go back next year.

Recommended for:Romantic getaway, tourists without a car, sightseeing, age 55+, families with young children.

Okay place - needs some work

Guest: dwojo (san diego, ca)
Date of Stay: 04/16/10 Review Submitted: 04/24/10

The general condo property is nice - nice new pools, right on beach. Tennis courts, however are lousy and don't expect to get any real tennis here at all. This unit is old and in desperate need of some TLC. It's obvious the owner has not spent any time or money on the place in quite some time. Since you're renting from the owner you get no help from the Alii desk - i.e. our bathroom was pretty disgustingly dirty but there was no way to get it clean unless the owner who lives 3000 miles away could call someone. No dishwasher detergent, master bath tub drain (and thus jetted tub inop) missing, screen door comes off tracks each time, kitchen faucet installed incorrectly so that it sprays out a huge splash each time you turn it on. Overall it's a nice property but you can get a much better price on a bigger and nicer place in the Alii (several people we met did so during our visit).

Recommended for:Families with young children.