Not very charming place to stay on Kauai

Guest: Anonymous
Date of Stay: 01/05/12 Review Submitted: 01/31/12

Kauai is a great island with lot of great things to do. As you need a car anyway, the location of this place to stay is not a problem in general. Though, if you want to be close to a bar or anything like that: don't choose Anahola. We only had an average experience mainly due to three things. 1) You pay a big cleaning fee at the river suite. For this amount you could expect the place to be more or less clean. But it was not. Especially the kitchenette is dirty and one might replace a few really old and really dirty things. 2) The "full kitchenette" is not very full. We are used to camp and cook on one fire only - this helped a lot. 3) We stayed downstairs and the noise of our neighbors upstairs was sometimes really annoying. Hit the ceiling three times and the volume of their tv might get a bit lower! In summary: I wouldn't recommend this place to my friends. There are quite a lot of budget accommodations on Kauai and I would try another one.

Owner response:In response to this review, we would have to agree that Anahola is definitely not the place for a bar on Kauai. You can find these is the tourist towns on the island. Instead, our place is located in a more traditional, even historical and sacred, location on Kauai where Hawaiians still live. Our place is for guests who want to get away from it all, especially the bars and tourism. Noise is generally not an issue at this property since we have not had any noise complaints in the past; however, during this guest's stay we unfortunately had a hearing impaired guests staying upstairs who regrettably was playing his TV too loud. The kitchenette is fully equipped with a double stainless steel sink, full size refrigerator, toaster oven, coffee maker, blender, dishes, glasses, cooking and eating utensils and recently upgraded with new cooktop, pots, pans, tupperware, etc.

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anthony.defazio5@gmail.com

Guest: Tony and Nina (Bay Area, California)
Date of Stay: 10/20/11 Review Submitted: 11/06/11

We really felt like we were home in paradise at Hale Kikoo! We could not have chosen a more beautiful, peaceful and comfortable place to stay while in Kauai. The house is very well maintained and clean, and it was perfect to come home to every night after full days of exploring the island. The accommodations and hospitality exceeded our expectations. Sean was such an awesome friend to us, and went above and beyond to make our stay truly excellent! It was wonderful to have kittens around the house and we really enjoyed their visits. We are already planning our next trip to Kauai and have no doubts about where we want to stay. Thank you so much for everything! Aloha Tony and Nina, Bay Area, California

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

mahalo

Guest: mariposa (germany)
Date of Stay: 07/26/11 Review Submitted: 08/27/11

Aloha it´s difficult to put our experiences into words because most of our time was so overwhelming, absolutely more than we ever expected. Thanks to the manager of the place our stay at Hale Kikoo started right away within the first 30 seconds.(We probably all know the opposite, when we arrive and we need at least 3days for our soul to catch up) But this time, with the help of the manager, we were welcomed to enjoy immediately. All the suggestions you made turned out to be what we had been wishing for: hikes that would be special and spiritual ( thanks to her friend, a private guide, we took adventures that we would not have been able to experience on our own, not to forget his power chocolate, a chocolate whose taste I will never forget. By the way, I can´t wait to taste your chocolate:-) Mahalo Kauai

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, girls getaway.

Retreat for a much needed lifestyle change.

Guest: John and Athena (Colorado )
Date of Stay: 07/15/11 Review Submitted: 08/22/11

We spent our ten year anniversary at Hale Kikoo. It was absolutely amazing. Sean is a wonderful hostess and the place is very inviting. The new kittens made my wife ecstatic to have animals close by. There's a kitchenettes that will provide you with the essentials of what you need to do your trip on the cheap. We hit the local farmers market first thing when we got to Kauai and had the best White Pineapple, various other fruits and fresh organic eggs. The living quarters and bedroom are spacious and comfortable. You'll love the giant lava rock columns and laying around reading all the touristy books spread everywhere. Like the other reviewers have mentioned it does have the coolest shower in the world. You'll want to go hang out there just to be inspired and clean. I wish we could have something like that in Colorado. Another nice resource is the large amount of boogie boards and snorkel gear you can borrow. This makes day trips to the beach exciting as there's always something extra to do. Speaking of day trips this place is located on the northeast side of the island which was ideal for us as we wanted to capture as much of the island as possible. You can drive to the northern most beach Ke'e in roughly 40 minutes and all the way to Waimea Canyon on the west side in about an hour and a half. We will be back!!!

Recommended for:Romantic getaway, sightseeing, adventure seekers, girls getaway, age 55+.

Charming Home Away From Home

Guest: Claudia (Germany)
Date of Stay: 07/19/11 Review Submitted: 07/30/11

Aloha! We were very lucky to stay in this great place with you! We just loved it! Our hostess was so nice and helpful to us. She was one of the reasons that we had such an awesome and special time on Kauai, our favorite island in Hawai'i. The house was so beautiful and colorfully designed that we fell in love with it right away. It has this warm and friendly atmosphere and it is well equipped with everything you need. Every time when we were recovering from hiking or other activities, we just loved to "come home" to our charming apartment for relaxing or just enjoying the beautiful atmosphere and the great nature around the house. When we had to leave, we were all very, very sad. But we definitely will come back because this place is so unique and we were so glad that we found it. Thank you soooo much Sean for everything. You made our stay unforgettable. It was such a great pleasure to meet you and to stay with you. Mahalo from our hearts :-)))

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Beautiful Peaceful Place

Guest: Kristin & Allison (Colorada, United States)
Date of Stay: 07/23/11 Review Submitted: 07/30/11

Thank you for the hospitality and for looking after this beautiful place! We had a wonderful time exploring the island, and personally, a part of me is sad to have to say good-bye. This was a peaceful vacation, and a much needed one! I foresee coming back in the future :-) Anyway, mahalo again, and best wishes to you in all that you do! Sincerely, Kristin & Allison

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Hale Kikoo is a remarkable place to stay.

Guest: Amy and Nik, Vancouver Island (-)
Date of Stay: 07/08/11 Review Submitted: 07/22/11

It is clean, comfortable, spacious and beautifully designed The kitchen allows you to cook your own meals if you would like to – there are great farmers markets with delicious fresh produce near by The location is very central – you can get to either end of the island in approximately 30-45 minutes or less driving time (and all the towns in-between) There is a beautiful mountain view at the front of the property – it is fun trying to spot the white goat as it travels around the mountain – however, s/he may not be there when you stay - hopefully though :) There is a burger shack – Ono Burgers and a post office and the Whalers general store down the street. It takes 3 minutes to walk there. The store has DVD rentals for a dollar. The suite has a T.V. and DVD player – not that you will want to spend lots of time indoors watching movies and television, but we did for two nights of our ten day stay. We loved the colors and warm feel of the place, truly a home away from home. Having laundry machines was a welcome bonus. The manager was a great host and easily approachable for questions and ideas on places to visit around Kauai. We have found ourselves a great new friend. Beautiful Anahola Beach is a short distance away. We enjoyed using the boogie boards provided and swimming in the warm water. We had a 4x4 and were able to drive on the sand up and down the shore which was fun. We were visited by the friendly cats that live upstairs with the manger. They are adorable and love to be petted and played with if you are willing and interested (we love cats and welcomed them open heartedly). We have been delighted with our stay at Hale Kikoo and are definitely coming back and staying at Hale Kikoo again. We have recommended Hale Kikoo to our friends and family as well. The initial reason we chose Hale Kikoo was because we wanted to stay away from the crowded hotels and resorts and experience a more personal local feel. It was exactly what we wanted and turned out to be so much more than we dreamed of. We truly had an amazing time staying in Kauai at Hale Kikoo. We recommend going on a Kayak tour and a garden tour - Na ‘Aina Kai Botanical Gardens is close by and completely phenomenal - request Norm as your guide. Hope your stay is as wonderful as ours was!

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Guest: S & Rich, Marthas Vineyard, MA (-)
Date of Stay: 10/27/09 Review Submitted: 07/02/11

Your home is wonderful. We put it in our top 3 of weekly rentals, along with Roatan, Honduras and Mismaloya, Mexico. We love how new, fresh, clean and comfortable this island suite is.

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Guest: Daniel & Pamela Fong (-)
Date of Stay: 05/05/11 Review Submitted: 07/02/11

Your property was ever lovelier than the website had us believing. You've thought of everything. Thank you. We'd love to visit again.

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Guest: Julie & Chris, Prescott, AZ (-)
Date of Stay: 07/30/10 Review Submitted: 07/02/11

World's coolest bathroom! Thanks for everything.

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