North Shore Cozy Stufio in Kuilima near Turtle bay

This unit is just a bedroom. Jason has put in a frig and micro but unless you enjoy eating in bed what's the point? It is just a simple bedroom. Turtle Bay restaurants are expensive and Haliewa is 10 miles away. Parking is confusing. Since this bedroom has been partitioned off from the apartment there are two doors ,neither labeled, which is confusing.

This is why I am giving this nice, clean condo in a great location, walking distance to Turtle Bay a low review score. First, there were never any arrival instructions sent to us, which are actually important for this place because it has a main gate that you cant even drive your car through without a key fob. There is also a key pad built into the door of the room itself so you need this code to enter the room. Neither of this was explained before our arrival and we did not get this information until 7 hours AFTER the check in time of 3 pm. In fact, in order to even get a hold of the owner, we got another number from our neighbor that was also renting from him. They also had issues getting into their place a few days before us. Apparently the owner didn’t get back to them for 2 days! You see this single condo is separated into 2 units by the owner so he can rent both.

I actually texted Jason the day before I arrived and he answered. He was aware we were arriving on time. The day we arrived I texted him numerous times and sent the same messages through the VRBO app. When we finally got a hold of Jason on this other phone line, he told us that his phone had been stolen and the VRBO messages were “now suddenly getting through to him”. I may have believed him if it weren’t for the neighbors having the same issue and him responding to my text the day before. Luckily we had a dinner to attend and were able to kill time during this whole experience, but this was completely unacceptable. Not all renters are going to be the best and I know that, but at the very least you need to make sure your guests can get in and HAVE GOTTEN into the room at check in without any issues. He knew when we were arriving and he had my contact info by phone and VRBO.

We wanted to rent the portable AC unit he offers for $10 a day and he said he would be there upon arrival to handle the money transaction. But the unit wasn’t there and neither was he. The main gate key fob was also NOT in the room so we didn’t even get that until the next day. To give him some credit, he dropped off the fob and AC unit and did not charge us for the AC unit the next day, but of course there was no interaction with us in person to apologize. He seems like the type of renter that just is making some side money with his two units and doesn’t care much about the guest experience. I would advise finding a different renter than Jason to rent from.

When we got there, we were unable to get in, we didn't have the entry code to the gate and the owner didn't answer the phone. We got in because another owner happened to let us in. When we went to take a shower, there was no hot water. We asked the neighbors about it, and they let us know that this happened to the previous renters. Again, I made many calls to the owner until it finally got fixed. Not a great way to spend a vacation. The studio is very small, and it's hard to use the hot plate to make food, because there is no place to wash the dishes. The studio gets very hot, even in the winter. I won't stay here again. There are nicer properties for the money.

This one room property is located in the beautiful area of Turtle Bay. Both the bedroom and bathroom were clean. The bed is queen-size and very comfortable. The drawbacks for this property are that the bathroom, although clean, has no toiletries provided, no shampoo or soap, not even soap at the sink; there are towels and a blow dryer, but nothing else is provided. If you want to wash your hands after using the toilet, you need to bring your own soap. Although there is a room-size air conditioner available for a $15 per day fee, it was broken. There is a fan provided; but there is no cross-ventilation, so it took quite a while to cool the room but the fan was adequate for all but one extra-hot night (we were here in January, the coolest time of year). The only other drawback is that no key-fob is provided with this accommodation, so every time you need to enter the property, the machine at the gate automatically calls the owner and he unlocks the gate remotely. This system works well except for the times he doesn't answer the call. The default for when the gate isn't opened remotely by the owner is for the on-site office to unlock the gate. Every time we called the office to unlock the gate they didn't answer either, so we had to just wait at the gate until someone who lived there came along and unlocked it for us using their fob. This was annoying and happened to us several times; we wasted a lot of time waiting for someone with a fob to come along and help us out. If the key fob, AC, and toiletry issues were corrected, this property would be on par with hotels in the area.

The Turtle Bay area has many good places to eat close by and several beaches are very close to this property; more than one beach is within walking distance and the golf course is very close. There is a grocery store in Liea if you want to provide your own food, although the room has just a small little refrigerator and a microwave, so you can't keep much food that requires refrigeration. There are a couple of plates and glasses in the closet that can be used for eating, but again, no soap to wash them with when you are finished using them.

Overall, this is a good place to stay for the money: good location, comfy bed, quiet, clean and basic.

My first 4 nights were in the condo which was very lovely in its furnishings and the last two nights in the attached studio bedroom. In all it was a very comfortable visit in every way and the management was very understanding when I became confused on my transfer dates from the condo to the studio unit. They very nicely gathered my things which had not yet been packed and transferred them into my new quarters. Everything was very neat and orderly.