We have just completed two wonderful weeks at Serenity Villa at Ka Milo. As a family of six with three generations, we knew that a well equipped vacation rental was preferable to staying in two to three hotel rooms at the Fairmont Orchid for our annual trip to the island of Hawaii.
Jeff and Suzanne's Serenity Villa at Ka Milo is well located on the Mauna Lani Resort property, convenient to the Fairmont restaurants and the grocery store and restaurants at the Shops at Mauna Lani, and a short drive from the Francis I'i Brown north and south golf courses and the residents' private beach at the Mauna Lani Beach Club. Our extended family found that renting a four seater electric golf cart to zip to the four corners of the resort, especially the Beach Club, added to the 'vacation' feel and nicely supplemented the mandatory minivan rental.
The Villa itself is a brand new, well furnished (completed Spring 2014) four bedroom, two story semi-detached house set in a lush, well landscaped community on the Mauna Lani resort property. The upper (main) floor has a very large master and open concept living, dining and high end kitchen (granite counter tops, high end appliances, fully equipped pot, pan and dish sets, kitchen utensils, spices and basics) and a large lanai with outdoor kitchen, stainless steel gas range and dining space. The lower floor has three bedrooms including a beautiful master with large en-suite and lanai, and two bedrooms with one and two beds and lanais.
The two car garage is thoughtfully well equipped with a cooler on wheels, a full range of beach toys, furniture, flutter boards, snorkelling sets for different ages, life jackets, bicycles and helmets.
The Villa and the Ka Milo property have their own set of rules but all are reasonable and protect your and other homeowners' and guests' privacy and enjoyment.
Other than a number of beach meals at Napua at the Mauna Lani Beach Club and the mandatory sushi extravaganza at Monstera Noodle and Sushi, we ate most of our meals in, first stocking up at Costco (for value) near the airport then from the Foodland at the nearby Shops (for convenience), then specialty items opportunistically such as fresh fish for grilling from Kawaihae, local fruit and veg at a number of farmers' markets, and local island grass-fed beef from the Parker Ranch in Waimea.
In summary, Serenity Villa is a superb property every bit as good as its advance billing and good economics for a large family.