RENTAL UNIT:
Myself, my husband and 2 friends stayed at the Aston Poipu Kai for 6 nights in September.
When booking our reservation with Costco, all stock photos were of lovely, updated units. We also cross referenced the Aston website and noticed that their photos are of updated rooms. We did, however read a number of reviews that warned us of the varying condition/style of rooms, so over a month before our check-in we called Aston to request an updated room. The gentleman we spoke with on the phone was very nice and professional, and left us with the impression that our request would not be an issue.
Unfortunately [after a crazy day of flight delays on our way to Kauai] we checked in to a super outdated room. Sticky, old furniture and decor that looked like my grandma's 1980 beach condo. We were NOT pleased - especially after having been told that we would receive a remodeled unit.The bedding was all old quilts, and there were personal family photos & decor around the unit - which is not something we could have expected - Costco & Aston disclose that units are independently decorated, but we did not know that there would be family memorabilia, and gaudy decor all over the place - kinda thought Aston would monitor that sort of thing, so renters would feel comfortable. We felt that this property was marketed more as a rental condo/hotel-ish environment, not a timeshare where we're staying in someone's home...
The night we checked in, we were all really disappointed so I called the front office. I spoke with a nice representative who apologized (not her fault, but I appreciated her empathy for our disappointment). Because it was after normal office hours, she said there was nothing that could be done that night, and that we would need to come to the office in the morning and speak with another team member about switching rooms. I was content with that offer, but it was frustrating to have to move all our things into this second story unit (couldn't leave our baggage in the car, for fear of break in).
The next morning, I went in and another nice, professional representative offered us keys to two separate units and allowed us to look at both and decide where we'd like to move (very nice of her). Both were upgrades that would be comped as an "apology", which we appreciated. We ended up moving from an outdated 2bd/2bath garden view unit to an updated 3bd/3bath partial ocean view unit.. Once we moved we felt much more comfortable - no family decor, no yucky granny furniture/linens.
Overall, I would say if you're considering renting at Aston Poipu Kai, be very aware that the photos online are not an indication of the type of room you're getting... could be old, could be new... I guess that's just the gamble you take. Unfortunate. However, their staff was very kind, professional and accommodating, and we did appreciate that very much.
RESORT FEE:
If our trip had ended there, we would have ended on a positive note. Unfortunately, I was left feeling confused by their resort fee. We knew we had to pay the $20/day resort fee, but we were under the impression that the fee would be collected in exchange for certain services (parking, movies, coffee/tea, linens/sheet changes, pool usage) but that was largely not the case. Because of that, we feel that we paid quite a bit of money for very little of what was promised.
-First of all, I don't think I should be paying for parking when we're staying at a condo that has a plethora of parking options... that's ridiculous, and just feels like a scheme for Aston to collect more money on top of our reservation.
-Second, we received no in-unit service whatsoever. No "daily tea/coffee" as advertised on our Costco booking, no new towels, no sheets changes... a gentleman came by on our first morning (right when we moved in) asking if we would like new sheets, and we obviously said no, because they hadn't been slept in. I assumed he would return another day to bring new towels/refill coffee/tea, but no one entered our unit for the next 5 days. Honestly, I normally wouldn't care too much, but 6 days is a long time to be using the same towels when we were each showering twice a day, and nothing dries because of the humidity... And when I'm paying $20/day, the least they could do is bring 4 new towels and some coffee...
-This was disclosed on the website, but the pool located next to our unit was closed, so we had to drive to a neighboring collection of units to use the pool/hot tub (Hot tub was SCALDING hot, we never saw a single person in it). Just another little inconvenienced that added to my frustration about paying $20/day...
Overall, I wish we could get a refund for this fee... we didn't have the use of a convenient pool, we received no in-unit service, and I think its ridiculous that we were being charged for parking... The whole fee just felt like a scheme to collect a bunch of money on top of our already significant rental fees. Not cool. read more