Specific Unit #A-406 , VRBO 341092
Owner Wayne offered to pay us $300 to not write a review of his condo. Having personal integrity and a desire to warn others from such a bad experience, we refused this. This trip was a nightmare.
Wayne lives on the mainland and rents this out to make money. It became clear in correspondence that he is not familiar with the state of the unit and had not visited for some time. We had both major and minor problems with the unit, but in every case, Wayne stated, explicitly or implicitly, that what we stated was a lie and/or "beyond his control." You can't expect a vacation rental to be flawless, but you can expect issues to be dealt with and owners to take responsibility for the condition of the unit. Don't expect this here.
The first night there, before we ever got to set foot on a beach, my wife stepped on a shard of broken glass left on the floor (by previous occupant) of this condo while trying to go to the bathroom in bare feet. It got impaled into her foot. I was able to remove a portion of it at the time with tweezers, but some of it was impaled too deeply. She subsequently could not walk without pain, and could not walk barefoot anywhere, including the beach, without fear of infection because of the open wound on her foot. She had spent months planning many vacation activities, and now could not do most of them. She also contracted an infection the next day. We went to an urgent care facility on the island (long drive), and the doctor said that the glass would have to be surgically removed, and the recovery would preclude her from doing just about anything for the whole trip, and so she recommended trying to postpone this until we got home, which we did.
When we brought this up to Wayne, he responded by stating that he heard (third hand) from his buddy who lives on Oahu, who asked the cleaning lady about if she cleans well, who said to Wayne's buddy that she in fact cleans quite carefully, who passed this on to Wayne, who then told us in sum that therefore, what we described could not have happened. Really? We made that up? He also sent us a list of the, "Top 10 Common Risks, " while on vacation in a tropical location. That was very frustrating to my wife and felt very rude to her because we weren't lying. We found Wayne to be very cagey and careful to never admit or take responsibility for anything. He then said that he assumed she was injured walking barefoot on the beach (number 3 on the top 10), and that we could not prove anything. What reasonable person would not apologize for what occurred and offer to pay your medical expenses, or at least assure that they would take action to prevent recurrence?
The unit is infested with insects. I don't mean cute tropical bugs that float on by or flies, geckos, or things we have never minded other places. I mean gross little mini cockroach-like bugs that pour out of every nook and cranny and race around the countertops, stove, and through the cupboards. I smashed dozens every day and it did not make a dent. The granite slab will not look so nice when you find it camouflages a bug swarm. It is obvious they travel through the walls to other floors. BTW Wayne said that you should expect bugs, including bed bugs, in any rental unit, and then blamed it on the previous renter, but then implied that this could not have happened because he heard the building provides pest control.
The toilet filled to overflowing one day while we were away and had not even used it that morning. That means that someone else's sewage was backfilling our toilet. There was no plunger in the unit, so we could not fix it ourselves. We tried to call Wayne but the numbers left in the unit's info book had been disconnected and not updated. When we found a good number online, his "Agent" did show up and unclog it before the water reached the top and our neighbor's toilet water covered the floor.
The next door unit is occupied by some young people that have a party most nights. One night it was so loud that we could not hear our TV and the wall was pounding. One other nearby tenant got in a shouting match with them about it and was run off with threats and curses from a large man. The parking lot security guard did nothing. I went down and asked him if there were rules. He said only after ten, but then proceeded to inform the loud people that our unit had complained about them. This only served to enrage them, and they then pounded on our shared wall and door, and shouted taunts and threats through our window. My wife then felt unsafe for the rest of our stay, and this did not provide for a relaxing environment. We let Wayne know, because we expected he would care. No apology. He said that situations like this are normal here as in any hotel (?!?), and again "beyond his control."
I could go on, but this should be enough information for you to make a better choice on Oahu. read more