Kauai Vacation Rentals & Real Estate Inc

Worst experience on Kauai. Avoid this rental company like the plague.
We arrived at our rental (Hanalei Bay Villas 24) on a beautiful evening to find the unit trashed and covered with gecko feces (covered is not an understatement!) and dead bugs. The walls were spotted with mounds of gecko feces and the amount of grime, dust, and dirt was unbearable. We called the manager immediately and received the «Is it your first time in Hawaii?» reply (which is, a lame excuse for a lazy rental company who doesn’t upkeep properties). To her dismay, we had actually been to Kauai 9 times before, as we frequent every summer and know very well the difference between Island normality and point-​blank disgusting. The manager seemed very annoyed and burdened that we had called. She sends 1 cleaning lady after 4 hours who brings 1 sponge and starts wiping the floor! 1 sponge! She had no other cleaning supplies besides 1 sponge!!! This was a 2 story, 2-​bedroom unit covered in filth! It was actually kind of sad and we felt sorry for the cleaning lady — so with a family of four, we all jumped in and began cleaning as best as we could. This wasted the entire first day of our trip.
I can go on and on about how Kauai Vacation Rentals Inc. was of no help during our stay. Multiple times did our unit have issues that were outright ignored. We had no cable TV for 6 days. We had heavy bug issues (so many bugs crawled around that they would fall from the ceiling into our pots and pans while we cooked! Gross!) The rental company did not apologize once. They refused to switch our unit or even discount us a dollar. They are, in my opinion, the worst vacation rental company on the entire island (trust me, I’ve been to Kauai 9 times before! I am familiar with the standard).
Terrible company with terrible customer service.
P. S. Avoid staying at the Hanalei Bay Villas 24 in addition to avoiding Kauai Vacation Rentals Inc. The unit is filled with belongings of the owner (no drawer space or storage space whatsoever), and does not feel like a vacation rental at all. It’s disgusting. Moreover the blinds are all torn and damaged, allowing MASSES of bugs, roaches and beetles, etc., to crawl into the unit.

This review is for Kauai Vacation Rentals and unit 106 Pali Ke Kua.
This is going to be a long review… For those people who don’t want to read it all, I’ll give you this much advise. Do not rent 106 Pali Ke Kua, it was a terrible condo and worst customer service.
From the moment we walked in the door we knew this was a mistake, and when we reached out to Kauai Vacation Rentals their solutions and lack of apologies left us feeling even more disappointed and upset.
The condo was filthy. Dirt on the floor, crumbs on the tables, sticky kitchen counters, rat droppings, blinds that don’t close, a heavy mold smell, stained sheets, random water spots, dust and spider webs.
We called the property manager right away, her first response was «Is this your first time in Hawaii?”(What does that even mean?). She then came by the condo, saw the mess and took photos. Not once did she say sorry. She told us the droppings were from a Gecko, I googled their droppings and the ones on the floor did not match. She offered a solution of fixing the blinds and having a cleaning lady return.
When she came back with a cleaning lady, all she did was swiffer the floor, changed the sheets and put a sheet up over the broken blinds. (The cleaning lady told us that the usual cleaning lady for this unit was out of town, that’s why it didn’t get cleaned. Are you kidding me???)
This place felt so unsanitary that I went out and purchased cleaning supplies ($ 50) and cleaned for an hour, there was no way I could have lived in that mess for ten days. At this point my husband and I have wasted a whole day of our honeymoon, dealing with all this.
We asked to be moved to another unit and they refused us, I asked for a refund and they said they can’t. I had to fight to get at least a refund on one day and our exiting cleaning cost. Still no apology from anyone with Kauai Vacation Rentals.
The worst customer service experience I’ve ever had traveling.

What a great company to work with! We originally booked a condo with KVR that we were told was for sale. We decide to take out chances. Turns out the condo sold, of which we were informed immediately. Lisa at KVR found us a comparable rental and sent the web address for our group to review and approve. It was even nicer than what we had previously booked. The keys to our condo were conveniently located at our car rental company. The condo was immaculately clean (something we’ve had issue with on the island before with other rental companies) and there were gifts awaiting us as well! The condo and location was even better in person. We felt really well taken care of through the whole experience. Thank you everyone at KVR for all your hard work on our behalf. Our vacation was the best we’ve had in a decade and of all our trips to Kauai! You’ll be hearing from us again.

These folks were great to work with. We had some small issues with our first rental through them and they, without hesitation, offered to move us to a different home that was an amazing upgrade. Any issue we had they dealt with promptly and courteously. I would definitely rent through them again.

Buyer beware of Kauai Vacation Rentals. We reserved a lovely home months in advance, very carefully asking on day one whether it had air conditioning. We were told it did not but we could reserve a portable AC unit which we did immediately, as my 91-​year-​old father would be coming and with breathing problems would need this option if it got unduly hot. Kauai Vacation Rentals confirmed several times in the ensuing months that we were on the list for the AC unit and would very likely get it. Three days before our arrival we called to confirm yet again. We were told that there is no portable unit, that we were «quite mistaken» about reserving it and that «no one» has AC in Kauai. I told the broker that we had AC in our last VBRO and she snapped, «Why didn’t you stay there!?» (We needed a much larger house this time.) She got very angry that we would try to enforce their promise, denying they’d made it. Finally she told us we could hire her handyman to «install» a portable unit in the home for $ 200 — $ 300. As luck would have it, Kauai was ungodly hot and humid during our visit. The house, beautiful as it was, was like an oven, despite the fans. Not wanting the liability of construction on someone else’s home, we made sure to take my father on lots of air conditioned car trips during the day. I will avoid dealing with this company again — no integrity even when an elderly man’s life is involved.

I was just writing a review for a theatre that I went to this past weekend that had the most cordial staff, when I suddenly recalled what nice staff Kauai Vacation Rentals has. I needed to find a place to stay for my last four nights in Kauai this past July, when I was already in Kauai. I don’t recall the names of the ladies, since it was four months ago, but they were all so helpful. They allowed us to check in the morning, several hours early. Upon entering their office to pick up keys, one lady greeted us by offering us each bottled water. They gave us a pair of recyclable bags with insulated lunch bags with the Kauai Vacation Rentals logo.
We were staying at Kauai Beach Villas G-​7 which could use some updating, but for the most part was clean. The room was oceanfront with a nice view. A plus was that when staying at these Villas, guests may use the adjoining Aqua Kauai Beach Resort’s lovely lagoon swimming pool with waterfalls and lava tube slide. On Tuesday, there is a complimentary hula show near the pool with free pineapple juice or Mai Tais.

We rented Sansei Hale in Poipu, which is a 3 bedroom 2200 sq ft luxury single family home in the Poipu area, about halfway between Poipu beach and spouting horn. It was absolutely amazing. The service from KVR was excellent, too. The house was super clean. We did have one minor issue with a leaking AC unit the first night but they repaired it almost immediately for us. I highly recommend this property. It is truly amazing!!! Check their VRBO page here:

We have rented with Kauai Vacation Rentals since 2000, when we first came to Kauai for a friends wedding. The bride exclusively used Kauai Vacation rentals and had access to some great addresses on Weke Road (great location!) near Hanalei Bay as a result. We were impressed. We referred our friends, colleagues, a former boss.
This year, we had a difficult experience. Although a manager stepped in, and ultimately all ended well, we had several interactions here that were stressful.
After paying for a great rental near our favorite beach, and booking by phone, we heard nothing for months. Dreams of sunsets and crashing waves and Na Pali Coast views hung in the air offsetting the Seattle rain. We could not wait to get to Kauai.
Then on the Thursday night in March before getting on the plane, after paying in full several months earlier, we get an alarming phone message that we had not signed our rental agreement, followed up that day by emails with italics and bold case stressing that we have not signed our rental agreement and implying our vacation was possibly on the line. But we had paid. In full. Over two months ago! No one had mentioned anything about a rental agreement or original signatures when we booked. How could this be happening? We were confused.
In calling in to try to clarify, I spoke to the same employee who had sent the emails. She politely berated me for not signing the rental agreement they had sent explaining it HAD to be signed. (I had mistakenly assumed these were maps and set aside the envelope, since no one mentioned a rental agreement.) But, I reasoned, we paid in full two months ago and no one mentioned this. Why were we just hearing now? What are my options? Can I please scan a document then and take care of this or sign something online?
No. And No. And No. You’ll need to physically come into our offices when you arrive on the island, and on and on.
In this day and age of easy online rental, online signatures, and online authorizations, Kauai Vacation rentals practices seem antiquated.
Insisting on original signatures (theirs AND yours) even after a customer pays in full, is an unusual practice in our experience with vacation rentals. But more than that, the attitude of the employee was unfortunate. We had violated their policies. Accounting had gone home. We were making things difficult. They had waited to call days before our vacation, and this was going to take serious work now to fix this. Instead of jumping through hoops for us, as their customers, we were going to have to jump through hoops for them. (But wait, hadn’t we already paid. In full?)
I was at a loss. I got off the phone and in frustration, sent an email asking that a manager please intervene. From that point on, this employee was out of the picture and customer service improved greatly. Lucy, the manager, really changed the tone. All of the sudden, all the options we had asked for, were now available.
I suppose all is well that ends well. While we are grateful to Lucy, for stepping up and saving the day, that really shouldn’t have been necessary days before leaving for our long awaited vacation. There is an opportunity here to look at their internal process and streamline it, and probably to retrain an employee.
In this day and age, with all the easy and streamlined ways to book rental property, customer loyalty is driven by great properties to rent, but also by positive experiences, efficient processes, and good old fashioned customer service.

I, like another reviewer, was hesitant about renting a condo at first. Hotels are so much more predictable and we weren’t sure exactly what we getting ourselves into.
Upon arriving at our room at the Waipouli Beach Resort, our jaws dropped. We were welcomed into an absolutely gorgeous room. Then, as we walked around checking everything out, we were even more excited to find that everything we could ever need was provided for us. Tide, dish soap, beach towels, beach chairs, water bottles, cleaning supplies, etc. Little notes were left for us for farmers markets and other fun things to do.
The room was footsteps away from the beach. The pool had a water slide and beach sand in the jacuzzis.
My husband and I spent our honeymoon and have already decided we would book through Kauai Vacation Rentals again in the future.

I’m only reviewing the house we stayed at, which is the Hale Moana Kai in Haena North Shore. I copied and pasted my email to Kauai Vacation Rental. They were good in terms of coming and replacing the broken items and refunding the cleaning fee after my complaint. The pictures on their website for this particular house are very misleading though.
I wanted to put in writing our experience of renting the Hale Moana Kai from 7÷5÷2013 to 7÷15÷2013. Let me state that we have rented from Kauai Vacation Rentals before in 2011 and we had absolutely no problems.
We arrived the evening of 7÷5÷2013 to a very dirty house. The kitchen cabinets were dusty and sticky. There were sticky fingerprints all over the kitchen cabinets. We were provided 1 roll of paper towels which we quickly used up that evening to re-​clean all the kitchen cabinets and counters.
Our bathroom was equally dirty. To my horror I found hair in the master bath sink and the sink for the adjacent bedroom was clogged our entire stay. I was also extremely disappointed that this house was advertised as a «2 bathroom» house, yet the second full bathroom was in the storage room, outside the house, downstairs in some storage room. The storage room/​bathroom was so full of things and the entrance blocked by boogie boards, chairs and other items, we couldn’t even get to the shower and ended up not using the outside bathroom at all.
When I read «2 bathrooms», I’m assuming 2 bathrooms INSIDE a house, not somewhere in a storage room outside on the property. 3 adults and a baby had to manage with only 1 bathroom for over 10 days and it was quite uncomfortable. The counters and the back of the toilets were filthy and must not have been wiped clean in weeks. Again, we used the remaining paper towels to clean. By the time we were done cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms, it was midnight. That’s what we did on our first night there.
The pictures on your website also are completely misleading. The house and the kitchen look new, when in reality the kitchen and the house are very run down. You should update the photos to be more realistic to what the house actually looks like. I would have never opted for that house, had I known it was old, run down and that dirty. I have no problem with «rustic» accommodations as long as it’s advertised that way and it’s clean.
The doors inside the house were so old, they didn’t close unless you slammed them and even then would just prop open again. No privacy whatsoever.
These are the things that were BROKEN or non-​functional: The BBQ was broken and the flame so dinky, we just laughed when we saw it. The grill was also so dirty and gross, I had never seen anything like it before. Diana at your office is my witness at how bad the BBQ grill was after she came out to the house to inspect. The coffee maker wasn’t working properly because the owner had failed to replace a broken pot and just replaced the broken pot with one that didn’t fit the coffee maker. Coffee spilled everywhere every morning. Diane replaced the coffee maker on the 5^th day of our stay. The toaster was completely useless and was also replaced on the 5^th day of our stay after my complaint email.
Diane at your office was gracious enough to come out after I had emailed her and replace the coffee maker, toaster and the BBQ grill.
Again, we had stayed at Haena Sunrise before and absolutely loved that house. I would be very hesitant renting from you again since the pictures on your website (at least for this house) are completely misleading. The only saving grace of this house was its location close to Tunnels Beach.

We rented Palekana near Poipu for a week. What a great experience! Nice big house, lovely back yard, hot tub, jacuzzi, etc. What impressed me was the thoughtfulness that went into the setup. We had a full set of kitchen appliances, cookware, dishes. Internet access and big screen TVs with channel listings. The garage contained snorkel gear, boogie boards, beach chairs and umbrellas. Almost everything we needed was available and ready-​to-​go with no hassle. When we had questions or problems (e.g. how to use the TV) and called the office, the staff gave immediate help, even offering to come to the house if necessary. Great place.

Just got back from a week at the Nuilani Beach House. The house is great. There were 8 of us, so the cost was reasonable, but we didn’t feel like we were crammed together. Many things were included that make a beach vacation better: large ice chest on wheels, beach chairs, lots of towels, ceiling fans, floor fans, etc etc. The DSL connection was a little slow, but then we shouldn’t have been wandering around the internet when we could be wandering around Kauai. My only suggestion: a broom and dustmop would have been handy, and would have been used.

Staff friendly and helpful with questions regarding there condos available and which one would best meet our needs. Super clean with everything needed to cook, but also maintain the condo, cleaning products, laundry soap, etc.
Use them every year for our Kauai get away on the other side of the island, and they make us feel like we actually are somewhere else~ Easy drop off of key at there workplace at end of our staycation! Love it

Stayed in Hanalei Hideaway in June 2011. Kauai Vacation Rentals made everything easy from the beginning. They answered all my questions and emails promptly. The only reason I gave them 4 stars instead of 5 is because I felt the pictures on their website were misleading — the house we stayed in was small, not at all private, and outdated.

What can I say. This is the most friendly business I have been too or associated with. They were extremely helpful, friendly, and professional. Rented a house from them for nine days and they accomodated us so well. The house we rented in Princeville (aloha lei) was even better then described or the pictures that were being shown. Just want to say thanks from my wife and I, who rented the house and had our entire family there. You helped make our wedding wonderful.

I was a bit nervous to rent a condo because:
1) I have always stayed at hotels on vacations
2) At the time of booking, Kauai Vacation rentals only had 2 reviews. They were 5 stars, but still, I usually rely on a bit more evidence to put my faith in something completely brand new.
But everything turned out great! The staff at KVR were VERY helpful and answered all my questions.
I booked Puu Poa #202 in Princeville… it was GORGEOUS. As soon as we turned the key and opened the door, our hearts were happy and wanted to scream and jump up and down like little girls… we felt like we won the lottery!!!
The condo had a fantastic view, clean, and beautiful. I will say that KVR needs to update their website because the condo was NICER than what the website showed in the pictures!
On the 2^nd day, my boyfriend and I bought piña colada mix and rum to make drinks in the blender that was in our kitchen. But it was broken. So I called KVR, and they brought us a new one, no problem!
The condo had a kitchen stocked with utensils and bowls and everything else you need, right down to a pizza cutter for our frozen pizzza! There was also a washer and dryer, cooler, boogie boards, and books about hawaii.
We truly enjoyed our time at this condo and would definetly book again.

We’ve stayed at Kai Nui (
) twice and both times have been amazing! The pictures do not do it justice, this place is huge! Every room is a master suite w/​its own bathroom and lanai/​deck. There is a washer, dryer, cable, hd flat screen, dvd, bbq, outdoor shower — you name it. And it’s only a 3 minute walk from the beach at the Grand Hyatt.
The kitchen is fully stocked w/​a nice toaster, blender, rice maker and gas stove so were able to cook all our meals. There is a Big Save grocery store about 10 minutes away. Oh, and did I mention the BBQ? ;-)
Kauai Vacation Rentals did a great job answering any of our questions and having the house ready for us. They are a pleasure to work with and I would not hesitate in booking our next vacation w/​them.

This company rocks the house! The staff is super friendly, efficient and very accommodating. Before deciding on which house to rent, the staff answered every question instantly and accurately. Once we got out of the airport, the key packet was left at our car rental as promised and included very useful information, including accurate maps and sunshine market schedule/​locations (our FAVORITE) as well as some activity info.
The house we rented in Princeville (Kauai Hale Luana) is even better than the pictures and description on their website. For the price and location, I would definitely stay here again! The owner of the home even called to make sure that everything was okay too! The house has a washer & dryer and also has the detergent & fabric softener (and not the generic kind either). Kitchen was fully stocked w/​cooking/​baking pots/​pans/​utensils and has spices, coffee filters and even a blender! You know, for the oh so Hawaiian margaritas? There was even a welcome gift: a small cooler bag that included waters and mac nut goodies. Another unexpected surprise! For beach days, there were kids sands toys, a couple coolers, beach chairs, pool noodles, hats and a boogie board. Everything you would need for a great day at the beach!
I would definitely recommend this rental company and more so would recommend this house! Location is so perfect for exploring the North Shore! We’ll definitely be using this company again in the future and hope to stay in the same house again too! Mahalo Nui Loa Kauai Vacation Rentals!

Kaua’i Vacation Rentals provided us with the ideal vacation cottage near Kilauea on the North Shore of Kaua’i. A 1 bedroom/​1 bath furnished house tucked into the side of a hill in the forest, you would miss it if you drove down the road too fast — completely secluded and private. Literally 2 minutes from Anini Beach, the house had been prepared for us with a fruit basket on the table, a cooler full of snacks for the beach, both of which made us feel most welcome. The house was well-​appointed, spotlessly clean, and 5 minutes from shopping despite the sense of seclusion.
We prefer a private home-​type accomodation to the resort routine because we value our privacy. This rental property worked perfectly for us. KVRRE Inc. manages a great selection of properties, and the staff were exceedingly helpful with property selection and reservations. We have this company bookmarked for frequent future business.

These people were FANTASTIC with our vacation rental. They were smooth with the transaction of the keys and all of the info we would need. The condo that we stayed in was gorgeous and far cheaper than a hotel stay. I will definitely use them again for my next vacation to Kauai.