Best thing about the unit was the set up of rooms and location relative to beach.
Very good customer service by the owners. They were very attentive.
Best part was being with my family ocean activities and cooking thanksgiving dinner together.
Best restaurant was Fumis, north of house.
Advise: enjoy the private mornings on the balcony.
Lezlee J., Salt Lake Cit, UT, 11.28.11
Thank You so much for "our home away from home" stay! This home is fantastic if you want that "laid back" Hawaian vacation! From the beutiful sunrise to amazing sunset this home provides it all. Our son, Patrick, is stationed at MCBH in Kaneohe Bay, HI is was a great spot for our "whole family" vacation. This home is located away from the hussle of Honolulu and and Waikiki, but still very accessible to the "night life" if you wanted. Also perfect location to the North Shore and Haleiwa. Joey was a fantastic help on all our needs. Thanks again for the info on the Paradise Baby Co for the rentals on our 8 month old grandsons needs. Thanks again
Teresa B., Smithton, IL, 4.29.11
Excellent customer service; lovely house, perfect loaction for trips up to the Noprth Shore or down to Kailua. Very good dinners at Haleiwa Joe's, both in Haleiwa and at Haiku Road. We liked the houuse very much, and are would love to come again!
Martin L., Menlo Park, CA, 2.27.11
What I liked best about the Sugar Mill Beach was that what you saw on the site was what you got. Very well represented. The customer service I received from Vacation Rentals was awesome and also very good from the home owner. Joey was right on top of things and very helpful. Also worth mentioning - all of the beds were extremely comfortable. The best part of my trip was: kayaking in the ocean in front of the house and heading to Chinaman's Hat. The fact that the house includes kayaks, life jackets, boogie boards etc. was excellent and beyond my expectations. My advice to someone else staying at this unit would be...there's Raid under the sink. If you are in the kitchen late at night, be prepared to use it on the occasional cockroach - it works like a charm! Also, keep an eye out for the cute little gecos that visit. They are very small and quite harmless. I liked them WAY better than the cockroaches! Also, bring a travel alarm. Only one of the 3 bedrooms has a clock radio. For those reviews that stated that Sugar Mill Beach House didn't have enough paper towels, etc. we had absolutely no issues on that front. Joey ensured that it was quite well supplied and there were loads of extras in the downstairs closet. The service we received was excellent and we really appreciated Joey's flexibility in allowing us a later checkout time. Given our flight out was in the evening, it allowed us to sleep in a bit and not have to rush. Thanks for everything - your home is truly beautiful.
Jacquie J., Chestermere, Alberta, 12.21.10
Sugar Mill was a dream destination. My family recently stayed there over Thanksgiving and we were all thrilled with our stay. We had plans to go exploring the island, but we quickly decided we had no need to go anywhere else. We stayed at the house 90% of the time just soaking in the sun and beautiful ocean right outside the back door. Though it's not officially a private beach, I can only remember one time when someone walked by, so it felt very secluded. We also made good use of the kayaks that the owners provided, as well as the water shoes which are great to have as there is a lot of coral in the water. Though we didn't venture out much, Honolulu is really not that far away; only about 30-40 minutes drive. Kailua is also only about a 25 minute drive and has a lot of restaurant options. The closest grocery store is a 12 minute drive and had everything we needed to cook at home. Oh - and Kualoa Ranch is right across the street and is a beautiful backdrop (they were even filming Hawaii 5-0 there one day during our stay!). It felt like everything was the perfect distance; we weren't in a major tourist area by any means, but we were close enough to activities. If you're concerned about being away from the hub of Honolulu, I'd say the tradeoff is well worth it. The house itself is up-to-date, clean, beautiful and had everything we needed. We can't wait to plan our next vacation here!
Lauren F., Redwood City, CA, 12.4.10
Everything was wonderful, we have often stayed on the west side of the island, so staying on the east side was new, and a welcomed change. More relaxed and quiet and had a far better tropical feel. Everyone we dealt with from the owners of the property to the agents were super helpful and knowledgable. The best part of our trip was the relaxing feel we got while at the rental, homey and warm and super neat and clean, with absolute privacy that was priceless, when vacationing from such busy and congested lives. We will strongly recommend this property and the rental agency to friends and family, and hope to use this service again. The only draw back to Sugar Mill beach house is the highway outside the property has cars that travel way to fast and it's unnerving to leave the driveway to get out in that traffic, and coming from a big city ourselves it was the last thing we wanted to see while on a tropical island getaway....not sure there's any solution to that, but it really was the only drawback. Thanks again for your services.
Mandy L., Mesa, AZ, 10.26.10
Jill B. Albuquerque, NM May 15-19, 2010 - This house is absolutely amazing - I cannot say enough good things about it. This house has so much charm - our whole family felt like we were coming home. Everything was spotless - there were plenty of extra paper products in the downstairs closet and plenty of clean towels and linens in the upstairs closets. There is a washer and dryer in the carport closet - we packed light, so it was great to be able to do wash a couple of times during our visit. The kitchen was fully stocked with plates, glasses, silver, pots and pans. There is no air conditioning - but you won't need it - just open the french doors and enjoy the ocean breezes. Being right on the beach was amazing - the sound of the waves lulled us all to sleep every night. Our family spent a great deal of time using the kayaks available and snorkeling on the reef (which is right outside the back door) - remember to bring your water shoes because there are rocks and coral in the water. There is a Walgreens across the street from Windward Mall that sells water shoes and snorkel gear for a fair price. Our favourite place to eat was Haleiwa Joes Haiku Gardens on Haiku - the food was fantastic as were the waiter (Chris) and atmosphere. We made field trips daily to the aquarium, the zoo, Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, North Shore Shark Adventures and the Dole Plantation on various parts of Oahu - it was wonderful to come "home" to this house. Thank you Joey Ann for allowing us to spend time in this wonderful house - we hated to leave, and we will be back! Aloha!
Jill B., Albuquerque, New Mexico, 6.1.10
We wrote in the guest book when we were there. I also talked to Joey about a few things that I, personally, would like to see added. ie. TV trays that could be used inside or out and double as end tables. When sitting in the chairs, there wasn't anything to put your 'stuff' on. Possibly some restaurant or tours that would be recommended and the addresses that could be entered into a GPS. We seemed to have everything we needed. We left a few food stuffs like syrup, oil, popcorn, etc. My advice to anyone else who rents this beautiful is to enjoy it to its fullest. Oh, directions on how to use some of the TV, DVD, Cable would be useful. We weren't sure if there was special stations or not. However, we really didn't watch too much TV. The outside speakers were great but we didn't know if they could be separated from the upstairs speakers. Thanks much from our entire family. It was a wonderful reunion with my daughters and son-in-law.
Ruth H., Wilton, CA, 6.1.10
1) Excellent service from the owner - always available 2) House in good condition - nice amenities (sound system, kayaks etc...) 3) Good location, quiet area 4) I would rent again from same owner I will prefer the North Shore thought (personal preference, nothing to do with the rental) 5) House great for kids, great for snorkeling, great for kayaking Very pleased with everything otherwise, thanks! laurent
Laurent P., North Vancouver, BC, 1.16.10
The location of this rental is great for exploring the island and for swimming at this time of the year. It was too stormy in most evenings for us to enjoy sitting out there at night. On some of the days the water was nice and we were able to swim, snorkel, and kayak. We could not have done that at this time of the year on the North Shore so that was great. Compared to staying in the city, i thought it was a shorter drive to the North Shore, the beautiful East coast, and still not too far from the city. The customer service I received from Vacation Rental was most excellent. I was floored with the level of service my agent provided. In terms of the home itself, it was missing a few necessities or they were broken. We didn't have a kettle, the toaster broke. There was not enough paper towel, toilet paper, hand soap. We came from another rental in Maui that had anything and everything we could possibly need. It was a bit of a shock coming to this home.
Linna T., Vancouver, BC, 12.4.09
Comment by Owner/Manager:
Aloha! We provide one roll of paper towels and two tp's for each bathroom and you were provided this information BEFORE you arrived. Upon check in, we personally told you if anything is needed, please call us. Things break, and if you simply would have let us know, I would have delivered a new replacement for anything that was not working. For you to review this 2/5 is an insult as we have gone to extremes to provide an extremely clean luxurious high end million+ dollar home at an extremely reasonable price. I have seen over 40 rentals in the same area, and none of them even come close to ours. Over the past years, we have never had any rating under a 4/5 for a reason, and it saddens me that because you did not have more paper towels and tp than we informed you that we provide, you give us a poor rating. It makes all the hard work that we do to provide such a wonderful place and environment seem not worth it.
The rental property was amazing and quite nicely appointed. The only issue was that it was not well stocked with items like toilet paper, low suds laundry detergent and kitchen towels. I had to purchased these items immediately upon arrival. Other than that what a great vacation spot. Would recommend this property to anyone looking for a secluded get-away.
Brian A., Tempe, AZ, 5.6.09
Comment by Owner/Manager:
Aloha: After seeing the comment about kitchen towels, detergent, and toilet paper, I looked in the side closet in the downstairs bathroom, and there were ample amounts of each item. I have now changed our introduction papers to make tenants aware of where these extra items that we supply at no charge can be found. We are glad these tenants appreciated the efforts that we have gone to in order to provide each and every guest the BEST Ocean Front experience in the area. Mahalo, The Owners
What a GREAT Home! Beautiful sunrise, beautiful views, great reef for snorkeling right at you backyard. Will absolutley go again. The photos of the home are right on!
Greg I., La Habra, CA, 4.20.09
This house was spectacular! What we wanted was to be right on the ocean, and it be clean, and full of amenities, and it did just that and more! The agent was so easy to deal with (Jody), and we will be back. We had previously been to HI and rented more expensive homes (that could accommodate many more people) and it wasn't as nice. So, we all unanimously agreed that the house was the best part of our trip. We had tea at the Moana Surf Westin Hotel - it was spectacular. We also had dim sum at Legends and it was full of variety and delicious ( a little slow though). I will recommend this to many of my friends and family. The Mathews
Vinny K., El Paso, TX, 3.24.09
