We were so happy staying at the Hawaiian Princess on our family vacation. Away from the…read moreHonolulu/Waikiki chaos of tourism. Let me just get down to the knit and gritty. I'm not going to sugar coat this one. The Princess is a 16 story tall condo complex that is securely gated with a public beach access. There is security on the grounds 24/7. There are key fobs that access the main gate and the key fobs access the elevator, pool area and gates to the beach. We felt 10,000% safe here with our child during our 10 night stay in March during Spring Break. 50% are long term residents. 50% are vacation rentals. Lets talk about smoking - NO SMOKING on any of the lanais, pool area, BBQ area, ect. You'll get kicked off the property and they mean it. There is a designated smoking area behind the tennis courts. We never smelt any stank on the property. Which was great because cigarettes are gross! Lets talk about theft - We had zero issues with theft here in Waianae or on the island in general. Remain vigilant. Don't leave valuables in your vehicle. Don't leave your vehicle unlocked. We left absolutely nothing in our rental car. Not even a phone charger. Nothing! We even took down our dash info for the Princess when we went into public areas. We didn't want to be like, "look over here, this is a vacationer with a rental car" Be smart about it. Let's talk about the homeless - It's a thing here! There are indeed many. A huge population of displaced people. Some encampments along the 93 Farrington from Makaha south to Kapolei can be 100 - 200 sized encampments of tent city. It's a real thing here. The Princess had a few strays passing through since its a public beach. But not one person camping on the beach of the Princess. They have really cracked down on that and have no camping signs on the rocks. If the homeless make you uncomfortable, stay in Honolulu and Waikiki in a resort with the tourist craze. We are from the SF Bay area and homeless all over where we live and it's normal to us. But if your from Kansas or something, you might get a little freaked out. Lets talk about driving - There is one road in and one road out. It takes about 30 mins to get to Kapolei. And about 1hr to get to Honolulu. We loved staying far far far away from people. Honestly, when we return, we'd stay at the Princess. No questions asked. Let's talk about the neighborhood - It's a little rough. A lot of older run down homes. A lot of junk in front of people's homes. There is a huge feral cat population. There are wild roosters, chickens and peacocks running around. There are Island puppies. No one fixes their animals and are mostly in tact leading to a huge over population here. All of the homeless have dogs and puppies with them. The roosters start crowing at 5am. You'll hear them and you'll see them. Everyone has been very friendly though. Its definitely its own little community up here. If it all makes you feel uncomfortable, again, you might want to stay in Honolulu/Waikiki tourist chaos. Conclusion- We would 1,000% stay here again.

Just spent 4 wonderful weeks at the Hawaiian Princess. It's a great timeshare location! Rooms are…read morealways clean and well maintained. Staff are helpful. If you like remote Hawaii without masses of tourists, this is a great place to vacation. On the other hand, if high prices, small rooms, thousands of tourists, crowded beaches, and overpriced Waikiki restaurants are your liking, Hawaiian Princess ain't your place I love the peacefulness of Waianae. Glad it's got a bad rap so masses stay away

Used to be 1000x better before Susan Decorte of Hawaiian Properties, LTD took over. She refuses…read moretransparency with the owners who live here. Only hires her relatives (Structural Systems Inc.) to do service on the building even if different companies offer better quotes. They hired new security which is totally useless, inconsistent, rude people. No more aloha. Move here if you want to get taken advantage of on your HOA fees. Susan is grifting the residents of this establishment under the guise of, "management."

This place is wonderful…read more First of all let me just get out of the way the very important detail of the scenery driving to the condos... Yes on the beach there are tents full of homeless people. If you lived in Hawaii without any help from the government and you would be homeless too because the inflation of everything. Before we got here we read a lot of things about people breaking into cars and stuff like that... Well tell you what I have never in my life had issues with people breaking into my car because I do not let myself be a victim! If you leave stuff in your car you're just opening the door for opportunity. Let me start by telling you the pros of this condominium.... The gate to the hotel parking lot requires a key fob... Then you have to use the key fob to get in to the steel gate to the actual condos... Then you need the key Fob to get you into the elevator... Then to get to your actual condo you need a key. There is security from 3 PM to sometime in the morning. The out side of the condos have been worn down from normal seaside wear and tear but are structurally intact. The elevator was very clean, the outside was clean and my condo was absolutely stunning. (We rented ours out through an AirBNB ad and it was the best thing ever). The beach is never busy always clean and crystal clear. The waves are a little rough at times near the shore it's perfect for inner tubes Rafes stuff like that... And once you get past the edge of the waves it's pretty calm and you could snorkel. The cons- This condo is a bit a ways away from large retail stuff like target Walmart Costco... It's only a short distance but because of traffic it takes a little bit longer than you like about 50 minutes to get into Honolulu 35 minutes to get to Costco. I would definitely recommend this place if you want a nice getaway from all the chaos of Hawaii :)

If I could rate this place 0 I would. Let's talk about my overall experience, you know it's tea…read more time . Moved in summer of 2025 and initially I thought this was a pleasant place to live but it quickly turned left. Renee moved me in and provided me with a quick overview of the house rules and told me to read them. I quickly read over them briefly and didn't think much about it. This property is a joke, one of the locals that live here told me you have to give up some stuff in order to live here because this is the low income side of the island . Well holy hockey sticks didn't think I would have to give up my sanity in exchange for a place to live . The level of micromanagement at this low income Taj Mahal is ridiculous. Rules, rules , rules , and more RULES. Living here feels like a nightmare. I have received more warnings and little notes on my door than anything here from these top flight security guards of the world , what a pest ‍. Anything you do expect a response from management immediately. Want to have family visit you ? Think again , want to have friends over think again. Every time someone comes over you'll be asked to request a visitor pass/ guest pass because the old hoot will call you out and say and I quote "I never seen you here before are you on the lease . If they are staying longer than 10 days go ahead and contact your property manager and be prepared to submit a request in writing guest name , dob, and ssn so that they can do a full background check before the person can stay at the property. This is not the Taj Mahal but they will treat it like it's the Taj. If your friends are coming over they better have proper documentation or else you can't park on the property. Doesn't matter if you rented a vehicle while you're in Hawaii and the rental agency doesn't have the updated documents, you will still not be able to park on the property. Get ready to wear a green wrist band around your wrist like you're entering the club (21) ; if you're a guest and staying here less than 10 days . If your parking decal isn't displayed properly in your car they will leave a written notice on your windshield, doesn't matter if you've been here for months and they know you , they will still document. If you want to have to ask permission for everything you do than go ahead and rent at the Taj Mahal. If you want privacy don't rent here cause they will be up in your business. Neighbors are nosy and will try to overstep their boundaries until you stop and put a on they ssa like Nike , just do it. Last but not least be prepared to have to do area beautification on the outside of the building. Never have I ever rented anywhere and was told to maintain the exterior of the property. ‍ here we go again. If you want to rent here expect to wash your exterior windows, fail to do so and you'll get a warning followed by 10 days to fix it or else $50 fine. I can't wait UNTIL I LEAVE THIS HOLE , because once the hits the fan it doesn't stop , just get ready to do the Macarena, bachata, twerk , or whatever you call dance in your culture cause this place is not for the WEAK. ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE , better hope you have 9 lives like the influx of cats that roam the property. Don't get a neighbor like me who deliberately placed a bowl of cat food at her door to attract them. ‍ and I let management know but of course nothing was done and I definitely didn't see a violation/warning notice on her door. Be prepared for loud noise and a lot of early morning construction because something is always getting fixed on . If you work from home this is definitely a nuisance because you'll will hear loud banging and drills in the background. Save yourself the trouble and rent anywhere but here . Hawaii is supposed to be paradise but this is definitely not. This is micromanagement at its finest giving very much motel 6. But hey, they'll still leave the light on for you if you want stress and anxiety.

If you want to be away from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki this is the place for you. HOWEVER, be…read moreprepared to deal with an abundance of homeless, and just plain filth. You can find much better places for the same price, if not cheaper on nicer areas of the island. I'll break my review down by catagories. UNIT: The unit itself is family owned by my friend that I traveled with. It's beautifully decorated, well kept, and fully stocked (boogie boards, snorkel gear, beach towels, coolers, beach bags, toiletries, spices, sugar, coffee). I could go on and on. You literally just need to bring your clothes and groceries. But check the cupboards before you go shopping, you'd be surprised at what it's stocked with, we sure were. Unfortunately, this building/unit is directly adjacent to one of the many parks that contain homeless camps, which are viewable from the unit. SECURITY: * Friendly, but don't do much else. They sit in a booth at entrance, look up and wave. The only time we stopped at the security office was to check in. *Although the entire complex is surrounded by fencing, and keyed entries, we watched people come & go as they pleased. Some security gates were not locked, and at times people on the inside just opened the gates to people on the outside. DO NOT GET A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY. *We had to move parking spots 3 times as they kept putting us in reserved spots. *We had an issue with our neighbor directly across the hall on our second night. Partying, loud music, loud voices from midnight to 3:30am. Called security at 2:30am but nothing was done. BUILDING: Its an older building, but overall it's decently maintained. It could use a good pressure washing. SWIMMING POOLS: Both pools are well taken care of. Plenty of chairs, and tables available. Never overly crowded. RESIDENTS: We encountered both extremely rude/racist comments towards "tourists", and some that were incredibly nice. Beyond the condos, out in the community everyone was pleasant. OFFICE: Hoku is the office manager, she was pleasant enough, but the office phone is rarely answered. If you need assistance, you'll have to walk down to the office. I saw zero enforcement of the MANY rules. LANDSCAPING: The front and back are beautifully landscaped with lots of plumeria trees. **The exception to this is the far West end of building A from about A-XX1 to A-X14 looks like a catchall for anything that has fallen off the buildings such as gutters, garbage, landscaping debris, etc. PETS: Regardless of what the rules say, there are numerous tenants that have dogs, and cats. I saw cats roaming the grounds. And tenants walking their dogs on the public beach area to do their business and NOT pick up after it. BEACH: Although the beach directly out back is convenient, it is NOT a private beach. It gets very crowded during the day with locals, and homeless who can get very loud until late into the evening. And typically leave their trash. One group even left their huge BBQ, never to return to pick it up. AREA/LOCATION: *Located on the most SW part of the island. It's approximately 45 min to an hour drive from Waikiki, depending on traffic. *Very congested. *Its the dirtiest, low income part of the island, and I've been over every inch of the island. *Lots of homeless camps at the parks/beaches even thought it posted "no overnight camping". No one is enforcing it. *Lots of trash everywhere. *The only positive thing I can say about the area is that there is a heavy police presence DURING THE WEEK, over the weekend we saw none. *There are loads of fast food restaurants, only a couple sit-down restaurants, and numerous grocery stores. *I'd recommend steering clear of the beaches due to the homeless population.

Makaha Plantation is a gated community where individuals are able to rent apartments or purchase…read moreone if the apartment is up for sale. It is located up near the mountain and some apartments has a view of the ocean from a distance. I have stepped foot on the premises only one time to meet up with one of my friends. My other check in was at the bus stop located outside of the gated community. After passing the guard shack there's the office on the right hand side as well as parking. In front of the office I noticed the vending machines if a person is thirsty. Plus there was a machine for the laundry key. On the day that I met up with my friend I decided to take a tour around the premises with a neighbor of hers. While walking around the vicinity we came across the basketball court, the tennis court, and swimming pools in two different locations. We found out from the security guard that the tennis court is off limits since the ground is cracked and uneven...waiting to be repaired. There were several buildings at various locations that are the laundry area for the residents. Residents are able to see peacocks, cats, and maybe even a chicken roaming around the vicinity. Residents are able to barbecue in certain sections of the community as well. From what my friend says this place is good for matured singles, couples, and retirees. Families with young children does not really last at this gated community because of the strict rules. Makaha Plantation would be a good place to invest if looking for a quiet and peaceful community.

We rented this place for a week for our family vacation through VRBO.com which is owned by a lady…read morenamed Hope. The place is really far out so be prepared for driving. Lot's of driving. But the property is very well maintained. There are peacocks walking everywhere and freely roaming the area. There are also mongoose running around so be aware. The condo we rented had two bedrooms and was very spacious. Our view was of the ocean which made for many splendid mornings and evenings. The security guards that check you in are very full of the aloha spirit.

I was planning a destination wedding and needed a place for my family and family-in-law to stay in…read more We knew we wanted to stay in Ko Olina, but needed an actual townhouse to rent. From a Google search, I found that Ola Properties had a nice online listing of all their rental properties online, this made things much easier than bouncing different addresses off through the phone. Furthermore, they show actual pictures of each of their rental homes online, so you can see how the interior is furnished (trust me, this makes a BIG difference!). I should mention that that the minimum rental period is 30 days though. Doesn't mean you actually have to be there for the whole month, but you do need to pay for a whole month at a time. At the time of my search, we only stayed for part of the month, but it still benefited us to go use Ola Properties. I mainly contacted Debi and she was awesome. With the 6-hr difference between us, we primarily contacted through email, but we were able to catch each other when we needed it. When we arrived, we were promptly greeted and given a tour of each house we rented. If there were any issues, we could call and/or text at any time. Even after we left, Debi was very helpful in answering my questions regarding our deposit. If we ever come back to Ko Olina, I'll definitely use Ola Properties again! Thanks Debi!

Ola Properties was my property manager starting in 2021, back when Larry was still involved. Things…read moreran smoothly back then, but once ownership changed, the quality went downhill fast. The biggest issue was the lack of communication and transparency. Decisions were made without consulting us, and when we asked questions, the responses always seemed to prioritize Ola's internal agenda rather than what was best for our villa. We also started noticing a steady increase in fees. What used to be a simple structure with a few charges turned into a long list--transaction fees, credit card fees, even fees just to speak to someone live. It felt excessive and, at times, questionable. The breaking point was how they handled our belongings when we decided to leave. We requested our original linens back, but they had removed tags to make everything "community linens." When we finally received items, they didn't match, some were clearly older than what we originally had, and others still had tags from different units. It was disorganized and unacceptable. To make matters worse, we were promised replacements or compensation, but in the end, we were given poor-quality linens that didn't come close to what we had before. Communication during this process was frustrating--calls and concerns were often ignored or brushed off. There are good people working there, but overall, the leadership and management practices made it impossible for us to trust the company. The lack of respect and common courtesy for the people who employ them--and who they claim to serve--is appalling. Based on our experience, I would not return. I have the emails and receipts if they wanted to dispute my claims.

Top notch service. Very informed and educational staff. Great portfolio of rental homes.read more

I never usually do reviews but I want to warn homeowners to avoid this company. I am a property…read moreowner who had Private Homes manage my home. They understated my rental income, overcharged renters and neglected my home. There are many reputable property managers on Oahu. This is not one of them.

I had a great visit to the Cottage at Makhaha! It was kind of last minute but worked out really…read morewell. The host is lovely and welcomes you with Aloha. If you are looking for something corporate, this isn't it, but it's a lovely place to stay with a lovely family running around and is near a really perfect little beach and a quiet and safe neighborhood. This place gives you a delightful and authentic Island experience!

Enjoyed our stay here Great hostess…read more Secure gated parking Short walk to watch beautiful beachfront sunsets Quiet neighborhood KITCHEN: toaster oven, coffee maker, microwave, fridge, freezer, dinnerware, silverware etc BATHROOM: Spacious, beautiful walk in shower LIVING ROOM: Two sofas, one opens up into a bed, smart TV, window AC unit BEDROOM: 1 king bed, 1 full​ size, ceiling fan We definitely plan to spend time here again

It's the best Airbnb I've ever stayed in! This place offers beautiful hospitality, and the location…read moreprovides such privacy and serenity. Don't be deterred by the roads leading to the Airbnb; once you arrive at the resort, you'll be amazed and blown away by the warm welcome. The house has numerous amenities, including air hockey and plenty of games, making you feel like you're in an arcade. The kitchen is gorgeous, and the backyard is incredible, featuring a serene waterfall that adds to the relaxation. There's so much to appreciate about this place! It offers a tranquil escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. You'll be surprised by the peaceful atmosphere and the convenience of having everything in one location. The game room hosts various options, from a pool table to air hockey, ensuring plenty of games to enjoy. Overall, this Airbnb truly offers a unique and relaxing experience!