Islander on the Beach 257

This is our review of Suite # 257 at ‘Islander at the Beach’ resort in Kapa’a, Kauai: My wife and I checked into Suite # 257 on Feb 28th 2026. The first thing we noticed is that the wall mounted split mini AC unit was not working. Also, someone had installed a portable floor AC unit right next to the bed about 18” from where your head would be when you sleep. This AC unit is loud. This unit has a 5” dryer type flexible hose that takes up all of the floor room beside the bed, and is routed out the patio door to vent the heat from the AC unit. The patio door was left open 6” to allow the hose to vent through to the outside. As such, there is no way to lock the door. I used a shoelace to ‘rope’ the patio door to the door frame as a lock. The 6” opening from the open patio door was sealed with a 6” wide piece of thin corrugated plastic and taped from top to bottom which had no insulation value to keep out the Hawaian heat, or noise (roosters). The air coming out of the AC unit was only coolish (warm at times) and not cold at all. Long story short, we realized after a couple days that this temporary AC unit needed to have 3 cups of water drained out of it every 45 minutes when the display read ‘P1’. If you didn’t drain it, you didn’t get cold air. We shut it off at night. We were also not provided instructions on this AC unit, but managed to find a little info online. I also spoke to an HVAC Serviceman, who told me that this type of portable AC was supposed to have the 5” flex vent hose AND a ¾” garden type hose attached to the unit and routed outside to drain it automatically. Apparently “not removing the water, and not cleaning the tank/filter regularly can create a serious health hazard that can make the room occupants sick”. Some other complaints include: the patio door was filthy and foggy, you couldn’t see the lovely grounds when you were inside. When I told the front desk, I was provided with rags and windex to clean it myself. The heat exchange unit outside on the balcony was badly rusted and had bird feces all over the top of it. There were 2 bare wires hanging from the top of the inside of the patio door frame (hot wires? alarm wires?). I got an electric shock from the screws that hold on the light switch faceplate on in the bathroom, so I put pieces of tape over the screw heads. No one was sent to fix any of these items in the 6 days we were there, and we reported most of these defects the day after we arrived. We were eventually re-located to a nice condo in Princeville on the 6th day. Everything reported here, was also reported to the accommodation management. I have pictures of all of these items, but this forum doesn't allow pictures to be posted.

Over all the property unit was very nice and comfortable. We got an ocean view and were able to catch the sunrise. The shower toiletries were included along with dinnerware utensils and cleaning supplies. The refrigerator was also a good size and kept things really cold. My only critique was that the air conditioning was broken and we were not told in advance. We walked into the room with a portable air conditioner that looked like it was installed last minute with duct tape. We had to elevate it in order to continuously drain it so that it would blow cold air. Other it would stop blowing cold air. Furthermore it was right in the way of the sliding door and the bed. If you are a person that needs better air conditioning this room would not work for you. Fortunately, my husband and I didn’t mind sleeping with the sliding door open enjoying the sound of the ocean waves and the roosters in the morning.

Ac was broken. Poor communication with staff. Will not be booking thru vacasa ever again

We have been to this facility twice, different units each time. Centrally location on the island allows us to chase the sunshine. Unit was pretty clean. Door threshold was cracked and squeaky so even trying to be quiet for neighbors was not possible. Likewise for theirs. The gaping hole under the door made noises on the breezeway louder than they’d be with an intact threshold too. This particular unit had a sealed door that may have connected previously? On our last night we were jarred awake by someone banging on and attempting to rattle that old door from their side. We got up to check that the deadbolt on our side was latched but it was a bit creepy. We stay here for the price and convenience of location. This particular space could use some safety and overall updates for us to stay in this unit again.

Great home, very close to the coconut marketplace, a lot of restaurants, direct access to the beach, great bike trail under center place for a lot of attractions in the area.

Beautiful views and perfect for my solo trip!