Maui experienced wildfires in August 2023 with significant damage to West Maui (specifically Lahaina). Our condos are all located in the untouched South Maui area, a 30-45 minute drive from the Lahaina fire zone (depending on location in South Maui). There was no damage to many other parts of Maui, including South Maui (that includes Maalaea, Kihei, Wailea, Makena). At this time the State of Hawaii Governor Josh Green and Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen are both encouraging visitors to come to Maui, but respectfully avoid Lahaina.

Maui's economy is hugely dependent on tourism. During Hawaii's Covid-shutdown in 2020 there was 32% unemployment, not including small business owners. It is important not to shut down the visitor industry in order to avoid a greater calamity on Maui. I would like to acknowledge that some Maui residents have been very vocal about visitors on island. Please be mindful that there are many very stressed people on island. Be respectful, don't drive into the damaged areas to see, don't take selfies in the destruction areas. If you would like, volunteer and donate. Most importantly, support local small businesses and restaurants/food trucks.

Going forward we will be abiding with our cancellation policy. Please refer to your rental agreement for specifics.

There are many displaced residents from the Lahaina and Kula fires. There are thousands of hotel rooms/suites and vacation rentals condos (and hundreds of homes) on Maui. Our vacation rental business is our main source of income. Long-term renting would not quite cover our homeowner association fees and property taxes, never mind insurance, power, maintenance and our personal living expenses. We have offered our condos on a temporary basis to displaced friends and acquaintances of friends, people our friends can vouch for. We are also volunteering and donating to various local causes.

You are so kind. Mahalo. As always, please research before you donate. There are always scammers looking to make a quick buck.

• Maui Foodbank
• Maui Strong/Hawaii Community Foundation
• Red Cross
• Maui Humane Society
• local churches - I have been volunteering with one of the projects at Hope Chapel Maui. Kings Cathedral in Kahului has opened a shelter in their church building.

We do strongly recommend renting a car, especially if staying at our Sugar Beach condo in North Kihei or Palms at Wailea in Wailea as the nearest grocery store is not within walking distance.

We recommend booking a rental at the airport (Kahului OGG) for convenience. Here is a recent blog I wrote on getting the best car rental price.

Here are some transportation alternatives should you decide not to rent a car. 

Maui is an island with many micro-climates. While the Iao Valley is the second-wettest place in the State (386 inches of rain a year), the sunny South side of Maui (where our condos are located) averages between 8-11 inches a year. Most days if you don’t like the weather, just take a drive – you’re bound to find sunshine somewhere.

December and January tend to be the rainiest months, May-September tend to be the driest months (unless a hurricane comes through). Yes, Hawaii does have a hurricane season (June - November with the majority of storms seen July-September).

Rainy-day ideas

Should it be rainy, it will be like a summer rain-day. It will still be warm (in the mid- 70s). I blogged about rainy day suggestions a few years ago.

Please watch out for flash floods (it can rain a lot heavier upcountry sending flood water down to where you are). Do not drive to Hana or upcountry.

And please stay out of the ocean (again flood water) until the water is again clear (murky water attracts sharks as they forage for food, but also the run-off can contain pesticides and other things). 

May I suggest booking the condo for an extra night? Yes, I realize it’s an added cost, but it means you can truly enjoy your last day on island without having to worry about luggage stored in your car. For families with young kids, it means your children can have their naps. You can spend the day at the beach and have a place to shower and clean up. You aren’t wearing your travel clothes all day and getting sweaty.

If the condo isn’t available, then you will need to be out of the condo by 11AM so the cleaners can do their magic. Here are a few suggestions:

• • Maui Ocean Center

• • Upcountry exploring (less hot)

Is it safe to just leave them with your towel? Honestly, don’t take anything of value to the beach. If you must bring your phone (I know, it doubles as our camera, book, lifeline etc), make sure someone stays with your stuff when you go in the water. Or, pick up a water proof case, either at home or at the ABC store. I know of people who have used ziploc bags to protect their phones when going paddle boarding. Would I? Probably not… If you are staying at one of our condos, we have keyless entry, so it’s just the car key you need to worry about.

Would you leave valuables in the car where you live? Probably not. If you must, maybe because you can’t check into the condo til 3 or 4pm or because you have a late flight and couldn’t get a late check-out, place everything in the trunk of the car and do not open the trunk to get things out (should anyone is casing your vehicle). If you are renting a jeep, there is no trunk, everything is visible (and accessible if it’s a soft-top). In eleven years of living on Maui, our family hasn't had a vehicle break-in, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.

Generally yes. However, there are others who by necessity have access to the condo. The owner, the property manager (in the case of our condos, we are the owner and property manager), the cleaning lady and the manager of the complex you are staying at (they need to have access in case of emergencies and for the quarterly pest-control treatments). If you are staying at our condos, we have personal safes for you to use (I have an override key should you forget the code or the battery randomly dies). Otherwise, I recommend placing your valuables in a drawer or at least out of sight. It’s happened a few times where I’ve had to go into one of our ground-floor condos (with guest consent) to repair something, and seen the blinds wide open and laptops, ipads, phones and once even a wallet just laying out. When staying in a ground floor condo especially, please don’t do that. It’s asking for a break-in. At minimum close the blinds when you leave.

You may have noticed, it is really dark on Maui at night. Why is this? Power is super expensive here and street lighting isn’t cheap. On the plus side, it makes for some great star viewing. Generally the tourist areas especially are quite safe to be walking at night. But use common sense. I also strongly recommend taking a flashlight. A number of years ago I missed the edge of the sidewalk – ouch. I was walking with crutches for over a month.

All in all, Maui is a pretty safe place to be. But like most places, we also have drug and homeless problems and crimes of opportunity do happen. A little common sense will help you have a great vacation – I’d hate for you to have a negative experience because of something preventable.

That really depends on you individually. However, for your comfort all our condos are fully air-conditioned. Sugar Beach 104 has central air in the living and bedroom with one wall-mounted control in the kitchen. The other 3 condos have split-system A/C with individual controls in living and bedrooms. No noisy window boxes. Additionally we have high quality ceiling fans in all living and bedrooms.

I'm often asked about my favorite restaurants and activities. I update my lists once a year. What are your favorites? What should I try? I'd love to hear from you!

Cara's favorite restaurants

Cara's favorite activities

Yearly approximately 2.9 million visitors come to our island, pre-Covid. The winter months (mid-December through mid-April) are most popular and coincide with humpback whale watching season. The slowest time of the year on island is June and September. June is wonderful, September can be humid.

The main airport on Maui is Kahului International Airport, OGG. Many airlines just list it as Maui-Kahului OGG. There are also two small commuter airports, one in Kapalua and another in Hana.

Maui is an island with many micro-climates. While the Iao Valley is the second-wettest place in the State (386 inches of rain a year), the sunny South side of Maui (where our condos are located) averages between 8-11 inches a year. Most days if you don't like the weather, just take a drive - you're bound to find sunshine somewhere.

March is generally the coolest month of the year with daytime highs around 81F (evenings 70F). August and September are our warmest months, averaging in the low 90s (evenings 80F). Hawaii has a hurricane season which goes from June-November. The most active months are usually July and August. In the past ten years we have had very little storm action. However passing storms do increase humidity and block the trade winds.

Please check out our Maui blog for more information and to help you plan your stay!

As of March 26, 2022 Covid restrictions (including indoor mask wearing) have been lifted. Individual businesses may choose to enforce a mask mandate.

Please note Hawaii has had a more conservative approach to Covid restrictions than many places, in large part due to limited hospital capacity. Please show your aloha by being respectful of local rules.

Per the CDC website as of May 12, 2023 non-citizen nonimmigrant air passengers no longer need to show proof of being fully vaccinated with an accepted COVID-19 vaccine to board a flight to the United States.

THIS IS YOUR VACATION. PLEASE VERIFY WITH CURRENT GOVERNMENT SOURCES PRIOR TO TRAVEL TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT.

You will be expected to quarantine for 5 days or longer if you are symptomatic. Your airline may have additional stipulations.

Please purchase trip insurance to help cover additional costs.

Easy – just go to our Check Availability page. Enter your dates, choose the condo you would like to stay at, click NEXT. Enter your information and the website will send us a booking request. Within 24 hours (but usually much sooner) we (Cara) will send you a rental agreement and Square invoice for payment by credit card ($500 deposit with balance due 60 days prior to arrival). Once we receive your signed rental agreement and deposit, we will send you a confirmation.

Note we have a 6 night minimum, 10 night over Christmas (no check-ins/outs between Christmas and New Years). We will consider shorter stays on shorter openings (minimum 4 nights in a short opening).

We also list our condos on Vrbo and Airbnb and you are welcome to book there also. However, you will save the service fee (which can be up to 15% of the total booking) by booking direct.

We accept payment by Square (an online credit card provider) or US$ check. Square is very easy. You will receive an email invoice from us and enter your credit card info on their secure website. We do not receive your card information. We receive a notice from Square once payment has been received.

On a side note, each of our condos is owned within its own company, doing business as Maui Oceanview Condos. The name on the Square account will match the name at the top of the rental agreement. Please phone me directly if it does not.

It is our policy for all primary occupants of our condos to sign our 3 page rental agreement. The rental agreement stipulates the exact dates, check-in/check-out times and procedures, the cost (no surprises), cancellation policy and a few basic house rules. For the purposes of the rental we collect your address, contact information and names of all who will be staying overnight in the condo (this must be accurate for insurance purposes).

The maximum occupancy at all our condos is four persons (this includes all humans with a heartbeat – yes infants too). The condos are specifically outfitted with beds, bedding, towels, dishes etc for up to 4 persons. The occupancy is based on fire-code rules we have to abide by. We do not allow pets.

Please refer to your rental agreement for your specific cancellation terms.

Current policy:

More than 60 days: no refund of deposit. We strongly recommend you purchase trip insurance at time of booking.

Less than 60 days, no refund. We strongly recommend you purchase trip insurance at time of booking.

Company will not issue a refund for travel difficulties on Guest’s end. Company will not reimburse unused dates.

FORCE MAJEURE: There may be circumstances beyond the Company’s control and contemplation, in which the property might not be available for your booking. Examples of these include (but are not limited to) destruction of or severe damage to the property. In the event of Force Majeure, the Company will refund all monies paid (pro-rated to dates remaining, if applicable). This refund is the full extent of the Company’s liability to you in such circumstances, and the Company will not be responsible for any other costs connected with any such cancellation, however arising. Notable exception: Covid-19 is not covered under Force Majeure clause since it is a known condition at time of booking. Trip insurance is highly recommended.

Here is a great blog about trip insurance. Please compare policies closely and read the fine print so you know exactly what is covered in whatever policy you choose to purchase. We do not sell trip insurance.

We apologize, at this time we are not allowing for early check-in or late check-out. However, should the condo be ready prior to check-in time, we will let you know either by text, email or through the booking platform. Alternatively you are welcome to book the condo an extra night to guarantee usage on check-out day.

Check-in time is

• 3PM at Kamaole Sands 2-206, Maui Kamaole I-103 and Sugar Beach 104
• 4PM at Palms at Wailea 503 (the larger condo takes longer to clean)

Check-out time is at 11AM. You should physically be out of the condo (with all your luggage) at this time so that our cleaning team can begin preparing the condo for our next guest as soon as they arrive.

Pre-Covid about a third of all visitors arrived around 10-11pm. Flight schedules have changed, but it’s not a problem. As long as you have your rental car booked and a flight number attached to it, the rental car places do stay open (there are after all some 150+ others on your flight also needing their cars). As for the condo, make sure you have your check-in information handy. Plug the address into your phone (or figure out the directions prior to arrival, we do have them in the check-in info also) and head directly to your condo. The four digit door code in the check-in information will give you access to the condo via the electronic lock. At Kamaole Sands they do want you to swing by the office and check-in. At Sugar Beach you go to the office the next morning during office hours (9-4). Maui Kamaole currently does email check-in (see instructions attached to your check-in info) and Palms at Wailea does not have a check-in desk.

We provide a starter supply of toilet paper (2 per bathroom), paper towel (1), kleenex (1) and trash bags (3). You may want to bring extra from home. If you are running low, please add items to your shopping list for your next run to the grocery store so you don’t run out.

We supply dish tabs, hand/dish soap, laundry soap and fabric softener. If you run out of those, let me know, and I will refill them.

Here is an inventory list of what is provided.

• Beach: 4 beach chairs, 2 boogie boards, 4 beach towels, 1 cooler
• Bedroom (per bed): 2 sets of sheets, 2 mattress pads, pillows, blanket
• Bathroom: bath, hand, face towels, bath mat, hair dryer
• Kitchen: set of dishes and glasses (8), cutlery, knife block, pots and pans, spice rack, cutting boards, food prep utensils, serving dishes, dishtowels, placemats, pot holders, Costco-style spice rack with spices
• Appliances: stove/oven, fridge, dishwasher, microwave, washer/dryer, vacuum, Vitamix, toaster, hand mixer, drip coffee maker, coffee grinder, rice cooker, tea kettle, iron (and board), landline phone, 2 TVs, cable, wifi router, bedroom safe

Unless other arrangements are made in advance, check out time is 11:00 am.

• Check each room to ensure you have all your personal belongings.
• Leave the condo tidy and in good condition. This includes washing dishes, running/emptying dishwasher, taking out all trash/recycling, removing sand, not leaving excessive amounts of laundry. Excessive cleaning fees will be withheld from the security deposit.
• Please ensure the A/C and fans are turned off, all windows and doors are closed and locked.

We live a short 5-10 minute drive from each of our condos. Should you have any problems, please call or text us and we will be happy to assist you. Our phone numbers are listed on the rental agreement and the check-in information.

Should we need to bring in a service person for repairs, one of us will accompany them at all times. However, we do ask that you please place any valuables in the bedroom safe provided or take them with you.