The list of issues we had during our stay was long, and some of them were very concerning. To make matters worse, the owner, Christie, is terrible at communication and is extremely difficult to work with and in turn has made our wedding memories a nightmare. For starters, Christie changes what is advertised and agreed upon at the time of signing/making a deposit and could not care at all to update her website even after I showed her the discrepancy. Just a few days before arrival, I was sent an email regarding check-in/check-out along with some notes regarding what is regarded as “ranch life” (scorpions, ants, etc). The check-in and check-out time listed in the email was different than what was displayed online. Then, she then texted me asking if I wanted the twin beds to be changed to a king size bed for a charge. There was nowhere listed anywhere of there being a charge to change the beds to a king size. I was confused so I declined even though originally I had wanted to. We were also notified by our wedding planner and Christie that she has had issues with her neighbors in the past, which we can tell why now. We had major pest issues IN ALL the cottages – from ants to roaches to rodents. Also, on our wedding night, at around 10pm all the water on the property was shut off. Mind you, our wedding had finished at 9pm and we were still cleaning afterwards, so hardly any of us were able to shower before bed, including myself. Water was not restored until around 9am with check-out at 10am. Christie argued with me stating that there was more than enough time for all of us to have showered (4 showers and 17 of us!). When I emailed her after our stay regarding the numerous major issues that we had, she took zero responsibility/accountability for being the owner of the ranch, arguing that the water shut off was out of her control and that for us to say that there was a major pest infestation on the property could not be true and told me that my group and I were being dramatic and that we were coercing into getting a huge refund (we asked for about $4k back in compensation, when we paid over $11k for a three night stay). She also ignored issues she could not refute such as the safety/security issues we had – the gate to the ranch being unlocked at all hours, doors struggling to close/lock, and a smoke alarm being unplugged from the ceiling in one of the cabins. Anything I tried to bring up to her as concerns regarding the ranch, she blamed on anything other than herself.
Had she tried to work with us and been more empathetic about what we had to deal with, I would be more understanding. In our email discourse in the following weeks after my group’s stay, she threatened to take legal action if anyone from our group writes a negative review. I am a Big Island native, born and raised there my entire childhood. I have never experienced such poor behavior from a business owner, and it saddens me that she seems to have no aloha and is using a Hawaiian historic property for her own profit. She blames some of the issues on the ranch being a Hawaiian historic property for refusing to fix some of the issues, which if that is the case, then she should not be using this property as a vacation rental. To deny the experiences of over 15 people, stating that we must be lying/dramatizing our concerns to get money back is extremely disappointing. She can never take criticism and should not be allowed to keep renting out this Hawaiian historic property.
