I should preface by being clear that we had booked into unit 101 originally and discovered just before we flew out that due to electrical problems the condo was unavailable. As at our departure on December 19th the issue still didn't seem to be resolved.

We were therefore offered three rooms on the second floor (UK readers, Americans refer to ground as the first floor, so this for you would be the first floor - one above ground level). We opted for 202 since it was close to the edge of the building and near to the stairs, which was important for lugging groceries around and accessing the garden/beach area. 202 has a large HDTV which has HDMI inputs useful for iPad owners and such to stream media, but also has a SD card slot which is useful for viewing snaps taken during the day on a digital camera. The apartment is modern and has a very large, firm bed. There is no bath, just a walk in shower but it is of good quality. The apartment is well stocked and has plenty of "backup" supplies of things like light bulbs, which in fairness you don't always see in owner-let arrangements. The lanai is well appointed with a table and chair set, and lounger, above the standard usually seen. Sadly the lanai is spoiled by an obtrusive (new) balcony which sits right at eye level and ruins the view - there does of course need to be a rail but in choosing to match the front and rear balcony rails the view has been detrimentally affected.

Worse than this though has to be the noise experienced in this unit. Every single noise made by the occupants of both units 302 and 102 will be heard - every loud footstep, drawer being opened, TV turned and conversation had on will echo in this unit which drove me absolutely mad while we stayed there. If you're used to noise you won't find it an issue - but to illustrate the point, the OWNER of unit 102 on one night had his TV volume turned up and was shouting at the show he was watching until well after midnight; sadly a call to the property manager failed to rectify his behaviour and I lost a night's sleep. Having stayed in 102 previously we were shocked at his callous and frankly disgusting attitude toward other tenants. Be warned that 302 is a dual-storey unit and will be family occupied - unless you're not planning to spend much time in the unit, watch for the noise levels as this is not a relaxing apartment to stay in. Finally, there was an obvious layer of dust over the surfaces in both the bedroom and living quarters, which isn't really acceptable.

Unit 106 suffers exactly the same noise issue, but from 206 only. Since many apartments are tiled it makes sense that sounds will echo - they really do go right through you though. The redeeming feature of 106 however is that is has direct beach access so you have some escape while your neighbours rearrange their furniture and invite Herman Munster over for wrestling matches with Bigfoot. The bed in 106 is smaller (maybe even a double, not sure) and is very soft - and very low to the ground. The toilet also seems low to the ground so bear this in mind if you have back trouble. The unit itself is admittedly dated and will surely be soon due for a refurb, until then expect ants in the bathroom (this is NOT unique, you get this all over Maui). There is a tub but hot water is not an indefinite resource so plan for shallow soaks or lukewarm ones if that's your thing. The washer/dryer unit here is a separate-operating unit (unlike 202) so you can run laundry and drying at the same time. The dishwasher is awful, expect to hand clean most of what you use.

Murphy's Law dictates then that something else had to go wrong with 106 - and for us it was the plumbing, on Saturday night. The drains are shared between the units in a column - so 106, 206 and 306 all share pipework and when something backs up further down the system, the ground floor unit knows about it. To be blunt, we had food waste and other detritus backing up into the sink all through Saturday night and all day Sunday - we couldn't get anyone to look at it as the new owner had switched phones and not activated the line, and there is nobody on-site on Sunday. I don't mean to be gross, but at one point a dead cockroach floated up in the sink, that's just something you shouldn't have to see. The smell of the backed up water was just awful, we were glad to leave on Monday.

Elsewhere in the complex, work seems to be largely done on the renovations and the grounds are looking great, with a exterior beach wall and sand on the beach again (!). There are new gas tiki lights which give a great ambience, and the noise from the work was minimal, however it was a little disruptive as some corridors were taped off from time to time. The pool remains a tranquil and little-used refuge, even though it's at the front of the building it gets plenty of sun and has lots of recliners - and it's right outside unit 106.

Overall we have struggled to see the value proposition from Makani Sands this year and will not be returning next year. Though the rental manager Roseanna and the building manager Patrick are very helpful and responsive (they really are!) they're just not being properly supported by the unit owners, the disparity of standards between units is too high and the noise between floors simply must be addressed. We came to relax, we were glad to be leaving - that's not good.