My travel agent recommended the Makahuena. We stayed in 5201, what a fabulous view. We were there five days and are planning to go back as soon as we can. You really experience the sights and sounds of the ocean and even in April we saw whales every day and pods of dolphin on three days. I love searching out great restaurants when on vacation and we did not go out to dinner one night. We could not have found a better view and my husband works a mean grill. There was another couple with us and the unit was great. We had two bedrooms and two baths. We think we had the best accomodations on the island.

We stayed in two units because an Oceanview wasn't available on the first day of our stay, so they put us into a Gardenview for the first night. Unfortunately, we arrived just after 5 pm when the office closes and, after picking up our key from the bulletin board, discovered that the key didn't open up anything - so we had to wait in the parking lot for an hour waiting for someone with a master key to show up and let us into our condo. (After we phoned the emergency number listed on the office door).
That being said, the staff was extremely helpful and friendly, and we did get reimbursed for having to stay in a Gardenview for a night after paying for Oceanview without us even having to ask. To me it looks like all the units are privately-owned, so it's to be expected that some units are going to be in different states. The units we were in were great - all new appliances, furniture in good shape - pretty quiet - very nice overall. I would have no problem staying there again - we had a great vacation. One thing that people should be aware of is that the Makahuena is on a point on the southeast part of the island - it's great because you get to see both the sunsets and sunrises. Be aware, that because it is on a point, it's subject to a lot of wind; and in January, in the rainy season, it seemed pretty constant. It didn't bother us a lot because 75 degrees and windy is still tons better than -40 and snow, plus a 20 min drive to the west offers some great quiet beaches with plenty of sun. So in summary, the Makahuena is a nice place to stay, but if we stayed there again, we would want to be facing to the west or stay somewhere not so exposed to the tradewinds.

Our family of 5 stayed in unit 2310 for 12 days. We arrived with $500 worth of groceries to find the refrigerator not working. Some extremely rude man from the rental company showed up with coolers and bags of ice and told us to defrost the fridge for 10 hours or so and it would be fine. So we spent hours transferring food around trying to keep it cold. The next day the disposal shot greasy water in the air every time it was turned on. No one fixed that either. The place is very dated with old furniture, linens, and tvs. We've stayed in many condos on all the islands but will never stay there again.

We booked our ground-level, 3bdrm unit through the owner via vrbo.com. We were very happy with our condo, and the price was $175/night, which is a definite bargain for a 3 bdrm unit in this area. The exterior has been recently repainted and the grounds were immaculate. The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook doesn't like the Makahuena because of "too many concrete steps" but I don't know how else you deal with a condo built on a hillside (which improves everyone's ocean view). The grilling area is spectacular! Plan on buying some steaks or ahi steaks in Koloa and eat at home! No complaints with the pool or hottub--both were serviced daily during our stay. I found this condo complex to be quiet, relaxing, and great for families (we have a 13 and 10 year old), but many empty-nesters stay there as well. Close proximity to Brennecke and Poipu beaches was a major plus, as the kids wanted to go there every day. The office sometimes closes before 5 pm, and the interior of our unit was partially remodeled, partially dated (the bathrooms), but we were quite happy with what we got.