We booked out all 3 campsites between 3 families (8 people total) the weekend of February 5-7th. We were assured that it would be blocked to any other campers while we were there.
Gig greeted us at the campsite when we arrived. She immediately huddled us all together to "explain the situation". She told us that they have a "land partner" and that they had a falling out and that the "land partner" doesn't like them doing HipCamp. She said that we needed to be secretive about the situation. She said that if anyone askes,, that we were friends of theirs. This was pretty shocking since we had paid over $500 for 2 nights at the campsite.
We set up our tents, had dinner, sat by the campfire,, and were having a good evening. We had gone to bed around 9PM,, when a 10PM,, another truck showed up with 3 people. They were making a lot of noise,, were obviously drunk and high,, and continued to make noise and stay up around the campfire until 3AM,, finally falling asleep in the back of their truck. We all woke up feeling exhausted and very disappointed in the situation as we were assured at the time of booking that there would be no other campers. They left in the morning with the "land partners" dog and were talking about coming back that night.
I spoke to the host Gigi about this and she said that she didn't know who they were and appeared apologetic. She said that they likely knew their land partner and that she couldn't control what they do on the property. We decided to leave and find another place to camp for the night.
Gigi was nice enough to refund us for the night that we didn't stay,, but I have also asked for a partial refund on our first night as we didn't get the entire campsite to ourselves as advertised. She didn't agree.
This campsite is beautiful and has great ocean views at sunset. It is nice to have a flushing toilet and an outdoor kitchen space. That being said,, a night of no sleep with loud strangers hanging out 20 feet from our tent,, made the situation miserable.
My biggest issue with Gigi is that she does not advertise that they don't fully own the property, and promises things that they can't come through with. If you are ok with the uncertainty of this,, by all means,, book away. Kaupo is a magical place.