We are always happpy to receive positive feedback, and recently we received a very favorable review of Maui Free on the Android Market. Mahalo to the reviewer!
The reviewer raised a couple of good issues, which I will address here.
The Merchants Included in our Guides Paid Us Nothing
Some of our guides -- Maui's Road to Hana in particular -- include references to local merchants. None of these vendors paid us anything to be included in the guide. These merchants are included solely because, in my experience, they provide a useful service to visitors. For example, the Nahiku Marketplace is not very well known by many people who drive on the Road to Hana. Yet it is an excellent place of which to be aware, because you will be really glad it is there when you get to that point on the road! Same for the Kaupo Store on the back Road to Hana.
But the point is well taken that you may not want to be notified about some of the places on a trip. That leads me to point out a very handy feature of Wandrous, which is:
You Can Hide Any Place You Don't Want to See
If for some reason you don't want the merchants to appear on your guided trip, you can hide them. I discussed how to do this in this post.
Opuhano Point
One of the challenges that faces Maui -- the world's number one island -- is how to preserve the privacy of local residents, many of whom have resided there for generations. Anyone creating a travel guide should have sensitivity to this issue.
Opuhano Point is a very small place on the Road to Hana, a road that has a multitude of other beautiful vistas. The point is at the end of a narrow road that essentially serves as a local access for the few families that live in Lower Nahiku. In my opinion, there are more beautiful locations on the Road to Hana, and certainly more accessible, with less impact to local residents. Therefore I included it with a negative recommendation, in the hopes that our island visitors would stay away from it.
Our reviewer concluded that I didn't recommend Opuhano Point because there are no businesses. As mentioned above, businesses pay nothing for inclusion in the Road to Hana guide; and so this has nothing to do with it. I simply feel we all should stay away and let people live there in peace.