Life in a "condotel" means putting up with the occasional noisy, next-door neighbor — but also knowing that they'll be leaving in a few days.

It means paying thousands of dollars in extra costs for parking because condotels — where most of the units are rented out to tourists — don't typically include parking.

And living in condotels means navigating through busy lobbies filled with sunburned tourists waiting to be replaced by the next wave of visitors.

But it also means that the common areas of the building are immaculate, and maintenance crews scurry around keeping everything working to ensure that the overwhelming majority of tenants — tourists — enjoy their stays.

"You are living in a hotel environment," said Steve Winter, general manager of the Outrigger Luana Waikiki condotel near the intersection of Kuhio and Kalakaua avenues. "It's obvious that owners need to understand that. That makes things a bit busier in high times, like now. You have to be prepared to have more people at the pool, per se. The lobby's going to be a lot more crowded than a typical residential condominium with people checking in, checking out."

In Hawai'i's red-hot real estate market, hotel rooms that have been converted into condominium units, or condotels, represent one of the fastest-growing segments. As hotel owners and their management companies upgrade and resell condotels, the overwhelming majority of new buyers are turning their rooms into vacation rentals and using them as investment property.

But a small cluster of owners — anywhere from 1 percent to just over 10 percent depending on the building — have chosen to live among a constantly changing sea of new faces.

Rick Zara, 62, and his wife, Tammy, 63, sold their 2,000- square-foot home on a one-third acre parcel of land in New Jersey for $360,000. They moved to O'ahu to retire and in February bought a 588-square-foot, one-bedroom, condotel in the makai-side corner of the Outrigger Luana Waikiki for $490,000.

"It feels like we're always on vacation," Rick said. "I'll be on vacation for the rest of my life. For two people in their 60s, it's great."

At first Tammy didn't like lugging their dirty laundry down 10 stories to the condotel's laundry room.

"It bothered me," Tammy said. "But I've figured out that I can do four loads of laundry at a time with four different washers and four different dryers. There's always good and bad things to everything."

Tammy particularly enjoys interacting with condotel guests.

"It is kind of nice," Tammy said. "They're all on vacation so they're usually happy and in a good mood. It's nice to see so many people with a smile on their face. It's kind of infectious."

Patricia Marshall, 65, used to work in the sales and marketing side of Hawai'i's hotel industry and still enjoys talking to visitors.

Marshall, who lives alone in her one-bedroom unit, asked not to reveal the name of her Waikiki condotel because of security concerns. But she doesn't hesitate to give restaurant recommendations to tourists and help them navigate around O'ahu.

"Sometimes when I'm going in or out of my front door, they'll look in and see my Pergo flooring," Marshall said. "They'll say, 'How come your room looks like that and mine doesn't?' And I'll say, 'Because I own my unit.' Then they're quite curious. Most of them have never heard of a condotel.

"The downside to living in a condotel is that you do have to put up with hotel guests who tend to be noisy," Marshall said. "You get young kids out on their balconies partying late at night, with the TV going full blast and their sliding glass door wide open. But all I have to do is call the front desk and they put an end to that quick stop."

Donna Camac, 41, will sometimes step into the elevator of the Outrigger Luana Waikiki and meet an inquisitive visitor trying to strike up a conversation.

"They'll say something like, 'Do you like your stay here? Where are you from?' " said Camac, who bought a 313-square-foot studio unit in May 2004 with her husband, John, 42. "When I say I live here, they say, 'Where in Hawai'i?' I say, 'I live here — in this building.' And they're like, 'Ooh. I could do that. This is nice.' "

The amenities often fall short of a typical condominium.

Instead of a full kitchen, converted condotel "kitchenettes" are often equipped with only a two-burner stove or even just a hot plate, microwave and a tiny, dorm-style refrigerator. Clothes typically have to be washed in the condotel's communal laundry room.

But for flight attendant Linda Lange, 51, life in her Waikiki condotel is more colorful.

"It's a good thing," she said. "It always seems like there's a feeling of friendliness when everybody's on vacation."

Lange bought a 360-square-foot studio on the 22nd floor of the Aqua Marina Hotel. It came with a gorgeous sunset view and aging appliances, many of which Lange had to tear out.

Lange considers her primary residence to be the townhouse she owns in Vancouver, Wash. She's based out of Cincinnati, and often flies to Paris. But Lange uses her flying privileges to stay in her Waikiki condotel whenever she can.

The value of Lange's condotel has doubled in the three years that she's owned it. Lange sometimes thinks about turning it into a rental unit to make even more money out of her investment.

"But I really want to enjoy it for myself and personalize it as my home," she said. "At some point, I always have the opportunity to put it in the rental pool."

It's hard to escape the hotel-like surroundings.

Tammy and Rick Zara use the hotel safe that came with their condotel. They've also left the emergency evacuation placard stuck to their front door.

Donna and John Camac never removed the plastic "Please Do Not Disturb" door hanger from their doorknob.

The major pieces of both units — armoire, bed, couch, chairs, side tables and decorations such as $800 bronze lamps and $180 lamp shades — came with the condotel and are identical to the rental units.

Marshall ended up giving away all of the furniture that came with her one-bedroom condotel when she moved in nine months ago.

It all looked too much like standard hotel fare.

She had the flooring torn up, installed built-in wall units and upgraded what she calls "a regular kitchen — it's just in miniature."

Moving into the condotel became a simpler, welcome change of life for Marshall, who had spent the last 11 years living in a four-bedroom house in Mililani.

"My place in Mililani was just too big," Marshall said. "The yard was too big. And it was just too hard for me to be alone in that big house."

So Marshall sold the home, looked at a long list of discouraging condominiums she considered "dumps" and ended up buying her condotel for $181,000.

At first, Marshall had to put up with complaints from her three children and five grandchildren about giving up a home that had become the family's gathering place.

"They said, 'What about Christmas? What about Thanksgiving,' " Marshall said. "Once they saw my condotel's pool and hot tub, they said, 'Geez, Mom, why didn't you do this sooner?' "