Consumption and Real Estate
How should I pay for an vacation condo rental in Hawaii?
Question : How should I pay for an vacation condo rental in Hawaii?
My wife and I are looking for a place to stay on the island arriving Saturday, Sep 4 and leaving Friday, Sep 10. There are lots of cottages, condos, small independent rental properties on the island along with hotels and resorts. I’m looking at trip advisor for reviews but i don’t know how to pay so that I have some kind of protection. If I just rent a hotel or resort i can cancel and pay the fee or have some travelers insurance but most of these places that are privately owned have large deposits upfront. Even the ones w/ lots of good reviews I’m worried if they want cash. I have some protection for services if i pay w/ my amex. With cash it’s buyer beware. Anyone ever rented a condo or rental place for a week? How did you pay? How was your stay? We’re going to kauai. Please no stupid responses.
hawaii property insurance
Best answer:
Answer by Randy
Your best bet is to deal with someone who has been doing this for a while and preferably has feedback on their site. My daughter and her family rented a house on the Big Island earlier this year and had a few issues with the house upon arrival…like it looked like the refrigerator had not been cleaned since purchased! There were things growing in there that should not be. Anyway, they spent several hours that first evening cleaning the place up and after complaining to the owner, the owner reimbursed them their cleaning fee. It took a while, but they never disputed it, just took a while to get the money credited back to their account.
Now, I realize that this wasn’t a cash transaction, but still gives you an idea that things can go wrong. AMEX is one of the hardest cards to use because they charge the highest fees of all credit cards. So, two tips for you, unless its a really good bargain, try sticking to one that accepts credit cards. And, two, be prepared to use M/C or Visa.
Good luck and enjoy your time on Kauai!
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#2 written by Yeti 1 year ago
Ideally find some place where you can use a credit card.
Do also beware how you find a particular site. There are Nigerian scammers out there who take listings from one place, then relist them elsewhere at a too good to be true price (and it’s usually on a free service, like… Yahoo, or Craigslist). They’ll then want payment up front, usually including a large deposit. And they’ll want you to do something like use Western Union to some place outside of Hawaii. They’ll claim they’re mailing keys to you, but they’ll never show. You might think you were dealing with the legitimate owner of the property the whole time, but you weren’t. The scammers will also tend to stick to email — any place you look into, see if you can talk to someone on the phone (at an 808 area code) at the minimum.
Whatever you do, don’t fall for one of those Nigerian scammers, and don’t pay that way (Western Union).
And yes, some of the smaller places are going to have no refund policies because your reservation takes their only source of income and blocks others. For things like that, you need travel insurance (good luck with those), or you just need to go with a managed property in the first place and use a credit card.
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Many vacation rental properties are managed by real estate companies with vacation rental property management divisions. Many of them require a deposit upfront with the ability for you to cancel and get your money back as long as you give them approx. 30-60 days notice (each company varies). That gives them enough time to hopefully re-book a property should you cancel.
I’m a Realtor-Associate and while I don’t manage vacation rental properties, one of my colleagues does. If you’re coming to the island of Kauai, his site that you can visit online is http://www.kauaivacation.com. He is a licensed Realtor who has been managing vacation rental properties for his clients for many years. He’s happy to help you and answer your questions.
Good luck
Debra
Debra A. Jason, RA, ABR
When paradise is calling you, call me!
(808) 826 1846
Na Pali Properties, Inc.