Hawaii Vacation Rental FAQs
Aloha. Renting a vacation rental home, estate or villa for your Hawaii vacation rental can provide the cornerstone for a fabulous vacation in Hawaii. The following frequently asked questions are designed to acquaint the soon-to-be visitor with the differences and advantages of the vacation rental experience vs. the hotel experience. We hope your vacation in Hawaii is fabulous and exceeds your expectations.
It is advisable to book as far in advance as you can. While there are occasional last minute openings, by and large, vacation rentals in Hawaii are usually booked solid for at least six months out. For high demand periods like Christmas and New Year’s, most Hawaii vacation rentals are booked at least one, if not two, years in advance.
There’s something about staying in a hotel that isolates you from the island experience. These boundaries no longer exist when you go with the vacation rental experience. Maybe it’s not having to trudge through a lobby and take a crowded elevator to your room at the end of a hall; maybe it’s not being in hotel row but on your own private piece of paradise; maybe it’s having your own kitchen for your meals; but for whatever reason, the vacation rental experience is totally different from the hotel one.
The most difficult part of choosing a vacation rental home is deciding on which one to stay in and what part of Oahu you want to call home-base. With only a few exceptions, if you decided on a hotel you would be staying in Waikiki. With vacation homes, you have your choice of virtually the entire island: Waikiki, Diamond Head, Kahala, Koko Head, Lanikai Beach, Kailua Beach or Laie on the North Shore of Oahu.
For four or more people, you will find that not only is the vacation rental experience far superior to staying in a hotel, it can actually be less expensive as well.
The vast majority of Oahu vacation rentals require a 30 day stay. There are a few exceptions to this, but generally speaking, State and County laws dictate that only one party can occupy a vacation home over a 30 day period. This means if a vacation rental was to accommodate your request for a one week’s stay, the other three weeks in the month could not be rented out to someone else. The fines for not following these laws can run many thousands of dollars a day and can far exceed the income your one week stay might have brought in. It also explains why vacation rentals are priced where they are. NOTE: This does not mean you can’t find an Oahu vacation rental that is willing to rent for less than a 30 day period—it depends on how booked they already are, time of year, how long you want to stay, and the owner’s own situation. To be safe, make sure that any property you are considering has a License Number beginning with TA if you are planning to stay at least 30 days. If you are planning on a shorter stay then make sure the property has a Permit Number that includes TVU in it.
As with any business, there are good and bad operators. We advise you to do your due diligence before plunking down a deposit on any vacation rental. Dealing direct with the owner can save you money, however, be aware that sometimes this has its own set of pitfalls—for instance, do you think the owner of a property would tell you that there is road construction that starts at 7:00AM every day right outside your front door? (This has happened.) We recommend checking that whatever company or person you decide to rent through has, at a minimum, a listing in good standing with the Hawaii Visitors Bureau and the Better Business Bureau.
Everyone’s refund policy varies. To be sure, there are restrictions on refunds for cancellations, and depending on how close to arrival date the cancellation occurs, you could forfeit most, if not all, of your deposit. To avoid this unpleasant surprise make sure you know and understand the cancellation policies of a particular vacation rental before you book it. You should also make sure your travel plans are not subject to change before you book.
It really depends on what you want to do while you are on Oahu. If you are into country living and big wave surfing, then you should take a look at the North Shore of Oahu. If you want the full on tourist experience, then Waikiki and Diamond Head should be considered. If you want a bit of country, mixed with a bit of city, then the Windward side of the island (Waimanalo, Lanikai, Kailua, Kaneohe) might suit you best. For an upscale, suburb locale, you should consider the South Shore from Kahala to Hawaii Kai.
Assuming full occupation (two people in each bedroom), you should budget $150 to $200 per night per person for a luxury vacation rental and $80 to $125 per night per person for a standard vacation rental. The sweet spot, economically speaking, for Oahu vacation rentals is geared for the vacation party of three couples or larger.
A search of the internet for Oahu Vacation Homes will unleash a bevy of choices. Here’s some advice: unless you’ve stayed at a vacation home previously, it is smart to use a vacation rental service. Here’s why. Do you really think an owner of a vacation rental home is going to give you straight advice? Probably not. You’re more likely to hear that their place is the jewel of the island and can’t be beat. Talk to enough vacation home owners and you’ll soon realize they can’t all be right.
Ingrid Carvalho is one of Hawaii’s finest vacation rental representatives. She’s a third generation Kamaaina (three generations of her family were born and raised in the islands). She has been providing vacation rental services to island visitors since 1996 through Pacific Islands Reservations. Not only will she match you with the best available option to meet your needs—location, amenities, activities and the like she can provide you with recommendations for places to go and things to see based on your interests.
It’s less a question of where does she find new vacation rental properties than it is a question of do these properties meet or exceed her exacting standards. Oahu property owners make Ingrid one of their first stops when they decide to put their property on the vacation rental market. Sadly, only about one in four of these new property opportunities pass her quality standards and make it onto this website. A number of these properties are available through either exclusive or limited representation. A simple Internet search will NOT provide you with access to them. You have to go through their representative, and of those, Ingrid is an acknowledge leader.
The accommodations represented by Pacific Islands Reservations are mostly beach front, large homes. Many feature swimming pools and other fine amenities. They have inspired architecture and magnificent grounds. A dozen of them are located on Kailua Beach. Other luxury rentals are located throughout Oahu: in Lanikai, Koko Head, Hawaii Kai, Kahala, Diamond Head, and Laie.
Yes. It’s important to remember that the vacation rental business is a service business. Too many vacation rental operators look at the industry as a product sales business. Let’s face it. If you are planning an Oahu vacation, you are going to be spending a great deal of money no matter who or where you choose to rent. Don’t you want to make sure the experience lives up to your dreams? This is where excellent service comes in to make sure your vacation experience realizes your dreams.