Why am I the Best Value Rental Source?

First, please click here to compare my rates to all the big rental agencies which handle renting Honua Kai villas – it’s an eye-opener!  Let me recap the results:

There are many things to consider when doing such a comparison and here are the things I accounted for:

• Family of 4
• 1-bedroom partial ocean view
• $10/day parking fee not included in prices since they are collected at the front desk at the Honua Kai when you check-in.

I just finished the comparison today, March 21, 2010 and there it is:

Source	Rent/day	Rent	Fees	Taxes	Total	/day
ME	$189	$1,323	$135	$183.17	$1,641.17	$234.45
Ambassador Club	$443	$3,101	$455	$416.16	$3,972.16	$567.46
RoyalHawaii.com	$453	$3,171	$455	$425.55	$4,051.55	$578.79
Booking.com*	$453	$3,171	$455	$425.55	$4,051.55	$578.79
Travelocity	$453	$3,171	$455	$425.55	$4,051.55	$578.79
Hotels.com	$468	$3,276	$455	$439.64	$4,170.64	$595.81
Expedia.com	$468	$3,276	$455	$439.64	$4,170.64	$595.81
Orbitz.com*	$496	$3,469	$455	$465.56	$4,389.27	$627.04

* these sources had no partial ocean views available

As an owner at the Honua Kai my rates partially cover my mortgage, maintenance fees, and reserves needed to do deep cleaning twice a year and reserves for replacement of furniture, fixtures, and equipment on a timely basis and to cover expenses incurred while renting my villa.

So the question is why the HUGE difference in price?  Profit of those companies/agencies is the answer of course.

But to be fair, there is more.  Some/all of the above companies get into:

• Profit – all are companies that employee a staff and computers to handle renting of my fellow owners’ villas.
• Travel agents/companies use the above to book reservations at the Honua Kai and there is a bounty returned to those agents
• Loans – some of my competition extend credit terms to renters like “2 nights payable now and the rest paid 7-days before check in”  just who finances that money not collected?
• Insurance – ALL of my competition allow renters to cancel and get back most/all their cash if they cancel the reservation.  All those broken reservations mean villas going unrented – you pay for that in one way or another

I don’t do any of the above.  Let’s go further and analyze the terms and conditions of rentals assuming the reservation is made and taken:

Source	Terms	Conditions	Cost
Me	100% up front	No refunds	$131*
Ambassador Club	100% up front	7 days before 100% back then 2 days charge	$2,330.99
Travelocity	100% up front	7 days before 100% back then 2 days charge	$2,410.38
Booking.com	2 days charge	7 days before 100% back then 2 days charge	$2,410.38
Hotels.com	100% up front	7 days before 100% back then 2 days charge	$2,529.47
Expedia.com	100% up front	7 days before 100% back then 2 days charge	$2,529.47
Orbitz	100% up front	100% back before 2 days of check-in;then all lost	$2,748.10
Royal Hawaiian	$125/person;bal 55 days	Before 18 days $100 fee, then 2 days charge	$2,410.38
800 Hotels	100% up front	3 days before get 80% back, then all lost	$2,410.38

* the $131 cost is for trip insurance on $1,641, which is my rental fee.

My goal is to offer you the least expensive rent which is not full of thousands of dollars of overhead covering financing options and insurance fees.  As you see when you do it this way renting from me saves you at least 50% over going with the big rental companies.

It’s much less expensive to rent from me, buy travel insurance, and save a lot of money – a lot.

I want to deal with smart/educated customers and the more I can help you understand what’s going on the better I look!