Kolea at Waikoloa Beach Resort is one of the nicest beachfront properties on the Big Island of Hawaii and due to this is a popular place for people to choose as a place of their dream Hawaii vacation home! While selecting the perfect place for you is the first challenge, choosing what you will do with it after you purchase it is the next challenge. We at Waikoloa Vacation Rentals have been managing properties at Kolea since it was built over 20 years ago and here are some of the common discussions we have with buyers.
Should I put my property in a vacation rental pool?
This is the first question many people consider. When buying such a nice property that at minimum cost $1million do you really want to allow other people to stay there. Typically there are two main concerns when considering this.
First, is if I choose to make my property a vacation rental will I be able use the property when I want to? For the most part, the answer is yes. Typically you have the first right to reserve your property years in advance before renters have the option to do so. That being said, if you are a last minute planner, it may be tough because if a renter has booked the property you can not kick them out in order to stay there. Over 20+ years it is very rare that we have a scenario come up where an owner wants to stay in their property, but it is booked.
Second is the concern if of your property getting “trashed” by renters. In the 20+ years we have seen less than a handful of incidents where renters have done any level of substantial damage. In all of those instances the renters called and let us know what happened and covered the cost of repair. At properties like Kolea there is a higher end clientele and typically take care of the places as though it was their own. While some companies differ, for us at Waikoloa Vacation Rentals guests pay a damage waiver, which in the event damage occurs makes sure that the damage is covered and it is not an issue of the owners.
If you choose to make your property a vacation rental, here are some things to consider:
Full Service or Partial Service Management Company
Back when Kolea was first built a full service management company was the only option available to Kolea homeowners. Since then, the options have grown drastically with varying levels of service.
A full service management company will provide all the services needed to operate your property as a vacation rental. You, as an owner, should have to do nothing at all other than fill out the paperwork in the beginning and file your income taxes at the end of the year. A full service company takes care of the maintenance, oversight of the property, housekeeping, filing Hawaii taxes and keeping your property up to date on those, marketing, and more.
Partial service companies offer some level of limitation to those. The lowest level of service typically is just that they oversee the housekeeping and ultimately you are responsible for everything else. There are some where you do the reservations and they take care of the housekeeping and maintenance.
The only reason to go with a partial service company is if you want to try to remote manage the property or if the financial savings are important to you. Although I have managed properties for over 20 years I always tell owners I will never buy investment properties and self manage from a distance when I retire. It is just too much risk and work for minimal savings.
In conclusion, I strongly recommend hiring a full service vacation rental company when owning at Kolea.
Local or National Vacation Rental Company
If you choose to go with a full service vacation rental company, the next thing to consider is to go with a small local company or a larger national company. If you are not familiar with the vacation rental industry in Hawaii, there has been a large growth of national companies in Hawaii. They have primarily grown simply by buying out local companies for dollar amounts to hard to pass up. While there are positive and negatives to each of these, I have not really found a national vacation rental company on the Big Island of Hawaii that has truly impressed me.
While there are some good local companies, there can also be some bad ones. The good companies typically offer ample staffing on the island. This means when a potential renter or guest calls they are actually speaking to someone on the island. They also typically have “boots on the ground”, which means in the event of an issue during a stay they are more likely to have someone near Kolea able to fix it. Companies such as us, Waikoloa Vacation Rentals, has staff at Kolea specifically every day of the year to make sure guests have the best stay they can and to make sure the properties are taken care of. While many of the national companies also claim this, I just have not seen it be a reality with any of them. Typically they have 1-2 people on island that is responsible for all the properties they manage on island.
The main thing a national company can offer than most local companies cannot is national level advertising. Some of the larger companies have websites that hit a national audience or work with third party sites that reach a far greater audience than any local company can. While this is true, I have not seen with any properties I am familiar with at Kolea that this actually result to more bookings.
Overall what I have seen is most renters want to rent from a local company because they expect better service and local knowledge. Overall I have seen that as a homeowner your property is typically in better hands with a local company.
A Few Additional Perks of Signing Up With Waikoloa Vacation Rentals at Kolea
There are two unique perks that we at Waikoloa Vacation Rentals offer our guests and owners at Kolea.
The first is given that we manage over 50 rentals at Kolea we have invested in a large quantity of maintenance parts unique to Kolea. Given this, when something breaks we can typically resolve it the day of to make sure the owner and guests enjoy their stay the best they can. We also have ample parts that are discontinued so that things can be fixed easily versus having to be replace.
The second is we have a partnership with the Hilton Waikoloa so our guests and owners can use their facilities during their stay. Given that the main clientele of Kolea are families, this arrangement has helped our guests to truly enjoy the best of both worlds, luxuries of a vacation rental and amenities of a world class hotel.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a full service management company for your property at Kolea, I truly feel Waikoloa Vacation Rentals is the best option available. With over 50 properties at Kolea from 2 bedroom garden view condos to 6 bedroom beachfront estates, we have management all level of vacation rentals and have been able to retain over 90% of our owners over the year.
About the Author: Rob Dalton is the owner of Waikoloa Vacation Rentals and has lived on the Big Island of Hawaii for over 25 years. Rob is a hands on owner and is at Kolea most weekdays inspecting properties and interacting with guests and owners.