owner s information guide

Transcription

1 owner s information guide

2 CONTENTS Welcome Letter Who We Are and What We Do Your Maui Condo and Home Team Housekeeping Inventory Accidental Damage/Security Deposit Insurance Accounting Evaluations How We Market Your Vacation Rental Websites Reservation Sources Online Media Advertising Frequently Asked Questions

3 Mahalo for considering Maui Condo and Home to manage, rent and care for your vacation rental. We know your vacation rental is very important to you. It s not just your home-away-from-home on Maui. It is also a serious investment that warrants the care of trusted professionals. As you already know, Maui is the definition of a tropical paradise. The year-round perfect weather and the strong Hawaiian culture bring people to this island. Some are lucky to visit once, while others are blessed to visit it regularly. Maui sells itself, but convincing travelers to choose your vacation rental over thousands of other choices is a challenge. A challenge we ve helped vacation owners overcome for more than 26 years. Based locally on Maui, our expertise, combined with experience and passion will help you succeed. Following this letter is additional information on Maui Condo and Home, our services and how we make it extremely easy for vacation rental owners like you to manage the rental of your vacation rental, while ensuring maximum profits. Please take a few minutes to read through the Owner s Information Guide. If you have further questions, do not hesitate to call Tiana Raymondo, our owner services manager at or on island at or her at tiana.raymondo@mauicondo.com. Me ke aloha pumehana, (With our warmest aloha), Dawn C. Kane Vice President, Principal Broker Maui Condo and Home, LLC dawn.kane@mauicondo.com 3

4 who we are and what we do Maui Condo and Home is a licensed Real Estate Brokerage that specializes in full-service vacation rental management. We are one of the largest vacation rental management companies on Maui with more than 26 years of industry experience. We are a licensed brokerage in good standing with the State of Hawaii DCCA, Better Business Bureau (BBB) with an A-plus rating, Maui Hotel & Lodging Association (MHLA), Maui Visitors and Conventions Bureau (MVCB), Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB), Vacation Rental Manager Association (VRMA), Hawaii Vacation Rental Managers Association (HVRMA) and the Maui Chamber of Commerce. As a full-service vacation rental management company, you can decide how involved you want to be - from very involved to leaving everything to us. We will take care of everything from bookings, marketing, cleaning and maintenance to guest service requests and preventative maintenance troubleshooting. 4

5 how we take care of you and your investment YOUR MAUI CONDO AND HOME TEAM Maui Condo and Home employs industry professionals from a variety of backgrounds to ensure we are strong in every aspect of our business. Our backgrounds and experience include: Local knowledge of Maui and Hawaii s culture On-site and off-site condominium hotel management Property management Home Owners Association services Association of Apartment Owners services E-commerce web sales and marketing Print media marketing Hospitality Customer service Reservations call center Front desk guest service Concierge services Construction general maintenance Housekeeping Accounting HOUSEKEEPING The care and well being of your vacation rental is of utmost importance to us. All cleaners are licensed and insured contractors. Maui Condo and Home has an independent contractor agreement and housekeeping operational standards the vendors must agree to follow before working in any of our vacation rentals. In order to maintain, improve cleanliness and keep vendors aware of proper standard operating procedures related to quality care of vacation rentals, Maui Condo and Home provides industry standard classes and training to the vendors at no cost. An official Maui Condo Arrival Inspector will inspect your vacation rental on the day of every new arrival to check the housekeeping and provide a preventative maintenance check, ensuring it is ready for the incoming guest and meets our standards. INVENTORY To ensure quality standards for all your guests, we will provide you with a list of items with which your vacation rental should be stocked. For your convenience, we stock many items or can procure them as needed using our established superior vendor relationships, saving you money and time. ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE/SECURITY DEPOSIT INSURANCE All reservations booked by Maui Condo and Home for your vacation rental will include accidental damage insurance. This covers accidental damage up to $1,500 such as a spill on the carpet or a broken glass-table top. Maui Condo and Home processes the claims, neither the guest nor you will need to do anything, we take care of it all for you. 5

6 ACCOUNTING Maui Condo and Home s accounting department offers the following services to make banking and filing your taxes easier: You have the option of having Maui Condo and Home file your Hawaii State General Excise Tax (GET) and Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT) for a small additional fee. Taxes are due to the State semi-annually, quarterly or monthly depending on the annual revenue achieved - frequency is decided by the State. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Yearly 1099 forms are distributed promptly. Monthly Owner s Statements are available online as well as hard copy mailed to you, including copies of all invoices for your records. EVALUATIONS An experience evaluator, trained by professionals in industry quality standards will evaluate your vacation rental annually. You will receive a report that can be used for budgeting and planning purposes. Similar to a report card, it will let you know the condition and the wear-and-tear of items, as well as changes in consumer preferences taking place in the industry so you can keep your vacation rental up to standards and always stay competitive. how we market your vacation rental WEBSITES Maui Condo and Home has multiple websites dedicated to its vacation rentals and the properties. The main website, MauiCondo.com, features all vacation rentals including yours. Your vacation rental s specific page will feature real time availability, photos, descriptions, amenities and a map of the location. The website allows vacationers to book your specific vacation rental, a standard we ve developed that helps us be more competitive. OwnerLink is a portal made just for Owners that shows calendars, reservations, statements and allows you to create bookings for yourself, your family and friends. You can access the OwnerLink through MauiCondo.com. 6

7 RESERVATION SOURCES Our property management software allows individual guests, travel agents and channel partners access to your vacation rental information via ISI, an online portal. Available information includes vacation rental availability, photos, descriptions and amenities. Our system also allows them to book your vacation rental directly into the reservation system, eliminating duplicate bookings or delays and loss of a booking because guests often want to book right away - no matter the time of day or night. The best sources of business are direct bookings and repeat clients. Our vacation rental quality and customer service standards help us maintain a strong repeat client base as well as good word-of-mouth and referral clients coming in. We reach new clients through our websites and online marketing as well as other advertising sources. Traditional travel agents add to our reservations mix. Our property management software allows travel agents who book us to access online real time availability and rates so they can reserve vacation rentals in our program anytime. Travel agents receive an industry standard 10-15% commission. Channel partners are third-party reservations agencies, typically online or web based, who are linked directly into Maui Condo and Home s reservations software for online real time booking 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days of the year. They receive a commission like standard travel agents. Maui Condo and Home also does business with online travel agents such as Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz as well as traditional travel package providers such as WestJet Vacations from Canada, Pleasant Holidays and All About Travel, all of which earn a percentage of each paid reservation they book. ONLINE MEDIA Maui Condo and Home understands the value of technology and having a strong online presence. You will find our presence in all of these areas: Online Technologies & Social Media Glad To Have You (App store: Maui Condo) Blog (Mauicondo.com/vacation-guide/blog) Facebook (facebook.com/ MauiCondoAndHomeRentals Google + (google.com/+mauicondo) Twitter (@MauiGetaway) Pinterest (pinterest.com/mauicondo) YouTube (MauiCondo) HomeAway Network Flipkey Trip Advisor In May 2013, Maui Condo and Home went live with Glad To Have You, a vacation rental mobile application. The App is interactive and informative, providing guests with reservation and check-in information as well as things to do and see on Maui using interactive Google Maps. 7

8 ADVERTISING Strategic branding and consumer awareness combined with an immediate call-to-action are key elements for conversions. Maui Condo and Home reaches consumers through online and print advertising such as: ONLINE ADVERTISING Google Best Places Hawaii CityOf.com Yellow Pages.com Los Angeles Times MVB Blasts HVCB Island of Aloha Hawaii Magazine Orange County Reg. Home San Francisco Chronicle Travel Weekly Travel Weekly Canada Oregonian And more PRINT ADVERTISING Alaska Airlines Magazine Frommer s Budget Travel Hawaii Magazine HVCB Island of Aloha MVB Vacation Planner MWA Wedding Planner Out Aloha Magazine Portland Monthly Anchorage Daily News Calgary Herald Saskatoon Star Phoenix Seattle Times Vancouver Sun Victoria Times Colonist And more Toll free Local mauicondo.com 1819 South Kihei Road, Suite D-103, Kihei, Hawaii 96753

9 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Are there start-up fees to join the Maui Condo and Home rental program? No. There are no fees required to start. Owners must maintain a working balance of $500. This balance is used to pay for owner expenses and to pay vendors such as housekeeping and maintenance. When you join our program and at such times when you do major vacation rental improvements, we will arrange for professional photos to be taken as an owner expense so your photos can be posted in our reservations system and viewed by potential customers. What are the standard requirements? Upon joining the rental program, we will provide you with a list of standard inventory items that will need to be in your vacation rental. If you do not have these items we can assist you in purchasing them. We will also need to obtain professional photos for advertising purposes. In addition, we require all vacation rentals to have an Oracode Kaba lock system installed on the front door. This is for your personal and guest safety as well as to limit liability and access to your vacation rental. What are Maui Condo and Home s commission on rentals in my vacation rental? Maui Condo and Home does not pool revenue. Revenue from your vacation rental will go to you, less any commission and operating expenses. Maui Condo and Home s commission is percent for regular bookings and 10 percent for bookings generated by you but coordinated by us. When can I expect to receive my statements and checks? Statements are typically available online by the 5th business day of the month. Checks and statements are processed at the beginning of each month for the previous month s reservations and expenses. EFT deposits are typically processed no later than the 10th of each month and hard copy owners statements and checks are typically mailed by the 10th of each month but never later than the 15th of each month. Do you offer direct deposit? Yes, for your convenience, we offer Electronic Funds Transfer upon request.

10 Does Maui Condo and Home pay our Hawaii State TAT and GET taxes? General Excise and Transient Accommodations Taxes are the owner s responsibility. For a small fee, Maui Condo and Home can prepare and file these taxes for you, at your request. Where do you advertise? Maui Condo and Home advertises in a variety of media vehicles including print, online, third-party vendors and social media. For a sample list, please see page 8. Do you offer Housekeeping services? We only work with licensed and insured housekeeping services. Before any vendor can work in a Maui Condo and Home unit they must agree to our housekeeping standards and amenities to be provided, sign an independent contractor agreement and provide proof of liability insurance and appropriate tax information. In order to keep the vendors we work with current on hospitality industry cleaning standards, hazards and other issues Maui Condo offers training classes at no cost to the vendors we work with. In the past, we have made certain training mandatory in order to work with us and reserve the right to do so as needed to insure the condos we care for receive the quality of care they should. Maui Condo assigns approved vendors to care for units or if the owner would like to be involved, arrange for interviews with vendors for owners consideration. If an owner has a vendor they would like to work with, we are happy to work with them if they are licensed, insured and agree to the Maui Condo and Home standards and independent contractor agreement is signed in advance of work. What if there is a maintenance issue in my condo? Maui Condo provides service and emergency response for care of our units 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days of the year. We have an after-hours service to help guests and/or the on-site Association of Apartment Owners of the property as needed. On your behalf, we will take reasonable action to address and rectify any maintenance issues that occur in order to keep the unit in good condition and to avoid any potential damage or liability to you as quickly as possible. Maui Condo and Home works with licensed and insured contractors as well as experience handyman and other vendors. I want to remodel my vacation rental. Will you oversee it? Maui Condo and Home provides service and emergency response 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days of the year. We have an after-hours service to help guests and/or the on-site Association of Apartment Owners of the property as needed. On your behalf, we will take reasonable action to address and rectify any maintenance issues that occur in order to keep the vacation rental in good condition and to avoid any potential damage or liability to you as quickly as possible. Maui Condo and Home works with licensed and insured contractors as well as experience handyman and other vendors. Who should I contact for immediate assistance after-hours? Maui Condo and Home will always be available for you. Our office is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and during peak season, seven days a week. We also have an after-hours service coordinator who takes care of all emergency phone calls when the office is closed. You can or call us and we will get back to you as quickly as possible.