Hi travellers,
We are looking for advice on renting Condos. We want to rent a condo for our vacation on Maui and Kauai later this year. So far 1 or 2 of the owners we have emailed are looking for FULL payment in advance, is this common practice?
We are travelling from Europe, whats the safest way for us to transfer funds if we do go with those condos? paypal/Western Union etc ?

I forgot to say that these Condos are owned/rented privately or VRBO , so I dont think they accept credit card

We own a condo in Maui that is managed by an agency. They require advance payment 30 days prior to arrival. Credit cards are most popular but checks have plenty of time to clear in the 30 day period.

Full payment is common when dealing directly with the owner. Typically half to hold the reservation and the ballance 30 days prior to arrival. Make sure you understand their cancellation policy. Feel free to ask for references of previous renters. I'd like to see VRBO adopt a feedback system similar to the one ebay uses.

We had our condo on hold with a deposit for almost a year.Balance was due 60 days prior to rental date.

thanks for the tips folks, seems like most require FULL payment in advance alright.
We have picked a couple of Condos we like so hopefully they'll be available.

My Bank has advised me that you dont have i-ban numbers in the USA but we can use their Routing(ABA) number to transfer cash, for this we need the
Name+address of person, Name+address of their bank, Their a/c number and their Routing(aba) number so I presume this is a safe/secure way to transfer cash.

Fingers crossed it'll work out !

I have rented homes for many, many years in Tahoe and the first time I contacted an owner on VRBO about their rental and they wanted full payment I really balked. The owner claimed that full payment was standard practice for owners on VRBO. I prefer to work with a rental company since I feel there are some built in safeguards but if I found a deal on a great place I might be willing to go for it. I’d make sure I was aware of their cancellation and or refund policy.

I have rented homes for many, many years in Tahoe and the first time I contacted an owner on VRBO about their rental and they wanted full payment I really balked. The owner claimed that full payment was standard practice for owners on VRBO. I prefer to work with a rental company since I feel there are some built in safeguards but if I found a deal on a great place I might be willing to go for it. I’d make sure I was aware of their cancellation and or refund policy.

Full advance payment is not only standard on VBRO, but by any privatly rented apartment, in my experience.

Hi have rented from a the owner directly (Kauai) and from a rental company(Oahu), both required full payment in advance. Make sure you have a signed contract whichever way you go and make sure you understand what it says.

I've rented from VRBO as well and have usually only paid half to reserve, with the balance being due between 30-60 days in advance. Personally, I wouldn't pay full payment any farther in advance than that without the security of paying with credit card or using a paypal protected form of payment.

ggrtist,

I agree.

However, isn't 30-60 days still "full payment in advance" of showing up??

Hi bardo1...well yes, but I really should have kept that to just 30 Of course the OP didn't mention when later this year they're traveling, guess that would be a deciding factor as well.

Have you asked how they will take payment? We're renting three condos in August for Maui/Kauai and all three wanted payment differently. However, the one which stated check only on the website did agree to take paypal when I asked.

Luckily we didn't have to come up with full payment in advance, just deposits, but on a side note, I was surprised that two of the three wanted a big security deposit. I thought they would just take a check and hold it, or put a hold on a credit card, but they all want it paid up front so it is figured into our final payment. So hopefully we'll be getting our money back. All 3 said they've never had problems returning the money. So it was a squeeze on the budget when not only do you have to figure the rent, but add in the security deposit and cleaning fee.

Let me give an owners perspective. I like a deposit (1 day rental) at booking and then full payment anywhere from 30 to 90 days in advance depending upon if this is the holiday season and how likely I would be able to find another renter in case of a cancellation. I'll keep the deposit as security and then return it within a week after the rental is over. Agencies have flexibility for moving renters around and will sometimes overbook. However if you reserve with an individual owner then the owner is taking the condo off the market and doesn't have an opportunity to line up a backup so if a renter cancels at the last minute the condo will likely go unrented. On the other hand individual owners can be more flexible - for example one prospective renter had sent me payment but had gotten sick a few months before the trip and so I just sent the money back.

The owner is also taking a risk letting random people stay in their condo. Many owners treat their place as a second home and if you get that sense from talking to the owner then there is a good bet that the condo will be kept in good shape. There are many nightmare stories of people trashing condos. I prefer to rent to people who live in my area and will always try to get a feel for how well they would take care of my place. I suggest that you also interview the owners to get a feel for how much you want to do business with them.

Lastly it is pretty expensive to get setup to accept and take payments by credit cards which is why owners like checks.

Even before I owned, I had rented from owners directly and was amazed at the amount of trust involved on both sides.

Alan

We usually rent homes and/or condos from private owners (Florida, California, Hawaii, Ireland)and have always paid in advance, usually 30-60 days prior to our arrival. In fact, we will soon be sending final payment for a condo we are renting in July on Sanibel. If you are concerned about having to cancel your trip due to an emergency, you may want to consider purchasing travel insurance. Insuremytrip.com is a source we have used frequently.

This thread reminds me of the time we rented a condo in NYC. We paid about a 40% deposit. About three weeks before we were to take our trip a family member had a very serious medical problem. I called the owner of the condo and explained why we had to cancel our trip and to this day I will never forget his kindness. He sent the entire deposit back to us. Something we sure didn't expect. In moving I lost his name and adddress unfortantly.

We have rented vrbo several times. My only recommendation is that during the rental procedure, you hook up by phone as well as email. That way, the owner can get a sense of who you are and how you'll look after their place, and you get a sense of them as well. This has worked out really well for us, and we now have a great relationship with these owners (because we took good care of their homes). They no longer require a deposit from us, but we still pay in full 60 days in advance.

When I've used VRBO to book east coast condos, they always wanted full payment in advance. The process has always worked for me.

However, I'm headed to Kauai and Hawaii soon and both owners only wanted a deposit. I'll let everyone know how it worked after I return.

I second the advice about contacting the owner by email and phone.

Mike Honeycutt

thanks for all the advice.
Seems like FULL payment in advance is the norm so.
Our holiday is in just over 60 days. The owners don't take credit card so I think we will try to use a paypal protected form of payment.
I will definitely call them beforehand. I'll let ye all know how we get on