Last February we rented this wonderful home on Maui. We want to rent it again next year. I found the place on vrbo.com , but it is no longer listed there. It is listed on homeaway.com also where much to surprise in the area where cost are mentioned it says "15% Gratuity".

I have never seen this before. Have you?

There is no daily maid service at this home and nothing else that would warrant a tip. It seems like a rip off to me and I wonder if they wanted more money why didn't they just raise the rent by that amount? That would make more sense to me,

I emailed the owner and asked her about it and have not heard yet, but it will be interesting to see what she writes back.

They also added a $150 cleaning fee and there wasn't one before and they did raise the rental rate by $25 a day.

Has anyone ever paid a gratuity for a vacation rental?

Nope. Never will either.

No, and when I rented apartments, I didn't tip the landlord either.

HTTY

I have seen a card placed near the door suggesting a tip for the housekeeper at a beach rental in Bandon. I think the cleaning fee was $75 and we didn't leave a tip because we didn't think about it when we were packing up.
Part of me understands that someone is just trying to make a living and the other part is annoyed because, as you mentioned, this isn't a place with a daily maid service. It's tiring to be hit up for tips right and left.

I rent from vrbo and homeaway all the time in Hawaii, and I am with you just raise the rent(which they obviously did also). I would have to look at other properties there are a lot of very nice ones out there.
Happy planning.

Never a required percentage. I usually tip the cleaner, $10 or $20 for the week. I call it my lost charger insurance. We are forever leaving things and if you tip, usually the cleaner will help you get your lost belonging back.

So you're saying that they have:

1) increased rental rate by $25/day
2) Added a $150 cleaning fee
and
3) asking for a 15% "gratuity"? 15% of what? And for whom?

I've never seen a rental place asking for gratuity. As far as I'm concerned, the cleaning fee goes to the cleaning crew. Or in other cases where there's no cleaning fee, the rental rate includes the fee already.

I guess I don't understand the theory behind this. If renting through VRBO and there's no daily housekeeping service who exactly is the 15% gratuity for? Same with the cleaning fee. It seems to me that the owner should determine the costs they incur renting out their home, factor in a reasonable profit and price the rental accordingly. The rental rate should include the cleaning fee (after all the place has to be cleaned when the renter leaves). If the rental rate is competitive the home will "rent", if it's set too high there will be few, if any, takers.

I certainly can understand the rental rate being higher this year compared to last year and the renter voluntarily tipping the housekeeper (assuming there is one) but to require a gratuity or to add on 15% gratuity for an unstaffed home is just plain odd 9or perhaps greedy).

yk, 15% of the total charge! I have no idea who it goes to. That was one of the questions I asked the owner when I sent the inquiry.

I forgot to add that Maui has outrageously high taxes on such rentals, so on top of all the above, add 14.25%! With all the add ones, a week's rental ends up costing almost a $1000 more!

It has really soured me on this place and there is no way in hell I would ever pay such a charge. It just makes me sad, as this place has been in the rental pool for so long. We finally stay there, love it and think it is a place we could return to again and again and then they take it out of our reach with all these new added charges. Blech!

I suggest not thinking about all the various terms and subdivisions of costs.

A much simpler approach:
1) Add all the costs to derive a total for your stay.
2) Decide if amount calculated from step 1 is worth it to you to stay in a particular home.

iamq, now that you've explained it more in detail, I think it's a gimmick the owner is using in order to make his/her rental rate still look "competitive" or even "cheaper."

On vrbo, one can rank the rentals by rate, or # of BR etc. For many people, they probably want the listing by rate (from low to high).

In your case, the owner effectively "lowered" his/her rental rate by probably $50 a day by splitting the "cleaning fee" and "15% gratuity" off from the actual rental rate.

bardo1, I did that and there is no way I would pay the $$$ required for the house now. It was stretch as it was before.

yk, you've hit the nail on the head!

iamq, This sounds like a huge rip off and so disappointing when you've found your perfect 'little grass shack'!

I've not come across gratuities for rentals but we've left tips for maid service when using vrbo in Mexico however, this was left to our discretion.
In the information guide left at the 2 bedroom apartment it stated that daily maid service was included but the suggested tip was $5 a day.
We were also able to decline maid service at any time if we wished but we didn't as it was fantastic.. invisible fairies swept away every grain of sand and washed our dishes.

We also rented an apartment in Iceland this summer and brought gifts for the landlady as she'd been so helpful (she let us view the apartment 6 months before our stay when we were passing through Reykjavik and made us soup when we arrived late at night in July).

I hope this addition of a phony gratuity isn't something that becomes more widespread.. good luck with your emails to the owner.

Sounds like they figured a good way to raise the price but hide it to the unsuspecting.

I agree about gratuity, who gets the $$ ? And since one expects a cleaned rental, it is owner's responsibility to see that it is cleaned - sort of goes with the territory.

FWIW- you cannot sort listings on vrbo by rate. You can only sort them by # of bedrooms high/low and "sleeps" high/low.

I think it is sneaky and speaks ill of the owner.

I'm really interested to see if they respond & how they answer your question about what the 15% is for!

We do not tip on house/condo rentals, although we do in hotels. Because I was curious, I asked a friend of mine who rents out her beach condo about half the year. She said SHE tips her housecleaner, which is what I would expect.

imaq

I think it is sneaky and speaks ill of the owner.

You nailed it. Bad business practice.

I have never seen this and would not pay an additional gratuity when already being charged a cleaning fee.

imaq -

If you choose not to stay in this rental, I suggest you send a note to the owner explaining why. Perhaps if they get enough negative feedback regarding the additional add-ons, they'll rethink this bizarre policy.