Have you had experience with StayInWaikiki.com?
 

A one bedroom partial ocean view at Pacific Monarch is quoted at $700 per week on StayInWaikiki.com. All other reservation sites show this condo at over $200 per night. Is this a scam or has anyone had a positive experience with this company?

It's probably legit.

This is a Resortquest hotel (condo).

Not all condos in a particular Hawaii hotel are fully managed by one management company, in this case Resortquest.

Individual owners used to have (& still have in many cases)an option to rent their unit by themselves. A future sale of the individual unit may force them to go with Resortquest, but for now, its grandfathered in that they are not required to.

The big differences in getting a unit rented out by the owner vs a management company like Resortquest:

You probably have to pay a deposit with an owner unit. You may have to make arrangements to pick up the key from the owner (not the reservation desk). Owners may charge a one time cleaning fee. With Resortquest, housekeeping comes with the daily rate.

If for some reason you don't like your room & want to change, you can only change to a different unit (maybe in a different location) that is owned by the person you rented from.

In a Resortquest room, they will get you a different room if one is available or possible get a room at a different Resortquest Hotel or condo.

You probably won't have use of the reservation desk.

The big advantage with renting owner units is that they are usually much cheaper.

The comments above are not necessarily for the Pacific Monarch, but just comments on the difference between units that are rented out by owners vs a management company.

I wouldn't hesitate to get an owner room if the price is right.

This is a link for Resortquest Pacific Monarch. You can see what amenities are included. Whatever is important to you, send an e-mail message to the private owners to see what difference there is.

http://www.resortquesthawaii.com/haw...yGroupId=25558

I hope I didn't confuse you too much.

Dusty,
Thank you for your reply. However, I am somewhat confused. Are you saying StayInWaikiki.com is the site of the owner of the condo? How can I find out if this is a legitimate company that will honor this rate for a one week stay at Pacific Monarch? I did a search on the Better Business Bureau site but they don't appear.

This is from the front page of their site:

"We own and manage several condos in the heart of Waikiki. These studio and one bedroom condos are located in the Island Colony, Pacific Monarch and Waikiki Banyan hotels."

I do not know anything about the owners.

With the internet, owners of a small number of condos have a lot of different ways to rent out their properties.

This same owner may also use www.vrbo.com

or other means.

It really is no different than Resortquest (or any other big company) using their own site plus Expedia, Bookit, Travelocity, etc.

If you go to www.vrbo.com and look at Waikiki units, you will find many units there that are in condos that are in condos like Pacific Monarch, Waikiki Shore, etc., that have corporate names.

The individual units that show up for rent by owners are units that the owner did not sign an agreement to use Resortquest, Outrigger, etc., as their management company.

I am just trying to point out that this is legit to rent out the unit on their own and that there may be differences.

You can send an e-mail to the adress found on site. Maybe he/she will give you more info.

Dherron:
Did you decide to go with StayInWaikiki?...we are considering doing the same.