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Big Island The Island of Hawaii
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Old 05-07-2016, 08:20 PM
 
Location: snowbirds Pahoa/Idaho
252 posts, read 661,270 times
Reputation: 251

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For those wanting to come to the island and rent a place for week or longer before you decide if it is where you want to live and or for your vacation.

HEADs UP: Seems corporate greed took over the Big Boy listing sites such as VRBO/HomeAway, TripAdvisor and AirBnB. They all charge travelers a fee for booking from their sites. Fee's usually run around 10%-15% over and above what the rental total is. So if you find a rental that is around $125 per night with taxes etc the listing site will tack on an additional 10-15% on to that amount and call it a booking or service fee.

HELPFUL HINT: There are some new sites that do not have booking or service fees such as

www.homeescape.com

www.unitedvacation.rentals

www.vacationhomerentals.com

and if you have a facebook account - quite a few owner managed rentals here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/VacationRentalsbyOwners

These sites you can still communicate with the owner of the property direct and will not be charged any booking or service fee's.

Ask me how I know all this? Because we own a rental property here in the Puna district that we have/had listed on the "big boy" sites and were notified (not really the fee just was automatically attached to the quotes we sent to travelers who inquired) that they are all going to be charging travelers now who book through them. One thing I do not like is corporate greed... we already pay to put our homes on their sites now they want to charge the traveler also (double dipping) and I for one do not agree with it.

If anyone is interested in a rental let me know and if ours is not rented maybe we can work something out. Here is our rental if might not be the type of rental for everyone but then again if you like it and want some place to stay either on your vacation or during the move over etc. PM me...

https://homeescape.com/vacation-rental/14905/

Otherwise check out some of the other links I gave you and rent direct from the owner it will save you quite a bit.

A ClassAction lawsuit has been filed against VRBO/HomeAway because of how they introduced the fee without notifying property owners and travelers. They tried to sneak it in like it would not be noticed.

Lawsuit: New fees from Austin-based HomeAway are
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Old 05-07-2016, 10:57 PM
 
354 posts, read 439,113 times
Reputation: 743
Thank you for alerting us! I use Air BnB all the time.
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Old 05-07-2016, 11:17 PM
 
102 posts, read 118,912 times
Reputation: 99
I was reading that Hawaii just passed a bill to go after airbnb type services and make them accountable for collecting taxes for vacation rentals. Could the new fees be in response to this?
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Old 05-08-2016, 01:39 AM
 
Location: Na'alehu Hawaii/Buena Vista Colorado
5,528 posts, read 12,693,256 times
Reputation: 6198
Quote:
Originally Posted by HawaiiWarriorFan View Post
I was reading that Hawaii just passed a bill to go after airbnb type services and make them accountable for collecting taxes for vacation rentals. Could the new fees be in response to this?
No, the new fees are worldwide. And they are worse on VRBO than AirBnb, I believe. Thanks, 1free spirit, for giving us some alternative sites.
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Old 05-08-2016, 12:21 PM
 
Location: snowbirds Pahoa/Idaho
252 posts, read 661,270 times
Reputation: 251
Quote:
Originally Posted by HawaiiWarriorFan View Post
I was reading that Hawaii just passed a bill to go after airbnb type services and make them accountable for collecting taxes for vacation rentals. Could the new fees be in response to this?
No I do not think so, AirBnB and Tripadvisor have been charging travelers a booking fee for some time they sneak it into the quote total.

I bet when that bill goes into force AirBnB will raise their rates even higher to either travelers or property owners (maybe even both) to pay for the added "man power" they claim it will take to handle the processing of taxes. I'm sure VRBO/HomeAway and Tripadvisor will also have to collect taxes and will raise fee's again to travelers and or owners.

Here are AirBnB's current fee's to travelers when you book:

To help cover the costs of running Airbnb, we charge guests a service fee every time a reservation is confirmed. The amount of this service fee varies and is based on a percentage of the reservation subtotal (before fees and taxes).

The exact amount of the service fee is displayed before guests confirm a booking. Service fees for guests typically range between 6-12% but can be higher or lower depending on the specifics of the reservation. The higher the subtotal, the lower the percentage so you can save money when booking large reservations.

TripadVisors fee's:

TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals will charge the traveler a booking fee, which varies based on the rate of the rental. The booking fee ranges from 5% to 15% of the total booking value.

The fee is automatically added to the guest's invoice upon booking.

VRBO/HomeAway fee's:

Travelers pay the service fee by credit card when paying through the secure HomeAway checkout process. The service fee is only charged to the card once the booking has been accepted. The service fee is calculated on a sliding scale of 4% to 9% of the rental amount, excluding the deposit or taxes. The service fee only applies to the cost of the rental and will not exceed $499.

It can add up when you book a rental from those sites. So if you want to save some $$$ on your next vacation check out some of those other sites I provided it could save you a few hundred bucks.
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Old 05-08-2016, 12:23 PM
 
Location: Volcano
49 posts, read 77,025 times
Reputation: 47
Thanks for the information -- I had no idea. And we just joined VRBO this week
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Old 05-08-2016, 01:49 PM
 
311 posts, read 453,145 times
Reputation: 627
Years ago when I was on VRBO, I had all my guests and prospects contact me directly through phone or email. They can still contact owners directly now but are offered to go through their VRBO booking in order to feel safer about deposits and identity theft.
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Old 05-08-2016, 02:32 PM
 
Location: snowbirds Pahoa/Idaho
252 posts, read 661,270 times
Reputation: 251
Quote:
Originally Posted by TreeZoo View Post
They can still contact owners directly now but are offered to go through their VRBO booking in order to feel safer about deposits and identity theft.
It is going to be mandatory to use VRBO check out and booking process by year end. They are currently working on switching it all over. I'm fine if travelers want to use VRBO check out if they do not feel safe about booking direct with me I'm not the one paying the fee.

Personally when we go on vacations I prefer to deal with the owners direct but that might not be for everyone. I do though only book rentals that accept credit cards instead of personal checks or money orders. Not really concerned with Identity theft you can tell is a rental is safe by reading reviews, seeing how long they have been in business etc. do my own investigated work.

I do not need to pay a few hundred dollars more for my vacation just to book online with a site that stores my credit card and personal information that could possibly be hacked and information compromised. Like many sites have been in the past like for instance Home Depot for one just last year.

Just wanted to let people know about the fee because it is hidden and not everyone knows about it.
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Old 05-12-2016, 09:07 AM
 
102 posts, read 118,912 times
Reputation: 99
Mahalo guys for the information. I really learned something new. In my honest opinion is what this is all about here. To learn, share information and share our Aloha.
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Old 05-17-2016, 03:42 PM
 
9,837 posts, read 4,648,738 times
Reputation: 7292
I have been using VRBO since the early days, lets say 2000 ish, I have booked dozens of homes and spend thousands every year.


But if I have to pay another fee I will just email owners directly and use the local sites.

I will not pay them a toll on top of everything else.

Hopefully people will stay away in droves.
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