Owners' Information

We manage property on the island of Oahu. The purpose of this page is to provide information to owners of rental property to explain how our property management systems operate, what you can expect from us and what we would expect from you, if we were to manage your property. We hire friendly, competent staff and do our best to be "user friendly" for the owners we represent. We understand that this is your property, and our job is to manage it when you are not using it. We have no restrictions on how often you can use the property during the year. If your use gets to be too frequent to make our continued management cost effective to us, we will talk with you about this. Since we manage both long term (six months or more) and short term, or vacation rental, properties, both concepts are covered here.

Vacation rentals are normally defined as fully equipped properties where someone can just move right in, much like a hotel room. Most of these are in resort zoned areas in Waikiki where daily rentals are permitted. Others fall outside of the resort area, and fall under the ordinance requirement of a minimum 30 day rental. There is a market for both. We also manage a few properties that float back and forth between these two programs, as best meets the needs of the owner. For example if we have a vacation rental property that has a few months of upcoming vacancies, we may put a six month or so tenant in to fill up that potential vacancy in low season. Then bring the property back into short term inventory when the demand returns. This flexibility has served us well from time to time. So please check out this information and then e-mail the contact person indicated to see how we can take the next step of having you join the satisfied and growing group of owners who have chosen Captain Cook Real Estate to manage their properties.

Vacation Rentals:

1. Defined: Honolulu city ordinance calls for a minimum rental period of thirty days in residentially zoned areas. In Honolulu proper this means everywhere except the resort zoned areas of Waikiki, which is primarily everything between Kuhio Avenue and the beach. Condos falling within the resort zoned areas are permitted, by ordinance, to be rented for periods of less than thirty days, much as with hotels. Exceptions to this are those properties outside of the resort zone which have Non-Conforming Use Permits allowing for shorter term rentals, or a few properties that are identified by zoning to allow for short term rentals. These permits were issued in the early 1980s and ride with the property as long as the short term rentals continue, and the permit is renewed on a semi-annual basis. They are no longer being issued, and once lost cannot be reinstated. Most of the properties you will see in our vacation rental inventory do allow for rentals of less than 30 days. We do have a few properties that are rented out on a vacation rental basis for periods of one month or more, and there is a demand for this. We also do placement for corporate housing when companies are bringing in contractors requiring housing for the term of their contracts. Since these needs are often for less than six months, this is handled by our vacation rental division. Examples here are visiting nurses and physicians that the local hospitals bring in on a contract basis to help fill a short term need, major construction companies needing to import labor from the mainland for a big project, the judiciary bringing in "traveling" or temporary judges, and banks or any other companies who bring in short term contractors for a multitude of reasons.

2. Captain Cook Real Estate versus Captain Cook Resorts: Captain Cook Real Estate is the parent company and is a licensed real estate general brokerage corporation. This encompasses real estate sales as well as long and short term property management. All of the properties we manage are managed by Captain Cook Real Estate. Captain Cook Resorts is licensed as a travel agency and limited lines insurance company (solely so that we can offer travel insurance) in the State of Hawaii. It also is the marketing arm of our vacation rental operation, since it has more of a "resorty" and relaxed feel to the name. This is the name you will see on all of our web and print media advertising for our vacation rentals. Captain Cook Resorts also advertises for, and books, properties we do not directly manage. These are mostly on outer Oahu or the neighbor islands.

3. Our software: We are running Escapia's WebAgent, a software designed specifically for the vacation rental industry. This is an integrated software that covers reservations, accounting and work order processing. On the reservations side, the software is designed to tell us what units have been rented the least so that we can balance the bookings as much as possible. (A guest always has the right to request a particular property, though.) The Escapia reservation system generates many different forms of correspondence to guests, confirmation letters, welcome letters, credit card authorization forms, etc. The Escapia accounting system takes the rental information generated on the reservations side, and separates it into the various owner's accounts so that we can pay you and and generate a monthly statement to show you what that income is based on.

4. How we collect: A reservation is not finalized until we have collected a $300 deposit. This is refundable, less a $100 cancellation fee, up to 45 days prior to the scheduled arrival date. Payment in full is required 45 days prior to arrival, and is non-refundable after that point. If a cancellation occurs within this final 45 days we refund only if we are able to re-rent the property. This concept is your protection, as an owner, against losing anticipated revenue at the last minute. We do offer the guest travel insurance that will cover their loss in cases like this, while still protecting your revenue. We accept most major credit cards, and do most of our business on these cards. 

5. What we do for you: We basically manage the property to the degree you want. Most of the owners we represent are strictly absentee landlords who have us do everything. A few live locally, or visit periodically, and prefer to do their own touch up, maintenance and buying things to upgrade their properties. We can flex here to meet your requirements in most cases. Under our normal hat of "doing everything" we market, book, meet and greet, handle all repairs, maintenance and purchasing, collect and file local taxes on your behalf, pay bills directly related to the property such as utilities and condo association dues, and summarize all of this activity on a monthly report that comes to you with your revenue check. We also do direct depositing of these revenue checks where desired. We also clean the properties between guests. This cleaning is paid for by the guests. Their cleaning fee is structured to allow us to keep the property supplied with toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, laundry and dishwasher detergent, and to cover periodic carpet cleaning and window washing. In the unlikely event of damage to your property, we will make every effort to collect from the guest to cover any loss, however cannot guarantee such collection. Each guest will have a credit card authorization on file with us permitting us to charge any such damages to their card. Guests who pay by other means will have a cash deposit with us for this purpose. We do hold the guest liable for any damages beyond the amount of their deposit, and will pursue this legally on your behalf if necessary.

6. What we expect from you: We are developing and working toward deserving the motto Captain Cook Resorts - THE place to stay in Honolulu. We want to represent a quality product of which we can be justly proud. To this end we require that you allow us to maintain your property to a high standard. Quality furnishings, appliances, wall hangings, linens, dishes, pots and pans, carpet, window coverings, paint - everything. We do not want run down properties in our inventory. We also expect you to honor any bookings we make on your behalf. Our management agreement requires that you include us as "additional insured" on your property liability insurance.

7. The next step: If you are interested in discussing having Captain Cook Real Estate manage your property please click here to send an e-mail describing your property, and providing any information that will help us get started.