You have at last decided you and your family on going to take that long waited ambition holiday in Hawaii Island. You have chose that you would like to go the vacation lease route for several reasons: privacy, comfort, location and cost effectiveness. Next, you probably searched Oahu Vacation Rentals and are faced with the daunting task of choosing among some 175,000 web sites. Where to begin? Here’s two tips that will help you make the right choice so you can enjoy your stay in Hawaii to its fullest.

tip One: Use a booking service. There are numerous reasons for this. First, a individual property vacation rental listing by owner will severely limit you to the dates that you can take your vacation. Vacation rental properties in Hawaii run nearly 90% occupancy, so unless you know your travel dates six months to a year out the odds are high that their property won’t be available for the travel dates you thought of. Second, the owner is only concerned with reserving their own property so they’ll proclaim the virtues of their vacation rental and not mention any of the faults.

Secret Two: Make the right choice of booking service. Be sure it is locally owned and controlled. Websites like vrbo and findrentals (for instance) don’t have a clue about geography, weather, attractions, events and the other requirement information needed to give you the property that best fills your needs. For example, let’s say you want to whale watch but also want to vacation on Oahu. Your booking service should be able to tell you that you need to stay on the windward side of the island if you want to see the whales. Another tip-off of services to avoid are those that do automated, credit card bookings. Steer clear of these services as this implies they aren’t interested in talking to you, they just want your money. Be wary of sites that have more than 100 properties….there aren’t that many decent selections on Oahu, or any of the other Hawaiian islands, on the market. The more a service exceeds 100 properties, the greater the odds you’ll end up in an expensive, undesirable vacation lease. Here’s another great suggestion. If a reservation service states that they have hotels or condos available in Kailua, or will have them soon, choose another service. Since, by zoning law, Kailua does not allow hotels or condos, you should realize that once again, this is a service that desires your money, not your piece of mind. Always ask the reservation service person you are talking to where they are located. Someone based in Las Vegas or Los Angeles won’t have a hint about how to give you the best property for the vacation experience you have in mind.

With the measure vacation rental property terms being no refunds after you’ve paid your deposit, you absolutely want to make certain you make the right choice. A good booking service will ask you questions about what you want to do and see on your vacation and will actually try and talk you out of a property you had in mind if they don’t think it appropriate to what you had in mind. This is not an assay to upsell you, it’s more a matter of matching your vacation hopes and demands with the perfect choice of vacation rental venue. One vacation rental booking service that meets all these requirements is Pacific Islands Reservations. They are owned and operated by Ingrid Carvalho, who was born and raised in the islands, as were her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. She has been assisting visitors to Hawaii vacation rental needs since 1996. She currently represents ninety vacation rentals on Oahu and another 90 vacation rentals on Maui, Kauai and the Big Island. She has actually been to each and every property she represents–she even took most of the photographs of the vacation rentals you see on her web sites. She doesn’t take credit cards but she’s happy to spend time talking with you to make sure you get the right property to maximize the value and enjoyment of your vacation.