Emergency On Island Contact Services

Aloha! 

For just half of 1 nights revenue a month, we're here for your guests in emergency situations when you're not.    Per Hawaii law, Act 204, part of the landlord tenant code says all  "off island" self managing owners/companies must designate a "Local On Island Contact" person for their guests.  Act 204 was created because many self managing owners from the main land were not available.  

We provide an inexpensive solution to this law and will respond when owner can't or are not available.  Typically service includes lock outs , late night guests having issues using the lock box, wifi issues, cable box issues, broken keys or broken items in the unit.

Maui On - Island Contacts not only solves this problem but potentially saves owners and mainland management companies thousands of dollars from negative reviews they'd otherwise receive had their issue not been addressed in a timely manner.   Plus, and more importantly, we provide your guests with the protection they expect and deserve.  

All this for less than half of just one nights revenue per month! 

To be clear, for this low monthly price, billed 6 months in advance, we are not here to be the self managing owners or companies rental assistant, we're here for the guests in emergency situations when they can't get a hold of the owner.  Hawaii considers considers this "consumer protection" for your guests when you can't be reached because you're not on island. 

Hawaii Act 204, Section 521-43(f) of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, (the Landlord Tenant Code) that as a consumer-protection measure, an owner who lives out of state or on a different island than the rental unit shall designate an agent who resides on the same island to act on the owner’s behalf.   "Designating a “local contact” is essential in the case of an emergency or natural disaster, and for dealing with any questions, concerns, or property issues that might arise when the off island owner isn't available.

Act 204 requires that operators of transient accommodations designate an on-island local contact (us) and display the local contact’s name, telephone number and email address inside the unit; and pro­vide the local contact information either in online advertisements, or to the guest upon check-in.  

Act 204 also requires that the TAT license number used to report the transient accommodation revenue be dis­ played both inside the unit itself and in all online advertisements, either directly in the advertisement or by a link.  (This info will be on your display sign as well)

Fines for non compliance:

$      500/day (1st infraction)

$  1,000/day (2nd infraction)

$  5,000/day (3rd infraction)

The penalty for failure to display the local contact information is a fine of $500 per day for first violations; $1,000 per day for a second violation; and $5,000 per day for third and subsequent violations.

Agent also can be fined! 

Anyone you list as your agent can be held liable for these same penalties!!!  (Act 204, sect 237D-4).  This includes your friends, neighbors or your cleaners who agree to be your local contact!

Maui On-Island Contacts is a subsidiary of Maui Sea Breeze Vacation Rentals.  You could designate your housekeeper, friends or a neighbors, to be your local on island contact but the difference is we’re here for the long haul!   No need to keep switching or updating your documents every time you lose your cleaner or a neighbor changes her mind about being responsible for taking your guests phone calls.   We are an actual full service vacation rental company with a Hawaii condo hotel operator’s license (CHO # 292) from the State of Hawaii and we’re insured with a 3 million dollar license through State Farm.   Is your cleaner or neighbor insured?   Are they willing to be available 24 hours a day 7 days a week?   

1. 24 hours a day contact for your guests when they can't get a hold of you.
2. A small discreet display sign with owners contact and tax id numbers as well as our On-Island Local Contact information (Required by law)
3. 20 page emergency  "grab n go" booklet with evacuation maps.
4. Photos of the unit's remote controls, internet routers for passwords, appliances for our documentation so we can direct guests to areas in the unit which might help them.   Electrical panel locations, gas shut off locations and labels of all appliance types.  Sometimes fuses blow and we have them check or we look up the oven type to pull up the pdf instructions for guests who don't know how to use such appliances.  Saves us a trip to the unit and we can help the guests quickly. 
5. Full walk through video of unit and items.  We use this to refer to in case the guests call.  
6. Permission to use of our company name Maui On-Island Contacts in your rental agreements so your guests know they have someone to call in case your not answering.

To be clear, for the low $ 119/monthly fee, we only provide  “emergency on island contact service” for your guests if they can’t get a hold of the self managing owner.    We are only here if they can't get a hold of you and we will act on your behalf just like the law requires.   We are NOT the owners property managing assistant  to help manage your unit.    We can give you advice, local contractor contacts or possibly help you in an emergency situation but we reserve the right to decline your requests and we won't be responsible for guests or owners issues.    We will of course help you if we can but this is not specifically included in this service.    We make the majority of our income by managing other units full time for a 25% rental commission and those owners are our priority.    If we have extra time to help you we will but we charge $ 75/hour for our time with a 1 hour minimum. 

For the $ 119/monthly price, we only provide the documentation required by law and we'll allow 4 phone calls a month from your guests.    If your guests call about a rental issue, we'll refer them back to you first to handle and advise them that we do not have any rental information nor can we approve any early or late check outs.  If there are cleaning issues, they should be instructed to call you or  your cleaners.   We will not manage guests, cleaners,, money, contractors  or reservations .   We’re here for your guests in case of emergencies only and when they can't get a hold of you and we will be available to them as per the law.   

 Emergency issue that often come up that we do handle (and are included in this price) are lock outs, entry key or actual keys not working, trying to stop or identifying water leaks in the unit or power outages.   We'll respond as fast as we can to help the guests and call you right away and make phone calls on your behalf if you are not available.   If you'd like us to make plumbing calls, locksmiths calls or call an electrician, we'll need a deposit or credit card on file to pay these invoices.   We've had to call lock smiths at 10pm and the guest and we couldn't t get a hold of the owner so we ended up calling a lock smith and paid the invoice (they won't come unless you pay).   The following day, we notified the owner but the owner wasn't happy about the bill and we ended up getting stuck with the bill and losing a client.  

Handyman services may be available for $ 75/hour.   Depends if our guy is busy with our units and the type of work requested.   Plus, we have to think about the possibility of losing a client because the owner had an issue with the handyman.  Sometimes we're better off just sending you the contacts of handyman.  

This ONE TIME $75 set-up fee pays for the clear plastic stand up display sign, the color printing of your specific sign, the delivery of the sign to the unit, the "grab and go" 20 page emergency document, pictures of the unit and video.   Prior to printing the display sign we'll send you proof of the information to be printed for your review.

Yes.  This is what we do for a living!  We actually operate Maui Sea Breeze Vacation Rentals and have an office in Lahaina.  We’ve been in business since 2007 and manage several units in Maui and understand the rental business very well.   We received a lot of requests from self-managing owners about listing us as their local contacts so we decided to start a separate company just for this need.  We already have an office, staff and we’re on the phones dealing with guests all day already so it’s a perfect fit for us.  If you’re interested in our full service, let us know and we’ll show you our program.  

Once you’ve made the decision to use our service we’ll follow up with a phone call to introduce ourselves, confirm your order and discus your property and which plan is best for you.   We'll send you an email with our 3 page owner/property/unit questionnaire which we’ll need back right away so that we can create the in unit registration certificate to be displayed in your unit.    During this first interview, we typically like to set up an on site property appointment (optional) to see the property, take photos and a video for our records and deliver your emergency booklet and registration display certificate.   This appointment is of course optional and we can mail your documents to the unit instead.   But, the reality is, the more information we have about your unit and your team, the better we can serve your guests and handle your guest’s problems without getting you involved.   We like to physically see where the fuse box, hot water heater and the water shut off valves are located.

We can enter this information directly into our database over the phone or you can fill out or owners 

unit/property questionnaire and send it back to us. 

Information we'll need....

• Owners full name, address and contact information.
• Owners Hawaii State TAT and GET tax identification numbers
• Property Name
• Property Unit Number
• Onsite property manager and phone
• Front Desk contact and phone
•  AOAO Company and phone
• Realtor name and phone
• Property VRBO or Airbnb links
• Check in and out times
• Check out procedures
• Parking location, permit or space
• Unit access codes
• A few copies of front door keys
• Emergency back up lock box or key location

-

Location of critical items such as 

• Owners closet / access code or key
• Wifi network name/passwords
• Water heater location
• Thermostat location
• Gas shut off location

-

Housekeeper name and phone

• Handyman name and phone
• Property Association name and phone
• Property manager name and phone