Short Term Vacation Rental - Hawaii

[Yong Choi]

I have a short term rental condo in Maui and I was recently doing the financial analysis for the property for tax purposes. When I asked the property management company for the financial statements, I found that there was a “Reservation Fee” that the property management company in the amount of $50 per stay. I wasn’t aware of this reservation fee and I felt that it was unethical to charge the client this amount without my knowledge and more importantly, I feel that I should also be entitled to this fee in some fashion. I checked my contract agreement and I did not find any mention of this reservation fee. I was even thinking of going to a lawyer to review the situation to see if there are grounds for financial claims. I know they are doing this for all of the units they manage 500+ units so I even went as far as to imagine this being a class-action law suit against this company. Does anyone have experience or thoughts on this?