the right factors for renovating

[Jon Gom]

Aloha from Hawaii.

So I currently live in oahu and own a condo that I want to start vacation renting.  So I'm trying to figure out what kind of factors play into determining how much money to put in for renovation.  

I'm brand new to this so I talked two investors who had different views on vacation Rentals.

 One says to always make your place comparable to units at the top of your market so you get good reviews and are always booked with good tenants.

the other said basically fix the bare minimum, no updates etc. and as long as you can get some kind of positive cash flow with your rate being Lower then the competition then reviews etc. Doesn't matter because when you are priced below the majority of the competition you will always have bookings.

So anyway my question for any vacation rentAL owners, especially in Hawaii, is what goes into deciding how much to fix your place up?  Do you want to pay the money up front to be getting top dollars or just bare bones at the bottom but still cash flowing and putting almost no extra money in.  Or is it a mix of the two?

I'm still a Newby and just wondering what others do in these situations.  Both people said they do well with their strategies, but I was at a condo party and they both didn't want to tell me their actual numbers.