Maui Paradise Properties LLC — Local services in Maui

I honestly debated for a long time about whether or not I would write this review. Our place is great and everything turned out okay, but it’s just been a frustrating journey to get here and I’m disappointed with the poor communication. I guess if I had to title this review, that’s what I’d call it - “poor communication.”

The issue began in March when I received a notification from MPP through Booking.com, where I booked the rental through back in February, that my payment method was unable to be charged and that I needed to contact them immediately or my reservation would be canceled. Not wanting to lose the reservation I called and emailed right away. MPP was able to manually run my card since it seemed that Booking was having trouble running the payment. This was very helpful and I was grateful for the quick service and solution to the problem. (3/23/21)

Unfortunately, I noticed just two days later (3/25/21) that Booking had figured it out and ended up running my card again. Now, none of this is MPP’s fault and I could tell from the CC statement that it was run by a separate payment platform and not MPP’s fault. When I reached out to them, they were quick to respond with concern and said they’d look into it. Up to this point I would say “no complaints.”

It took from that date (3/25) until 4/21/21 for them to refund me the over $1,600 double payment and at least 7 emails and several phone calls before it was completed - all of which were friendly, patiently worded, and understanding. I know that this season has been incredibly busy and hectic for everyone involved in the reopening of tourism in HI so I wanted to have lots of grace.

My frustration came when there were weeks in between communication and rather than letting me know where I was in the process, they would only respond to me after I checked in again, and again. All I was looking for was some basic communication. (As a small side note, I ended up paying interest on the double charge because of how long it took to resolve - it rolled over into a new billing cycle on my card, which I pay in full monthly normally.)

Jump to current day (May ‘21). We arrived at our unit yesterday after the 4pm check-in time on the 9th floor with our sleepy 9 month old and lots of luggage after a 12 hour day of airports and driving. It had not been cleaned after the guest before and was very messy. Once again, I know that the cleaners must be very overwhelmed right now and that the team must be too so my first words were literally, “ah dang, oh well. I’ll give em a quick call.” I called and left a brief and calm voicemail but also texted their guest service line with my name, rental number and the fact that the room was not cleaned yet and messy.

The response was,

“Yes. Sorry about that Housekeeping is on the way.”

It seems they knew they were behind schedule. That may be an assumption but based on the wording, I’d say a likely one. I’m a very patient and understanding person and if MPP had simply called or texted me to let me know they were a couple of hours behind schedule I wouldn’t have even thought twice about it.

We ran into the housekeeping team on our way downstairs and smiled and told them, “no worries! How long should we give you? Thanked them and said we’d be back in a couple hours.

While we were waiting, a guest service representative called me and apologized very genuinely. I was pleased, said no worries and I know they’re swamped. Then she promised me that management would be reaching out to me today to compensate me for the issue. I thanked her again and felt even more pleased. I never once, in the entirety of my experience, asked for any special treatment or compensation - just clear communication - so I was happy to hear that.

But… today… I have yet to hear from them again.

So, “Poor Communication” has been my experience.

1. Billing Issue: being left in the loop was all I needed

2. Late Cleaning: a head’s up would have been more than perfect

3. No Promised Call: a continuation of the trend and honestly the reason I’m...

This is honestly the worst experience I’ve had with a booking. There was an issue with the listing for our rental, which we were not made aware of until after we arrived. The team was extremely responsive when we first called to discuss their incorrect listing, but after we followed their instructions and made alternative arrangements the property managers refused to call us back. We called or texted their service line (as instructed when you call their line) almost every day for 2 weeks. They either didn’t answer, or when they did answer they said the person who could help us was not there but they would leave a note. Multiple “notes” were left and we not once received a callback to these notes. There are so many beautiful properties around the area, and I’m sure they have customer service too. I would highly recommend booking anywhere else.

Edit: To expand on the below: I booked a pet friendly rental through Booking.com with Maui Paradise Properties. I have a screenshot and recording confirming this booking is listed as pet-friendly. A week after arriving, I was told that the property was not pet friendly, and that there had been an error with their listing. I was also told "I am willing to refund you the remaining money if you can find a pet friendly condo" (I have this in writing as well). Not wanting to cause trouble, I kicked my search into turbo and immediately starting looking for alternatives. Stressed and trying my best to accommodate their request, I ended up committing to the first place I saw. After applying for the property, 2 days later I received a call back from Maui Paradise Properties saying I was allowed to stay in the unit, and at that time I informed them that I had found an alternative. I was told that I would need to call Booking.com to help them sort this out as well because otherwise Maui Paradise Properties could be out a lot of money. Since they had been so kind and responsive at the beginning of this, I wanted to help and contacted Booking.com. Booking.com confirmed they would refund the money, they just needed to confirm with Maui Paradise Properties. To my surprise, Maui Paradise Properties then denied the change and refused to call me back. This was not "explained again and again" because (as my phone records show) they did not call me back after I worked with Booking.com to get this sorted for the both of us. The only thing I was told when calling was that "They would leave a note" for the Director of Reservations since she was the only person who could help make the change. In fact, on the last call where an agent actually answered, they said "Oh she hasn't called you back yet?" he left another note, and told me I should expect to hear back in a few hours, which I did not. All of this could have been avoided had there been any sort of communication about this issue. It's unfortunate that this experience has been so negative, despite repeated efforts to work this out peacefully and privately. All I wanted was to work together to do the right thing...

BEWARE BEFORE YOU BOOK. My husband and I have been visiting Maui and staying at the Mahana for the past 17 years. We have had the pleasure of staying in Mahana #1106 on multiple occasions, most recently in October 2021. The unit is as lovely as described in other reviews. In fact, we like it so much that in January of 2022 we again booked Mahana #1106 on VRBO for travel in March of 2023 to celebrate a special occasion. In June, we received an email from Maui Paradise Properties advising that they were the new property management company for Mahana #1106. The email stated that they would be honoring our original booking and would be working with the prior property management company on the backside, presumably to provide for a seamless transition. Four months later, however, after we had already purchased our airline tickets and booked our car rental, we received another email from Maui Paradise Properties advising that they would NOT be honoring our original reservation after all. Rather, they advised that, “per the contract with the owner”, if we wanted to keep our reservation we would need to pay a new, much higher rate. Otherwise, they would cancel our booking and refund our deposit. Because we felt it was completely inappropriate to have to pay more money for a reservation we had already made months prior, the booking was canceled and we began scrambling to find another available unit - one not managed by Maui Paradise Properties. I don’t know if it was the owner or Maui Paradise Properties or both who made the decision not to honor our booking. Regardless, to advise a guest 10 months after booking their reservation that it will be canceled unless we agree to pay a significantly higher rate is not only terrible customer service, it is unethical and may also be illegal. The fact that the owner changed property management companies months after we had booked the unit should have had no impact on our existing reservation. I strongly recommend you think twice before booking Mahana #1106 because the rate you’re provided at the time of booking may be changed on you later, leaving you in the lurch if you don’t agree to pay a lot more money. I also urge you to do your research on Maui Paradise Properties before booking ANY property that has them as their property management company (reviews on Google and the Better Business Bureau website are good...