About Me

My name is Tom Lewis and the first thing you should know about me is that I Love Hawaii. Perhaps this will put it in perspective. My dogs are name MAUI and KONA; we have a rabbit named LU (as in Honolulu). We have a turtle name Honu (Hawaiian for Turtle); and we have a cat named Kai as in Molokai. Our license plates read "WE ALOHA" and "I ALOHA 2". All this while living in Cincinnati, OH. My first trip to Maui was in 1976 and I have been over 30 times since. Most trips we arrange to visit two islands. I like them all and I suppose Maui is my favorite.

My relationship with Westin goes back to 1989 when I stayed at the Kauai Lagoons, a Westin - which was the most incredible hotel on the planet until hurricane Iniki did its thing (it is now a Marriott). I stay at Westin on business and have been a Platinum level member since 1991 - even before Starwood brought Westin and Sheraton together. In 2001, I was staying at the Westin Maui Hotel & Spa (not the condo) and I convinced my wife to let me listen to the spiel about the new condo they were about to build. No small feat to get her to listen - as that is a requirement - which I thinks stinks (and is my only complaint about the entire brand!).

We decided to purchase a two bedroom lockoff - ocean view. We stayed in St. John the first year because the maui resort was not built yet and stayed in Maui the following year. We love the Starwood Vacation Ownership program and love this resort. In 2004, I bought a second unit and didn't look back. I now own over 16 units. For the most part I use one week a year and re-rent the rest. I want to retire in Hawaii but believe I will be relegated to a few weeks a year and this condo is where I hope to spend much of that time.

I plan to keep adding units over the years. In the process of renting the units each year, I discovered that there was actually quite a lot of demand (2009 not withstanding) and since I owned so many, I could mix and match dates for people and was willing to work through the reservation process. Then some existing owners contacted me and we resolved to work together- sort of as a consortium. So today, In addition to selling my own weeks, I can offer even more flexibility and availability by working with a select group of other owners to get just the weeks people want.

When people rent from me, they tend to come in two varieties. Those that are completely comfortable with the process and have a little bit of blind faith. And those that ask 1000 questions and want to know all the details. I get enough questions from the later, that I decided to write it all down in hopes of providing more assurance that the rental process is actually very straightforward and legitimate. I also figured that by allowing my previous renters to submit their own comments and referrals, I would let those that have come before you help guide!

I hope all the information in this site proves useful, regardless of whether you rent from me or not.  Send me an email. I check my messages all the time.

Mahalo,

Tom.