Today Green confirmed plans for reducing Hawaii vacation rentals, and increasing visitor fees.
Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel News » Governor Confirms Maui Rental Moratorium, New $25 Tourist Fee, + Increase In Accommodation Tax Possible
Today Green confirmed plans for reducing Hawaii vacation rentals, and increasing visitor fees.
Stating the obvoius hi cant compete with bora. Yet officals & some ppl think it can and charge a near untilimited fees and taxes. Thays not the way thi gs wkrk in tbe real world. Hi makes themajority of igs $ off masd mkt tourism, which is already taking a big hit with loss of ajapanese tourists. And hiking fees will at best just take $s away from hi bizs thus to at worse skipping comi g to hi. I can stay in an airbnb in ppt in peak season for less then .ost similar places chargez in hi. Top end resorts are iften end resorts cist mire then high end hitels on bira thkuv tbeyre below thier world class stds.
If they nedx to raise revs ming the volcanos for red hydrgon and bring back farming.
Hawaii would have plenty of money if they watched the crooked politicians a lot closer. Like most American politicians they are lining their pockets and accepting bribes. Committing unsavory acts that go against helping their own people. Then we the debt is too high they want to start price gouging the tourist. This is ridiculous, and people need to start being held accountable for the evils that they do. What will happen when tourist decided to Vacation elsewhere. If I have to spend the same amount to go to Hawai’I as Tahiti why would I stop in Hawaii??????
If it is true that 27% of short term rental owners own 20 or more properties, these are the owners who should be required to rent out a certain percentage long term. We own one short term rental, which we live in for 4 or months a year, so are in no position to rent it out long term. At one time we owned two. If we still did, I would be happy to rent one out on a long term basis.
I agree with you, Brenda. They should go after those owners who own multiple units and at least rent out one of those to someone who lost their home in the fire.
Spot on Brenda. We are (hopefully) staying in a Wailea VRBO condo March 1st-10th. The owners, like you occasionally use their property each and every year. When it comes to your concern about corporate ownership of rental properties as part of the solution nothing has been said. Makes me think that the corporate owners are in cahoots with government. IMO, property owners that stay in Hawaii once or twice a year should not be told how to manage the property they own.
We own a short term rental unit on the Big Island and offered it for long term rental but FEMA acknowledged that we were outside of the 40 mile range from Lahaina that they were accepting. The idea of punishing short term rental owners is interesting. Given the taxes and property management fees the rates charged don’t necessarily equate to make owners wealthy and in many cases don’t cover costs. On the other hand the hotels seem to charge huge rates which allows them to have relatively low occupancy and therefore they are unlikely to require full staffing. Just a few observations on the topic ….
I heard the same thing from some of the owners at the condo resort property where I work.
This Governor is delusional🥸. Without tourists what does Maui have. Nothing!! Pineapple and sugar is gone and now you want to kill the wake of the tourists that brings jobs and $ to the citizens.
This is totally wrong on all levels and is illegal and unconstitutional act by the Governor in all levels. This will surely cause lawsuits from Homeowners and in the end affect the short term industry in a very devastating way and affect travelers. Short term rentals are affordable and also provides and alternative and affordable way for families, couples and extended ohana to vacation in Hawaii. The only winners are the Hotels
The hotels will win until their ocean levels are right up to their lobby. Especially in Kaanapali where there will be no beach restoration, period! I honestly can see ahead in the future and it looks dismal for the Maui and sister islands.
This news is unbelievable. Last week, in the midst of trying to convert my unit to a long-term rental, I was told by a FEMA contactor that “the program was shut down an hour ago because FEMA got enough applications.” Either the governor is lying or FEMA was lying. My money is on the governor, given his history of incompetence.
This governor is going to kill the goose and ruin Hawaii’s economy. Accomodation taxes were just raised to possibly the highest in the nation. More and more fees,, only for tourists. Parking fees only for tourists. Sorry Hawaii, you elected an idiot.
I really wish you could post your notification of such from FEMA ontosocial media sites. It would stir up some question marks for us tourists who are up in the air about our upcoming reservations that keep getting cancelled.
Sandi, you are correct that a cancelation of an STR booking is a possibility and was one of my concerns if I had converted to an LTR. If the government had had its act together in September many more owners would have been willing to convert – fewer bookings to cancel, uncertain tourism environment. But no – the government was more interested in shoveling FEMA money to the hotels, leaving condos (with kitchens so people could feed themselves) empty. I had to move heaven and earth to provide housing for a displaced couple via an Airbnb voucher. And, to add insult to injury, the government took a cut by charging the transient tax and Airbnb took a cut by charging their booking fee. Disgusting.
I was considering renting to someone who lost their home in the fire, but FEMA wouldn’t allow us to meet them and we would have to go through the property managers they chose (none local), even though I am a Realtor and property manager myself. Many other concerns, so I rented my condo to one of the many other non-FEMA applicants I had and I am very happy with my choice.
After over a dozen trips to Hawaii (six islands) over the last 40 years, I guess we won’t be back. We are low-end tourists, although we try to patronize locally-owned hotels and restaurants and be respectful. It is increasingly apparent that we are not wanted any more.
Sounds like the governor is suggesting a form of socialism to fix a system of corruption and neglect of Hawaiian citizens and he wants tourists and condo owners to correct the situation!
Yes indeed. He is so afraid of offending the “Locals”, it is so obvious that even I could play this chess game and win.
It strikes me that every time I hear Josh Green talk about his Green fee or hiking TVR taxes to unheard of levels, that I never hear him acknowledge that there’s a limit to everything. Only recognition of the problem, nothing about fairness or of the significant damage to be done to the dominant revenue source of Hawaii. The real cause and effect of actions like these will eventually crash the economy of the state.
I guess I have some questions…..
The 3000 units that need to be converted to long term rentals….is this how many units burned to the ground? Did the units that burned have insurance? Maybe we could look at turning hotels into apartments? Oh wait, the powerful hotel lobby wants us to go after short term rentals I forgot? Do you really think the $68million collected in the “climate fee” will go towards anything affected by climate change? Or will it be eaten up by the bloated government? When pretty much every new development for housing is opposed by locals how can we build more for locals? I live on the Big Island and we collect millions and millions for “housing” but I don’t see much happening. Just sayin’
I don’t know how the Hawaiian people feel about green, but it sounds like a bunch of nonsense how are you going to increase rates and taxes across the board for visitors and locals, and calls it for beach preservation and fire breaks, that should have been being done regardless throughout the years, there’s always been fires over there, there’s no way a resident of Hawaii should not be able to afford to live there because of the new taxes and fees brought on, especially when these things should of been addressed long ago
I own short term rentals in Maui, and I agree that we owners need to step up. The problem is that I have reached out to the Governor, the Mayor, FEMA and FEMA contractors, and I have had no luck with anyone accepting my units to those in need. I am beyond frustrated because these governmental officials say all of these things, but don’t provide us owners with adequate resources to help. The only people that have been able to help are the local property management companies, but even they aren’t being provided with answers. In fact, my FEMA governmental contractor contact has gone completely silent, and I am being told FEMA is no longer accepting units! We want to help out the Island, but we need some guidance here…
It seems there is something else going on here that needs to be exposed. I’m sure the resorts won’t be required to give up anything to help Maui. I would bet they are backing Green’s proposal since it would help them by having less competition.
I agree. I didn’t like the FEMA representatives nor their program. I bought a condo that doesn’t allow short term rentals, but I did want to help locals displaced by the fire. However, not being able to meet them and having to deal with a management co. that I was not impressed with (chosen by FEMA), made me change my mind. I decided to rent my condo for less than what they “supposedly” offer, just to have peace of mind. I actually had multiple applications and I am happy with my choice.
While I understand the impact of the devastating Lahaina fires, why does Hawaii raise taxes? It feel like a money grab. Many, many donations were collected by a plethora of organizations. Where’s that money? How about insurance claims? Hawaii may be pricing itself out of the vacation market for most families. Sad.
Well you’re right, except that it already has priced itself out of the market for regular families.
I dont mind paying a green fee. But one would hope one could see this money spent to make the island of Maui a safer place to live. They have not done anything for all the millions of dollars earned on the island. To have a fire devastation is a no excuse situation and now even the Greene states he is learning…This should not be a learn on the job type of situation. You will NEVER have enough housing for the “locals’. People are afraid to mention the word “Birth Control” And The Many Homes With All Their children now is huge. Taking STR away from the owners is a poor act of politics. Yes those that lost there homes due to fires need help.they should behelped by ome owners insurance. Its on them if they are uninsured!
I find the proposed climate impact fee of $25 very reasonable, especially if it gets invested for beach preservation, fire breaks etc.
It won’t.
“we will have a two-tiered society. We will continue to have too little housing for working families, firefighters, nurses, and all the people that we know. And we’ll gradually drift to a society that doesn’t have services and can’t keep local people here. I’m learning things in this job.”
Sorry, gov, that horse has already left the barn.
No kidding that it already left the barn. Decades ago. I have a 2nd cousin who spent 20 years on the Honolulu PD. He couldn’t afford to support his family on what they paid. Gave up 20 years seniority and moved to the state of Washington. New officer, no seniority for a pay raise and lower cost of living. He retired from that city a few years ago. I don’t know how people afford to live in Hawaii today.
All of this reinforces my resistance to visiting Hawaii. There are many more tourist friendly places in the world that I want to see. So Hawaii will not be one of them with all the increased prices, and the current high prices to visit the Hawaiian Islands.
So owners will suffer due to the lack of insurance these people had,
Many of these units have HOA’s in the thousands, People in places like Sedona have found work arounds for those 30 day min stays