Caught in the cross-hairs of both the legislature and the hotel lobby. Are you still inclined to choose Hawaii vacation rentals over hotels?
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67 thoughts on “Hawaii Vacation Rentals Struggle Amid Policy Turmoil, Demand Slides”
Caught in the cross-hairs of both the legislature and the hotel lobby. Are you still inclined to choose Hawaii vacation rentals over hotels?
I prefer to use a short term rental over a hotel for longer stays for many reasons. I find it interesting that one of the main reasons to push hotels over STR is ownership is likely out state residents. However how many hotels are owned by local residents or companies. Most are owned bt out of state and country cooperations are they not.
Unfortunately this change will further decrease visitors, people who can afford will purchase their own place.
There should be a middle ground in here .
Touché
Having only big hotels that take money out of Hawai’i is not a good answer. The small amount of vacation rentals support the community and allow for families to travel. We need the government to support Hawaii, instead of taking the money to big business and out of the state.
Why not shut down just one or two municipal golf courses and and build hundreds of affordable homes? The tax base should remain the same. Oh, wait, that would be shutting down instead of personal resources.
I believe this is unconstitutional that the government tries to tell the people what they can and cannot do with their property.
Ty to open a brothel or a bar in your home. See how it goes.
Seems to me these efforts to limit or eliminate short term rentals are just another step in reducing attractiveness of Hawaii for visitors.
Of course the hotel industry wants the short term rentals out, less competition for them. Everyone has a right to compete! The majority of short term rentals are condos and are perfect for short term rentals. There is No way a homeless person could afford a nice condo, lol! Let people try to make a decent living -let them rent!!
Tourism is already down. Like it or not this is a money maker for Hawaii and for locals and all who live here and depend upon the tourists to survive. Not thrive; just survive. Then you consider taking away the only reasonable accommodations in the form of stvrs, airbnbs and take away our right to choose with only hotels / motels as our only options? This is a dagger to the heart for all of Hawaii if this becomes a reality.
Over the years all the owners whose apartments I have rented depend on the income. And with no hotels on the Windward coast there is no alternative. Does the governor really think these owners whose apartments are part of their home are really going to rent to the homeless? Those who are homeless couldn’t afford to rent these apartments. I spent my entire career helping people like HI’s homeless and empathize with them but this isn’t the solution.
Yet somehow the economy survived for decades before the introduction of Airbnb STRs etc. How in the world did they do it.
The economy survived by the presence of vacation rental companies, which have been renting out thousands of short-term rentals since the 1950s. Airbnb, etc. just makes it easier to reach a larger audience, and for owners to rent out their vacation homes themselves, as long as they have an on-island manager.
Short-term rentals have been a massive part of the Hawaiian economy and tax revenues for 70 years.
It appears the Hawaiin Govener, wants to pick on the little people.
Short term rental only equal 5%.
How about this governing party of Hawaii look at this.
The celebrities who own thousands of acres and visit rarely not be allowed to own so much acreage.
Oprah for example owns 870 acres. That is pure greed. That would leave 860 acres for housing for Hawaiin residents.
That is whole heck of a lot of houses for families.
At quarter acre each for a house that is 3,440 houses that could be built.
And that is just one example on one celebrity that grossly owns land in Hawaii.
Leave the measly 5%
people alone that have short term housing rentals.
Getting land on which to build is not the problem.
Getting approvals and the government’s refusal to subsidize the building of affordable housing is the problem.
Mayor Bissen and Governor Green just announced last week for those Lahaina and Kula residents who have land that has been cleared and utilities re-established, there will be an expedited approval process, bypassing the layers you mentioned. For those unable to build right away, Maui is constructing a Kau Hale type series of structures with utilities for temporary use. When life eventually returns to somewhat normal, these Olowalu-located structures will be Kau Hale (homeless) for the west side.
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Write this to the governor and your state legislators!
Speaking in hypotheticals. If Oprah were to allow the building of 3440 houses on her property… who is to stop those houses being sold to out of state investors who in turn convert them to STR’s? Hmmmm. Could it be regulations?
You would conclude that the state laws that are being proposed are about curbing “Short Term Rentals”. The authors do this, because they know that using the dreaded word ‘STR’ riles up the locals.
The proposal to change the county’s authority is Not about STRs, it is about making 30+ day rentals that have been legal for decades, illegal. The county of Honolulu wants to make residential units only available for rent for greater than 180 days. STRs are defined for the State of Hawaii as rentals for less than 30 days.
Another point: if the rental rate for 30+ day rentals has fallen, then one wonders if non-vacation long term rentals have magically increased? Has it worked to increase rentals?
I had decided I would not be able to buy a condo and retire on the beach in Maui, but if Governor Green keeps at it, the bottom will drop out of the condo market enough for me to afford a really nice oceanfront unit. The question then would be, “how long is this going to stay really nice when it isn’t supported by short-term rental income?” The hotels might want to think about that as well before they destroy the condo rental market. Who is going to pay $1000/night at the Westin when there are run down residential towers on both sides of it?
I have commented on this before. I’m a 77 year-old woman with multiple disabilities. I have 2 young grandchildren living on Oahu in Kailua 1 is age 4 the other is age 7. I am currently in a rental in Kailua at the cost of a 30 day stay. Given the cost of this trip to see my grandchildren, over $10,000 I doubt I will ever in my lifetime be able to return to see them. Hawaii as a state, Honolulu, as a city & county, & the city of Kailua continue to restrict short term rentals.I am angry and frustrated and wonder if I will ever see these children again! Legislators should take this into consideration! I am sure I am not alone in this position