Planned regulatory measures are affecting both the availability and attractiveness of Hawaii vacation rentals. We tell you how things are changing in today’s update.
Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel News » Hawaii Vacation Rentals Struggle: April Occupancy Declines, Prices Approach Hotel Stratosphere
Will this eventually be “assigned ‘ to follow the money? The powers that be should be exposed and held accountable. Follow the rules for thee and not for me is the law of the day. Corruption at its finest and most people will not care as they will continue to re-elect the same corrupt politicians time and time again. Ignorance must be bliss.
Hotels in Hawaii contribute to the community -Hotels in Hawaii sponsor community events like access surf for people with disabilities,in Waikiki. The Kauai Marriot//Royal Sonesta maintains Kalapaki Beach. Many hotels in Waikiki have kitchenettes.Hotels have beautiful lobbies that the public can relax in,and restaurants,bars for everyone. Employment at a hotel offers medical benefits,paid vacation,401 k for employees-I think hotels are better for Hawaii than short term rentals
STR pays high taxes. Pays property managers. Uses local laundry and cleaning services. So this theory doesn’t hold water. Close the STR and all those locals are out of work. Who is paying attention to the number of hotel rooms being added by Hilton and Marriott? They add to this false news!
Hotels pay terribly. I know several cleaners on Maui who no longer work for hotels, and that’s one of the reasons why. It was a no-brainer for them to switch to cleaning homes, and especially STR condos. Several multiples more money.
They also told me the work was brutal. They had 25 minutes to clean each room, and often had to skimp on cleanliness in order to meet this deadline. If they didn’t clean X number of rooms in X hours, they were reprimanded and/or fired.
Hotels run a real sweat-shop when it comes to the cleaners. Not sure about the other positions.
Family with all children would be better served with a VRBO than a hotel lobby. Who would want to listen to a bunch of young children screaming and hollering for ten to twelve a day when they could be at a VRBO blowing off all their pent up energy, unless you want to restrict Hawaii to adults only. The small business will benefit more and the chain stores will still enjoy higher profits with more people vacationing in Hawaii.
Precisely why STRs can be an issue in residential areas. People who live near these vacation rentals shouldn’t have to deal with the constant noise of vacationers or children with pent up energy. Especially when they’re on a different time zone. A hotel would be more appropriate.
Sandy, I feel like you need to catch up.
The vast majority of STRs on Maui are not in neighborhoods. They are in resort areas. Not an SFR anywhere around them.
You keep mentioning how “hotels are better”. Why are you so pro-hotel? They are just another type of STR, with the difference that revenue from them is not fed back into the island. Plus they are not suitable for families or groups traveling together.
Both STRs and hotels are relevant and appropriate for different types of visitors.
Your statement regarding hotels “revenue from them is not fed back into the island. Plus they are not suitable for families or groups traveling together” is just more disinformation. Outrigger, one of the biggest hotel operators in the islands, is Hawaii-based. Plus, the taxes, wages and contractor money all stays in and benefits the islands. As to families and groups, hotels are ideal. People can choose from multiple bedrooms to adjoining rooms in hotels.
Hotels aren’t the enemy, and bashing them does no good for the STRs existing under waiver. Stop focusing on hotels and focus on restoring the economy.
So I see you give us one example of One place that is Hawaii-owned (I think there may be 3 or 4, out of dozens). The significant majority of hotels on Maui are owned off-island. That is not “disinformation”.
As to your second point, yes, families traveling together can stay at the hotels by getting adjoining rooms….if they can afford it. Just 2 rooms in most of the hotels on Maui would run 1100-1400 per night, at a minimum. I should have said “affordable” instead of “suitable”. Anything can be made “suitable” with enough $$.
Of course, you already know all of this.
Aloha BOH Bro’s
As I write this I am relaxing on Wailea Beach our final day. Here’s what I’ve observed.
The resorts are not crowded plenty of pool side seating available all day. Largely young adult crowd 30 to 40’s. Fewer kids than we usually see.
Spoke to vendors all saying that volume of shoppers down, but do to no Lahaina overall sales are up in Wailea and Kihei.
Even for Mama’s there’s a lot of last minute restaurant reservations available. We went to Mama’s early on Tuesday restaurant was not overwhelmed, plus many seats available at bar.
Been an excellent trip no negative vibes from anyone looking forward to our BI trip in October.
I have been coming to Maui for the last 15 years since I purchased a deeded timeshare condo on the beach. The last couple of years, my resort has changed my reserved room without notice to a lesser quality room. Trading in to my resort has always been easy until recently. Now I am wondering if the resort is changing priorities to have the best rooms available to rent at market rate rather than post to trade or serve their owners?
I love the islands however with the price increases taxes on accommodations and in daily event frees they have just priced us it of the market. We will simplify not pa $350 to $500 plus taxes and fee to have solace to sleep every night!
In response to will my next trip to Hawaii be in a rental or a hotel?
I would never stay in a one room hotel!! I will rent a house or a condo-
but not in Hawaii !! There are plenty of other choices besides Hawaii.
We have been coming to Maui since 2005. Since retirement we would stay 2 months. It just sounds like our money is no longer wanted.
Sorry !!!
What does Maui expect, visitors are not sure what is happening in Maui and now the word is out that the government is trying to eliminate vacation rentals other than hotels…it’s been a mixed bag of messages since the fire and frankly people aren’t looking for difficulties when vacationing.
Totally agree! Very off putting and will bite them back.
To answer your question of hotel vs STVR: Vacation rental wins every time. Don’t get us wrong – hotels have the location, location, location (often right on a beach) and hotels have amenities. But the STVR has hotel prices beat every time. If you are paying more at at STVR, you are not doing your homework. The right STVR may not be the perfect location, but there are trade-offs (your aforementioned parking, full kitchens, etc). As for travel being down, it’s everywhere. We have STVR in a mainland resort town, and bookings are down. We believe the post-pandemic vacation rush is over. What we have now might be more realistic going forward.
People go on vacation to relax and get away from stress. Being lectured about how to come to Maui (respectfully), not come at all, or there’s a crisis calling for the mass phasing out of non-hotel VRs, is turning away even long-time visitors. Meanwhile, other tropical venues and Europe are welcoming. The goose that lays the golden eggs of Maui’s economy is on life support.
Rather than help the fire-displaced, the pandering by Green and Bissen will hurt in multiple ways. The immediate effects- lost tourist dollars affecting service workers and local businesses. Longer-term, the hits to the economy will affect public services, schools and infrastructure as tax revenue shrinks and litigation costs balloon. Foolishness!
The average daily rate for vacation rentals is $312? And the ADR for hotels is $368? The average vacation rentals sleeps 4 to 6 people in a 2 bedroom 1000 square foot unit, including a kitchen, dining area, and free parking. The average hotel room sleeps 2 to 4 people in a 400 square foot studio with No kitchen, No dining area, paid parking, and plenty of hidden resort charges.
And more of the tourist dollars stay in Hawaii when visitors stay at vacation rentals, especially those owned and operated by kama’aina. It’s a no-brainer, Mufi. Get out of the pockets of the hotel industry and look out for tourists, tourism, and vacation rental, especially those owned by local residents.
To all those touting STVRs, the condo/timeshare hotels also have kitchens. In addition they have views, multiple bedrooms, and amenities like swimming pools, grocery, concierge, and restaurants. Plus they have full time staff to address needs. It just depends what the visitor wants,
Right, Larry, if they want to spend 2K a night for those luxury, full-service hotel suites, that’s certainly their prerogative.
There is a market for both those and privately-owned STRs, with the associated price points for each.
I don’t know where you are getting $2000/night. More like $750 for two bedroom units.. One bedrooms more like $350 to $500/night.
$750 for 2-bedroom hotel suites with full kitchens?
On Maui??
I hope that others read your prices. It might inspire them to look for themselves for 2-bedroom hotel suites on Maui, and they will see how crazily off-base you are.
Larry, It’s pretty obvious that you’re parroting the hotel corporation’s narrative. The anti-tourism folks that want to keep visitors out of Hawaii are all talking off the same script.
How do you find these condo/timeshare rentals. Is there a website?
As the dollar loses strength and people better come to realize the beauty which is Hawaii as opposed to other destinations, tourism will ramp back up, especially if vacation rentals are not outlawed and Mufi’s hotel buddies not allowed to monopolize the trade. We may even see the return of some of those who are swearing “Hawaii? Never again…” when they realize what they left behind.
Hawaii tourism is taking a hit, in a great part due to the outrageous 18% total taxes charged for all TVRs, and because of a strong dollar, which can buy alternative out-of-country accommodations for less than Hawaii. Not to mention the evaporation of aloha for visitors. Wake up, Hawaii. Tourism is our lifeblood, not window dressing.
That said, when more and more tourists realize the huge per-person savings achieved by staying in a vacation rental as opposed to one of Mufi’s buddy hotels, that segment will become more and more popular. More space, more bedrooms, kitchen facilities, and free parking. It is a no-brainer for those in the know.
We were once a year visitors to Maui and could be described as the “Typical” STR user. We like the low rise condo where we can step outside in a minute and we’re close to the bbqs. I think you know who we are. We rent a car, shop at various grocery stores, enjoy food trucks and happy hours. This brings up the question: how are these businesses doing? Can you give us any indication?
We have a vacation rental booked for next spring and have our fingers crossed that the owner won’t be selling the unit or renting it long term. But either scenario would have our sympathy and understanding. For sure, though, we are looking forward to getting back Maui! A hotel does not work for a multiple week stay.
Will your next stay in Hawaii be a hotel or vacation rental? Neither. Hawaii is no longer on my vacation radar. And it is unfortunate because we were respectful, volunteering visitors. But no more…
I am an owner of an ocean front STR in Kailua-Kona. I am getting very tired of the constant negative news you publish regarding STRs in Hawaii. There can be a balance of positive and negative–unless of course you are aligned with the hotels. Hmmmm……
Aloha from the Big Island. We are vacationing here currently, staying at the Grand Naniolo for two nights and the Royal Kona for five nights. Both are great, but we are concerned. We’ve been to Oahu twice and Kauai once, finding much aloha always, but outside of the hotel, we are not finding it here in the Big Island, even though we are showing aloha. Has the Big Island had aloha in the past and lost it, or never had it? Does Oahu and Kauai still have it? I’m not being negative. Just love the islands and the people and are sad that as we leave today, it was not here. Mahalo in advance for your thoughts.
Of course STR’S are losing occupancy, everyone is afraid of being caught by surprise by the goverMental laws that might throw them out with nowhere to go. The reality is that will not happen, there’s a lot more involved. With 2nd and 3rd hand information, and scare tactics by some, potential tourists don’t want to get involved with Island Politics. The Hotels are experiencing a downturn for several reasons, most of which are of their own making, no one should shed a tear for them. Many have found other destinations just as beautiful, at a savings that is astonishing. Hawaii is suffering, the Politicians are whining, the coffers are emptying quickly. For a State that was in Desperate Financial Shape, when will the Bankruptcy Sale Begin?
In Maui, the main reason the rates are higher is because the government doubled the property tax rate and tripled the assessments since 2019, and the HOAs quadrupled the property insurance, plus some complexes are having huge 1-time assessments due to plumbing issues. Owners have had to raise rates to make up for the huge increase in their costs.
I heard a State congressman say in one of the 2919 meetings that the best way to curb vacation rentals is to tax them until it is no longer profitable.
“Taxation without representation”. It seems to me that this kind of discrimination towards one group of people should be illegal, but apparently either it’s not or legalities are being disregarded.
2025 Hawaii Travel Strategic Plan = shoot oneself in the foot