Hawaii’s hotel industry faces a massive strike as thousands of workers prepare to walk out, potentially affecting key island hotels. Visitors should take steps to be prepared for possible service disruptions, with the likelihood of a strike increasing.
A&B, Maui land and Pine, Kam schools State of Hawaii, Campbell estate and others owned the land used for the plantations. When sugar and pineapples left they developed hotels/resorts to replace them. They decided not to provide more housing for their workers, and the new resort owners don’t understand what it takes to get housing on the open market today.
Great reason to go to Maui where jobs are needed and stay in a STR!!! Short term rentals are needed and no worry of strike in condos and homes.
More Drama in Hawaii. It shouldn’t be this difficult to spend thousands of dollars on a vacation.
Agree. Seems like it’s getting to the point that one really needs to work at it.
Seriously, some of these comments are elitist to be sure. Do you want to vacation in Hawaii? If so you need employees at hotels, STRS, restaurants, tourist establishments, airline employees, this is just a few professions for starters.
Hawaiians would need places to live and make a living wage to do that.
They need housing, so restrict some of the short term rentals, and please pay them a living wage.
It’s amazing to me how some people think restricting short-term rentals is going to somehow turn 2nd home owners into landlords who provide housing to locals. I don’t know one owner who is going to “convert to LTR” if this bill passes. They bought their homes to be able to stay in them part of the year, and being a long-term landlord was never going to be, nor will it ever be, part of the equation.
That’s what Mayor Bissen is getting completely wrong. There will be no “conversion to long-term rentals”. There will only be more vacant housing sitting around.
I’m not necessarily on board with the current plan to restrict STRs, but wouldn’t most STR hosts need to sell a property if they couldn’t earn money on it? And wouldn’t the sale of all of those STRs tend to drive down the housing prices for any locals currently wanting to buy but unable to afford?
Maybe I’m misreading the situation.
Yes, I think that you are misreading it, a bit.
The homes on the list are primarily owned by 2nd home owners, rather than speculative investors. They purchased their units so that they can spend time there, rather than as a money-making, cash-flowing venture. The numbers don’t work out cash-flow-wise as an investment; they’d be much smarter investing almost anywhere else if that were the objective.
For many of these home owners, renting their units out provides help with the considerable expenses, but is not really going to destroy them if they can’t do it. It will destroy countless others in the community, though, who rely on STRs to make their living.
As such, my prediction is that most will keep their units vacant should this bill pass and the lawsuits are somehow unable to thwart it (unlikely). Right now, there is a rush to sell, but that has more to do with feeling unwelcome and the general political climate, than it has to do with not being able to afford it.
Thank you for the clarification. That makes alot if sense.
That seems to be their intention. However, there are real costs involved. Locals still will not be able to afford to buy or rent even if property values drop. Locals without jobs will not qualify for either. Many STR owners have said that they will wait it out and not rent long term. Lawsuits will include loss of revenue and more.
Hawaii just keeps hurting themselves. All the negative verbage about the STR, and then what has been done/or hasn’t been done to help the people on Maui after the fires. The wrong people are in charge and they are running this beautiful place into the ground. They seem to forget that tourism is what feeds those islands and if they don’t start taking care of the tourist and stop creating a difficult experience they will lose them to other locations. Then they really will have some financial issues for the locals.
True! And not mentioning the greed of the Hotels. The government is distracting us by directing us away from blame and facts.
The financial issues you mention are already happening, and are about to get a lot worse. It will be interesting to see who gets voted in/out of office in November, with the pocketbooks of the voting residents getting hit with job loss, government service cuts, etc.
We need our tourists back by welcoming them with aloha and with no strings attached, and we need to provide them with affordable accommodations. That’s what we need to do to get us out of this downward spiral.
Thank you for the potential list of hotels that may be involved in the strike. You mention the Hilton Hawaiian Village – is this hotel the same as the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort? With several Hiltons I’m getting confused.
Most of these hotels are absolutely beautiful and in key locations (Turtle Bay).. a small increase in price to pay the workers will not harm the hotels. Remember these workers travel quite a distance to work at these hotels. STR’s are negatively impacting the island. You get visitors who buy the cheapest flight, pack into a STR and then over crowd our beaches and tourist locations.
How are STR’s all-of-a-sudden negatively impacting the island? STRs have been on Oahu for years before these hotels, and rentals under 30 days have been forbidden on most of Oahu for a very long time.
I’m noticing people repeating things they have read in the media about various places in the world, but these things shouldn’t be applied to Oahu. The history and current policies on Oahu are a different beast, and any STR concerns have already been addressed.
The reason the hotel staff is suffering is because of the negative messaging about coming to the islands, as well as the dollar being stronger elsewhere this year. When tourism is reduced, hotels have to reduce their staff, which makes more work for the remaining workers with no increase in pay.
Blame the hotels for hotel problems, not STRs.
Seems to me that if too many don’t come, don’t cram into an STR and don’t spend money, that’d be worse. Not sure what a “small” increase in pay means, but with hotel rooms expensive enough to drive a substantial STR market, it may be more than most would consider “small”. In California, unions here are looking for 9% increases, but settle for 1/3 of that over 4 years. But all of this adds up over time and is only going to kill the golden goose for those with limited budgets.
Mike. Your comment is offensive. We’ve owned and directly operated a Maui STR for 24 years. Our guests almost never fit your description. Many come to celebrate a once-in-a-lifetime event. Others return every few years to familiar surroundings. They literally always treat our second home as if it were their own.
Yeah Mike so according you tourists should buy the more expensive flights, and do you think that extra cost will trickle down to the residents, I’ll help you..no it won’t. You complain because tourists “cram” in to STR and then overcrowd the tourist spots…but it’s ok to cram those same spots if they are staying in a high end hotel, seriously?!? So would it be better if they don’t come at all and then Hawaii losses that potential revenue….you might want to remember what happened with COVID before you answer.
Man, can Hawaii do any more to themselves to make their lives worse? Come. Don’t come. We’ll take your rentals away. We’ll strike at the hotels. It’s legal, so threatening walkouts as an attempt to get more money, benefits and improved working conditions is an effective strategy. The downside is that people willing to drop $10k on a week in paradise do have limits on how much they’re willing to put up with.
This will make Hawaii more attractive. The only losers will be the workers and the guests. Brilliant.
Sorry but IMO after the Extra Mile Club debut’s this increase in wages won’t even make Hawaii more Affordable. The North Shore program HI-Tide will also make prices increase across the board for all locals. The rich will prevail and others will suffer. In the mainland not all US citizens can afford to live in Hollywood or the Hamptons near New York City. Most mainlanders only dream to be able to live and afford to reside in Hawaii. Paradise is never cheap. Pretty soon the islands will be only for celebrities and super rich business tourists. Everything will go up in price. Good Luck.
I don’t know. Can’t count all the strikes. Airline problems, Hurricane Hone and Gilma, Unwelcome fee’s, Outragous hotel resort prices, Denque Fever, and Restaurant food problems. Now hotel service workers walking off the job to strike. If this was baseball the three strikes you’re out surpassed way long ago. Thanks for the updates but not much positive, happy, information ever posted. Best affordable good restaurants like Dave’s Ice cream,Dole Whip, or North Shore Grill etc.
The increase in wages the workers receive will no doubt be passed on to the increase in rates that the hotels charge to the tourist. Just another reason to charge more and make Hawaii less affordable.
Let’s pay everyone the minimum wage, then the hotels will dramatically lower their daily room rates and then wealthy visitors will flock to Hawaii. Problem solved.
You’re forgetting one small detail…astronomical expenses. You can’t “dramatically lower room rates” and pay the expenses on these billion-dollar properties for very long.
I skipped planning any vacations to Hawaii this year. I am increasingly happy I did so.
Considering the cost of living in Hawaii, they are significantly underpaid. More of the profits should stay in Hawaii with the
hard working employees.
Mahalo, BOH, for recommending short-term rentals as an alternate accommodations choice.
STR owners are really suffering right now with low occupancy because of a perfect storm of conditions – bad messaging, the fires, the STR proposed bill, stronger dollar elsewhere, etc.
I’m sure owners appreciate visitors being steering to peaceful accommodations where there is no striking going on.
Yet another negative effect of Hawai’i state and counties governments suppression of competition among various options for tourist accommodations, e.g., between hotels and short term rentals. Supply of short term rentals, and other alternatives to giant hotels and resorts, is being actively suppressed by myriad regulations in local government, supposedly with good intent for locals. The all too obvious results of this market suppression are much higher prices for guest accommodations, fewer guest alternatives, and dissatisfaction among local workers in the tourism industry. Is it not a responsibility of Hawai’i Tourism Authority to moderate and solve this dilemma? Who exactly is happy with the current situation? Follow the money.
HHV aside, the rest are all Japanese owned in Waikiki, Marriott is a Managing Partner at best. This has been a long time coming, from Ige to Green, I’m done with our 50th State, since 1986, over 92 weeks spent on Oahu-Maui, another 5 on Kauai, it’s been done! The State Government doesn’t want Mainlanders. I enjoyed myself and all the Associates that I met over the years, but this is going to turn out badly, as Ige took the Tax $ from the other Counties, and the State Management is at fault.
Can you please suggest other Resorts or Hotels ? We are planning a visit next week and 2 of the hotels are mentioned. Many thanks Pat B
Condos in Kihei on Maui are still available. Most can be reserved quickly with a few clicks on the usual mega sites under “vacation rentals”. Some are even on or very close to great beaches. Some buildings have restaurants. Most are a short walk or Uber away. Ours has both.
If the hotels took care of their workers, there wouldn’t be a need to organize and strike. There are no unions needed in the condo business in Hawaii. We consider our service providers etc. as members of our family.
Bring your favorite chocolates to put on your pillow!!! 🙂
between the short term rental moratorium, hurricanes, price increases all around and now a strike at major hotels, more people are going to re think going to Hawaii. It’s sad. We just got back from a week on Maui and had a great time. Costs were clearly up for food, dining and booze but not as much as I expected. It was about $500 for food and alcohol for 4 adults for 6 breakfasts, and 5 dinners and Lots of cocktails in our timeshare. Lunches were appetizers or leftovers for those who ate lunch. We did buy appetizers and drinks at the pool one day for 130 plus tip-gulp! About 350 for dinner at Duke’s with a tip and 100 for breakfast at the Sea House with a trip. Trilogy Sunset sail with appetizers was so filling that it was a full meal (and a fantastic experience- highly recommend) We have storage with A Hui Hou for our beach chairs and umbrellas. We got great rates on Hawaiian Airlines for our trip so it was really a pretty reasonable price for the week. Hope others look for deals!
Was this the sail out of Maalaea? It says online Chief prepared appetizers and premium bar
Where did you hear that there is a short-term rental moratorium? There is no short-term rental moratorium on any of the islands.
It’s really sad the amount of misinformation being spread.
Pat G, that is simply false. It may not be called a moratorium, but that is the practical effect of the combination of zoning regulations, tax law changes, resident homeowner requirements to be nearby and accessible, appliance and building permits, etc. as well as requirements specific to Maui after the fire.
PatG, your statement is not true. Please look deeper.
Bud, saying I’m wrong twice doesn’t make it so.
“A moratorium is a temporary suspension of an activity or law until the underlying issue is resolved.”
I repeat: There is no moratorium in effect in Hawaii.
Please educate yourself about your government and what various pieces of legislation mean before you (repeatedly) challenge others.
Pat G. Moratorium is your word not mine. Your ad hominem is inappropriate. Conclusion wrong. I owned and hosted a STVR here for a few years, and converted to LTR. As I wrote, it’s not called a moratorium. But the effects on host/owners and visitors are the same. 18%+ tax to county on gross income, + state income tax, + fed income tax, + property tax rate doubled from homestead rate to commercial rate, + doubled rate is applied to market value of real estate rather than ~15% lower county-appraised value of the real estate, + owner loses the 3% max appreciation cap on appraised value, + owner loses prorated homestead exemption on STVR portion of property. + several indirect limitations that vary by property, such as cooking appliances, host required to be available to STVR visitors within a few hours, + zoning restrictions may apply. STVRs permitted in resort-zoned areas and specific apartment-zoned areas. They are not permitted in certain residential and agricultural zones.
Excellent post Bud. Great summary of the “Income Statement” impacts. I’d like to address the “Balance Sheet”. We have had a
(Fee simple) Maui STVR for many years but in a “Hotel” zoned building. Today, the sale price of these units can’t be justified by the normal fully-accounted analysis (which includes the cost of capital or internal rate of return). It only makes sense if the buyer assumes the future sale price of their purchase will appreciate at the same rate it’s been doing the past few years and can then be sold at a profit. Since the county decided to pursue their current approach, sale prices have stabilized but are no longer rapidly increasing for Hotel zoned properties. Everyone knows about the other activities the Governor and some local groups have been practicing as well so they aren’t worth repeating. We are waiting to see what happens to sale prices specifically in the “Hotel” zoned market.
I was responding to Michele, who referred to “the moratorium”. I stated there was no moratorium in effect at the moment. That’s all I said – nothing more, nothing less. You stated that that was “simply false”.
Not sure what the argument is anymore, or why your ad hominems are any less objectionable than my ad hominems. 🙂
I did enjoy your STR/LTR comparison monologue, although I didn’t understand the part about cooking appliances.🤔
Are you trying to say that you have come out somewhat better in terms of economics and lifestyle flexibility by renting out long-term? Is that your salient point? I have no argument to that, if that is your experience.
Good on our hotel workers! They all deserve a living wage and the hotel investors just pass along any increase right to their customers. Almost all hotel investors live out of state so that profit doesn’t benefit Hawaii at all.
Agreed all workers deserve A living wage. I didn’t know how to make a thumbs up so thumbs up for you.