A new short-term rental campaign has just rolled out in Honolulu, but it might leave more questions than answers—especially for summer visitors trying to book a legal vacation rental.
This week, the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) announced the launch of its Short-Term Rental Awareness Campaign on Instagram (below), a new push designed to help residents and travelers distinguish between legal and illegal vacation rentals. The rollout includes signage at visitor hubs, social media graphics, and updated booking guidance on what to look for when browsing listings.
But behind the messaging lies a bigger question—will this campaign help solve anything, or is it just a new way to shift blame onto visitors while actual enforcement continues to stall?
A softer approach to vacation rental enforcement than Maui.
Honolulu’s new campaign is sharply different from what’s playing out on Maui. There, officials are weighing through an aggressive plan to phase out thousands of legally operating vacation rentals, especially those outside hotel and resort zones. On Oahu, by contrast, no new legislation or rental bans are attached to this campaign, at least not at this point.
Instead, Honolulu is emphasizing education over enforcement. In theory, that means travelers and residents are being empowered to use publicly available tools to help identify and avoid illegal rentals.
Visitors are asked to confirm that a listing includes a valid short-term rental registration number or a nonconforming use certificate. Legal listings must also include the property’s TMK number, and if a listing lacks the correct disclaimer language, it could well be in violation of city law.
These aren’t new rules. What’s new is how visible the city now wants them to be and how it wants visitors to help.
Summer timing is not accidental.
The campaign’s June launch wasn’t random. Summer is peak vacation season, when visitor bookings surge and the rental market becomes increasingly active. It’s also the time of year when residents are most likely to raise concerns about noisy or disruptive vacation rentals operating in residential neighborhoods.
By releasing this campaign now, Honolulu may be trying to prevent a repeat of the frustration seen during previous summers, when illegal rentals spiked and the city struggled to respond quickly to complaints.
Still, that timing may also backfire. With many travelers already booked from now until August—and others scrambling for last-minute accommodations—the guidance may come too late to change anything. If a visitor unknowingly shows up at an unlicensed rental, they could be turned away, stuck with no refund, or forced to search for a backup stay in an already tight Honolulu vacation rental market.
What the city wants you to do.
The city is asking travelers to report any questionable listings they encounter. This includes missing registration numbers, TMKs that don’t match legal zones, or listings that advertise stays under 30 days without a license.
Visitors can email the department directly with links to suspicious ads or use the city’s online property search tool to confirm whether a rental is properly permitted.
However, some residents and rental operators argue that this kind of public policing model burdens individual travelers, who are just trying to find a place to stay, not become zoning investigators working for the city.
The real question: enforcement.
Honolulu has long faced criticism over its ability—or inability—to enforce short-term rental laws. The city’s department remains understaffed, and some cases of illegal rentals have reportedly gone unaddressed for months or years despite documented complaints.
That history raises a key concern: will this awareness campaign lead to better outcomes, or is it another workaround while core enforcement challenges remain unresolved?
In theory, more informed visitors and neighbors could help reduce violations. In practice, however, many travelers will likely rely on platforms like Airbnb and VRBO without verifying property status through city systems.
Does this confuse visitors more?
This campaign may create more confusion than clarity for travelers unfamiliar with Hawaii’s patchwork of rental laws. The rules vary by island, county, zoning district, and individual property history.
A traveler comparing listings in Waikiki, Kapolei, and Kailua may not realize that short-term rentals are only permitted in resort-zoned areas (like Waikiki and Ko Olina) and a few specific apartment-zoned districts, and not residential neighborhoods across Oahu.
That confusion could lead to unpleasant surprises at check-in, or worse, forcing travelers to find last-minute alternatives.
The Maui comparison.
This campaign also sharply contrasts with what’s happening on Maui, where thousands of units are being targeted for elimination altogether. Rather than relying on signage or public education, Maui’s plan is legislative and enforceable.
In recent coverage, we looked at how quickly Maui’s strategy escalated and how controversial it has become. Unlike Oahu, which seems to be leaning toward public outreach, Maui is using the proposed law as an education tool. Rental owners there would face hard deadlines if it were passed.
This raises the question: Is Honolulu’s approach simply slower and softer, or is it a strategic way to defuse tensions without taking direct legislative action? If nothing else, it’s a fascinating comparison between islands and their approaches to vacation rentals.
The failed 90-day rental rule.
In 2022, Honolulu passed a controversial law raising the minimum rental period for most residential areas from 30 to 90 days. The idea was to curb the spread of longer-term vacation rentals that weren’t technically short-term but still operated like hotels.
But a federal judge struck that down. In late 2023, the court ruled that the city couldn’t enforce the 90-day minimum because it unfairly impacted existing property rights. That ruling left the 30-day rule intact, which applies today unless the unit is in a resort zone or holds a legacy permit.
How this could affect Airbnb, VRBO and Booking.
If the campaign gains traction, it could pressure booking platforms to filter listings more aggressively. In the past, Airbnb has allowed some unpermitted rentals to remain online, relying on self-reporting and complaint-based removal. Honolulu’s campaign may be the city’s latest attempt to nudge platforms into more proactive policing without directly regulating them.
Whether that happens remains to be seen. However, it’s worth watching how Airbnb and others respond, especially if visitors use the city’s tools and report listings in real time.
What travelers should do now.
If you plan to book a short-term rental in Oahu this summer or beyond, the safest move is to confirm everything upfront.
That includes checking whether the listing shows a valid short-term rental registration number or a “nonconforming use certificate” (NUC), which applies to a small group of older, grandfathered units. Using the city’s public records, you can also look up the TMK (Tax Map Key) number. If anything’s missing or unclear, it’s worth asking the host directly—or choosing a different place altogether.
Travelers can also use the city’s STR Compliance Map or contact the DPP directly for questions.
What this signals for summer travel.
Honolulu’s new campaign lands right as vacation season hits full speed—and it’s not just a friendly reminder. It signals that the city wants visitors to take rental rules seriously, and maybe even do some enforcement work themselves.
Whether that’s enough to reduce illegal listings or create more confusion at check-in remains to be seen. But one thing’s clear: Oahu’s short-term rental fight is far from over.
Are you staying in a vacation rental on Oahu this summer, and does this campaign change your opinion of it?
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How hard could it be for Oahu to monitor and shut down illegal rentals? Seems like the will is not there. Local residents need to be more vocal with their representatives and vote their opinion.
Blame it on the tourist. Place the burden on them. Nothing in place as though Hawaii has no influence on air bnb’s zoning regulations or registration information? Permits etc. Too many hoops just to look at a beach and then pay the price of being robbed blindly in everything else that you do, stay, eat, park, shop and activities. Control tourists through fines,rules,and punishments while on slow times promote cheap discounted airfares, new routes, and such. IMO the only difference between Disneyland, Las Vegas and Hawaii is that Disneyland and Las Vegas don’t have the beaches.
How does a person know if these registration numbers aren’t used for multiple locations and listings? Check address and property mail box number to City property records before booking. If a fake number is used the tourist may be asked to stay somewhere else by who? Neighbors, police, etc. IMO this issue should be regulated and enforced by the state and local authorities not the responsibility of the tourist. IMO seriously everything you do in Hawaii is a gamble anymore. Just like Las Vegas the house wins and the tourist loses. Sorry just one more way Hawaii can rip off the some person on vacation. IMO going to Hawaii and dealing with all the issues is like flipping a coin. It’s a win-lose vacation. Is the risk worth the reward?
how sad that the dpp is treating home owners and tourists like criminal while the city is treating the tourist as the eternal cash cow..
Tourists Are Our Bread And Butter but mostly are fed up..
Hawaii needs to dump all of this STR garbage, like Spain:
Spain has seen a major crackdown on Airbnb rentals due to a housing crisis and backlash against overtourism. The Spanish government has ordered Airbnb to remove nearly 66,000 listings that violate regulations, citing issues like missing or incorrect license numbers and discrepancies in listed information. This action is part of a broader effort to address housing affordability and manage the impact of tourism on local communities.
We Str owners need to get together and fund lawsuits protecting our property rights. The damages have already began to reduce our property value’s and rental income. We have actual damages now both in property values and loss of rental income from the county and State. Waiting around while Maui and now Oahu continue to take our property rights away that were spelled out clearly in our governing documents. Let’s do it now
I think the program achieves its goal – the goal being to push tourists to hotels and accept that higher prices are justified by the risk avoided. A secondary goal is to use public money to increase their booking rate. — Whatever they spent to get their people into office, it was a great investment for them.
As a Hawaii resident, to me this seems like more of the same ol’ same ol’. This accomplishes nothing but costs the city (taxpayers) money. The city will point to this to say it’s trying to do something – anything other than actually checking listings and enforcing the law. It puts the burden on the wrong party (travelers) or even worse, on neighbors which pits neighbors against each other or against the city. It’s just more silliness funded courtesy of the one of the most overtaxed residential bases in the country and now, one of the most overtaxed tourists in the country.
It appears best to just skip Hawaii now – other wonderful places are Baja, Northern California, Bahamas, etc. Even Euope is less expensive. The decent hotels now push $1,000 night (with taxes and extras). Very sad -for less or similar price just go to Japan, etc.
Sad.
You think that’s expensive, try living here and working in the visitor industry.