What Hawaii Governor Josh Green said today could be a blow to the Maui vacation rental industry.
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59 thoughts on “Possible Moratorium Looms Over Maui Vacation Rentals”
What Hawaii Governor Josh Green said today could be a blow to the Maui vacation rental industry.
The government allowed speculation in the housing market for many years. Now they need to eliminate the speculators with their mini-hotels in neighborhoods across the entire state of Hawaii.
Dump all short term rentals in non-vacation zoned areas. All of them. That’s why certain areas are zoned “Residental” and “Agricultural”, for Residents and AG use.
Look around the world at all of the short term rentals being banned or greatly limited. Recently all of New York City, Dallas, all over the world.
Dump it all.
I agree with part of your statement, no STRs in areas not zoned hotel. That will keep them to primarily condo units in touristy areas and our of neighborhoods where kids run and play. However, to get rid of STRs completely is a very poor decision. Many people traveling to Maui want to be able to have a kitchen, their own space, laundry etc. Most STRs provide that at about the same cost as a room, a room at a hotel. These people are spending money on the island that goes back to the island in many ways.
I’m not reading any other options to get 3,000 people a long term home. Sometimes you have to close the cash register to get peoples attention. Who will stand up and help people? 15,000 owners have a choice to do the right thing and still get paid 50-60% what they would normally make If there are tourists to fill them. Big picture folks. Helping someone start over is priceless.
If our officials are not going to protect landlords how do they expect STR owners to get on board with this plan? Many STR owners would do so if there was some kind of protection. Non payment of rent, damage to property, theft etc. are true concerns. Plus, how, in a free country, can you force owners to switch from STR to LTR? You can’t. You’ll put 1000s of people out of work…PMs, cleaners, maintenance, etc. and negatively impact the incomes of those owners, thus impacting what’s spent on the island. This plan won’t work. The incentives are too weak and the protection for landlords is a joke.
Interesting. And No mention of timeshare which is not rental but interval ownership.
This proposal screams, “We don’t know what we are doing.”
Maui has significantly eroded its tourism industry. Now the government, with some local support, wants to add insult to injury by banning short-term rentals? I hope owners have enormous cash buffers to pay Hawaii’s sky-high property taxes, income taxes, power and water utility rates, just to name a few of the many expenses imposed by the government.
Finally, let me be clear: there will be no “industry” relocating to Maui/Hawaii. It’s thousands of miles from any population center. Shipping and transportation costs are astronomical. And Hawaii’s cost structure is one of the Least competitive on the planet, and most certainly the United States.
Hawaii’s property taxes are the lowest in the USA for owner occupied homes. STVR owners will get a Huge property tax break when renting long term. A large portion of STVR properties are owned by people who live on the mainland and international investors. A relatively small amount of that money stays on Maui. Also our unemployment rate is consistently one of the lowest in the country , for the past 20 – 30 years every tourist industry business has been begging , pleading for employees. The biggest problem has been affordable housing for service workers. Over the years more and more local housing units have been converted into STVR , making it more difficult to find housing .You think your wait to be seated at a restaurant is long now?
Aloha,
Please help me out; apparently I am challenged in both math and basic English. Reduce short term rental by 20% and increase tourism, (to what level; tourism is down 50% so…decrease STR by 20% and increase tourism by 30% for a perceived balance which will hypothetically increase permanent housing by 20%?), short term rental pays 352% more than long term but convert private short term rental to long term rental. Nope. I don’t deny the housing crisis, and it is a crisis, but this sounds like the ever so popular totalitarian approach occurring in other jurisdictions. You can take a million dollar condo and cut the price in half and it still won’t be affordable. Who absorbs the loss? This could end badly…
Mahalo
Oh Gerrty, This will end poorly. I can see Maui going to hell in a handbasket. Gov, does not want to offend the locals, so he is iffy in his decisionmaking. Nothing is happening, nothing is helped. Locals are the only ones winning only in their fight. But, they will be homeless again, when resorts become like some islands that are poor, half shut down, and run down. because tourism will lessen greatly. I went to a town in St. Martin and the resort was so poorly maintained, my vacation was abrubtly stopped until I got a return flight home. I can see this same scenario on Maui. Everyone better wise up Today, This is going to be a crappy ride for all!
On the one hand the governor wants to increase tourism and on the other he proposals a moratorium on short stay rentals. That would mean having to cancel reservations already made by tourists already skeptical of the sincerity of Hawaii’s desire to welcome vacationers.
Booked a Maui trip for summer 2024 using Hawaiian Airline miles several months ago, and booked a condo with a local rental agency.
It’s looking like this may have been a bad idea.
We intentionally avoided HI during the pandemic because of the ever-changing restrictions.
We love Maui and seeing friends we’ve made there over the years. We want to support their local businesses.
Thanks, BOH for info about the press conference. Will have to watch closely at future messaging.
Hotel suites are too pricey for us and hotels don’t want more than four in a regular hotel room. Staying in a condo is the only way our family can travel.
Hope we don’t have to cancel or “get canceled” by gov’t decisions.
People over profits! Dependent on tourism = Disappointment 😞 If all you see is $$$ in your eyes then you’re not who should be trying to fix this crisis..jmo
There needs to be a meeting of the minds here. There is opportunity to proceed and build back in a more responsible manner. Tourism is a fact of life in many places throughout the world. How to do it responsibly is the key. Hawaii cannot secede from the nation and isolate from the world, as much as some might like to. It also has to remain within the framework of the Constitution.
Somehow a middle ground is imperative!
Respectfully, this is a highly uneducated comment. You should be upset with your elected officials who are making this so difficult. Housing has been an issue for years. But now, because of the Lahaina tragedy, it’s in their faces and they’re panicking. This state bankrupts without tourism. The roads you drive on, water systems to give you drinking water, your power, etc. are more than 80% funded by the tourism industry. Your officials tax the hell out of their constituents, you included. They’re who you should be upset with. Not people contributing to this beautiful island. STR owners pay Double in real estate taxes…that’s a lot of revenue for the island.
Thanks BoH. I’ll skip Green’s lack of understanding of basic economics. The short answer is build More housing, not less. Fast track it too. On Maui tourism, something I don’t hear many talking about as a reason for the drop off is Lahaina itself. While not thought of as an official destination, Lahaina was, in many ways, the magic of Maui. It’s still so hard to think of all the eclectic shops and restaurants that made the town so charming are gone. Visitors are now left with a void that can’t be filled by Whaler’s village or boujee malls in Wailea. So the high cost of Maui doesn’t math with the experience you get (now). There will be many opinions, but somehow old Lahaina has to be recreated.
We were told repeatedly not to come to West Maui. There’s more there than just Lahaina town. That included Kaanapali Beach and north. One of the protesting spokesperson said they’d asked visitors not to come, visitors didn’t listen and now they have blood on there hands. Do they not care about all the businesses north of Lahaina town?