When you visit Kaanapali on West Maui today, it looks like the perfect escape. But hidden beneath the beaches and resorts is a story few visitors know—how the people who made paradise possible were squeezed out, and how what replaced them changed everything about the Valley Isle experience.
In the 1960s, long before resort profits soared and vacation condos replaced everything else, Kaanapali was built as a complete community. Developers didn’t just build rooms for guests. They built dorms, townhouses, and off-site apartments for staff. Today, nearly all of that housing has vanished. In its place: pools, tennis courts, and a growing sense that something important, something critical, was lost.
A Maui resident named Diane recently commented to us: “When Amfac created, built, and developed Kaanapali as a destination, the hotels had employee housing. Why did it end?” (Amfac was the powerful plantation company that created Kaanapali, transforming West Maui’s old sugar fields into Hawaii’s first master-planned resort).
This is that story.
The early vision: Housing for workers and Maui visitors.
In 1962, Amfac launched Kaanapali Beach Resort on Maui’s west side. It was Hawaii’s first master-planned resort community and sat on former sugar land once owned by Pioneer Mill. The project began with the Royal Lahaina Resort, and adjacent to it, Amfac built housing for its employees.
There were low-rise townhouses just inland of the hotel, and a building that later became the Kaanapali Ocean Inn, which reportedly served as employee housing in its earliest years. At the time, Kaanapali was isolated. Lahaina was still a small town. The idea of building housing alongside resorts wasn’t radical—it was necessary.
Throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, Amfac continued to expand the concept. Other hotels followed: the Sheraton in 1963 and the Ka’anapali Beach Hotel in 1964. All relied, in part, on Amfac’s employee accommodations. Eventually, the company supplemented its on-site units by constructing off-site apartments in Lahaina, most notably the Maui Islander Apartments around 1980.
The goal wasn’t just convenience. It was continuity. Stable, nearby housing meant a stable workforce. The people who cleaned rooms, ran kitchens, and kept the grounds could also afford to live nearby—many with families in tow.
The turning point: When housing became real estate.
By the mid-1980s, the resort’s priorities began to shift. The land that had once been used to house workers had become some of the most valuable property in the state. And resort operators started asking a new question: Why give prime beachfront land to low-rent employee housing when it could be used for guest amenities?
The answer came quickly. The Royal Lahaina townhouses were torn down and replaced with guest features, including a tennis court. The employee dormitory, once a place for staff to sleep, was rebranded as the Kaanapali Ocean Inn—a budget-friendly wing for guests.
Amfac itself was also changing. The company was sold to JMB Realty in 1988. Sugar was declining, and tourism was taking over. New owners weren’t interested in maintaining workforce housing. Instead, the company turned to a new strategy: homeownership.
In 1979, as part of a negotiated agreement with the ILWU and Maui County, Amfac committed to building the Kelawea Mauka subdivisions in Lahaina. These single-family homes would be offered to hotel and plantation workers at cost. The idea was to shift housing responsibility from the resort to individual ownership. Once built, Amfac stepped away from housing altogether.
Maui Islander: From apartments to vacation condos.
Few properties better illustrate the shift than the Maui Islander Apartments. Built around 1980, it was a 360-unit complex initially used to house workers at the Kaanapali resort, just a short commute away, according to historical accounts.
But by the late 1980s, those apartments were already being rented to visitors. By the 1990s, the complex was operated by Aston and rebranded as the Aston Maui Islander. The workforce housing had effectively been phased out, quietly and without formal announcement.
In 2003, the property was sold again, this time to developers who planned a major $30 million renovation. By 2007, it had been transformed into Aina Nalu Lahaina, a boutique condo-hotel managed by Outrigger. Renovation estimates placed the investment at around $30 million, though final costs were not publicly confirmed. Units were consolidated and upgraded. Pools, tropical landscaping, and a Balinese-style open-air lobby replaced the old apartment-style design.
What was lost was one of the last dense, affordable housing options near the resort zone. What was gained was another visitor-facing property with no link to its original purpose.
The role of water, permits, and zoning.
Another quiet force behind the disappearance of housing was infrastructure. Kaanapali has its private water utility, initially run by Amfac and now managed separately. In the 1960s and 70s, this system enabled the resort to build quickly—supplying both guest accommodations and employee housing.
But as demand for pools, golf courses, and new hotel wings grew, so did competition for water. Some accounts suggest that the removal of employee housing may have helped free up water capacity later used for guest-related development, though direct documentation is limited. Water access remains one of the most significant limiting factors in any new development on Maui.
Read: Maui Water Crisis Catapults: Resorts See Green, Everyone Else Sees Red.
Meanwhile, zoning rules favored tourism. Resort areas weren’t required to maintain employee housing once early conditions were fulfilled. Without regulations to preserve these units, resorts quietly transitioned them into guest spaces—or removed them entirely.
What stands there now.
The townhouses that once housed Royal Lahaina’s workers are gone. The dormitory that became the Kaanapali Ocean Inn now books visitors instead of employees. The Maui Islander is a condo-hotel.
Even the Napilihau duplexes, once a modest source of workforce housing, have mostly been sold off. Only the Kelawea Mauka subdivisions remain, but they are far from Kaanapali’s core and were never rentals.
Walk around the resort today, and you won’t find any signs that workers once lived where tourists now lounge. The housing footprint has been erased from the land—but not from memory.
What this means for visitors.
If you’ve noticed slower service, fewer staff, or more stress on your last Maui trip, you’re not alone. And this history may help explain why.
Without nearby housing, resort workers now commute from central or even upcountry Maui. That can mean 45 minutes or more each way, especially during peak traffic. It adds to stress, fatigue, and turnover, affecting the visitor experience in quiet but noticeable ways.
The shift also contributes to Maui’s broader housing crisis. With fewer rentals available for working families, prices have surged, and long-time residents have been pushed out.
Some of the very people who helped build Kaanapali are now priced out of the communities they once served.
What readers are saying.
The question that sparked this article came from Diane, a reader from Beat of Hawaii, living on Maui. Her comment captured what many residents feel:
“There are a few residentially zoned condos still within Kaanapali’s Resort. What happened to the rest? How did the Maui Islander Apartments become an Outrigger Hotel?”
Another reader wrote, “I remember when Kaanapali was a place for both visitors and workers. Now it feels like it’s only for tourists.”
That shift—from shared space to exclusive one—is at the heart of what happened. And it’s not just history. It’s a question about the future of tourism in Hawaii.
Can tourism and community needs be balanced?
As Maui recovers from the devastation of the Lahaina fire and reassesses its tourism model, the legacy of Kaanapali’s lost workforce housing offers a cautionary tale.
Can resorts reinvest in employee accommodations? Will future developments include space not just for visitors, but for those who serve them?
These are questions without easy answers. But the more travelers understand this history, the more we can all be part of shaping what comes next.
Join the conversation.
Have you stayed in Kaanapali recently? Did you notice changes in service or community presence? Have your own memories of Maui’s resorts from the past?
Let us know in the comments. We read each one.
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Does anyone have a list of previous workforce housing complexes that were used/built for workforce housing?
I’d like to see some housing go in where the old train station is in Kaanapali. Have the resorts chip in for it.
“Did you know on 5th Avenue in New York there used livery stables, hat shops, and blacksmiths? Now there is no place for horses to get outfitted and men to get their Fedoras! It’s not fair, it used to be totally different there 200 years ago! We need to bring it all back!”
“Seasons change, and so do I. You need not wonder why…”
I completely agree that there has been, for decades, an imbalance in job openings, and the number of people available to support those jobs because of the neglect to build associated housing. And the jobs aren’t only in tourism. Doctors, nurses, teachers, construction workers…I could go on and on – they are all in short supply on Maui and every other desirable locale in the nation.
The trick is to correct this imbalance by capping future tourism accommodations and building proper housing in sensible locations. We have the land, and we have the water. W need to harness these, and I’m willing to spend my tax dollars to do it.
You’re willing to do what has been done for decades in Hawaii (which clearly has not worked) and that’s why you have what you have. Doing the same things the same way every day and expecting a different outcome is insanity. Your socialist solutions don’t work. But keep trying. I’m sure one day what’s never worked and can never work will work. Good luck!
Not quite sure what you are disagreeing with here. If you are disagreeing that tax money should be spent on incentivizing builders by supporting infrastructure (roads, utilities, etc.) as well as water containment and distribution, I’m not sure I would call that socialist. I do agree that past those basics, the development of communities and housing should be guided by market forces to achieve the equilibrium you describe.
The reference was to the general notion that the government generally decides to control as much as possible in order to extract as much as possible in order to hand out as much as possible. I agree the government should provide those services and incentives which promote the general welfare (although that’s at the federal level and not necessarily at the state of Hawaii level) and stay out of the discussion regarding commercial activities. Any time the government intervenes, they do so with constraints and rules for “fairness”. Living in calunicornia, I’m familiar with how seemingly well intended rules actually suppress free market signals and ultimately lead to worse outcomes for everyone except those in government and those on the government dole.
The tragedy of the Lahaina fires has provided a rare opportunity to adjust the balance of residents verses tourist accomodations.
Planners are the key to this outcome. Many former Lahaina dwellers have left the area for good. Leaders must decide how to fill the empty spaces for the common good. The future is in their hands.
Working in the resort areas of Ka’anapali and Kapalua for over a decade, and commuting from Kihei. I’d love for the opportunity to be able to move to the west side. The article is very interesting in that the early days of tourism was just a metamorphosis of plantation life, where the corporations and more of a stake in the livelihood of the workers. Today’s tourism industry cares not about the workers but the bottom line and in the end that is not sustainable. It would be really nice if the bay course in Kapalua, a giant strain on the west sides water resources was redeveloped into housing. Allowing the non potable water to flow to the Mahinahina Treatment plant and the groundwater, which is in good supply, to supplement local housing, integrating locals back into the resort areas.
I think it’s disingenuous to claim that the tourism industry has exclusive rights to the profit motive. Every business on the island seeks to maximize profit – many trades want $150-200 just to show up at your door. I just think it’s irresponsible to deliver to tourists reading BoH the message that the industry is greedy – the nearly 20% tacked onto their nightly accommodations aren’t there because of greedy business owners, they are there so the government can use tourism revenues to help provide locals with all the infrastructure we enjoy on a day-to-day basis.
“Tourism” isn’t a business, it’s an industry. The business owners who derive their livelihood from tourism don’t see their employees any differently than businesses outside tourism. If no business chased profit, they’d be out of business.
It seems as though I remember back in the early ’90s when Waikoloa town On the Big Island started to be built up that it was supposed to be housing for the workers. Now it seems as though it has also been taken over by tourists. Anyone else have thoughts about this on the Big Island?
Yes, exactly. Waikoloa village still has local residents living there, working at the resorts nearby, also at the Queens North Hawaii Community Hospital and at restaurants in nearby Waimea town. I also know a few small business owners who live there. Mainly people who bought a long time ago. But most condos there are now owned either by a combination of snowbirds and retired mainland people. Most resort workers these days commute from Hilo, Hamakua Coast, and Honokaa areas.
Haven’t been back in 20 years, but plan to go this year …
So, the past helps illustrate trends of gauging import of housing ‘affordability’ for workers alongside ‘valuable’ land reclaimed to increase ‘returns’ for the owners of resorts. For those who make this into some ‘socialists’ vs. ‘rightful owners’ issue, hmm. Isn’t it really about real costs vs. profit projections, expectations (very possibly ‘undersold’ in the former and ‘oversold’ to others/investors in the latter case without considering or admitting all actual facts and issues) by the property/resort owners and developers? Seems that, if the developers’ profit models worked correctly, surely they would consider the importance of a high quality, contented workforce ready and able to provide outstanding service to their customers?
Could govt actions and regs play a major role in balancing these factors? Yes. Has it? Whatever the answers, it doesn’t remove the dual responsibility to meet guest – and employee – expectations.
Maui is an expensive place to build. Development is also hampered by NIMBYs and local radicals. Up until the last few months, the tens of millions of dollars in the Affordable Housing Fund (financed largely by the STRs the government is trying to disappear) did very little for which it’s namesake implied. Same with DHHL, until last month, someone was more likely to be buried on the land than given land by the DHHL. With 29,000 native Hawaiians on the wait list, and the “wait time” exceeding 100 years, it makes you wonder what they plan to do with their 200,000 acres other than continue to allow natives to die on their land before being provided a lease for that land.
Developers need financial incentives to build low cost housing because land costs are so high. There is plenty of money flowing into the government, but that same government steps on a rake every time they are called upon to help get housing into the hands of locals.
The way I see it, once you start using the government to force independent individuals to act in a way to help “protect” others, it is by definition, socialist. Mostly because it’s clearly a judgement against those who they define as oppressors and for those they define as victims. Allow the market to create what is needed for the market to flourish. If those working are willing to commute and that works for them, leave it alone. The free market has a long, historically documented record of settling into an equilibrium which works for all involved. It’s when those not directly involved start inserting their interpretations of what is “right or fair or appropriate” that things divert from the experiences of those actually involved in the system. I get compassion, feelings and trying to do “the right thing”, but most of the time, we should all just let those who are representing themselves be. If it works for them, let it go.
The thought that tourists and locals should be separated, both geographically and socially, is certainly central to Hawaii’s legitimate soul-searching. Although the properties mentioned in this article were obviously transformed for economic reasons, at the basis of such decisions are the sad, anti-human assumptions that workers (locals) and visitors don’t belong fraternizing with each other. What a pathetic view of life.
Notice that the finger pointing belongs at the county for approving all of this and we’re all dealing with the fallout now. So quit blaming tourist’s that feed us all.
You want change? Figure out new revenue streams and quit taxing the one stream you do have.
Less feelings, more common sense.
West Maui has water issues but shortages can be resolved.
The primary water sources serving West is the century old ditch developed in the sugar era which intercepts stream flow. That source is augmented by wells.
There is substantial available water that flows into the ocean and wasted. This is evidenced by the continuous, and sometimes substantial water flowing in the Kahoma stream channel; and the continuous artesian well gushing into the ocean near the Royal GC #5 green. Water storage needs to be developed.
West Maui lacks the aggressive water development strategies which is common in the arid western US.
Instead, Maui County abdicated its water development role to the State Water Resource Commission which is a renown black hole of inaction. West Maui doesn’t have a water crisis. It has a crisis of government.
This is a fascinating article, kudos for your research!
May I ask where you obtained the history and data about prior workforce housing? I would love to read about the workforce housing history for other parts of Maui and other islands as well.
Good day. We stayed in Kanapali a few December years ago. The area was still recovering from Covid and some of the amenities at the at the resort we were staying at were still not open. We were advised it was due to staffing. What we found interesting was comments from some of the vendors in regards to the attitudes of the visitors they were serving. It appeared that many of the them were not acutely aware of what had happened, did not care, and just wanted to be served. I’m sure it did not apply to most, but we got that feedback several times. A little bit of respect and empathy goes a long way. And for those that came and did not care, shame on you. You do not deserve the kind of hospitality that Hawaii is abundant in because you can’t see beyond your own needs. Find another place to go vacation.
In 1970 Maui was a paradise for all people. Residents these days absolutely must take back their living space before it turns into an even less friendly place. Vote! Follow what your politicians are doing. Follow the money
Take it back? That means what, exactly? The year 1970 means 55 years ago and there is no undoing what has happened since. Leave or exist in the mess that is now Hawaii. Those are the options for the people there. The younger local folks all know this and leave as soon as they can. The retired military and wealthy don’t have that concern. I’ll be long gone, but I’m certain that in less than 50 years, there will be so few natives that it won’t matter. Hawaii is like the last stages of a funeral pyre. We’re just waiting for the last embers to cool enough for the next phase of destruction at the hands of the government.
While STRs and tourism seem to draw the ire of the anti-tourism crowd, but what about those who move to Maui with virtually nothing. Not talking homeless, but certainly not a doctor at Kaiser. They take up local housing, local jobs, and generally don’t add much to the economy.
Example: An unnamed girl in Lahaina Strong. She came here to paddle. But then she worked at Kimos. Now she’s part of Lahaina Strong, and acting like she’s not part of the problem. Imagine if every person like her packed up and went back to the mainland, how many housing units would open up.
Oh wait, we can’t criticize these people for coming and adding nothing to the economy (sorry Katie, I know what servers earn), but we can criticize those who lawfully bought an expensive tourist condo who might be responsible for nearly half a million dollars in economic activity each year? LS may have been better off saying “bye bye mainland transplants”!
Thank you for this article. During my first trip to Maui, not knowing anything about the island, I stayed at one of the Ka’anapali resorts (thanks to a great Airbnb deal) — and hated it. While the room, the amenities, the pool, and the beach access were all lovely, the place had absolutely no charm and no connection to the real life or authentic culture or people or soul of Maui. The entire area — not just the resort where I was staying — felt like a hermetically sealed Disney theme park, one filled with visitors who, inexplicably, had no desire to break out of their confines. Contributing to that feeling was the distance to the other parts of the island.
Yet despite that distance, I spent each day of my stay making the long drives to the south shore or Upcountry or Pa’ia or Kahalui — basically, to any place that *wasn’t* the west shore. Ultimately, I decided to cut short my Ka’anapali stay and find a place elsewhere on the island for the final days of my vacation.
West Maui, without Lahaina, is a problem, as there was housing there destroyed by the fire in August 8, 2023. The State, Governor Green and the Maui Mayor, have been silent, but regardless of Kapalua, Kahana and Kaanapali, Lahaina was the economic center for Dining, Tourism, Shopping, the biggest question is what is going on for the future of Lahaina from the Harbor to Safeway? Obviously, Housing for locals and those who lost theirs to the fire, should be the first consideration, but overall, it is too quiet!
It’s because there are no decision makers on Maui – only these faux social media “influencers” who hang with those who are predominantly influenced by social media. They want exposure, they want clicks, and most of all, they want outrage and division.
The obvious solution to a housing shortage is what most major political leaders have vowed to do – build more housing. We see this with Trump, with Carney in Canada, Harris campaigned on it, and even in the darling of the anti-STR crowd, Barcelona is vowing to build build build.
It’s not binary. We can have a robust tourism industry, and we can have adequate affordable housing. But what that requires is a backbone, and a large pair of scissors to cut the huge ball of red tape the county site behind.
One of the main issues, not only in Maui/Kaanapali is the hotel lobbyist. The hotels have a lot of power with their deep financial pockets. The hotels can’t stand condo’s & anything non-hotel and they lobby the Hawaiian government. Why do you think Governor Green and his, “Yes man,” Maui Mayor, Bessent are trying to get rid of as many short term rentals as possible? Most STR’s are not feesable for locals as they are not set up for a family (small, minimal closet space, etc.) & will be expensive as most are on or close to the beach. Just my opinion.
I absolutely love Hawaii. It is a part of me. My mom’s mother is from Hilo. Been to Hilo, Kona, Honolulu, Waikiki and Maui a number of times. Absolutely love and cherish every memory. However because of the political unrest in the states it just isn’t safe to travel to Hawaii so unfortunately the prospect of going to the happiest place on earth again has been put on hold and become only a dream. Love everyone of you Hawaiians and hope to once again walk your beaches and breath your salt air. Till then take care of yourselves and remember that I am thinking of you. 🌴😢
Aloha – these changes get approved through the Maui government, when an apartment building gets approved to become a condominium, they get the approval from the Maui government through the planning and building department where public hearings are held and input from all get evaluated.
This idea of commuting 45 minutes is a burden, look at most cities and counties around the world we’re 1 hour to 3 hours is the norm.
The reason there is little or no affordable housing on west Maui is because the County doesn’t approve new residential developments, there is so much land available but developers can’t buy it and than spend 10 years seeing if they can build housing on it and it just get worse as time goes on.
“Everyone agrees that Hawaiʻi needs more affordable housing. What we don’t agree on is which government policies will best fill that need.
But some policy failures are obvious. One glaring example: From 2006 to 2014, a Maui County policy meant to encourage construction of affordable housing only resulted in three such units. And the same policy may have discouraged other residential construction.
Local developer Stanford Carr, who has built housing on Maui, Hawai‘i Island and O‘ahu, says that Maui policy essentially “flatlined” the county’s housing industry until it was changed.”
Great article on the way the county and state have created the problem. Not tourists, not tourism and certainly not STRs.
hawaiibusiness.com/affordable-housing-hawaii-workforce-policy-impact/
Clearly this a problem much longer in the making than many of us ever realized. And it has so many facets. Not sure what the best answers are now, but clearly Maui doesn’t have a team capable of moving this needle.
These are ex post facto crocodile tears – crying for the world that once was, ignoring the ineptitude of the many governments that “have been”.
“Have been” ignoring the needs of the community
“Have been” hoarding Affordable Housing Funds (that come from taxes collected on STRs, I might add)
“Have been” delinquent in building new affordable housing units that keep up with population growth
“Have been” on their heels in keeping housing up with the demand of the tourism industry (remember, 1/3 of the state is dependent on tourism for their livelihood)
It’s a long and distinguished list of failures, so while the 21st century instinct is to jerk the knee at tourism, at STR owners, and at resorts, remember that it’s the government that shrouded development in red tape and made it so that any lost housing (to age, to development, to rezoning, whatever) was never added or replaced.
For all the grousing about the elimination of short term rental properties, those sound a lot like what was the worker housing, in concept if not reality.
Maybe that isn’t such a bad idea after all? Opening up nearby housing that resort employees could rent?
But frankly, the idea of employer owned housing sucks – and that’s coming from someone who lived in Army barracks for over 10 years. It’s a benefit that can trap you in your job – when your employer can make you homeless with a snap of their fingers, they have a lot more power over you than is normal.
If I read this correctly, a property owner – yeah, the person who owns the property – decided that the property they own was more profitable if it was sold than if it was used to accommodate low-rent tenants?
And again, if I read this correctly, the people who were renting the units – so, not the owners of the units – were displaced from this property due to something the property owner decided to do, it’s the property owner’s fault?
I own my home. The benefit of that is I get to do with it as I please (within the law), but as a renter in university, I had no such luxury.
If ever there was a reason to own where you live, this might be one of them.
And yes, Maui is expensive, but it hasn’t always been. In the 1980s, 2007, 2018, properties were cheap, even by Maui standards.
Not sure I totally agree. Maui needed the tourism money. If they didn’t build resorts, what else would have saved the economy in the first place?
This makes me so mad. Tourism isn’t evil by itself, but it should never come at the cost of community.
The community is dependent on tourism. Gotta figure out how to balance them. When the people who work the resorts have had enough, the solution will come from the property owners which will need to do something in order to preserve their livelihoods. Best thing is for the government to get out of the way. Having the crooked “Green regime” steal more tourism and taxpayer dollars to put toward what would surely be a poorly thought out socialist solution is not the answer.
What cost the community wasn’t the growth of tourism, or the loss of prime real estate to developers, it’s the proven resistance Maui has had to allowing residential / low income / affordable housing.
If you don’t know the roll of the county in this, it would be in everyone’s interest to research how many many square feet of vertical wall the county has built in front of their ability to develop vs the number of square feet of affordable residential living space they’ve permitted over the last 40 years.
The problem isn’t tourism, and it isn’t STRs, and it isn’t the displacement of those in much sought after real estate. It’s in there being a government that wants a luxury home that has no one living in it for 355 days a year that brings in $500k in property taxes rather than a 180 unit affordable housing complex that produces a fraction of those taxes.
I always assumed the workers lived nearby, but clearly that’s not the case anymore. Honestly, now it just feels like paradise was built for visitors at the cost of the community. Hoping future plans can do better than this turned out.
Know why there are suburbs in big cities? Know why satellite cities often house families who work in the parent city? Because those families have been priced out of the area proximate to their work, or the central core, so that choose a commute over the debt burden.
We have to stop thinking “oh poor Maui, people have to drive a beautiful coastline to get to work”.
Everyone does it everywhere on the planet – and it’s not because of tourism. Some drive 2 hours each way. Some take public transit 2 hours each way. Life isn’t going to deliver your ideal scenario all the time.
Intersting points on why the state is not doing enough for the community. A note on the same and an offtopic question –Note: I grew up in the Washington DC area, almost as far as possible from HI. As noted, 45min-1hr commutes or longer are not crazy here. But the reason is not usually “being priced out.” It is a personal economic choice–more land and more house with a nice mountain view is less expensive, better life than living near DC work. People Can live in DC, despite expense. They just choose to improve finances by living farther from work. Question: Doesn’t much of HI tourist money leave the state (and country) immediately due to foreign hotel ownership? Unless I’m wrong, it seems like that money is not often being reinvested locally, not even through additional hotel development. It’s going into the pockets of foreign owners, who have found the islands quite a cash-cow.
This has become the meme of the anti-development / anti-tourist cabal on the island. There isn’t a single hotel in the state that is locally owned. 100% of the profits leave the state for their execs and their shareholders. There is no evidence that any of those with financial interests in Hawaii even travel and spend that money there. A significant number of STR owners the other hand are local, and local or not, those owners funnel nearly all of the economic activity back into the local economy. Any “marginal” profit is usually spent several times over when they come stay at their property. Fairmont Kea Lani Maui’s estimated revenue per employee is $279,400 – which all goes back to shareholders.
Just a clarification that you’re quoting revenue per employee, which is before salaries, taxes, rent, maintenance and all other expenses. Net shareholder profit per employee would be much lower.
100% true. That’s where those who want more government oversight get crossed up. It’s not a bad thing to be compassionate, but asking more of those who’ve made their sacrifices (college, commute, doing without a car, etc.) to pay more for those who didn’t sacrifice can have it easier is not right. Make your choices. Love your life. Live your consequences. Life’s not fair. If it were, we’d all be 6’ 4” and weigh 255 lbs playing DE for the NFL making millions. But it’s not.
Try driving Hwy 30 south at 4:30 P.M. or so, and you will see where all the hotel workers live. And that has existed long before the Lahaina fire. There is no affordable housing to speak of in west Maui. And none is being bilt. Perhaps because there is no ‘money’ in it, and the money people don’t want it. In some ways, the hotel people are shooting themselves in the foot by not championing affordable housing for their workers. It would be in their best interests, as well as the employees’s best interest, and the hotel people could probably make it happen, either thru funds, or political influence, if they wanted to. But then again, we are dealing with predominantly ‘mainland’ organizations, and they are focused on ‘dollar value’, not people.
Yet they continue to commute daily, weekly, monthly, yearly to these jobs. So whose problem is this? Apparently not those working these jobs. They’re still commuting and filling them. I’m just not sure who has the problem here. Is this just a judgment on your part? Are you judging those who’ve chosen this life? Personally, I don’t. Would I do it? Nope. But that’s just me. Why not leave the people alone to do what the people clearly want to do?
It’s so sad to think about what was lost just to make room for more pools and tennis courts. Maui deserves better and so does Hawaii.
Let’s wish for more rainbows and unicorns. That’ll help.
not to forget the golf courses …..
The loss of employee housing on Maui is heartbreaking. I wonder if resorts will ever find a way to truly support the people who make tourism possible. They definitely should!
I definitely think that there needs to be a requirement that hotels provide housing. Whistler BC has extensive staff accommodations. Same with Winterpark, Stowe, Steamboat and Park City. Many national parks provide staff accommodations, and there are many mountain towns in Canada and the US that have properties zoned such that “the occupant of the unit must work x-number of hours in the area” – and property values are generally 30% lower than market rate.
Solutions exist, but Maui hasn’t figured out how to play in the big leagues. They prefer being yanked around on a leach and brought to heel by a radical special interest group that doesn’t even thing that Hawaii is a state, even though in 1959 Hawaii voters approved the statehood bill in a referendum, with a resounding 94.3% in favor.
Having the government add more requirements? That is not the answer. People are free to work or not work these jobs, despite how you judge them and their situation. Let the people decide what works for them and keep government out of it.
The people are still working to clean up and support the resorts. Clearly they’re feeling like it’s enough. I don’t understand how people not working these jobs feel comfortable judging those that do. Until they can find enough workers, the workers must be fine. Except in the minds of those who are judging everyone.
And yet the resorts are busier than ever. What “support” is missing? That employees are not being provided with market value homes at the expenses of those who actually earned wages and/or investments to purchase them? Or at taxpayers’ expense. Or at the behest of the government with your tax dollars? I don’t understand how people can judge others and feel that it’s okay. Live and let live. There. That’s aloha.