Substantial Rebound in Maui Vacation Rental Performance One Year After Pandemic Onset

Maui County had the largest vacation rental supply of all four counties in April, with 241,900 available unit nights, up 154%. Maui’s unit demand was 169,950 unit nights, up 4,565%, resulting in a 70.3% occupancy (up 66.4 percentage points). Meantime, Maui County’s Average Daily Rate was $263, up 10.6%.

In comparison, Maui County hotels reported ADR at $483 and occupancy of 62.1%.

The data was compiled by the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority’s Tourism Research Division, utilizing data compiled by Transparent Intelligence, Inc. The data in this report specifically excludes units reported in HTA’s Hawaiʻi Hotel Performance Report and Hawaiʻi Timeshare Quarterly Survey Report. In this report, a vacation rental is defined as the use of a rental house, condominium unit, private room in private home, or shared room/space in private home.

Overall, the numbers are substantially higher than in April 2020, which was the first full month of the devastating impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. Hawaiʻi’s quarantine order for travelers due to the COVID-19 pandemic began on March 26, 2020, which immediately resulted in dramatic impacts to Hawai‘i’s tourism industry.

For the state as a whole, the report showed that in April 2021, the total monthly supply of vacation rentals was 583,800 unit nights (up 82.7%) and monthly demand was 388,600 unit nights (up 2,327.6%). That resulted in an average monthly unit occupancy of 66.6% (up 61.6 percentage points) for April, which was higher than the occupancy of Hawai‘i’s hotels (50.8%).

The unit average daily rate for vacation rental units statewide in April was $238 (up 25.0%), which was less than the ADR for hotels ($300).

During April, most passengers arriving from out-of-state and traveling inter-county could bypass the State’s mandatory 10-day self-quarantine with a valid negative COVID-19 NAAT test result from a Trusted Testing Partner through the state’s Safe Travels program. All trans-Pacific travelers participating in the pre-travel testing program were required to have a negative test result before their departure to Hawaiʻi. Kauaʻi County rejoined the Safe Travels program on April 5, 2021. The counties of Hawaiʻi, Maui and Kalawao (Molokaʻi) also had a partial quarantine in place in April. 

In April, legal short-term rentals were allowed to operate in Maui County and on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi Island and Kauaʻi as long as they were not being used as a quarantine location.

Other Island Highlights

Oʻahu vacation rental supply was 132,500 available unit nights (up 8.5%) in April. Unit demand was 90,700 unit nights (up 1,668.7%), resulting in 68.4% occupancy (up 64.2 percentage points) and an ADR of $193 (up 31.8%). Oʻahu hotels reported ADR at $193 and occupancy of 47.0%.

The island of Hawaiʻi vacation rental supply was 124,700 available unit nights (up 84.1%) in April. Unit demand was 85,400 unit nights (up 2,171.3%), resulting in 68.5% occupancy (up 63.0 percentage points) with an ADR of $208 (up 27%). Hawaiʻi Island hotels reported ADR at $326 and occupancy of 53.7%.

Kauaʻi had the fewest number of available unit nights in April at 84,700 (up 145.9%). Unit demand was 42,600 unit nights (up 1,124.7%), resulting in 50.3% occupancy (up 40.2 percentage points) with an ADR of $294 (up 25.7%). Kauaʻi hotels reported ADR at $248 and occupancy of 36.9%.

For April 2021, the report included data for 25,985 units, representing 44,423 bedrooms in the Hawaiian Islands.