Maui County Vacation Rental Demand for July 2021 Down 18% from July 2019

In July 2021, Maui County’s vacation rental occupancy improved to 83.4%, which was 1.9 percentage points higher than pre-pandemic July 2019, but the higher occupancy was due to less inventory, according to the new Hawaiʻi Vacation Rental Performance Report by the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority.

Unit demand of 186,100 nights was 18.2% less than in 2019, which nearly matched the 20% decline in vacation rental supply for Maui County in July 2021 compared to two years earlier.

Maui County’s vacation rental supply still remains the highest of the four Hawaiian counties, at 223,100 available unit nights.

The average daily rate (ADR) in July for Maui County vacation rentals was $282, which was 26.8% less than in 2019. In comparison, Maui County hotels reported ADR at $618 and occupancy of 81.7 percent.

Hawaiʻi vacation rentals statewide reported vacation rental supply, demand and average daily rate were down in July 2021 compared to July 2019, while occupancy rose slightly due to a reduction in supply levels.

In July 2021, the total monthly supply of statewide vacation rentals was 592,900 unit nights (-33.7% vs. 2019) and monthly demand was 485,300 unit nights (-30.1% vs. 2019). That resulted in an average monthly unit occupancy of 81.8 percent (+4.2 percentage points vs. 2019) for July, which was slightly lower than the occupancy of Hawaiʻi’s hotels (82.4%). 

The ADR for vacation rental units statewide in July was $251 (-27.3% vs. 2019). By comparison the ADR for hotels was $368 in July 2021. It is important to note that unlike hotels, units in vacation rentals are not necessarily available year-round or each day of the month and often accommodate a larger number of guests than traditional hotel rooms. 

In July, 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. In July 2021, 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 prior to their departure to Hawaiʻi through the Safe Travels program.

In addition, individuals who were fully vaccinated in the United States could bypass the quarantine order beginning July 8, 2021. There were no inter-county travel restrictions in July.

The data in the Hawaiʻi Vacation Rental Performance Report specifically excludes units reported in its Hawaiʻi Hotel Performance Report and its Hawaiʻi Timeshare Quarterly Survey 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. This report does not determine or differentiate between units that are permitted or unpermitted. The legality of any given vacation rental unit is determined on a county basis.

Tables of vacation rental performance statistics, including data presented in the report are available for viewing online at: https://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/research/infrastructure-research/.

The Hawaiʻi Vacation Rental Performance Report is produced using data compiled by Transparent Intelligence, Inc. The report includes data for properties that are listed on Airbnb, Booking.com, HomeAway and TripAdvisor. For July 2021, the report included data for 25,131 units, representing 42,984 bedrooms in the Hawaiian Islands.