#Vacation Rentals

Some owners are selling, and related businesses like cleaning services are seeing a drop in jobs and income. “We’re just kind of in purgatory,” one property management company said.

A portion of a bill enacted to curb vacation rentals in residential areas will go into effect Jan. 1 and expand the scope of the transient accommodations tax law to include certain shelters and vehicles with sleeping accommodations.

Maui County continued to have the largest vacation rental supply in the state in September — 263,900 available unit nights, compared with 230,500 on Oʻahu, 214,600 on Hawaiʻi Island and 136,600 on Kauaʻi, according to a monthly vacation rental performance report by the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

Hundreds of property owners have been notified recently that they owe back taxes. The county has struggled to collect the tax since it was imposed in 2021.

While Maui County’s resident population of roughly 164,000 represents about 11% of Hawaiʻi state residents overall, the Tri-Isle county had the highest supply of available vacation rental unit nights of any county in the state in August, according to a report by the Hawaiʻi Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

With the largest supply of vacation rentals in the state, Maui County’s unit demand and occupancy rates are down in double-digits since last year and 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, according to a report for June by the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

Round 2 in a battle over Mayor Richard Bissen’s proposed phase-out of approximately 7,000 transient vacation rentals in Maui County’s apartment-zoned districts will move tomorrow to a different venue and have a duration estimated at only one hour.

Maui County Council members heard testimony from about a half-dozen people Monday morning on proposed real property tax rates, mostly from transient vacation rental operators who said they’re being unfairly squeezed with higher tax rates at a time when their future bookings are dropping dramatically.

Gov. Josh Green followed through on his pledge to sign Senate Bill 2919, clarifying the counties’ authority to regulate short-term rentals. Mayor Richard Bissen has already moved ahead with introducing a bill to phase-out thousands of short-term rentals to open up long-term housing for residents.

The state of Hawai‘i and its partners broke ground and held a Hawaiian blessing ceremony Tuesday for a Ka Laʻi Ola, a 450-unit temporary housing project in Lahaina to help displaced wildfire survivors who’re ineligible for aid by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Maui County Council passed Bill 159 that would end the temporary hotel moratorium, prohibit camper van usage as tourist lodging and continue the cap on transient vacation rentals.

Whatʻs on the minds of Maui residents? This version of Maui Nowʻs letters includes topics about speed bumps, Kīhei High School roundabout, tourist parking fees at beaches, Jones Act, ivermectin, long TSA lines, reducing vacation rentals, Maui High graduation changes and feral fowl.

Hilton Grand Vacations has completed the previously announced acquisition of Diamond Resorts International, creating the largest upper upscale and luxury timeshare operator in a stock-based transaction with an equity value of approximately $1.4 billion, according to a press release from Hilton Grand Vacations.

Maui County had the largest vacation rental supply of all four counties in February, according to a report from the Hawai’i Tourism Authority.

Maui’s 10-year Tourism Industry Strategic Plan, developed by the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development in partnership with the Maui Visitors Bureau will go into effect.

Last Thursday, HB 2078 bill requiring non-resident vacation rental owners to hire local property managers was passed by the Senate Tourism Committee.

State lawmakers have deferred the controversial vacation rental bill that would have made it law for out-of-state vacation rental owners to use a local rental managers.

Two controversial bills, SB 2089 and HB 1705, would require non-resident vacation rental owners to hire local property managers.

Leona Bak Nomura, 2010 Makawao Council candidate profile, Transcript:  Introduction:  My name is Leona Bak Nomura.  I was born in Paia, I grew up in Haliimaile, I went to school in Makawao, I live in Haiku, I have a store in Kuau, and I volunteer at Paia School.  This are the areas that I would represent.  […]