In March 2020, the total monthly supply of statewide vacation rentals was 871,500 unit nights and monthly demand was 557,400 unit nights, resulting in an average monthly unit occupancy of 64.0 percent (Figure 1).
In comparison, Hawaii’s hotels were 44.5 percent occupied in March 2020. It is important to note that unlike hotels, condominium hotels, and timeshare resorts, vacation rental units are not necessarily available year-round or each day of the month. The unit average daily rate (ADR) for vacation rental units statewide in March was $239, lower than the ADR for hotels ($280).
In March the majority of flights to Hawaii were cancelled because of COVID-19. As of March 26, all passengers arriving from out-of-state were required to abide by a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine.
HTA’s Tourism Research Division issued the report’s findings utilizing data compiled by Transparent Intelligence, Inc. The data in this report specifically excludes units reported in HTA’s Hawaii Hotel Performance Report and Hawaii 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. This report also 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.
Island Highlights
In March, Maui County had the largest vacation rental supply of all four counties with 287,100 unit nights, which is an increase of 30.7 percent compared to a year ago. Unit demand was 200,000 unit nights, resulting in 69.6 percent occupancy (-13.5 percentage points) with an ADR of $301 (+10.2%). Maui County hotels were 47.4 percent occupied with an ADR of $413.
There were 203,000 available unit nights (+11.0%) on the island of Hawaii in March. Unit demand was 133,800 unit nights (-0.3%), resulting in 65.9 percent occupancy (-7.5 percentage points) with an ADR of $183 (+10.1%). Hawaii Island hotels were 46.1 percent occupied with an ADR of $274.
