In June 2020, the total monthly supply of statewide vacation rentals was 339,400 unit nights (-61.5%) and monthly demand was 46,700 unit nights (-92.8%), resulting in an average monthly unit occupancy of 13.8 percent (-59.8 percentage points) (Figure 1).
In comparison, Hawaii’s hotels were 15.6 percent occupied in June 2020. It is important to note that unlike hotels, condominium hotels, timeshare resorts and vacation rental units are not necessarily available year-round or each day of the month and often accommodate a larger number of guests than traditional hotel rooms. The unit average daily rate (ADR) for vacation rental units statewide in June was $207, which was higher than the ADR for hotels ($162).
Vacation rentals were not on the state’s list of essential businesses at the beginning of June. In Governor David Ige’s Ninth Supplementary Proclamation, signed on June 10, host responsibility was added, which means that hosts are responsible for ensuring their guest(s) abides by the state’s mandatory 14-day self-quarantine. The county mayors then enacted their own rules regarding short-term rentals. On Oahu, short-term rentals (rented for less than 30 days) were not allowed to operate during June. For Hawaii Island, Kauai and Maui County, legal short-term rentals were allowed to operate as long as they were not being used as a quarantine location.
Also in June, 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 the
self-quarantine. The quarantine order was expanded on April 1 to include interisland travelers; the interisland quarantine ended on June 15.
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.
