Big Island vacation rental occupancy for May down 14% from a year ago

The occupancy for Big Island vacation rentals in May was 43.5%, which is down 14.2% from a year ago and 27.8% lower than May 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

These statistics are according to the Hawaiʻi Vacation Rental Performance Report for May that was issued by the State of Hawai‘i Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism and compiled by Transparent Intelligence.

There is a supply on the Big Island of 207,200 available vacation rental unit nights, but only 90,100 were used in May. The average daily rate was $228, which is 2.3% less than May 2022 but 48.7% more than May 2019.

Hawai‘i Island hotels reported an average daily rate of $370 with an occupancy of 66.9% for May.

Vacation rentals across the state of Hawaiʻi reported increases in supply and average daily rate, with lower demand and occupancy in May 2023 compared to May 2022. In comparison to pre-pandemic May 2019, average daily rate was higher in May 2023, but vacation rental supply, demand and occupancy were lower.

In May 2023, the total monthly supply of statewide vacation rentals was 827,700 unit nights (+20.2% vs. 2022, -10.9% vs. 2019) and monthly demand was 445,300 unit nights (-6.9% vs. 2022, -32.6% vs. 2019).

This combination resulted in an average monthly unit occupancy of 53.8 percent (-15.6 percentage points vs. 2022, -17.4 percentage points vs. 2019) for May. Occupancy for Hawai‘i’s hotels was 72.8% in May 2023. 

The average daily rate for vacation rental units statewide in May was $292 (+2.7% vs. 2022, +49.2% vs. 2019). By comparison, the average daily rates for hotels was $347 in May 2023.

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.

The data in the Hawai‘i Vacation Rental Performance Report specifically excludes units reported in Hawai‘i Tourism Authority’s Hawai‘i Hotel Performance Report and Hawai‘i 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 report includes data for properties that are listed on Airbnb, Booking.com and HomeAway.

Transparent Intelligence enriches its occupancy and price calculations with reservations data provided by vacation rental software providers, online travel agencies and local property managers. Currently, the reservations data provided by data partners represent about 33.5% of the estimated total unique vacation rental properties in the State of Hawai‘i. 

For May 2023, the report included data for 32,878 units, representing 56,401 bedrooms in the Hawaiian Islands.

Tables of vacation rental performance statistics, including data presented in the report are available for viewing online at: http://dbedt.hawaii.gov/visitor/vacation-rental-performance/