September Vacation Rental Performance Report

For seven years, the State of Hawai‘i has set visitor arrival records. But during those years, the number of traditional lodging units, like hotels and timeshares, has increased only minimally.

Vacation rentals by island. Graphic courtesy of HTA.

In 2017, the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA) began reporting the use of a rental house, private room in private home and shared room/space in a private home as part of its monthly visitor statistics. Between 2017 and 2018, visitors’ reported use of these three accommodation types during their trip to Hawai‘i grew by 22.9%, from 937,980 to 1,152,846, and represented 11.8% of visitor arrivals in 2018.

The Hawai‘i Vacation Rental Performance Report published by HTA is intended to provide monthly performance data for vacation rentals, in a similar format to the Hawai‘i Hotel Performance Report. In this report, a vacation rental is defined as the use of a rental house, 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, an HTA press release said. The legality of any given vacation rental unit is determined on a county basis.

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 Hawai‘i Hotel Performance Report and Hawai‘i Timeshare Quarterly Survey Report.

For the month of September 2019, the total monthly supply of statewide vacation rentals was 913,285 unit nights and monthly demand was 622,329 unit nights, resulting in an average monthly unit occupancy of 68.1%, according to the report.

In comparison, Hawai‘i’s hotels were 78.2% occupied in September 2019. It is important to note that unlike hotels, condominium hotels, and timeshare resorts, vacation rental units are not necessarily available year-round or even for every day of the month, the release continued.

The average daily rate (ADR) for vacation rental units statewide in September ($194) was lower than the ADR for hotels ($247). Lodging is one of the costs calculated into visitor spending, which HTA tracks monthly.

Island Highlights

Vacation Rental Data, Big Island. Graphic courtesy of HTA.

There were 219,294 available unit nights on Hawai‘i Island. Unit demand was 127,821, resulting in 58.3% occupancy with ADR at $146. Big Island hotels were 67.5% occupied with ADR at $222.

In September, Maui County had the largest vacation rental supply of all four counties at 312,810 unit nights, which is an increase of 24.4% compared to a year ago. Unit demand was 226,059, resulting in 72.3% occupancy with ADR at $228. Maui County hotels were 72.7% occupied with ADR at $319.

O‘ahu had the second largest vacation rental supply at 241,811 unit nights. This is a decrease of 7.6 percent from a year ago. Unit demand on O‘ahu was 175,705 unit nights, resulting in 72.7% occupancy with ADR at $160. O‘ahu hotels were 84.1% occupied with ADR at $227.

Kaua‘i had the fewest number of available unit nights at 139,370. Unit demand was 92,744, resulting in 66.5% occupancy with ADR at $241. Kaua‘i hotels were 68.6% occupied with the same ADR ($241).

Tables of vacation rental performance statistics, including data presented in the report are available for viewing online.

2019 Annual Visitor Research Report can be viewed here.

The Hawai‘i Vacation Rental Performance Report is produced using data compiled by Transparent Intelligence, Inc., which was selected by the HTA as the provider for these data services. The report includes data for properties that are listed on Airbnb, Booking.com, HomeAway and TripAdvisor.

For September 2019, the report included data for 33,118 units, representing 57,524 bedrooms in the Hawaiian Islands.