The tourism industry in Hawaii will always be a leader. We need (our leaders need) to realize that and understand it.
The problem is that there is too much brainwashing going on. Our leaders are leaders. They are not hosts. What’s being fed to them by HTA and other tourism-favored businesses is that “we need to be sensitive to the industry…to maintain a steady and growing flow of visitors to maintain the revenue flow”. This is misleading.
What we should realize is that Hawaii has what NO OTHER state can offer in the way of annual warm weather, majestic beauty and an amazing culture. Folks, we are not going to lose revenue if the cost of visiting increases. We must not be scared or timid thinking that another 5% accommodations tax is going to destroy tourism; that a 50% increase in room rates and rental car cost will create a vacuum. This past year, we have seen room rates double…car rental rates 10-20X the normal rate…and it has not slowed tourism as much as even our leaders want to see. I am amazed that the airport Marriott was asking for and completely booked at basically the same rate that The Grand Wailea usually charges…$600 a night! The GW went up to $1600 a night! And we still had close to normal visitor numbers!
We are being sold out cheap. WAY too cheap.
If there is anything wrong with tourism in Hawaii, it’s that the pricing is MUCH too low. THIS is what keeps tourism-based jobs paying so little and residents barely getting by…if that.
It’s time that we make demands of our leaders. We cannot ease the pressure. We are moving forward in a positive direction in what we saw this past summer with the new taxing structure and laws regarding STR’s, property tax and accommodation taxes…but that’s just the beginning. We need to push for higher property taxation and state income taxation on the huge corporations like Marriott, Sheraton and Hilton. They won’t up and bolt. They KNOW that Hawaii is their cash cow. They will just simply raise room rates to accommodate the tax increases…especially since ALL hotels and resorts would be affected.
Big corporations are sending boatloads of Hawaiian-generated profits back to mainland home offices and laughing all the way to the bank….
Enough hotels, tourists, transplants who live here couple months of the year. Take care of the kanaka and other local people first. All our beaches that I used to go to are not accessible because of tourism. And now the beaches the locals go to are getting overcrowded with tourists. Enough already! Maui is not the same place it used to be because of overtourism. Aloha is gone. People are fed up. We the local people cannot afford to live here anymore. When will the politicians see what they are doing to our islands? This place is not Hawaii anymore. Cry for the gods! Cry for the people! Cry for the land that was taken away! Open your ears and your eyes not your pockets! Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono!
I am proud to say that I am NOT A REALTOR OR a "Short term vacation rental agent"
I support a moratorium on new transient accommodations on Maui. I am an ER doctor and can testify that the LACK of housing has contributed to the difficulty in getting and keeping healthcare workers in our community. In the last few years, we have lost countless staff from doctors, nurses, techs, radiology staff, case workers, to cleaning staff because they LOST their housing to new owners (who own multiple dwellings) who decided it was more profitable to short term rent their houses. These are neighborhoods and apartments where families lived upcountry, Wailuku, Paia, Kihei and Lahaina. Now these folks live in Vegas, Oregon, Washington State and we have LOST their contributions to our community. Everyday I see extraordinary amounts of tourists and owners who claim to "pay their taxes" and "supply jobs" when in reality, those "jobs" will be utilized REGARDLESS of short term rental or not. I have landscapers, I use cleaners, I do NOT short term rent multiple properties at the expense of my community. I feel we have become of society of haves and have nots. Many of these comments I am reading are WEALTHY OWNERS with multiple properties or REAL ESTATE AGENTS whose vested interest is NOT FOR THE COMMUNITY BUT FOR THEIR OWN WALLETS. Please keep tourism in tourist areas such as hotels. KEEP OUR COMMUNITY for those who CONTRIBUTE TO OUR COMMUNITY in more ways than "employing workers" and "paying their taxes".
As a long time resident of Maui and healthcare worker I am in support of placing limits on tourism and additional visitor accommodations. The amount of visitors and housing that is accommodating visitors and non residents has grown out of control, especially in the last few years. As residents we are told there is not sufficient water, the sewage treatment facilities are insufficient, we have lack of roads, some which are threatened by erosion and sea level rise, we don't have healthcare facilities or adequate number of healthcare providers. The number of visitors per resident is already far higher than the community plan calls for on a daily basis. It has become difficult to go on hikes or to beaches on many days as there is not enough parking. The grocery store has become unbearable on most days. The culture is disappearing and Maui is turning into a place like any other on the mainland. If we cannot enjoy or afford the place we live, we too will have to leave.
I have lived on Maui for many years and have witnessed a very large, and unsustainable growth in tourism. With the limited resources, a lack of infrastructure, etc., the quality of Maui's beaches, reefs and ecosystem will continue to deteriorate. We support the proposal to limit the number of tourists that visit Maui and limit the number of vacation rentals, hotel rooms, and other accommodations to keep our slice of paradise vibrant, alive and sustainable. Thanks for your good work. Mike & Jodi Ottman
We can’t have all our reliance upon Tourism, we need alternative economy for our community. Thank you for allowing our community to have a voice here. We need to learn from our experiences through Covid and create an alternative economy without all our resources and reliance upon tourism.
Please stop building more visitor accommodations.
Please reduce the existing number of visitor accommodations.
1. When the events of 2020 opened our beaches, parks, and parking lots to locals, and made it fun to drive again after 30,000 rental cars were taken off the streets, it showed us that tourism is out-of-control. One way to manage tourism is to limit the number of hotels. The current abundance of hotels are never filled to capacity and are tickled if they reach 65%. A moratorium on hotel construction for the whole island is long overdue. If the day comes that Maui really and truly needs more hotel rooms, the moratorium can always be lifted.
2. Maui has a shortage of available dwellings for residents. I think many of these vacation rentals could and should be made available for local residents. I am not opposed to a certain number of licensed and permitted vacation rentals as long as the owners are residents of Maui. There are too many non-residents who own condos that they use a few weeks to a few months every year and the rest of the time rent out the unit to tourists. There needs to be a moratorium on these kinds of rentals and any current unit rented by a non-resident should pay double the property tax as that paid by local citizens.
local people are priced out of the market in both rentals and ownership. at what point does the culture and HAWAIIANS be considered more important than the american value of money??? when is enuf enuf??? my friends and i are sad on a daily basis. and if not for the post of FB we wouldn’t even know about these bills. Many local people don’t even know how to navigate the internet to find these items for public comment. i am trying my best to share the info ..PLEASE PLEASE put some sanity back into the decisions that are being made ‘for the people’ …mahalo.
My wife and I own a vacation rental condo in Kihei and we are very strongly opposed to this PSLU-34 Measure. We have been coming to Maui for more than 30 years and have dreams of retiring here someday. We have always operated our property legally and paid very high taxes to the state and county. Without short term rentals to support our 2-bedroom unit the expenses would amount to $3200/ mo to rent it on a long-term basis. Most of our guests are repeat visitors that do not want to stay in a resort bubble hotel where they will spend all their time and money. They want to support the local community in Maui. They love the people of Maui and shop at the small and local businesses. They go out to the local restaurants. The big hotel guests don’t do that. We as owners employ local electricians, cleaners, locksmiths, painters, AC technicians, property managers etc. which support the local economy. If we need to buy a large appliance like a refrigerator, washer or dryer (which we have) we buy it locally because it’s too expensive to ship it on island.
If this measure were to go through, it would have a huge negative impact on local businesses and workers. It would not translate into local housing because of the high rent that would have to charged and also because it’s not really suitable for long term renters.
Somehow, I think the responsible STVR owners were lumped in with other owners that were renting bedrooms and other “under the table” situations to avoid taxes and compliance with the rules. The apartment condo owners are not part of that group.
If this goes through, we would definitely not be retiring in Hawaii, we would be the victim of government overreach that would devastate our property value. It would not result in anything near affordable housing in Maui.
I am so sorry to hear that this is being proposed again! I know how hard I have worked to acquire a permit and provide jobs to local people to maintain the property. My guests have appreciated a clean, safe and private place to vacation. Vacation rentals contribute a lot not only to the economy, but through taxes as well.
Gee Whiz.....another useless exercise and more stress to us by the Maui gummint....
Do they not know that the people that rent from us transient providers do so because they cannot afford the room charges at our local hotels.?
And...most important, stay at a mini home usually, with magnificent ocean views and easy access that your have to pay a fortune for at any of the Maui hotels that have similar attributes.?
Reminds me when the Maui gummint wanted to have our local RE agents collect our rents, take out the Transient and GE taxes, and send us the remainder.
The local RE agencies just about had a stroke, for they would have to add many people to handle these kind of transactions, with no benefit to the RE company, so with the rising up of the RE companies on Maui, thankfully this latter day device of private imposition happily died a quick death.
Larry Burke, Owner
Kana'i a Nalu
250 Hauoli Street
Wailuku
Please see my extended testimony in support of BOTH PSLU-28 AND PSLU-34 submitted via email. - Sarah Hofstadter, Kihei resident
The tourism industry in Hawaii will always be a leader. We need (our leaders need) to realize that and understand it.
The problem is that there is too much brainwashing going on. Our leaders are leaders. They are not hosts. What’s being fed to them by HTA and other tourism-favored businesses is that “we need to be sensitive to the industry…to maintain a steady and growing flow of visitors to maintain the revenue flow”. This is misleading.
What we should realize is that Hawaii has what NO OTHER state can offer in the way of annual warm weather, majestic beauty and an amazing culture. Folks, we are not going to lose revenue if the cost of visiting increases. We must not be scared or timid thinking that another 5% accommodations tax is going to destroy tourism; that a 50% increase in room rates and rental car cost will create a vacuum. This past year, we have seen room rates double…car rental rates 10-20X the normal rate…and it has not slowed tourism as much as even our leaders want to see. I am amazed that the airport Marriott was asking for and completely booked at basically the same rate that The Grand Wailea usually charges…$600 a night! The GW went up to $1600 a night! And we still had close to normal visitor numbers!
We are being sold out cheap. WAY too cheap.
If there is anything wrong with tourism in Hawaii, it’s that the pricing is MUCH too low. THIS is what keeps tourism-based jobs paying so little and residents barely getting by…if that.
It’s time that we make demands of our leaders. We cannot ease the pressure. We are moving forward in a positive direction in what we saw this past summer with the new taxing structure and laws regarding STR’s, property tax and accommodation taxes…but that’s just the beginning. We need to push for higher property taxation and state income taxation on the huge corporations like Marriott, Sheraton and Hilton. They won’t up and bolt. They KNOW that Hawaii is their cash cow. They will just simply raise room rates to accommodate the tax increases…especially since ALL hotels and resorts would be affected.
Big corporations are sending boatloads of Hawaiian-generated profits back to mainland home offices and laughing all the way to the bank….
Enough hotels, tourists, transplants who live here couple months of the year. Take care of the kanaka and other local people first. All our beaches that I used to go to are not accessible because of tourism. And now the beaches the locals go to are getting overcrowded with tourists. Enough already! Maui is not the same place it used to be because of overtourism. Aloha is gone. People are fed up. We the local people cannot afford to live here anymore. When will the politicians see what they are doing to our islands? This place is not Hawaii anymore. Cry for the gods! Cry for the people! Cry for the land that was taken away! Open your ears and your eyes not your pockets! Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono!
I am proud to say that I am NOT A REALTOR OR a "Short term vacation rental agent"
I support a moratorium on new transient accommodations on Maui. I am an ER doctor and can testify that the LACK of housing has contributed to the difficulty in getting and keeping healthcare workers in our community. In the last few years, we have lost countless staff from doctors, nurses, techs, radiology staff, case workers, to cleaning staff because they LOST their housing to new owners (who own multiple dwellings) who decided it was more profitable to short term rent their houses. These are neighborhoods and apartments where families lived upcountry, Wailuku, Paia, Kihei and Lahaina. Now these folks live in Vegas, Oregon, Washington State and we have LOST their contributions to our community. Everyday I see extraordinary amounts of tourists and owners who claim to "pay their taxes" and "supply jobs" when in reality, those "jobs" will be utilized REGARDLESS of short term rental or not. I have landscapers, I use cleaners, I do NOT short term rent multiple properties at the expense of my community. I feel we have become of society of haves and have nots. Many of these comments I am reading are WEALTHY OWNERS with multiple properties or REAL ESTATE AGENTS whose vested interest is NOT FOR THE COMMUNITY BUT FOR THEIR OWN WALLETS. Please keep tourism in tourist areas such as hotels. KEEP OUR COMMUNITY for those who CONTRIBUTE TO OUR COMMUNITY in more ways than "employing workers" and "paying their taxes".
Sincerely,
Vijak Ayasanonda
I support the passage of PSLU 28 Moratorium on New Transient Accommodations on Maui
As a long time resident of Maui and healthcare worker I am in support of placing limits on tourism and additional visitor accommodations. The amount of visitors and housing that is accommodating visitors and non residents has grown out of control, especially in the last few years. As residents we are told there is not sufficient water, the sewage treatment facilities are insufficient, we have lack of roads, some which are threatened by erosion and sea level rise, we don't have healthcare facilities or adequate number of healthcare providers. The number of visitors per resident is already far higher than the community plan calls for on a daily basis. It has become difficult to go on hikes or to beaches on many days as there is not enough parking. The grocery store has become unbearable on most days. The culture is disappearing and Maui is turning into a place like any other on the mainland. If we cannot enjoy or afford the place we live, we too will have to leave.
I have lived on Maui for many years and have witnessed a very large, and unsustainable growth in tourism. With the limited resources, a lack of infrastructure, etc., the quality of Maui's beaches, reefs and ecosystem will continue to deteriorate. We support the proposal to limit the number of tourists that visit Maui and limit the number of vacation rentals, hotel rooms, and other accommodations to keep our slice of paradise vibrant, alive and sustainable. Thanks for your good work. Mike & Jodi Ottman
We can’t have all our reliance upon Tourism, we need alternative economy for our community. Thank you for allowing our community to have a voice here. We need to learn from our experiences through Covid and create an alternative economy without all our resources and reliance upon tourism.
Please stop building more visitor accommodations.
Please reduce the existing number of visitor accommodations.
1. When the events of 2020 opened our beaches, parks, and parking lots to locals, and made it fun to drive again after 30,000 rental cars were taken off the streets, it showed us that tourism is out-of-control. One way to manage tourism is to limit the number of hotels. The current abundance of hotels are never filled to capacity and are tickled if they reach 65%. A moratorium on hotel construction for the whole island is long overdue. If the day comes that Maui really and truly needs more hotel rooms, the moratorium can always be lifted.
2. Maui has a shortage of available dwellings for residents. I think many of these vacation rentals could and should be made available for local residents. I am not opposed to a certain number of licensed and permitted vacation rentals as long as the owners are residents of Maui. There are too many non-residents who own condos that they use a few weeks to a few months every year and the rest of the time rent out the unit to tourists. There needs to be a moratorium on these kinds of rentals and any current unit rented by a non-resident should pay double the property tax as that paid by local citizens.
local people are priced out of the market in both rentals and ownership. at what point does the culture and HAWAIIANS be considered more important than the american value of money??? when is enuf enuf??? my friends and i are sad on a daily basis. and if not for the post of FB we wouldn’t even know about these bills. Many local people don’t even know how to navigate the internet to find these items for public comment. i am trying my best to share the info ..PLEASE PLEASE put some sanity back into the decisions that are being made ‘for the people’ …mahalo.
My wife and I own a vacation rental condo in Kihei and we are very strongly opposed to this PSLU-34 Measure. We have been coming to Maui for more than 30 years and have dreams of retiring here someday. We have always operated our property legally and paid very high taxes to the state and county. Without short term rentals to support our 2-bedroom unit the expenses would amount to $3200/ mo to rent it on a long-term basis. Most of our guests are repeat visitors that do not want to stay in a resort bubble hotel where they will spend all their time and money. They want to support the local community in Maui. They love the people of Maui and shop at the small and local businesses. They go out to the local restaurants. The big hotel guests don’t do that. We as owners employ local electricians, cleaners, locksmiths, painters, AC technicians, property managers etc. which support the local economy. If we need to buy a large appliance like a refrigerator, washer or dryer (which we have) we buy it locally because it’s too expensive to ship it on island.
If this measure were to go through, it would have a huge negative impact on local businesses and workers. It would not translate into local housing because of the high rent that would have to charged and also because it’s not really suitable for long term renters.
Somehow, I think the responsible STVR owners were lumped in with other owners that were renting bedrooms and other “under the table” situations to avoid taxes and compliance with the rules. The apartment condo owners are not part of that group.
If this goes through, we would definitely not be retiring in Hawaii, we would be the victim of government overreach that would devastate our property value. It would not result in anything near affordable housing in Maui.
I am so sorry to hear that this is being proposed again! I know how hard I have worked to acquire a permit and provide jobs to local people to maintain the property. My guests have appreciated a clean, safe and private place to vacation. Vacation rentals contribute a lot not only to the economy, but through taxes as well.
Gee Whiz.....another useless exercise and more stress to us by the Maui gummint....
Do they not know that the people that rent from us transient providers do so because they cannot afford the room charges at our local hotels.?
And...most important, stay at a mini home usually, with magnificent ocean views and easy access that your have to pay a fortune for at any of the Maui hotels that have similar attributes.?
Reminds me when the Maui gummint wanted to have our local RE agents collect our rents, take out the Transient and GE taxes, and send us the remainder.
The local RE agencies just about had a stroke, for they would have to add many people to handle these kind of transactions, with no benefit to the RE company, so with the rising up of the RE companies on Maui, thankfully this latter day device of private imposition happily died a quick death.
Larry Burke, Owner
Kana'i a Nalu
250 Hauoli Street
Wailuku
Please see attached file for comments. Mahalo for your kokua.