Bye-Bye to B&Bs On Maui?

[tennisWalt Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tennisWalt]

BudgetTravel.com
Maui Shuts Down B&Bs and Rentals
Affordable lodging is now much harder to find on the island, and other islands may follow suit.

Alex Salkever
November 2007 issue
Tuesday, October 23, 2007;



California teacher Rebecca Vallejo had planned a two-week stay at the Haiku Plantation Inn on Maui. When the inn said it couldn't honor her reservation, she couldn't find lodging for under $350 per night. She had to cancel the trip.

Haiku Plantation had no choice: Maui officials decreed in July that B&Bs and vacation rentals without permits must cease operations or face fines starting at $1,000. A study funded by the Realtors Association of Maui put the number of properties without permits at 816. The number of properties with permits is 21.

There had been a long-standing tacit agreement between the county and property owners that the rules wouldn't be enforced except when complaints were lodged against a property. County officials have drafted a bill that would streamline the permitting process for B&Bs (and also prohibit vacation rentals in certain areas). It's unlikely that any legislation will go through before early 2008. A list of properties with permits would be helpful, but county agencies can't agree on who should distribute it.

Why the sudden enforcement of a dormant law? Hotels certainly have much to gain from the crackdown. Locals, meanwhile, blame the lack of affordable housing on the number of properties that are being used to house vacationers instead of islanders, and they say that parking and crowding problems are worse because of the high concentration of B&Bs.

Other islands may follow suit. On Oahu, residents of the Kailua area are agitating for similar enforcement. And on Kauai, a bill restricting the number and type of vacation rentals island-wide was introduced at the County Council late last year.

Budget Travel - Maui Shuts Down B&Bs and Rentals



Walt

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

Since they are depended on TOT, they have to protect their interest by forcing the permit. Can not believe that B&B does not get permit.

Jya-Ning

[tennisWalt Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tennisWalt]

Frommer's Blog on B&Bs

Travel Talk Arthur Frommer's Blog


The possibility that Maui will outlaw B&Bs and vacation home rentals will turn that beautiful island into a place for high-priced Harrys


Big Beach
Uploaded by dane brian There's trouble in paradise. Hard as it is to believe, the Mayor of the popular Hawaiian island of Maui has launched a serious campaign to outlaw the operation of B&Bs and the short-term rental of vacation homes (although rental of condominium apartments to tourists will continue to be allowed).

And why? Several reasons (which may not be the real ones) are advanced. According to the Mayor, residents are complaining about the infestation of their residential communities by tourists occupying low-cost rooms in the homes of Hawaiians. A second reason: the growing market for the short-term rental of vacation homes has greatly increased the value of homes generally, making them unaffordable for residents, especially native Hawaiians.

(Condominiums, on the other hand, are already found mainly in areas inhabited by tourists, and thus life in these areas isn't affected by rental of apartments to short-stay tourists, according to the Mayor.)

That's the news reported to me this week by my daughter, Pauline, upon her return from three weeks of researching and revising the Maui chapter of the forthcoming Pauline Frommer's Hawaii. She was unable to determine whether those alleged justifications are really a smokescreen for a campaign initiated by the hotel industry, which has an obvious self-interest in wiping out B&Bs and vacation home rentals. Her gut reaction isn't what you might expect from a daughter of mine. Pauline feels that the Maui Mayor is sincere in claiming that B&Bs and vacation home rentals are harmful to the quality of life on her island.

Regulations prohibiting such rentals are supposed to take effect on January 1, 2008. The island will then assess fines of $1,000-a-day on persons violating the ban. Lawsuits have already been commenced by B&B and vacation home associations to block the new rules, and it's anyone's guess as to what will occur.

Meantime, an effort to adopt the same prohibition on the Island of Kauai was beaten back when opponents pointed out that thousands of jobs on that island are created by B&Bs and vacation home rentals. The drive to ban the B&Bs was instantly dropped when its effect on island incomes was noted.

Because hotel rates on Maui are already so high (many modest properties charge $300 a night per room), the ban on B&Bs and vacation home rentals will have a devastating impact on the middle-income and low-income tourist. Maui would become an elite island, and ordinary Americans would be relegated to the overcrowded Oahu. I'll be reporting on the fight and trying to determine if there are ways for us outsiders to assist opponents of these un-democratic efforts.

And in the meantime, I'd be grateful to hear on the subject from Hawaiian (and other) readers of this blog. Is it the hotel industry which thought up this campaign? Are the people of Maui really ready to eliminate average-income Americans from their beautiful island?

Travel Talk - The possibility that Maui will outlaw B&Bs and vacation home rentals will turn that beautiful island into a place for high-priced Harrys

Walt

[1950bing Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 1950bing]

Is it difficult to obtain a permit ? Do you know why so many places are operating without a permit? Is this an effort to bring everyone in compliance to insure basic saftey rules are in place or is this big business trying to push out the little guy? I enjoy B & B and would hate to see them pushed out.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Is it difficult to obtain a permit ? Do you know why so many places are operating without a permit? Is this an effort to bring everyone in compliance to insure basic saftey rules are in place or is this big business trying to push out the little guy? I enjoy B & B and would hate to see them pushed out.

From the original post there are 816 B&B's operating without a permit and only 21 that have the required permit. The law is apparently already on the books but has been one of those dormant or uninforced laws.

I have no idea how expensive or what procedures one must go through to get such a permit. I agree that it would be a shame to see this industry squashed on Maui or anywhere else. B&B's are great places to spend some time and can often be found away from tourist centers to give vacationers more of a local feel vs the feel of a tourist trap.

At this point I'm glad I own in two different systems that can get us into Hawaii without to much effort. However I worry that the mayor, who seems to have put a bullseye on everything except hotel's, will start to push harder against timeshares as well. Either Maui will become an island for the rich and prosper or they'll lose so much tourism dollars from the average joe tourist that the people will elect different leadership. Only time will tell.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

This should bode well for timeshare sales and rentals.