Facts are facts. The majority of short-term rentals (STRs) in Hawaii are illegal, mostly owned by nonresidents, contribute to skyrocketing housing costs by turning our homes into illegal hotels for speculators, and most of us who live in Hawaii don’t want them here.

STRs are making Hawaii unlivable, destroying the reputation of our legitimate and legal hotels and resorts, and pricing kamaaina out of Hawaii.

Hawaii’s future depends on our support of the people who call Hawaii home. For too long, STRs have primarily benefited nonresidents and taken critical housing away from the rest of us, jeopardizing the future of our workforce and economy. Our shrinking population caused in part by the STR-induced housing crisis has resulted in more than $185 million in lost tax revenue since 2020.

Almost all STRs in Hawaii are whole-home rentals, and while proponents of illegal STRs claim they generate “jobs,” this ignores the inherent hypocrisy. There’s a big difference between intermittent contract work for an illegal STR turning over weekly and a full-time hotel career.

Hawaii’s visitor economy employs nearly 240,000 full-time employees. In 2024, Hawaii’s hotels will contribute more than $1.5 billon in state and county taxes, pay out a record $3.67 billion in wages, salaries and compensation, and economy-wide spending of our hotel guests is expected to exceed $25 billion. Our collective membership is part of a community working to better our industry and to take care of our island home.

Hotels are built to keep our guests in and around resort zoned districts, developed with the infrastructure, resources and amenities to support tourism and everything that comes with it. Hotel growth involves consultation with the community, requires planning permission, and can take years to obtain the necessary approvals.

In contrast, anyone who owns, rents or manages a home in Hawaii can turn it into an illegal STR with the push of a button and without regard for impact on our neighborhoods or our people.

Hawaii’s hotel community cares about Hawaii’s future, and we stand united in our support of enabling effective county regulation of STRs. Our counties need the authority to fully enforce laws against illegal STRs, and, if they so choose, to ban STRs altogether.

House Bill 1838 and Senate Bill 2919 seek to give our counties the tools and legal protections to do just that. These bills will allow STRs to be amortized or phased out and make it clear that a residential use does not include transient accommodations uses (STRs).

With the support of leadership in both chambers, Rep. Luke Evslin and Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole have worked tirelessly alongside their colleagues on these bills this legislative session.

These bills represent our best and perhaps last chance to enable county regulation before the STR tsunami wipes out the Hawaii we all once knew and destroys any chance our keiki have of making Hawaii their forever home.

Kekoa McClellan is Hawaii spokesperson of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, with 160-plus member properties here; Jerry Gibson is president of the Hawaii Hotel Alliance, representing 32,000 hotel units; Chris West is president of ILWU Local 142, which includes 9,000 hotel employees here; Cade Watanabe is financial secretary treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 5, representing 8,500 hotel employees statewide.