Last month, we saw a powerful example of the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s advocacy influence and reach as we secured an important policy victory that ensures fair treatment for hotels in Hawaii, a major U.S. tourist destination that’s critical to the health of our industry.
As our members know, AHLA is constantly monitoring states across the country for policies that discriminate against hotels in favor of short-term rental properties. We are not opposed to short-term rentals, and in fact many of our members operate them. But we are opposed to any effort that gives short-term rentals special treatment over hotels, which usually comes in the form of less regulatory oversight in areas such as taxes, zoning, or guest safety standards.
AHLA’s leadership on this issue came at a critical time for the Aloha State.
Like many other states, Hawaii has seen the disastrous effects of the explosive growth of unregulated short-term rentals. When residential homes are bought for the commercial use of renting them out to short-term guests, it takes housing options off the market, driving up prices and putting homes out of reach for local families. It can also destroy neighborhoods as many short-term rentals become party houses for temporary guests, creating unsafe environments for residents who live there year-round.
The situation worsened when wildfires hit Maui last summer. A preliminary Federal Emergency Management Agency report from February said more than 2,200 structures were destroyed by those fires, and damages exceeded $5 billion. That created even more housing problems for Hawaii residents.
In May, the state took action to make housing more affordable for residents by enacting a new law, SB 2919, which included policies AHLA has championed for years. Importantly, SB 2919 gave local officials the ability to regulate and zone short-term rentals under the same standards as hotels and phase out short-term rentals completely if they choose.
Gov. Josh Green stressed the dire need for this law in his state. A statement issued from his office said the new law marks a “pivotal moment in tackling the short-term rental crisis in Hawaii,” and added it will “help against the adverse impacts of non-resident ownership of short-term rentals, which impedes housing supply for residents and emphasizes the unique needs of each county in regulating such accommodations.”
The law was passed thanks to a broad range of support for this change. It was backed not only by our industry partners at the Hawai‘i Hotel Alliance, but also by many community advocacy organizations and two labor unions—Unite Here Local 5 and the International Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 142.
Our victory in Hawaii isn’t the end of the story. AHLA continues to fight against state-level efforts to give short-term rentals unfair advantages over hotels. These efforts are resulting in policy victories across the country:
- In Georgia, legislators were considering a bill that would have exempted many short-term rentals from regulation. AHLA worked with the Georgia Hotel & Lodging Association to defeat that proposal.
- In Kentucky, a bill that would have denied counties the option of prohibiting the use of residential properties for short-term rentals was killed this year. Thanks to AHLA staff work and the Kentucky Travel Industry Association, that bill never got a hearing in committee.
- Similar legislation in Nebraska to prevent regulation of short-term rentals was stymied thanks to AHLA.
- In Tennessee, AHLA and the Tennessee Hospitality & Tourism Association stopped legislation that would have provided financial incentives for the construction of short-term rental properties.
- AHLA worked closely with the Utah Tourism Industry Association to defeat legislation that would have increased the state transient room tax on hotels but not for short-term rentals. Without the hotel industry’s advocacy, Utah’s hotels would have seen two statewide increases to the transient room tax totaling 1.6 percent.
Our success in Hawaii and other states shows the decisions we’ve made over the last several years to invest in state and local government affairs staff and strengthen our partnerships with state hotel associations are paying huge dividends. Our team will continue to use these resources to rack up policy victories anywhere in the country where our industry and its employees are threatened.
