TVR Report Designed to Make Case for Tax Hikes

KGI: ...“TVRs have clearly become a popular accommodation choice with beautiful homes located in resort neighborhoods,” Kauai County Economic Development Director George Costa said. “It is very difficult to monitor from a tax perspective because many are independently owned and marketed. Our challenge is to ensure that alternative accommodations are properly permitted and properly classified for real property tax purposes.” ...

“It will provide the counties with information to help them better understand this segment when making policy decisions in the future,” Williams said....

The trend could affect the state’s pocketbook.

Hotels charge visitor fees that contribute to the general excise tax or transient accommodations tax. The state and counties could well be losing out on potential revenues from non-traditional housing that would otherwise come from hotels, condo associations and timeshares.

“Our lodging people are not looking to put anyone out of business but what we’re asking for is to put everyone on a level playing field,” Szigeti said. “Everyone should pay their fair share of the fees that come with accommodations.”

“We are changing the model all the time and this study is a great road map to look at,” he added. “There are a lot of challenges and people are trying to get their arms around this and do the right thing raise their taxes.”

read ... Tax Hike Coming

  *   *   *   *   *

HTA RELEASES STUDY ON VACATION RENTAL UNITS ACROSS THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS

News Release from HTA December 23, 2014

HONOLULU – The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA), the state tourism agency, today released a study of the vacation rental market in Hawai‘i. The study was conducted by SMS Research in phases at year-end 2013 and between August and September of 2014 to determine the estimated number of vacation rental units statewide being advertised individually on the internet.

Vacation rentals identified by this study included condominium units, vacation rental houses and properties identifying themselves as bed and breakfasts. The HTA study estimates that more than 22,000 lodging units are listed on the following popular internet distribution channels: Vacation Rentals by Owner (VRBO), Clearstay.com, TripAdvisor and AirBnB.

LINK:  Table 1: Total Number of Individually Advertised Units in 2014

“While hotels continue to be the accommodation of choice, the popularity and demand for alternative accommodations, have grown rapidly over the years,” said Ronald Williams, chief executive officer of the HTA. “As a knowledge-based organization, the HTA initiated this study to help us, the state, the counties and the industry further understand the reach of this specific market segment. It will provide the counties with information to help them better understand this segment when making policy decisions in the future.”

If all of the identified units were available for visitor use at the same time, these units would account for up to 25 percent of Hawai‘i’s total lodging inventory. In comparison, hotels units make up approximately 50 percent of visitor accommodations mix, condohotels represent 12.0 percent and timeshares at 12.1 percent.

The following table represents a combination of the units reported in the HTA’s 2014 Visitor Plant Inventory Report and the units identified in this study. The estimate for total lodging units available statewide is 88,041.

LINK: Table 2: Number of Lodging Units in the State of Hawai‘i by Type, 2014

The HTA plans to integrate the methodology of this study into future Visitor Plant Inventory studies in an effort to monitor accommodations trends throughout the state.

The report can be found on the HTA’s website at (www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/research/research/infrastructure-research/).

Established in 1998, the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, the state’s tourism agency, is responsible for strategically managing tourism to optimize benefits for Hawai‘i that integrate the interest of visitors, the community and visitor industry. Tourism is our state’s leading economic driver and largest employer and the HTA continually works to ensure its sustainability well into the future. For more information on the HTA, please visit www.hawaiitourismauthority.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter (@HawaiiHTA).

# # #