Big Island rental rules advance, proposal targets vacation homes, B&Bs

Hawaii County moved a controversial rental crackdown forward April 7, putting thousands of vacation homes and bed-and-breakfast operations in line for new rules that would split the island’s lodging market into hosted and unhosted rentals and widen the county’s reach from stays under 30 days to stays under 180 consecutive days.

The Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use and Economic Development voted unanimously to send Bill 147 to the planning director and both the Windward Planning Commission and Leeward Planning Commission. Introduced by Council Member Heather Kimball, the measure is intended, she said, to get “everybody on the same set of rules.”

Under the proposal, hosted bed-and-breakfasts, where the owner or host lives on the property during guest stays, would remain allowed in a broad mix of zoning districts, including residential, commercial and agricultural areas. Unhosted short-term vacation rentals would be far more limited, largely confined to resort areas and a handful of multifamily condominium properties, especially in Kona, Waikoloa Beach and the Kohala Coast. The change in the definition alone would bring many more properties into the county’s regulatory system.

Bill 147 also adds operating rules that could affect daily life in neighborhoods where rentals have drawn complaints about noise and large gatherings. The draft sets occupancy limits, quiet hours and a ban on weddings and other large-scale events without permits, while still allowing smaller gatherings such as birthday parties and picnics. Registration fees would be $250 for new bed-and-breakfasts with a $100 annual renewal, and $500 for new short-term vacation rentals with a $250 annual renewal.

Enforcement is one of the bill’s sharpest points. The measure would create a dedicated STVR enforcement fund administered by the planning director and financed by fees, fines and other money tied to enforcement. It would also let county enforcers treat an unregistered online listing as enough evidence of illegal operation, shifting the burden to the property owner to prove compliance. Penalties would start at $5,500 for a first offense and rise to $10,000 for repeat violations.

The proposal lands after years of uneven rulemaking. Hawaii County first regulated unhosted vacation rentals with Bill 108 in 2018. In 2025, Mayor Kimo Alameda signed Bill 47 into law to require registration of hosted rentals, then Bill 98 pushed the effective date to July 1, 2026 to give the county more time to build an enforcement system.

The economic stakes are substantial. A county-commissioned study by Hunden Partners estimated short-term vacation rentals generated about $710 million in lodging revenue in 2024, with visitor spending tied to them ranging from $565 million to $862 million. Reporting on the study said about 41% of Big Island visitors stayed in TVRs or STVRs, and other coverage put uncollected transient-accommodations tax from unregistered units at about $12 million.

That backdrop explains why the bill has drawn such a split response. Council Member Holeka Inaba was the only member to vote against the 2025 hosted-rental bill, saying he would have supported it if the county had also covered the regulations now being proposed. Critics have argued that the rules would hit local families who depend on rental income and could shift business toward hotels, while supporters say the island needs clearer limits, stronger enforcement and less pressure on neighborhoods from the windward side of Hawaiʻi Island to Hilo’s outskirts and the resort corridor on the west side.