Hawaii visitors are changing where they choose to stay. The number of vacation rental rooms booked, such as those listed on Airbnb or Vrbo, is declining dramatically, while hotel stays are increasing.

In November 2024, of the 803,100 vacation rental unit nights available, only 388,800 nights were booked, according to a report by the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. This is a decrease of 2.4% compared with 2023 — and a whopping 38.3% drop compared with 2019.

“From our own experience as owners and operators of Airbnb units at the Luana Waikiki, we can confirm that the demand has indeed dropped considerably over the past few months,” Bruce Fisher, travel adviser and owner of Hawaii Aloha Travel, told SFGATE.

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“For instance, we had zero bookings in October, only two bookings in November, and a similarly low number for January,” he said.

Fisher thinks the increasing cost of visiting Hawaii is the likely culprit.

© SFGate