General information, not insurance advice or legal advice. Short-term rental rules in Hawaii changed repeatedly in 2022–2026 and differ by county. This article summarizes published rules and figures. Confirm your property’s eligibility and insurance with the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP), your county planning department, and a licensed insurance agent.
Last verified: 12 November 2026.
The short answer
To legally rent a home for under 30 consecutive nights in Honolulu you need four things:
- An eligible location — a resort-zoned area or one of a few mapped apartment-zoned areas (Waikiki mauka of Kuhio Avenue, near Ko Olina, near Turtle Bay, next to Hoakalei). Everywhere else on Oahu, sub-30-day rentals are illegal.
- A city registration — $1,000 initial, $500 annual renewal (a 2.35% surcharge applies if you pay by credit card), through the DPP’s HNL Build portal.
- $1,000,000 in liability insurance — per occurrence commercial general liability, or a homeowners policy with business liability coverage. Umbrella coverage is acceptable, and hosting-platform coverage (Airbnb/Vrbo) can satisfy the requirement if it meets the minimums (DPP guidance, per BNBCalc and STRWatch).
- State tax licenses — GET license ($20 one-time) and TAT license ($5 one-time) — and the taxes themselves, about 18.7% on top of the nightly rate.
Miss any of these and the fines run up to $10,000 per day.
The rules, in order
Where you can host
Short-term rentals (under 30 consecutive nights) are allowed only in:
- Resort-zoned districts (Waikiki, Ko Olina, Turtle Bay, Hoakalei), or
- Mapped apartment-zoned areas enacted by Ordinances 25-2 (Bill 64, 2023) and 25-52 (Bill 62, 2025) (Waikiki apartment precinct mauka of Kuhio Avenue; A-1/A-2 areas near Ko Olina and Turtle Bay; A-2 contiguous to Hoakalei), or
- Under a grandfathered Nonconforming Use Certificate (NUC) for a unit operating continuously since before 22 October 1986. No new NUCs are issued.
Outside those areas, the ordinance sets a 90-consecutive-night minimum (Ordinance 25-2, signed 3 January 2025, effective 30 September 2025) — but DPP states it enforces short-term rentals as stays of less than 30 consecutive days across the board, and a 2023 federal injunction bars the 90-day rule for rentals lawfully operating before 23 October 2022.
The legal history (why it’s confusing)
- Bill 41 / Ordinance 22-7 (2022): restricted vacation rentals to resort zones and imposed a 90-day minimum elsewhere.
- December 2023: a federal court (Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance v. City & County of Honolulu) permanently enjoined enforcement of Ordinance 22-7 insofar as it prohibits 30–89-day home rentals lawfully in existence on 23 October 2022. The court granted summary judgment in part and denied it in part — the ordinance was not voided wholesale.
- Act 17 (2024): the state legislature gave counties clearer authority to phase out short-term rentals.
- Ordinance 25-2 (Bill 64, 2023) (January 2025): reinstated the 90-day minimum across most of residential Oahu, effective 30 September 2025, with fines up to $10,000/day.
- Ordinances 25-2 and 25-52: recodified the rules (ROH §21-5.70-3) and mapped the eligible apartment areas.
DPP’s current position: it enforces the sub-30-day line, and rentals of 30+ consecutive days are not short-term rentals. The scale of non-compliance is large: roughly 1,800 properties citywide hold a valid registration, against an estimated 7,900 Oahu listings on Airbnb alone (BNBCalc, July 2026 estimates; AirROI counted 5,807 active listings through 8 August 2026, and no DPP-published total was found).
Registration: cost and process
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| City registration (B&B home or transient vacation unit) | $1,000, valid 1 year |
| Annual renewal | $500 |
| City service fee (credit-card surcharge) | 2.35% if paying by credit card |
| State GET license | $20 one-time |
| State TAT license | $5 one-time (5 or fewer units) |
| First-year total before insurance and taxes | $1,025 |
Apply through the DPP’s HNL Build portal. Each unit registers separately; a sale or change of operator needs a new registration. Renewal must be filed no earlier than 3 months and no later than 1 month before the certificate expires.
The $1,000,000 liability insurance requirement
Honolulu requires minimum $1,000,000 per occurrence commercial general liability insurance, or a homeowners policy with business liability coverage. Umbrella coverage is acceptable. DPP guidance confirms that Airbnb’s and Vrbo’s standard host coverage satisfies the requirement if it meets the minimums (BNBCalc 2026 guide).
What the $1M requirement does not do: it does not cover your property. Host liability coverage protects you if a guest is injured or damages someone else’s property. It does not pay for damage to your own unit, your furniture, or lost rental income. For that you need:
- A dedicated short-term rental policy (typically $2,000–$3,500/year nationally for a dedicated STR policy, per STR insurance guides) or an STR endorsement on your homeowners policy.
- Your standard homeowners policy will not cover STR activity. Most HO-3 policies exclude business use — renting your home nightly is business use. A claim during a guest stay can be denied outright.
Taxes: about 18.7% on every stay
| Tax | Rate |
|---|---|
| State Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT) | 11% (raised from 10.25% effective 1 January 2026) |
| Oahu county TAT | 3% |
| General Excise Tax (GET), passed through | 4.712% |
| Combined | ~18.7% |
The 4.712% GET figure is the grossed-up pass-on rate (statutory GET is 4% plus the 0.5% Oahu surcharge = 4.5%). The ~18.7% combined total is on a pass-on basis; on a statutory basis the total is 18.5%.
The state GET and TAT apply to any rental under 180 consecutive days, even though Honolulu only treats stays under 30 days as short-term rentals. Whether Airbnb collects these taxes for Honolulu hosts is not settled in published sources — confirm with Airbnb or a tax professional before relying on either version.
Fines
Violations carry fines of up to $10,000 per day. Honolulu enforcement has escalated since Bill 62 took effect, and the city cross-checks listings against its registration database.
The other islands
Big Island (Hawaii County) — Ordinance 25-50
Effective 1 September 2026, every transient vacation rental (TVR) — hosted and unhosted, defined as any rental under 180 consecutive days — must register with Hawaii County. Fees: $250 hosted ($100 renewal), $500 unhosted ($250 renewal). Existing STVR registrations, NUCs, and permitted B&Bs are deemed registered. Ordinance 26-63 (Bill 175), effective 22 September 2026, authorises the Planning Director to delay enforcement until no later than 31 December 2026 — it is a discretionary delay, not an automatic grace period for every operator. After that, operating unregistered risks fines of $1,000–$10,000 or more based on nightly rental rates, with continued violations subject to daily penalties of up to twice the highest advertised daily rate. Maximum 5 bedrooms per building site. Registration lapses 90 days after an ownership change. Platforms (Airbnb, Vrbo) must also register with the county ($1,000 fee) and submit monthly reports. A separate measure, Bill 147, which would replace the B&B/STVR framework, passed first reading on 21 October 2026 (7–0), advancing to second reading, and is not law yet.
Source: County of Hawaii Planning Department, TVR Registration FAQ (rev. 29 July 2026).
Maui County — Bill 9
Maui’s Bill 9 phases out vacation rentals in apartment-zoned condos: West Maui in 2029, the rest of the county in 2031 (AirROI, 2026). If you own or are buying a Maui condo for STR income, that phase-out date is the single most important fact about the property. Two lawsuits challenging Ordinance 5909 were pending as of October 2026 (no court pause found); Ordinance 6008 (June 2026) created H-3/H-4 hotel districts some properties could be rezoned into to keep TVR use.
Kauai
Short-term rentals are allowed inside Visitor Destination Areas or with a nonconforming use certificate. Kauai certificates must be renewed before they expire — each certificate renews annually on its own date of issuance, so there is no single county-wide deadline date.
Insurance checklist for a Hawaii host
- Confirm the property is eligible (zone + registration) before spending anything on insurance.
- Get the $1M liability coverage the city requires — platform coverage may satisfy it, but verify the limit and that it names your unit.
- Buy a dedicated STR policy or endorsement for your own property, contents, and loss of rental income. A standard HO-3 will not cover guest stays.
- Check the flood zone. The June 2026 Oahu remap moved roughly 3,500–3,700 parcels into Special Flood Hazard Areas. A rental in a newly mapped zone may need flood coverage the previous owner never carried.
- Budget the full stack: registration ($1,025 first year), insurance, and ~18.7% taxes on every booking.
- Keep the registration number in your listing — platforms and the county both check it.
FAQ
Does Airbnb’s Host Protection cover the $1M requirement?
DPP guidance says hosting-platform coverage can satisfy the requirement if it meets the $1,000,000 minimum. Confirm the limit in writing and keep the documentation with your registration.
Does my homeowners policy cover Airbnb guests?
Almost certainly not. Nightly rental is business use, which standard HO-3 policies exclude. You need an STR endorsement or a dedicated STR policy.
Can I rent my Oahu home for 30–89 nights without registering?
Rentals of 30+ consecutive nights are not short-term rentals under DPP’s current position. The 90-day minimum in the ordinance is subject to the 2023 federal injunction for rentals lawfully operating before 23 October 2022. This is genuinely confusing — confirm your specific situation with DPP, not with a blog.
What happens if I host without registering?
Fines up to $10,000 per day, and the city actively cross-checks listings. Roughly 1,800 of an estimated 7,900 Oahu Airbnb listings hold valid registrations (BNBCalc, July 2026 estimates; AirROI counted 5,807 active listings through 8 August 2026) — the gap is the enforcement target.
Sources
- AirROI, “Is Airbnb Legal in Honolulu? 2026 Rules, Permits & Taxes.” https://www.airroi.com/airbnb-data/united-states/hawaii/honolulu/regulations
- AirROI, “Hawaii Short-Term Rental Laws & Hotel Tax (2026).” https://www.airroi.com/airbnb-data/united-states/hawaii/regulations
- BNBCalc, “Honolulu, Hawaii Short-Term Rental Regulations: A 2026 Guide For Airbnb Hosts.” https://www.bnbcalc.com/blog/short-term-rental-regulation/honolulu-hawaii-guide
- STRWatch, “Is a short-term rental legal in Honolulu, HI?” (checked 16 July 2026). https://www.strwatch.ai/honolulu-hi/
- County of Hawaii Planning Department, TVR Registration FAQ, Ordinance No. 25-50 (rev. 29 July 2026). https://www.planning.hawaiicounty.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/310852/639210969763570000
- Proper.insure, “Hawaii Airbnb Laws” (2026). https://www.proper.insure/regulations/hawaii-airbnb-laws/
- StaySTRA, “Hawaii County Big Island STR Registration Deadline” (2026). https://staystra.com/hawaii-county-big-island-short-term-rental-registration-2026/
Rules and fees change frequently. Confirm current requirements with Honolulu DPP and your county planning department before listing or buying.