Welcome to the O’ahu Short-Term Rental Alliance
OSTRA educates and advocates on your behalf for fair treatment of the mid and short-term rentals on our island.
By becoming an OSTRA Member, you’ll have access to:
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- Members-only forum for real-time Q&A, best practices, and industry news
- First-hand updates on current legislation and events impacting you
- Other important resources such as regulatory requirements, property tax information, and members-only reports to help guide your business
- Collaborative webinars and surveys that make your priorities our priorities
- Easy links to your legislators, including talking points on current bills
Not Ready To Join Yet? Please Subscribe for Testimony Updates
Get to Know O’ahu Short-Term Rentals
49,000 JOBS
created by the short-term rental industry across Hawaii
+ $39 average hourly wage of those in the STR industry
$209M
in state and local taxes generated by STRs on O’ahu in 2022
77%
of O’ahu’s STR owners are Kupuna, and 7% are over 75 years old
63%
of travelers prefer STRs over hotel stays, trending up from 42% in 2019
33%
of travelers are unlikely to consider a destination if STRs are not an accommodation option
25.4%
of O’ahu’s visitors are non-vacationers. 12.9% are visiting family and friends.
10,000
Estimate number of monthly, furnished rentals needed for traveling medical personnel, displaced residents, sporting events, military, contractors, and marginal renters unqualified for long-term leases
10,000
Estimated individually-owned short and mid-term rentals on O’ahu. This is just 2.6% of all housing units on the island.
- 45% are TVUs in hotels
- 16% are TVUs required to register under Ord. 22-7
- 35% are 30+ day rentals
- The remainder are STRs with non-conforming use certificates (NUCs).
Hawai’i Green Business Program
OSTRA has collaborated with the Hawai’i Green Business department to introduce a 10-Entry Level Pilot Program for Mid and Short-term Rentals.
This program allows individual owners and property managers to support the islands’ sustainability efforts and obtain a “Hawai’i Green Business” designation. This will help attract the ever-increasing sustainability-minded traveler and show that our industry cares deeply about Hawai’i and its resources. Access the Checklist Here:
10-ELP for Mid and Short-Term Rentals
For “Business Name”, please type your name if you are a sole proprietor. For “Business Address” type the address of your rental property.
Note: If you are a property manager, please use one form per building if the checklist applies to all units. Please include unit numbers.
WHAT IS OSTRA DOING FOR ME?
OSTRA represents its members at the city/county level, as well as coordinating with statewide STR organizations and other island alliances. Our volunteer leadership, together with our partners, keep a close watch on what’s happening within the county, state, and the industry to keep you up-to-date on everything you need to know, advocate for you, and help you best advocate for yourself.
Historical accomplishments
- Creating an organization to represent all of O’ahu’s short-term and mid-term rental (STR/ MTR) owners and industry participants.
- Fostering an engaged Facebook community group with posts of relevant, actionable steps to help hosts understand and participate in legislation that affects them directly.
- Forming and participating in the new statewide organization to be proactive with state legislation impacting our industry.
- Researching, analyzing and summarizing relevant legislation in a timely manner.
- Maintaining active relationships with councilmembers, their staff and other county department leaders.
- Orchestrating the fight against Ordinance 22-7 (Bill 41) including media outreach, timely testimony information and links, updates.
Legislative and Legal Achievements
- In cooperation with city council members and the budget director, we established a TVU property tax classification with two tiers through Ordinance 22-5 (Bill 4) to avoid registered TVUs and NUCs paying hotel/resort tax rates. This will be an ongoing, annual process to keep rates fair and reasonable.
- Integration with HILSTRA to achieve permanent injunction allowing those renting for 30-90 days prior to the effective date of Ordinance 22-7 to continue to do so.
- Declaratory Ruling to allow Turtle Bay Condos (Kuilima Estates East & West) to rent short-term (through Friends of Kuilima, now integrated with OSTRA).
- Success in stopping 13 state bills harmful to STRs during the 2022/2023 session.
- Currently working with Council Members on easing the requirements for TVU Registration (Bil 53).
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
OSTRA needs your help. OSTRA’s Board of Directors are all volunteers and often need assistance in many areas. If you have any of the following skills, please consider volunteering your time to help our organization.
If you’re not ready to commit to board membership but still have skills and time to contribute to specific needs or projects, apply to become a volunteer.
OPEN VOLUNTEER POSITIONS:
Communications
- Skills at writing content related to current events surrounding our industry
- Experience with Facebook and/or Mailchimp
Marketing
- Skills at preparing and distributing marketing-related materials to members and legislators
- Experience analyzing, presenting market or demographic information
Legislative
- Experience reading and summarizing legislation
- Experience drafting legislative response or testimony
Community Connection
- Desire and experience connecting with various community groups
- Willingness to meet with community and legislative leaders on short-term rental topics
Application Process:
If you have time to help out, please fill out the form below. Please note that only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. Thank you for your interest in volunteering with OSTRA!