Apartment Zoned vs. Hotel Zoned STRs on Maui
On Maui, the difference between hotel-zoned and apartment-zoned condos primarily relates to their permitted uses and rental restrictions.
Hotel zoned STRs are built and designed to be short term rentals. They typically are located in complexes that have more amenities, a front desk and are set up more like a resort. There is virtually zero risk of having the zoning changed or permits pulled to not allow for short term rentals.
Some apartment zoned condos can be rented nightly if approved by their governing HOAs, but many cannot. Many are located in more residential areas and some offer less amenities than their hotel-zoned cousins. There is a risk that apartment zoned condos operating as short term rentals COULD have their transient vacation rental permits reversed, but that’s extremely unlikely. If that were to happen, the owners either would not be permitted to rent their units for less than 180 days, OR upon sale the new owner would not be able to rent the unit on a short term basis.
Again, while there is a chance that this COULD happen, the logistics of this ACTUALLY happening are extremely small. There’s a lot of reasons for this, but lets just say the county of Maui wouldn’t just be shooting themselves in the foot, they’d be amputating both legs and at least one arm.
Even still, it is a possibility, and we’ve seen some ridiculous things happen at the county level, so my best advice is to make sure you’re working with a knowledgable realtor if you are buying a short term rental on Maui.
