2024-04-01 PL-CCI-2024-000003 Bill 121 Magdalene Phillips Testimony

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Testimony regarding Bill 121 Aloha: We are Magdalene and Hartley Phillips and own a vacation rental in Volcano. First , I'd like to say that Volcano should be named a Vacation Node. Although mentioned in the bill, there is no information on how and by whom a vacation node can be set up. Our home is situated far into our half acre property and surrounded by giant hapu'u ferns, Ohia trees and flowers. Our guests love staying there, and many return. By staying in Volcano, our guests can spend whole days sightseeing and hiking in Volcanos National Park, without spending half the day driving up from and back to a hotel in Hilo or Kailua-Kona. We received notice of this meeting in a newsletter, where, after all the other bills had been described, it was inserted after "Other County Highlights, Forthcoming Security Project, Food Solutions, and Announcements", so it could easily be missed. The bill was described in very positive terms and no mention was made of the additional $500 NCO fee we are all of a sudden supposed to pay upon renewal. Half that amount should be sufficient! But of course our costs will rise further, after our hosting group ( it is not clear what the difference between a "hosting platform" and a "booking service" is to us) has to start paying you $100 and hiring an employee to send you the detailed information you will require every month. Also, the restriction on the "transients" are getting tighter. Whereas Hawai'ian residents can frolic loudly until 10 p.m., our guests will have to be quiet starting at 8 p.m.. It seems to me that the new rules are meant to punish those who have been following the law, by creating more and more restrictions and demanding more and more money. Your strict rules have cut down the choices for Hawai'i visitors. Do the hotels have to do all the things required of us? And do agencies such as Priceline, Kayak and Trivago have to give you monthly lists of the guests they book into Hawai'ian hotels? Also, other than mentioned by the county, and at county meetings, I have never heard about a single complaint by a neighbor of a vacation rental; and for the last 14 years we have lived in areas with numerous vacation rentals. The only exception I have seen is that sometimes, when the t.a.r. is rented to a group of island residents, they invite others over and have a loud party, especially when it involves a pool. But resident owners do the same thing. Personally, the island residents who were our guests were delightful and we never had a party or a complaint happening. There is much ado about t.a.r. owners not living on island! How many hotel owners live on island? Another point is about not having enough rentals for kama'aina. To remedy that, can you do something about the many homes that stand vacant in Hawai'ian Beaches, some of them having been first occupied, then burned out by squatters? Whenever we travel, we stay at Airbnbs. We get to meet the local people and get to know the state or country more intimately than we would be able to, staying at a hotel. We like quiet places and nature, which cannot be found around hotels. In addition, our costs are much lower, and all of these things are what our guests like that stay with us, rather than in a hotel. Where else can you have a living room to relax in, before you go to the kitchen to fix a meal? Where else can you sit on a lanai surrounded by nature and birdsong? Magdalene and Hartley Phillips, 15-2717 Welea St., Pahoa, HI, 96778