Kauai County, HI Short-Term Rentals: Extended Home Share (2026)

Article 18 of the Kaua'i County Code creates the "homestay" category of short-term rental, a form of owner-occupied home sharing distinct from the whole-house transient vacation rentals governed by Article 17. Under Sec. 8-18.1(a), a homestay may host transient guests for stays of 29 days or less and is limited to no more than three guest rooms per operation. Sec. 8-18.1(b) confines homestays entirely to the Visitor Destination Area: a homestay cannot legally operate anywhere else on the island, no matter how the underlying parcel is zoned.

Development standards layered on top of the homestay's zoning district mirror those for ordinary residential dwellings under Secs. 8-4.5 through 8-4.8, with homestay-specific additions in Sec. 8-18.2 covering parking, septic service, a 24/7 contact requirement, signage, a required guest-information sheet and a site and floor plan filed with the application. A homestay zoning permit must be renewed annually under Sec. 8-18.3, and the code ties eligibility to the owner's Sec. 5A-11 homeowner's real-property-tax exemption on the same site, so a homestay only exists on a property the owner actually occupies as a primary residence rather than a rental investment property.