AAA Hawaii has recently announced the establishments that received their Five Diamond Rating for 2014. Unsurprisingly, two of them were Maui resorts.

The other winners included two restaurants on Oahu, which were Chef Mavro and La Mer, along with one resort on the Big Island, the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai. The Maui winners were the Ritz-Carlton in Kapalua and the Four Seasons Resort at Wailea, which is located here in South Maui. What does this distinction mean? Every year, AAA reviews over 28,000 hotels, resorts, historic inns and B&Bs. Only 0.4 percent of them make it on the Five Diamond list.

This kind of news helps paint a bigger picture of the future for Maui property owners. Our island has a reputation for excellence when it comes to accommodations and overall vacation experience. The Maui Visitors Bureau has always emphasized fewer guests and higher prices as the theme for our island, yet every year, we still find that hundreds of thousands of people are willing to pay more for a Maui vacation rather than visit somewhere else for less.

If you’re in the market for real estate, particularly South Maui real estate, it helps to be aware of one thing: the visitor industry is only going to grow. That is assuming no catastrophic surprises ensue. On that score, so far so good. If you’re trying to figure out how to make a living here, be aware of tourism as a major source of income for the island, and possibly for yourself. If you’ve ever come here for a vacation, you might have some useful ideas about enhancing the experience of visitors, and who knows, maybe you could turn your insights into a profitable venture.

You should also be aware that Maui accommodations cost more, thanks to the perceived value of a vacation here. If you plan to use your Maui property as a vacation rental, you can charge more on average than you could on any of the other Hawaiian islands.

Being aware of the visitor industry climate can pave the way for healthy success as long as you make smart choices. If you need assistance buying real estate on Maui, we’d love to assist you, and you can find our contact information at the bottom of the page. Mahalo for reading this week!