Origin post: https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/10/dark-money-group-blankets-maui-in-ads-to-influence-vacation-rental-bill/

By: By Erin Nolan / October 7, 2025

For months, a Washington, D.C.-based group called Progress Action has been spending thousands of dollars to inundate Maui residents with radio and online advertisements warning that Mayor Richard Bissen’s plan to phase out about half the island’s short-term rentals would be “a failure and a mistake.”

“Maui is rebuilding. Visitors help pay for that,” a male voice says in one of the commercials. “So why push a bill that costs jobs and doesn’t solve the crisis?”

The ads have run repeatedly on local radio stations and across streaming platforms, capturing the attention of community members and prompting local nonprofits to dig for more information on who is behind Progress Action’s campaign and where the money is coming from.
Public information about Progress Action is extremely limited. The records that are available indicate Progress Action is a political action committee or nonprofit that is effectively skirting state campaign finance laws and lobbying disclosure requirements that could normally provide greater transparency.

Sarah Steiner, an election lawyer based in New York, said it used to be “very rare” for dark money organizations to get involved in a hyperlocal political debate, but it has recently become much more common.

Even so, she said, “it is not normal for there to be almost no public information.”

Most noncandidate organizations that run political advertisements, including political action committees and super PACS, are required by federal and state laws to register with the Federal Election Commission or the Hawaiʻi State Campaign Spending Commission.

Progress Action has not registered with either body, but that may be due to legal loopholes.

Tony Baldomero, the Campaign Spending Commission’s associate director, said state law defines campaign spending as being related to a specific candidate or ballot issue. Progress Action is encouraging people to call their current council members and tell them to vote against the bill.

“When I look at the contents of some of those ads, I’m not sure that it falls under my jurisdiction,” he said.

Bissen unveiled his housing plan, which is spelled out in Bill 9, last year largely in response to the devastating fires in Lahaina and Upcountry Maui. The bill’s next stop is a vote before the full Maui County Council but it’s unclear when that will happen. It advanced out of the council’s Housing and Land Use Committee in July, with members voting 6-3 in favor after days of emotional testimony and several hours of heated deliberations.

There may still be changes to the current version of Bill 9 before it is taken up for a final vote, as some council members only agreed to support the bill so long as they also approved the creation of a temporary investigative group that would encourage dialogue between lawmakers and the county planning department and allow them to go over exceptions for certain properties in areas with multiple zoning districts.

The bill calls for phasing out transient vacation rentals in apartment-zoned districts to address the housing shortage. Without any carveouts, this would mean eliminating about 7,000 short-term rentals.

‘Who’s Really Paying For This’

Anne Frederick, executive director of the nonprofit Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action, underscored the lack of transparency about who is funding an aggressive advertising campaign related to local housing policy. 

“It’s important to understand who’s really paying for this,” she said. “Corporate money to influence legislation, especially at the county council level, is really detrimental to the democratic process.”

Dark money groups have circumvented laws intended to increase transparency surrounding political influence campaigns by registering as nonprofits, but it’s unclear whether Progress Action is considered a nonprofit because it has not filed any publicly available tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service.
The group’s president is listed in one of the ad’s purchasing agreements as Martin Hamburger, a Washington, D.C.-based consultant with a long history in Hawaiʻi politics. He previously worked for Pacific Resource Partnership, which is bankrolled by the politically influential Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters. Progress Action’s treasurer is Janica Kyriacopoulos, founder of an accounting firm that has served numerous Democratic campaigns and committees. 

This is not the first time Hamburger and Kyriacopoulos have been associated with an obscure political organization behind an aggressive ad campaign.

Leading up to the Democratic primary election ahead of New York’s 2022 gubernatorial race, the pair was behind a dark money group called Empire Results that funded several attack ads targeting incumbent Kathy Hochul. The state’s Board of Elections looked into whether Empire Results violated New York law by engaging in unregistered independent expenditure activity and failing to disclose its donors, but the investigation was closed without an official determination.

Kyriacopoulos has also been involved in the campaigns of candidates for federal and state offices, and she has had leadership roles in several noncandidate committees related to elections and contentious political debates across the country, public records show. Some groups that she held positions of leadership at have had complaints filed against them with the Federal Election Commission, including some that were dismissed.

Neither Hamburger nor Kyriacopoulos responded to requests for comment.

Frederick said she used public records from the Federal Communications Commission to help identify Kyriacopoulos as Progress Action’s main contact. One of HAPA’s objectives is to shed light on how corporate interests influence government decisions, she said.

“When we have these kinds of corporate lobbyists and all of their resources, it really creates an unlevel playing field,” she said.

Pacific Resource Partnership is “not at all” affiliated with Progress Action, according to spokesman Andrew Pereira. 

“I know there is a big fight on Maui about Bill 9, but no, we haven’t heard of this group before,” he said.

Pereira added that PRP has supported increased restrictions on vacation rentals.

In an advertisement agreement form with the local radio station KPOA, a buyer from a Georgia-based political media buying firm representing Progress Action lists the organization’s official address as a private mailbox at a UPS store in Washington, D.C. The buyer, Jeff Scattergood, did not return calls or emails seeking comment.

Baldomero said it’s unusual to see a D.C.-based group engaging in this level of political activity at the county level, and he has received calls from Maui residents inquiring about who is behind the ads they’ve heard blanketing radio airwaves and seen running on streaming services.

“But they don’t fall on my radar yet, so there is nothing I can do,” he said.

The Maui County Board of Ethics has also not communicated with anyone from Progress Action, and no one acting on the group’s behalf has registered with the board as lobbyist, a county spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.

Bissen said that Bill 9 is “about protecting homes for Maui’s people,” which means “ensuring our policies, and the voices influencing them, reflect our community, not outside agendas.”

“Maui’s housing decisions must be rooted in truth and transparency,” he said in a statement on Tuesday. “When outside groups spend large sums to shape our local conversations, it raises real concerns about whose interests are being served.”

‘Outside Influence’

Progress Action’s website says the group is “committed to strengthening Hawaiʻi’s short-term rental industry,” which supports communities statewide by expanding local economic opportunities, creating jobs and generating tax revenue. It links to press releases posted to websites for the Maui Vacation Rental Association and a national organization called the Travel Technology Association.

Both groups denied having any affiliation with Progress Action. A spokesperson for Airbnb said the vacation rental platform was also unaffiliated with and had never donated to Progress Action.
In one recent advertisement playing on YouTube and across streaming platforms like Hulu and Peacock, a voice tells viewers that Maui has endured “crisis after crisis.”

“But we’re rebuilding,” the voice says over a video of a construction worker operating an excavator on a property near the ocean. “Bill 9 costs millions, forcing higher taxes when we need every dollar.”

“Call your council member,” the voice concludes. “We won’t pay the bill for Bill 9.”

One ad depicts shops disappearing from Makawao as a voice warns that fewer short-term rentals could result in fewer jobs and less revenue for the county. Another ad says new restrictions on vacation rentals in other places failed to lower rent prices and Maui “can’t afford Bissen’s so-called fix” to the local housing shortage.

The commercials have been playing regularly for months, and in September Lahaina Strong — a community group that has long advocated for the passage of Bill 9 — began to publicly question Progress Action. In one video posted to Instagram, Lahaina Strong creative director De Andre Makakoa asks viewers to consider why a mainland group representing “big money outside influences” might be so invested in a local housing policy debate.

“They’re trying to pose as our local voices and influence our community to think that this is a community versus community debate and to pit us against each other,” he said. “The reality is that it is us versus them, just like it always has been. But we see through it, Maui.”

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.

Even as policies and politics evolve across regions like Maui, one truth remains — verified, transparent vacation rentals are the foundation of a sustainable travel economy. For Trusted Travelers and responsible property owners, platforms like BRnX Travel make it possible to keep earning, stay compliant, and drive revenue — no matter how regulations shift.
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Written by Hawaii Travel News / October 7, 2025

Origin post: https://beatofhawaii.com/visitors-push-back-as-hawaii-faces-new-anti-luxury-shift/
Article: Luxury travel isn’t dead. It’s being redefined. And Hawaii, once the gold standard for high-end vacations, now sits squarely in the middle of the shift. National research this month confirms what readers and editors have been saying here for more than a year: luxury is changing. The new term is “anti luxury,” and nearly half of American travelers now say that’s the kind of trip they want.

According to The State of the American Traveler study, 43 percent of Americans find anti-luxury travel appealing. And to some degree at least, Beat of Hawaii editors count ourselves among them. That number jumps to 59 percent among Gen Z and 53 percent among Millennials. But here’s the twist: 65 percent of Gen Z travelers still value upscale touches. They just want them to feel authentic. Meaning beats marble, and value beats veneer.
If you’ve ever felt like Hawaii’s travel experience has become more about fees than feelings, you’re not alone. Across hundreds of reader comments, the message is consistent. Visitors still want Hawaii, but they want it to feel worth it again.

Hawaii’s problem is that it has been chasing the opposite audience.

While 52 percent of travelers earning under $50,000 a year say they’re drawn to anti-luxury travel, only 37 percent of those earning over $200,000 agree. Hawaii has been placing a heavy bet on the second group.

Anti-luxury isn’t about roughing it. It’s about travelers seeking substance over status. They still want comfort, but they want it to feel earned and authentic. Think couples skipping a $1,000 resort night to splurge on a local guide or a family choosing meaningful days over showy nights.

When travelers say Hawaii feels too transactional, they’re not rejecting quality. They are rejecting the sense that quality has been replaced by markup. Readers have been describing this shift for months in stories like Hawaii’s new fees cross the line and the vanishing middle class of Hawaii travel.

The income gap Hawaii can’t ignore.

The study revealed a clear gap between what Hawaii markets and what most travelers actually want. Lower-income travelers were the most interested in anti-luxury experiences, while the high earners Hawaii targets were least interested. The islands’ current “premium visitor” strategy chases the group least likely to value what Hawaii truly offers: natural beauty, connection, and culture.

The visitors who built Hawaii’s tourism base are being priced out, even as they remain the ones most loyal to the experience Hawaii once promised. The math is brutal: Hawaii markets to the 37 percent who don’t want what it offers, while alienating the 52 percent who do.

This mismatch has been building across stories, such as Hawaii visitors loving the islands but hating what travel here has become.

Wellness travel: Hawaii’s missed opportunity.

A study linked to by Future Partners found that 65 percent of travelers consider wellness important in planning trips, and 43 percent actively seek experiences that support their physical, mental, or spiritual health. This is especially true for Millennials and women, the same groups Hawaii’s visitor mix relies on most.

Hawaii should own wellness travel. Sunrise swims, hikes through native forests, local produce stands, and quiet moments are built into daily life here. Yet, most hotels still treat wellness as a spa upcharge, rather than as a core experience. Anti-luxury travelers want wellness baked in, not bolted on.

The hotels that figure this out first, the ones that swap $200 spa treatments for complimentary sunrise yoga or guided trail access, will own the next decade of Hawaii travel.

We first explored Hawaii’s evolving definition of luxury in Hawaii Is Redefining Luxury Why Authentic Travel Is The New Trend, and this new data shows how that evolution is accelerating nationwide.

The comfort correction in the skies.

Airline loyalty changes and seat shrinkage only deepen this mood. Comfort now resides in the middle, offering premium economy, extra legroom, and transparency about what you get for the price.

These flyers are the same ones that choose smaller brands that feel honest. They’ll still pay for comfort, but they expect transparency and decency in return.

What younger travelers are signaling.

Gen Z and Millennials are leading the charge, with 59 percent and 53 percent, respectively, saying they prefer anti-luxury travel. But here’s the twist: 65 percent of Gen Z still value upscale touches; they want them to feel authentic.

Gen Z travelers are taking fewer trips than any other generation, just 3.3 in the coming year, but they’re the most optimistic about their future finances. Sixty-three percent expect to be better off next year, compared with 32 percent of Boomers. They’re not broke. They’re selective.

When Gen Z and younger Millennials come to Hawaii, they want real experiences that fit their values. They are allergic to pretense. They share their disappointments online, but they also reward authenticity when they find it.

How Hawaii can win back its visitors.

Anti-luxury travel is a direct reaction to that feeling. It’s a refusal to pay for detachment. Hotels and destinations that prioritize human connection, offer friendly check-in staff, provide thoughtful amenities, and maintain honest communication will win these guests back. It’s not about cheaper rooms. It’s about feeling that the experience and the price align again.

Nearly half of Americans, 47 percent, expect a U.S. recession within six months, up nine points from last year. Even so, 59 percent still plan to prioritize leisure travel in their budgets. That mix of caution and determination defines this moment. People will still travel, but they’ll be ruthless about value.

For Hawaii, that means the visitors are not gone. They’re simply choosing differently. They want transparency, respect, and experiences that feel like the islands they remember.

What Hawaii can do next.

If Hawaii tourism wants to thrive in the anti-luxury era, it needs to realign with what travelers are saying. Stop marketing aspiration and start marketing truth. Invest in the service experience, not just the structures. Simplify the costs and clarify the fees. Let visitors feel they’re part of something meaningful, not just a revenue target.

Small changes make a difference. Authentic greetings. Flexible cancellation policies. Honest communication about what’s open, what’s crowded, and what’s truly local. These are the new luxuries, and they cost almost nothing.

What travelers can do to make Hawaii worth it again.

If you’re planning a trip, focus on the version of Hawaii that still feels genuine. Visit during shoulder seasons, such as April through June or September through November. Book mid-tier accommodations that prioritize service over branding. Use points where you can, but spend on local experiences that remind you why Hawaii mattered in the first place.

Our tips found in How to visit Hawaii for less in 2025 and Ten ways to save money on Hawaii car rentals can help make it happen.

We’ve found ourselves shifting between both worlds on our own travels. On a recent South Pacific trip, in Rarotonga, we stayed in a simple beachfront Airbnb that was clean, quiet, and inexpensive, perfect for slowing down.

A few days later on Aitutaki, we splurged on what passes there as a five-star resort. It wasn’t perfect, but it had heart.

Then in Papeete, comfort mattered more, so we chose a larger, well-run resort before ending the trip in Bora Bora at a small lagoon-front rental costing a fraction of the luxury-brand over-water villas nearby. Each stop delivered something different, and not one of them felt like a downgrade.

That, in the end, is the point. Anti-luxury isn’t about rejecting the high end. It’s about choosing when it actually adds meaning, and when a clean room, a friendly face, and a view that stops you mid-sentence are worth far more than another champagne check-in. (Beat of Hawaii editors).

The bigger picture.

Anti-luxury isn’t a rejection of Hawaii. It’s a reset of expectations. It’s a sign that travelers want their trips to feel purposeful again. Hawaii, with all its natural and cultural gifts, should be the model for that. But only if it listens.

At BRnX Travel, we understand this shift better than anyone — because we’re built on it.
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As guests move away from flashy brands and toward verified experiences, owners who meet our standards will lead this new era.
They’re not selling “luxury.”
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