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Want to stay in oceanfront lodging in Waikiki for $30 a day or less? It’s possible, but there are several catches to this Airbnb mobile vacation rental. Read more

EDITOR’S NOTE: Honolulu Star-Advertiser Waikiki Bureau Chief Allison Schaefers and multimedia content producer Diane Lee booked space on Hippie Bus Hawaii for this report.

Want to stay in oceanfront lodging in Waikiki for $30 a day or less?

A 28-year-old entrepreneur named Kane Oliver, who bought a former rental car shuttle for $7,000 and retrofitted it into Hippie Bus Hawaii, has made that possible in a place where average hotel rooms rent for $235. But there are several catches to his Airbnb mobile vacation rental listing.

There’s no air-conditioning so you’ll be sleeping in an unsecured vehicle with the windows open. It doesn’t have a toilet so you’ll be using public bathrooms or going behind a tree in the park or out in the ocean. And you’ll be sleeping in an incredibly tight, shared space with up to six strangers.

You also might occasionally get rousted by law enforcement officers since the city doesn’t allow commercial use of Kapiolani Park and there’s a ban on sleeping in vehicles on public roads or in parks without a special permit. So you’ll have to be OK with the knowledge that your host may be doing something illegal and that local residents may view your stay as disrespectful.

MORE ON HIPPIE BUS >> Illegal mobile vacation rentals leave enforcement officials in the dust

Oliver, who grew up in Hawaii, said the main focus of his business is sharing his love for the islands. He also advertises that he does airport pick-ups for $40, sells tours and hikes, teaches surfing and rents two cars and a moped on the online car rental site Turo.

Yet he lacks a city permit to give surf lessons or a commercial use permit from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to charge visitors for experiences at sites that fall under DLNR’s jurisdiction. He doesn’t have a certificate from the state Public Utilities Commission authorizing him to transport passengers over public highways for compensation, and also lacks a permit to pick up visitors at the airport.

A Honolulu Star-Advertiser check of state records failed to turn up an active tax license or business registration in the name of Oliver or Hippie Bus Hawaii.

Oliver said he doesn’t need any of that because he is transporting friends who just chip in for gas. He said he gets around no-camping rules by dropping a fishing line in the water, which he claims gives him the right to stay overnight at the beaches and shoreline even when the sites are closed.

State and city authorities disagree. So far, Oliver has been ordered to pay $150 in trespassing fines for three instances of staying in closed parks overnight, and there’s a bench warrant for his arrest for failure to appear for a Dec. 7 court hearing on another trespassing charge.

He is due in court Feb. 12 in connection with citations issued Jan. 13 for not having a current safety check or proof of motor vehicle insurance and was cited again Monday. Oliver’s driving record also includes multiple citations for speeding.

His Hippie Bus was still parked at Kapiolani Park on Thursday afternoon.

“There are big loopholes. I don’t need tour licenses if I’m picking up friends and taking them on a ride. I throw fishing poles out on the beach,” Oliver said. “Basically, wherever we park is home.

“I surf and swim every day and try to catch fish for dinner. This is my van or my truck. It’s not registered as a commercial vehicle. My friends throw in gas money for the experience and we drive to Sandy’s, the Pipeline, Sunset Beach, Kaena Point.”

Oliver’s Airbnb listing also notes that he visits “five-star resorts” to swim in their pools and use the Jacuzzis.

It’s hard to know how much money Oliver has made since he began offering Hippie Bus vacation rentals on Airbnb in March 2016. However, if all 171 guests who reviewed his Airbnb listing stayed the two-day minimum at his listed prices of $15 to $30 a night, he would have collected between $5,030 and $10,260 just for lodging.

Oliver’s guests are unaware of the legality issues or aren’t fazed by them. There’s been enough demand for Hippie Bus Hawaii over the past several years to have enabled him to transition from working as a diesel mechanic struggling to pay $3,500 in monthly housing expenses to cobbling together a more free-spirited arrangement renting the space where he also lives.

The Star-Advertiser booked space on the bus for Jan. 10 and 11. Like the handful of complaints about Hippie Bus Hawaii posted on the Airbnb website — most of the reviews were positive — we found it was difficult to locate, the host wasn’t as accessible as we would have liked, and the lodging wasn’t necessarily as advertised.

Our Airbnb confirmation said the Hippie Bus would be parked at 2937 Kalakaua Ave., which turned out to be a beachfront condominium along Hawaii’s Gold Coast at the foot of Diamond Head. We showed up at the address and no Hippie Bus.

We wandered Waikiki until we spotted the bus parked a couple of blocks away at the traffic circle fronting the Waikiki Natatorium. Oliver was nowhere to be found but a woman in a bikini said she was a guest who also helps Oliver.

“He didn’t tell me anyone was coming,” she said. “I don’t think we have a bed. No wait, we have one bed. It’s opening up at 10 p.m., but it won’t sleep two people.”

The woman said only one of us could stay and advised that perhaps we should look for a larger space at a hostel. We asked for a refund, but she said we needed to talk to the host. In her opinion, the mix-up was our fault since we booked only one bed instead of two. Never mind that our reservation said check-in time was 5 p.m. and a bed wasn’t going to be available until 10 p.m.

We told her we would wait for the host. Eventually, Oliver arrived carrying Costco-sized bottles of Tequila and a giant bag of Calrose rice. He said he could refund the reservation, but if we were hard-pressed he would put up a hammock so we could both stay.

We disclosed we were on assignment reporting for the Star-­Advertiser and only made the booking to give him an opportunity to address the growing complaints about his business.

He pointed out that almost all of his 171 Airbnb reviews are glowing. One reviewer said, “Staying on the bus is a unique experience! Wake up every morning on a beautiful and uncrowded beach, and see parts of the island most tourists never get to.”

Oliver said when the police knock on his door, he invites them in and they are soon “grinning ear-to-ear to see all the beautiful people who book me from around the world.”

A less satisfied reviewer said, “Dirty place, bad behavior of host, police problems, unsecure about your stuff, no energy, bad smell, too small.”

While the bare-bones bus isn’t for everyone, some people, such as Chiara from Germany, who was staying there for the nights we had booked, said they would fly half-way around the world for the chance to camp on the beach with a ready-made group of friends.

“It’s a different way of traveling,” Chiara said. “It’s an adventure.”