O'ahu hotel occupancy rates second in nation
| • | Although second in nation, hotel occupancy rates tumble |
By Michele Kayal
Advertiser Staff Writer
O'ahu hoteliers, struggling against a tepid economy, are in for some good news: they are doing better than nearly everyone else.
O'ahu hotels are enjoying stronger occupancy rates this year than all but one of their competitors in the top 25 U.S. hotel markets, according to figures released today. But that's still up less than 2 percentage points over the same period last year.
Hotels on the island were 77.6 percent full for the year through April. Only Miami, at 78.3 percent, had a better occupancy rate, according to Smith Travel Research.
For April, O'ahu was down more than three percentage points, but its 67.6 percent hotel occupancy rate still beat more than half of the 24 other destinations in the survey.
Local hotel executives, however, did not take much comfort in the numbers.
"We've always considered it very important for ourselves mentally to say we need to be above 80 percent in this market," said Mark DeMello, general manager of the Waikiki Parc Hotel. " ... people are still rate sensitive when it comes to Hawai'i travel, and our expenses are high. So we need the volume to offset those costs."
