Hawai'i hotels see dropoff in bookings

• Travel firms foresee drop in visitors from Japan

By Susan Hooper
Advertiser Staff Writer

Just before noon, Kuhio Beach in Waikiki is practically deserted, reflecting the exodus of visitors from Hawai'i in the days after the attacks. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Properties are reporting occupancy rates this week in the 35 percent to 65 percent range at a time when the average occupancy statewide should be about 70 percent, said Joseph Toy, president of Hospitality Advisors, a hospitality industry consulting firm. "We'll probably see a lot of empty rooms unless there's a relatively quick resolution, which all indications are that there won't be," he said.

Murray Towill, president of the Hawaii Hotel Association, said his members are reporting similarly low occupancy numbers this week.

"It does vary, but I've heard of very few people above 50 percent (occupancy)," said Towill, whose association represents 200 properties across the state. "So it's 50 percent and down for the next couple of days, and probably the same or less throughout the week."

Forecasting occupancy figures for next week and the weeks following will be virtually impossible, hoteliers said, because last week's calamity cannot be compared to any other event in recent history.

Tourists who have booked rooms may be unable to get flights to Hawai'i because commercial airlines have cut back on scheduled departures. Other travelers may get cold feet about leaving home, tourism officials said. Another terrorist attack, as well as any type of retaliatory action by the United States, are also possibilities and would stifle leisure travel.

"Long-term, it's difficult to gauge the impact," said Gerald Glennon, executive assistant manager of the Halekulani in Waikiki. "Obviously this is an unprecedented situation. Even to forecast in the short term is very challenging."

For the same reason, Toy said, it is not yet possible to gauge the economic impact of the tragedy on the tourism industry. "There are too many moving parts for anybody to make a credible estimate at this point, in my view," he said. "We really have only a few days of history, and you really can't make any extrapolation to the market that's really going to be credible."

To encourage tourists to visit the hotel, the Halekulani is lowering some rates and offering other incentives, Glennon said.

Jim Austin, director of public relations for Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, said Outrigger has been "encouraged" by the number of visitors who have decided to reschedule vacations instead of forgoing them.

Even as they watch their occupancy figures slide, however, some hoteliers said yesterday that a scant week after the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history is not the time to try to develop a long-term marketing plan to woo customers.

"Everybody has to deal with the hurt and the pain and everything else that goes with it, and at some point you try to get the market back," said Keith Vieira, senior vice president of Starwood Hotels in Hawaii and French Polynesia.