Posted on: Thursday, June 5, 2003
Hotel occupancy up slightly for April
By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer
Visitors from the Mainland helped to fill Hawai'i hotel rooms in April, leading to a slight improvement in statewide hotel occupancy compared with a year ago, but any recovery has yet to take hold in earnest.
Room rates also rose slightly. April's average room rate for hotels statewide was 147.59, up 3.2 percent from $142.96 a year ago. In 2001, the average rate was $151.25.
Waikiki occupancy was essentially flat in April at 62.8 percent. Among the islands, O'ahu hotels were the most empty with an average occupancy of 63.6 percent.
Meanwhile, Neighbor Island occupancy rates got a boost by a 13.1 percent increase in U.S. visitor arrivals. Maui had the highest occupancy rate at 73.9 percent. Hotels on the island also posted the best average room rate at $194.36.
Big Island hotels saw the biggest improvement, with occupancy up 4.5 percentage points to 65.9 percent. Kaua'i hotels were an average 67.6 percent full.
April results "were extremely soft and continue to be soft," said Stan Brown, vice president of Pacific island operations for Marriot. "June, July and August certainly look better, but we are certainly nowhere near where 2000 was."
The numbers also showed a significant difference in how various classes of hotels are faring. Luxury and upscale hotels had the highest occupancies and budget hotels had the lowest statewide. The reason is partly because of the discounts that hotels are offering.
"Whenever you see discounts you see a trade-up in travel," when people can stay at more upscale hotels for lower prices than before, said Joseph Toy, president of Hospitality Advisors. "We were seeing a little bit of a trade-up from budget going into economy and from midprice going into upscale."
For example, there was a huge gap in occupancy levels between upscale Maui hotels that had an average room rate of $151.04 and budget hotels on the island, which charge an average of $75.29 per room. Maui upscale hotels had an average occupancy of 79.4 percent while budget locations averaged 55.4 percent.
On O'ahu, however, budget hotels that charge an average of $48.34 per room had the highest occupancy levels on the island at 65.6 percent.
For the year through April, Hawai'i fared better than last year, with an average of 72.6 percent occupancy, up from 69.9 percent.
Every island posted higher occupancy levels than a year ago, with Maui leading at 76.3 percent and the Big Island trailing at 69 percent.
Reach Kelly Yamanouchi at 535-2470 or kyamanouchi@honoluluadvertiser.com.
Average hotel occupancy in the state was 66.9 percent in April, up from 65.4 percent in the same month a year ago, according to data from Hospitality Advisors LLC. For April 2001, statewide occupancy stood at 69.4 percent.
