Mainland visitors bolster occupancy to 12-year high

By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai'i hotels last month were the fullest they've been in any August since 1991, thanks to a record number of visitors from the Mainland.

Hotels statewide were 83.1 percent full on average, up 5 percentage points from last year, according to data released by Hospitality Advisors LLC.

The latest monthly figures add to the evidence of a slow but steady recovery in the tourism industry, which was battered after Sept. 11, then further hurt by the effects of the war in Iraq and the SARS epidemic.

The hotels' good performance came in a month when visitors to Hawai'i increased 1.3 percent over last year, including a 5.1 percent hike in domestic visitors.

Kaua'i hotels had the highest occupancy levels in the state, with 89.9 percent of its rooms filled.

Other islands also showed increases in occupancy last month. Maui hotels were 84.1 percent full, up 3.5 percentage points, while O'ahu hotels were 82.2 percent occupied, up 6.1 percentage points. Big Island hotels had a 79.9 percent hotel occupancy rate on average, up from 77.1 percent last year.

"The summer season ended up to be much stronger than any of us anticipated," said Kelvin Bloom, president of Aston Hotels and Resorts.

It is becoming more difficult to predict how much business will flow into hotel rooms, because people are waiting to book rooms until just weeks or days before their departures, Bloom said.

On O'ahu, budget hotels had the highest percentage of occupancy for the month at 84.6 percent. The reverse was true on Maui, where upscale hotels were the fullest, at 88 percent average occupancy.

The average daily hotel room rate in the state for August was $148.43, up slightly from $147.91 last year. Room rates on O'ahu declined 2 percent to an average of $119.05.

The improvement in occupancy came at the cost of discounting, Bloom said.

"Most of us, including Aston, would have liked a bit stronger room rate," he said.

Maui hotels had the highest average daily room rate at $192.83, up 3.5 percent from $186.36 a year ago.

For the year through August, hotels in the state were 73.4 percent full on average, up from 71.3 percent in the same period a year ago. All four major islands saw increases in occupancy in the first eight months of the year compared with the same period in 2002.

The average daily room rate in the first eight months of the year was $145.85 statewide, up 2.2 percent from $142.67 in the same period a year ago.

The hotel survey covers an average of 160 properties representing about 50,300 rooms, or 75 percent of all lodging properties with 20 rooms or more.

Reach Kelly Yamanouchi at 535-2470, or at kyamanouchi@honoluluadvertiser.com.