Updated at 3:50 p.m., Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Hotel occupancy drops in February, but room rates up
Advertiser Staff
Hawai'i's hotel occupancy dropped sharply in February from the same month a year ago, although hotel room prices continued to climb, according to a report released today by Hospitality Advisors LLC.Statewide hotel occupancy fell by 7.9 percentage points in February to 79.4 percent, which reflects a decline in visitor arrivals reported last week.
Hospitality Advisors President Joseph Toy said a rise in the average daily room rate to a new record high of $203.27 helped boost hotel revenue, although it wasn't enough to offset the fall in occupancy.
He noted that all Islands reported lower hotel occupancy but higher room rates.
The sharpest decline in occupancy was for budget hotels, which dropped 11.1 percentage points to 81. 7 percent.
Toy said demand for rooms statewide fell by 10.8 percent to just under 1.3 million rooms sold, the lowest level of room nights sold during the month of February since 1991.
He said luxury hotel occupancy decreased by 7.3 percentage points to 78.6 percent but the room rate pushed up by 5.3 percent to $309.98.
And Wailea on Maui held on to the highest statewide room rate in the state at $396.97.
The survey, compiled by Smith Travel Research with Hospitality Advisors, included 143 properties representing 47,221 rooms, or 82.2 percent of all lodging properties with 20 rooms or more in the state, including full-service, limited- service and condominium hotels.
