After 18 consecutive months of declines in the numbers of visitors staying in Hawaii hotels, September brought a small gain in hotel occupancy — up 1.6 percentage points to 64.6 percent.

The month was buoyed by arrivals to the 24,000-delegate American Dental Association convention as well as "Silver Week," a confluence of three Japanese national holidays that fueled a surge in travel.

The hotel occupancy report was released today for September from industry analyst Hospitality Advisors LLC working in conjunction with Smith Travel Research.

"This is the first sign of recovery that we have seen since the downturn began 20 months ago," said Joseph Toy, president and chief executive officer of Hospitality Advisors LLC.

"We're starting to see some positive signs," Toy said. But rates remain low as hotels strive to draw guests with deep discounts.

Toy said room rates fell 10.2 percent to $160.29 for September, which tracks a similar path as state visitor spending data that fell by 8.1 percent during the same period.

Budget hotels reported the highest September occupancy at 71.4 percent, or 2.5 percentage points higher than the month of September 2008. Luxury and upscale properties were slightly up, increasing 2.1 percentage points for upscale hotels (65.2 percent) and 2.7 percentage points for luxury properties (69.0 percent).

All classes of hotels reported average daily rate losses in September 2009. Luxury hotels were down the most, dropping 12.3 percent to $222.64. Economy hotels had the smallest losses in average daily rate , declining 6.9 percent to $107.80.

The report said Oahu hotels had a 5.3 percentage point increase in occupancy to 74.7, with Waikíkí gaining 6.8 percentage points to 77.3 percent, primarily because of the dental conference and Silver Week.

Maui hotels continued to report declines in occupancy and average daily rate, falling 1.0 percentage point and 14.6 percent, respectively, Toy said.

However, demand for the luxury regions of Wailea and Lahaina-Kä'anapali-Kapalua experienced a slight uptick in September 2009 compared to the prior year.

The Kohala Coast market on the Big Island had the lowest regional occupancy of 47.5 percent, but enjoyed a gain of 2.6 percent in average daily rate to $218.01.

The hotel survey is compiled by Smith Travel Research in conjunction with Hospitality Advisors.

For September 2009, the survey included 157 properties representing 45,595 rooms, or 80.2 percent of all lodging properties with 20 rooms or more in the state of Hawaii, including full service, limited service and condominium hotels.

Toy said consumer confidence appears likely to rebound slowly with a seasonal bump expected as visitors return to Hawaii to escape colder weather. Still, Toy said he expects the climb to remain slow.

Hawaii hotel occupancy through the third quarter ended September 2009 declined 5.8 percentage points from the same period in 2008, causing concern by the state's No. 1 industry about the upcoming, normally crowded holiday season. This matched the 5.8 percent decline in visitor arrivals for the same period as reported by the state.

And Hawaii hotel room revenues fell 19.8 percent to $1.84 billion, or $455 million lower than last year through the first nine months ending September 2009, Toy said.

Total hotel revenue, including sales from rooms, food and beverage and retail, declined by $682 million by the end of the third quarter and $1.1 billion since the start of the market decline in April 2008, he said.

The loss in revenues is in line with an overall 14.6 percent decrease in visitor expenditures reported for the first nine months by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

The statewide average daily rate for the first nine months of the year was $178.10, or 13.3 percent lower than 2008.

While the market declines were significant, Hawaii continued to compare well with its competitors, all of which suffered market declines as a result of the global recession.

Hawaii ranked fourth in occupancy through the third quarter behind New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

Also, Hawaii had the second-highest average daily rate through the third quarter, just behind New York City, which achieved an average daily rate of $201.03.

"While the losses have been steep, we should keep in mind that the global recession has had a tremendous impact not only on Hawai'i's visitor industry, but also its primary competitors," Toy said.

"Although we will continue to see market losses going into 2010, we are beginning to see the rate of loss narrow, which hopefully will lead to the start of a sustainable recovery beginning in summer 2010," Toy said.