Hawai'i hotels continued to struggle in April, with occupancy dropping for the 14th month in a row.

Hospitality Advisors LLC called it "another dismal month" as occupancy fell 5.1 percentage points to 64.1 percent. It was the lowest occupancy rate for April since the survey began in 1987.

"We've been in this record low territory for the last three months," said Hospitality Advisors President and CEO Joseph Toy.

The hotel industry avoided even lower occupancy rates by discounting rooms and offering added amenities. The average daily room rate dropped by 9.3 percent to $179.09 in April.

The decrease in occupancy and decline in room rates resulted in a 16.1 percent drop to $114.78 in revenue per available room, a key indicator of hotel profitability.

The collapse of Aloha and ATA airlines in March 2008 and the global recession have taken a toll on the state's No. 1 industry. Last week, the state reported visitor arrivals in April fell by 1.3 percent and visitor spending decreased by 12.3 percent from a year ago.

Hospitality Advisors' Toy predicted tourism won't rebound until the middle of next year. He added, "We may see the bottom this year."

The one bright spot, Toy said, is the state's occupancy rates are still better than many other visitor destinations. "Nationally, this is happening, it's not just Hawai'i."

HOPEFUL SIGNS

A major tour wholesaler in California said he is already seeing signs of recovery.

"We have seen a tremendous pickup in bookings to Hawai'i over the last two weeks," said Jack Richards, president and CEO of Pleasant Holidays LLC. His company sends hundreds of thousands of travelers to Hawai'i each year.

He credits the elimination of airline fuel surcharges to Hawai'i along with glimmers of economic improvement.

"This bodes well for Hawai'i. This is big," Richards said. "Everybody's so price-sensitive."

Richards saw a 15 to 20 percent increase in bookings for the last two weeks of May, the best his company tracked since the beginning of February. He saw big interest from the West Coast and the Pacific Northwest.

Decades in the business have taught Richards caution in calling an end to the slump, which has plagued Hawai'i tourism for more than a year. But he's optimistic.

"I'm not saying that we're at the bottom because it's too close to call," he said, "but we're close."

Among the main islands, O'ahu posted the smallest occupancy loss of 1.3 percentage points to 70.6 percent, representing the highest occupancy of all the islands, while Kaua'i saw an occupancy drop of 13 percentage points to 56.9 percent, Toy reported.

O'ahu reported the lowest room rates of $147.64 with Maui posting the highest island room rate of $240.39, but that was still 8 percent lower than the year before.

DECLINES CONTINUE

The state's upscale hotels reported the only increase in occupancy, of 1 percentage point, to 67.3 percent, while all other segments continued to post year-over-year declines. Luxury hotels — in the survey, the price category just above upscale — experienced a sharp drop in occupancy of 7 percentage points to 65.0 percent. Room rates for luxury hotels fell 10.2 percent to $254.91, while revenue per available room fell 19 percent to $165.63.

In contrast, budget hotels reported occupancy of 69.3 percent, highest of all market segments. Luxury resorts on the Kohala Coast reported a 2.8 percentage point rise in occupancy to 57.6 percent.

Kohala average rates declined by 8.5 percent to $261.51.

The survey by Hospitality Advisors included 160 properties representing 47,616 rooms, or 84.2 percent of all lodging properties with 20 rooms or more in Hawai'i, including full-service, limited-service and condominium hotels.