Only two-thirds of hotel rooms in Hawaii were occupied in January, resulting in an estimated $88 million decline in total hotel revenues, according to a report released Friday by Hospitality Advisors LLC. The occupancy rate tumbled 9.7 percentage points from 75.7 percent to 66 percent, the lowest January since 2002 when Hawaii was dealing with economic fallout from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The average daily hotel room rate fell 8.2 percent to $196.38, the steepest monthly decline in room rates in 16 years. The combined falloff in both occupancy and room rate led to…
Only two-thirds of hotel rooms in Hawaii were occupied in January, resulting in an estimated $88 million decline in total hotel revenues, according to a report released Friday by Hospitality Advisors LLC. The occupancy rate tumbled 9.7 percentage points from 75.7 percent to 66 percent, the lowest January since 2002 when Hawaii was dealing with economic fallout from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The average daily hotel room rate fell 8.2 percent to $196.38, the steepest monthly decline in room rates in 16 years. The combined falloff in both occupancy and room rate led to a 20 percent drop in revenue to $129.54 per available room, or “revpar,” a key gauge of profitability.
“What’s been happening is we’ve had this very deep and very quick drop off in the market,” said Joseph Toy, president and CEO of Hospitality Advisors, a Honolulu-based consulting firm. Oahu fared slightly better than the other islands because of a 30 percent increase in the number of budget and economy travelers from Canada, while the Big Island was hit the hardest.
Oahu’s occupancy dropped 7.2 percentage points from 76.8 percent to 69.6 percent, with room rates falling 8.9 percent to $161.60. Occupancy on the Big Island plummeted 14.7 percentage points to 56.5 percent, while room rates fell 10.1 percent to $201.46. Maui saw an 11.1 percentage point fall in occupancy to 66 percent, which was the state average. It also had the highest rate at $265.69, down from $281.18. Kauai’s occupancy rate was 60.9 percent, down from 72.7 percent.
The survey of 161 properties with nearly 48,000 hotel rooms represented nearly 83 percent of all lodging properties with 20 rooms or more in Hawaii. It was conducted by Smith Travel Research and Hospitality Advisors.
Tatiana is the news co-ordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes to monitor the hundrends of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skim the most important according to our strategy. She holds a Bachelor degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
