LIHU‘E – It has been a year of slow-to-no growth for Kaua‘i’s hotel industry, Hospitality Advisors and Smith Travel reports indicate. “The recovery is very uneven,” Joseph Toy, president and chief executive officer of Hospitality Advisors, said Friday. “O‘ahu and
LIHU‘E – It has been a year of slow-to-no growth for Kaua‘i’s hotel industry, Hospitality Advisors and Smith Travel reports indicate.
“The recovery is very uneven,” Joseph Toy, president and chief executive officer of Hospitality Advisors, said Friday. “O‘ahu and Maui are rebounding, but Kaua‘i and the Big Island continue to lag. We need to see a room demand recovery, and we’re probably looking at about three years.”
For the week ending Dec. 4, Kaua‘i’s hotel occupancy rate was 38.2 percent, which is 8.3 percent lower than the same week in 2009. Kaua‘i’s average daily room rate (ADR) has fallen 4.4 percent to $176.98 for the same period.
Comparatively, the Big Island’s occupancy level of 43.2 percent represents a 4.6 increase, and there was a 1.7 percent increase in the ADR of $181.59. Maui’s occupancy level was 2.6 percent higher at 52.6 percent, and the ADR was up 1.6 percent to $194.
“The market for hotel visitors is very dynamic,” Toy said. “Kaua‘i and Big Island are still behind the eight ball. O‘ahu is a gateway with more international flights, and it’s a center for tourism, and Maui is the top destination in Hawai‘i.”
O‘ahu’s occupancy rate was 70.1 percent, which is a 1.1 percent decline, but the county had a 5.3 percent increase in the ADR of $150.79.
“Over time, Maui has been the traditional favorite,” he said. “Maui tends to hold up longer. The Big Island tends to lead the downturns followed by Kaua‘i, and then Maui and O‘ahu.” The reverse direction is true in a recovery, meaning O‘ahu tends to recover first and the Big Island last.
Statewide, average occupancy was 58.9 percent, which is less than 1 percent higher than last year, and the ADR was up 3.1 percent to $165.15.
The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are typically a shoulder period for tourism, say industry officials; however, October’s year-to-date numbers for Kaua‘i, revealed by Hospitality Advisors in a Dec. 6 press release, showed flat results of $111 in RevPAR, the revenue per room for hoteliers. Occupancy is up from 59 percent to 61 percent, but ADR has declined from $188 to $183.
Sue Kanoho, executive director of Kaua‘i Visitors Bureau, said Hospitality Advisors reports only include information from hotels willing to contribute it, and typically does not include timeshare and vacation rentals, which together comprise 42 percent of Kaua‘i’s unit inventory.
In addition, the Grand Hyatt Resort still has rooms out of service due to renovations, she said. This might cause a distortion in real occupancy levels.
“What helps Kaua‘i most is the timeshare occupancy, which is 90 percent,” Toy said. “Future occupancy levels should also be helped out by the renovations at the Grand Hyatt, because the market is always looking for new and newer.
“For Kaua‘i next year, we’re probably looking at 62.5 to 63.5 percent (occupancy) and room rates at about a 3 percent increase,” he predicted. “We’re moving in right direction. It’s slow, but it is a recovery.”
