HONOLULU — There wasn’t as much cha-ching this spring for Hawai‘i hotels, which in April experienced losses in five key performance measures for the second month in a row.
Statewide hotel occupancy in April dipped to 72.3 percent, a 1.4-percentage-point loss from April 2023, according to a Hawai‘i Hotel Performance report released Monday by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority. The report utilized data from STR, which compiled the April data surveying 171 properties representing 47,965 rooms, or 86.4 percent of all lodging properties with 20 rooms or more in the Hawaiian Islands.
The average daily rate paid for a Hawai‘i hotel room in April fell 2.1 percent to $368. Revenue per available room, or RevPAR, considered one of the better measures of performance because it measures the revenue generated by each available room at a hotel, decreased 4 percent to $266.
Statewide hotel revenue in April also dropped, to $443.2 million, down 4.5 percent from 2023. Room demand in April declined 2.5 percent to 1.2 million room nights.
A reason for the bigger April slowdown was that Easter was on March 31, which pushed the spring break peak into March instead of April as many schools plan the holidays to coincide with Easter. In 2023, Easter was on April 9.
April results were mixed across the islands.
Maui was the only island to see a year-over-year gain in April occupancy, which rose 1.3 percentage points to 66.3 percent, in part because occupancy in the Lahaina, Ka‘anapali and Kapalua regions, which bore most of the effects of the Aug. 8, 2023, Maui wildfires, was bolstered by a mix of displaced Lahaina residents, relief workers and visitors.
Maui hotels continued to see other key performance measures softening post-fire, but even with the losses, Maui still had the highest average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR) of any county. Maui’s ADR in April declined 9.1 percent to $555, while RevPAR at Maui hotels in April fell 7.3 percent to $368.
The story was different in West Maui, which is nearest the fire zone, from in Wailea. Some travelers who might have gone to West Maui in the past avoided it in the wake of the fires either out of respect for fire victims or because the fire obliterated Lahaina town, the center of West Maui’s food, entertainment and activities.
West Maui’s April hotel occupancy dropped to 62.9 percent in April, down 4.5 percentage points from April 2023. West Maui ADR in April fell 14 percent to $463 while RevPAR decreased 19.7 percent to $291.
Keith Vieira, principal of KV & Associates, Hospitality Consulting, said, “Customers have told us that they are going to Wailea and not to West Maui until they feel better about the area. It’s good people are coming to Maui, but the numbers aren’t good for West Maui and we need them to improve so that we can get more people back to work.”
In Wailea, occupancy in April was 76.2 percent, up 14.5 percent from the year prior. Wailea’s April ADR fell 12.5 percent to $742, while RevPAR rose 8 percent to $565.
Mufi Hannemann, HTA board chair and president and CEO of the Hawai‘i Lodging & Tourism Association, said, “Multiple hotels saw a large bump in Wailea when groups shifted from West Maui. They had a nice April but going forward it’s softer.”
Vieira said while Maui’s occupancy has been improving since the devastating fires, prices are soft.
“There are a lot of specials and value-added deals out there, like free nights. The recovery business like the Red Cross and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers doesn’t generate as much spending,” he said.
Chris Kam, president and chief operating officer of Omnitrak, said the increase in value-added offers shows that “the booking pace for the hotels is not up to where it was in prior year levels.”
Vieira said other islands initially saw a boost after the fires because of visitors switching from Maui, but that trend is slowing as more travelers have gotten the message that Maui has reopened.
On Kaua‘i, hotel occupancy in April fell 3.4 percentage points to 72 percent. However, ADR rose 5.8 percent to $432 and RevPAR increased 1.1 percent to $311.
Hotels on Hawai‘i Island reported occupancy fell 3.7 percentage points to 65.3 percent, while ADR grew 3.5 percent to $442 and RevPAR fell 2.1 percent to $289.
On Oahu, occupancy in April fell 2 percentage points to 76.5 percent, while ADR increased 1 percent to $275 and RevPAR fell 1.6 percent to $210.
Vieira said some of the softness from spring is carrying over into summer, which is a concern for the rest of the year.
“We are trying to fill summer now, and we should be putting together our plans for fall,” he said.
Vieira said uncertainty at HTA in 2023, and the Maui wildfires, interfered with marketing to U.S. travelers. He said Hawai‘i lost ground to other international destinations where the stronger U.S. dollar helps stretch their money.
Hannemann said HTA is at a better place with the state Legislature now, and the Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau, HTA’s marketing contractor, kicked off new campaigns for U.S. travelers on May 13 for Maui, and on May 22 for O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island. He said the Kaua‘i campaign will deploy in June.
“These new campaigns are starting right after the Makaukau Maui (We are ready) campaign ended,” Hannemann said. “The summer numbers are soft and not just in Maui. Hopefully, the new campaigns will turn that around.”
Vieira said he’s hopeful that the timing of the campaigns will be advantageous to Hawai‘i as the U.S. State Department on Friday issued a warning advising Americans traveling abroad to exercise increased caution “due to the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations, or violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests.”
“Now would be the perfect time for Hawai‘i to step up our marketing as we are a safe place,” he said.
