While some segments (notably south shore hotels) are down but still swimming along nicely compared to last year, the island’s hotel occupancy rate dropped by over 10 percentage points last month compared to May of 2000. Still, Hawai’i Hotel Association
While some segments (notably south shore hotels) are down but still swimming along nicely compared to last year, the island’s hotel occupancy rate dropped by over 10 percentage points last month compared to May of 2000.
Still, Hawai’i Hotel Association Kaua’i chapter President Henry Perez, general manager of Lawa’i Beach Resort, said his association members are bracing for a very busy summer, and it’s no time to panic.
As Perez and others in the visitor industry have repeatedly pointed out, numbers showing large drops compared to the monster year that was 2000 aren’t really too much cause for concern.
Last year was a record one for tourism, so 2001 figures showing drops from that year aren’t really that disconcerting, he said.
Fall numbers are looking flat even compared to 1999, so the advanced bookings for the months of September through November give Perez and others cause for some concern, he said Friday.
Kaua’i’s occupancy rate was 68.8 percent last month, down from 79.4 percent in the same month last year, according to figures from the Honolulu accounting, management and consulting firm PKF-Hawai’i.
Statewide occupancy last month mirrored Kaua’i’s, at 68.4 percent, compared to 74.2 percent in May of last year.
Last month, south and east side properties did the best on Kaua’i, at 70.8 percent and 70.7 percent occupancies, respectively, down from the same period last year (south was 80.1 percent, east side was 78.9 percent).
Maui was best, at 71.9 percent, down from 77.1 percent in May of last year.
Room sales for the total market (hotels and resort condominiums) for the first five months of this year were off all over Kaua’i, with the south shore again doing the best, at 73.7 percent, down from 78.3 percent over the same period last year.
Overall island occupancy for the first five months was 70.3 percent, down from 74.8 percent over the same period in 2000. North shore and east side properties were both in the sixties in occupancy rates, and both down when compared to the same five months last year.
The state’s May occupancy rate for the total market was 76.9 percent, down from 78.2 percent in May 2000.
In the hotel-only market, south shore properties led the state in occupancy last month, at 79.4 percent, still down from 88.8 percent recorded in May of last year.
The island’s overall hotel-only occupancy was 75.9 percent last month, down from 85.7 percent recorded in May of 2000. East side hotels were at 73.7 percent occupancy, down from 81.3 percent in the same month last year.
The state’s hotel-only occupancy rate was 69.8 percent, down from 75.2 percent in May 2000.
For the first five months of this year, in the hotel-only market, Kaua’i’s occupancy rate was 73.7 percent, down from 79.4 percent in the same period in 2000. South shore properties again led the state, at 79.9 percent for the first five months of this year, down from 84.5 percent recorded during the same period in 2000.
East side properties showed a decline in 2001 occupancies for the first five months of this year (68.4 percent) compared to the same period last year (74.1 percent). The state’s hotel-only occupancy rate for the first five months of this year was 77.8 percent, down slightly from 78.4 percent in the same period last year.
Resort condominiums on Kaua’i (not including timeshare properties) suffered the worst occupancy rate in the state among counties last month, at 52.7 percent, down from 65.3 percent in the same month last year.
North shore properties were the worst of the worst last month, at 45.6 percent occupancy, down from 66.7 percent recorded in May of last year. East side properties did best, at 59.5 percent, down from 70.5 percent in May of last year, while south shore properties came in at 52.8 percent, down from 62.1 percent in May of last year.
Statewide resort condominium occupancy last month was 61.3 percent, down from 69.1 percent in May 2000.
For the first five months of this year, the county’s resort condominium occupancy rate (61 percent) was again worst in the state among the counties, and down from 64.7 percent over the same five months last year.
North shore properties again did the worst, at 56.1 percent occupancy, down from 60.6 percent recorded in the first five months of 2000. East Kaua’i properties did the best, at 66.4 percent, down slightly from 67.3 percent in the first five months of 2000.
South shore resort condominiums recorded an occupancy percentage of 60.5 percent for the first five months of this year, down from 65.2 percent over 2000’s first five months.
The state’s resort condominium occupancy rate for the first five months of this year was 72 percent, down from 77 percent over the same period in 2000.
“May’s occupancy rates in every market segment decreased from the prior year levels,” said Ernie Watari, PKF-Hawai’i chairman and chief executive officer.
“The decreases coincide with the continued slowdown of the U.S. mainland and Japan economies, and reconfirms Hawai’i’s over-dependence on the two economies,” he said.
PKF-Hawai’i has been tracking the state’s hotel industry since 1972, in conjunction with the Hawai’i Hotel Association.
