HONOLULU — Hawaii hotels statewide and in Maui County, Kauai and Oahu reported increases in revenue per available room (RevPAR) and average daily room rate (ADR) in August, even as Hurricane Lane’s approach to the Hawaiian Islands increased cancellations to reduce occupancy.
Hotels on the island of Hawaii reported declines or flat results in RevPAR, ADR and occupancy for the third straight month, with Lane contributing to the downturn caused by the Kilauea volcano eruption.
“August is typically a strong month for the hotel industry, but news coverage about Hurricane Lane heading straight at Hawaii, and travelers being able to utilize airline cancellation fee waivers likely impacted results in the latter half of the month,” said Jennifer Chun, Hawaii Tourism Authority tourism research director. “Occupancy was down across the state in August compared to a year ago. However, the occupancy in August 2017 was 81.1 percent, which was the highest occupancy for any August since 2006.”
The Hawaii Hotel Performance Report released Thursday by HTA for August and year-to-date includes a summary of the results for the peak summer travel season.
Hawaii hotels statewide reported RevPAR of $220 (plus 0.7 percent) and ADR of $282 (plus 4.4 percent) in August, which offset a 2.8 percentage point decline in occupancy to 78.3 percent. All classes of properties reported year-over-year ADR gains for August.
Year-to-date through August, Hawaii hotels statewide and in all four island counties continued to show good results in RevPAR and ADR. However, the strength of these figures is largely built on the first five months of the year. Occupancy rates statewide and for each island county through the first eight months were similar to a year ago.
Despite the decline in August occupancy for all four island counties, Oahu, Maui County and Kauai hotel properties all reported RevPAR and ADR increases for the month.
Kauai hotels led the counties in RevPAR growth in August, earning a 2.4 percent increase to $211, which was boosted by ADR of $299 (plus 8.4 percent), offsetting occupancy of 70.7 percent (plus 4.1 percentage points).
The summer months of June, July and August are historically a peak travel season for the Hawaiian Islands. However, the performance of hotels on the island of Hawaii were affected by the Kilauea volcano eruption throughout the summer, as were all the islands due to Hurricane Lane in August.
Despite the challenges of these natural disasters, hotels statewide grew RevPAR to $232 (plus 3 percent) in summer, uplifted by an increase in ADR to $285 (plus 4.9 percent), which offset a decline in occupancy to 81.3 percent (down 1.5 percentage points).
“All things considered, it was a good summer overall for the hotel industry on a statewide level and especially for hotel properties in Maui County and Kauai, as well as Oahu,” Chun said.
Hotel properties in Maui County and Kauai generated the best overall results in the summer. Maui County hotels saw increases in RevPAR to $297 (+7.6 percent) and ADR to $386 (+9.3 percent), which compensated for a decline in occupancy to 76.8 percent (-1.2 percentage points).
Kauai hotels reported growth in RevPAR to $229 (plus 7.9 percent) and ADR to $303 (plus 8.9 percent) in summer, while realizing a small decline in occupancy to 75.6 percent (down 0.7 percentage points).
