Kaua’i alone in increase in April hotel occupancy

Only Kaua’i among the counties experienced an increase in hotel occupancy last month, moving to 71.2 percent compared to 69.7 percent in April of last year.

That is for the hotel-only category (excluding resort condominiums), according to figures released last week by the Honolulu accounting and consulting firm PKF-Hawaii.

Kaua’i was also alone in posting near-identical overall occupancy figures for April in the total room market, holding steady at 66.3 percent this April and last. The other counties continued to experience decreases in overall occupancies.

Strong gains by north Kaua’i properties (64.5 percent last month compared to 47.3 percent in April 2001) and an increase among east Kaua’i properties (64.3 percent last month compared to 61.1 percent in April 2001) helped Kaua’i remain stable.

The state’s overall occupancy rate last month was 67.9 percent, down from 71.6 percent in April of last year.

For the first four months of this year, in the total rooms market, Kaua’i trended as the other counties, down compared to the same period last year. Kaua’i’s overall occupancy rate for the first four months this year was 66.5 percent, down from 71 percent for the same period last year.

Statewide occupancy overall for the first four months this year was 72.8 percent, down from 79.3 percent for the same period in 2001.

Kaua’i and Maui boosted the statewide hotel-only occupancy rate last month, with those two counties doing better than the statewide average of 69.2 percent, which was down from 72.7 percent recorded in April last year.

For the first four months this year, the counties and state averages were all in the seventies in the hotel-only market, with Kaua’i coming in at 70.1 percent (lowest of the four counties). The statewide average was 73.7 percent, down from 80.1 percent recorded over the first four months last year.

In the resort-condominium market, which doesn’t include timeshare properties, Kaua’i last month was also lowest among the counties, with an occupancy rate of 53.4 percent, down from 58.2 percent in April of last year.

The statewide April resort-condominium occupancy rate was 61.9 percent, down from 66.5 percent in April of last year.

Kaua’i also had the lowest occupancy rates among the counties in the resort-condominium category for the first four months this year, at 56.7 percent, compared to 63.3 percent recorded the same period last year.

Statewide resort-condominium occupancy for the first four months this year was 68.3 percent, down from 75.3 percent over the same period last year.