Hawaii Hotel Occupancy Still Making Gains


July 9, 2010

Hawaii’s tourism industry was struggling for a long while there, but recently, visitor arrivals by air, visitor spending, and also hotel occupancy have been climbing and climbing.

Last week, Hawaii’s hotel occupancy rate was 8.7 percent higher than the same week last year, according to the Hotel Industry Snapshot, conducted by Smith Travel Research and the Honolulu-based Hospitality Advisors. The total hotel occupancy for the week ending on June 26th was 78.7 percent, as opposed to 70 percent last year.

Another spot of encouraging news is that Hawaii hotel occupancy was 9 points higher than the national average, which was 69.7 percent. All the islands enjoyed occupancy that was higher year-over-year for that week.

Oahu occupancy was 86.3 percent, which was the highest of the islands, followed by Kauai and Maui which were neck and neck at 75.9 and 75.2 respectively.

The good news for visitors is that hotel room rates were an average of 1.2 percent lower that week than the same week last year, at $175.56/night. Maui’s room rates are highest on average at $228.56 per night, but that rate is 1.8 percent lower than it was last year. Oahu was the only island on which room rates increased compared to the same week last year, but the increase was a minor 1.3 percent for a rate of $152.41.

When the visitor industry thrives, so does Maui’s economy. A lot of businesses should be seeing an ease to the financial pressure that has been prevalent in the past couple of years. Vacation rental owners should also be seeing an increase in occupancy. Hopefully the upward swing will continue the impressively consistent momentum that it has generated so far!


If you’re looking to purchase Maui real estate, we recommend a look at new Maui property listings as well as our Maui real estate listings. Wailea golf vistas also include some great buys. If you have any questions or need assistance, you can find our contact information at the bottom of the page. Mahalo for reading this week!



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