Hawaii hotels report lower occupancy rates

by Lacey Pfalz
Last Updated: 10:40 AM ET, Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Hawaii hotels reported lower occupancy in June and the first half of the year but still topped the national hotel revenue chart, according to new data from STR, Inc. and published by the Hawai’i Tourism Authority. The agency has been campaigning to attract more travelers back to Hawaii since May.

The report examined 172 properties in Hawaii, representing 86.8 percent of all properties with 20 or more rooms in the state.

Annual comparison

Compared to June 2024, the state’s hotels saw slightly lower occupancy, average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR). RevPAR, a key hotel metric, was $281, down about 5 percent from the year before. ADR was down 3.7 percent and occupancy was 75.5 percent, down just 1.2 percent from 2023.

Still, RevPAR in June was 19.5 percent higher than in 2019, although occupancy was 8.4 percent lower, largely due to higher room rates due to inflation.

Total hotel room revenue in the state was $470.8 million, down about 5 percent from last year but still up 23 percent from 2019.

Half-year results

In the first half of the year, RevPAR and ADR declined year-on-year, but are still above pre-pandemic 2019 numbers.

RevPAR was $276 for the first six months of the year, down 2.3 percent from 2023 and up 22.7 percent from 2019. ADR was $370, down 2.5 percent from last year but still up 32 percent from 2019. Occupancy actually grew 0.1 percent from the first half of 2023, but was down 5.7 percent from the first half of 2019.

Total hotel revenue in the state was $2.8 billion, down 2.3 percent from last year but up 26.2 percent from 2019.

Comparison of US and Global Markets

Despite some downturns, Hawaii had the highest RevPAR and ADR in the first half of the year, followed by New York City and Miami in both categories. However, in terms of occupancy, New York, Las Vegas and Miami beat Hawaii.

Internationally, O’ahu (80.1 percent) led in occupancy for “sun and beach” destinations, followed by Aruba (76.9 percent) and Puerto Rico (76.9 percent). Other Hawaii destinations ranked third, fifth, sixth and ninth for global RevPAR, and sixth, seventh and 10th for global ADR.

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