Hotel industry sees midyear gains

In the first half of this year, Hawaii’s hotel industry had the highest revenue per available room, or RevPAR, and highest average daily rate, or ADR, among its competitors in top U.S. markets.

The ADR at Hawaii hotels rose 6 percent to $280 in the first half of the year, and RevPAR grew nearly 8 percent to $229 per night as compared with the same period in 2017, according to a Hotel Performance Report that the Hawaii Tourism Authority released Thursday. The report used data from Tennessee-based STR, which provides global data on the hospitality industry.

“For Hawaii to earn the number one ranking in the U.S. in both RevPAR and ADR as the market is rising nationally is a significant achievement for the state,” Jennifer Chun, HTA tourism research director, said in a statement. “Most U.S. markets reported RevPAR growth in the first half of 2018. Very few markets were down compared to a year ago.”

“Every class of hotel property and each island county reported increases in RevPAR. Maui’s performance was very strong with Wailea being exceptional,” she said. “The island of Hawaii benefited from five good months to begin the year, which offset a downturn in occupancy during June while Kilauea volcano was continuing to erupt.”

According to the report, Hawaii also ranked second in the nation for occupancy, which rose to 81.7 percent — a figure that was on par with Orlando, Fla., and just behind New York.

For the month of June, Chun reported that Hawaii hotels saw RevPAR grow nearly 5 percent to $227, ADR rise just over 5 percent to $277 and occupancy decline 0.6 percentage points to 82 percent.

Performance was up in every category on Kauai and Oahu. Maui’s June occupancy was flat, but the island’s ADR and RevPAR increased.

But June RevPAR for Hawaii island dropped by more than 8 percent to $163.9. While the June ADR of $239 was flat, occupancy declined 6 percentage points to 68.6 percent. The Kohala Coast resort region experienced a more than 13 percent drop in RevPAR to $214 in June. While the Kohala Coast region’s ADR grew 1 percent to $335, the gain wasn’t enough to offset a nearly 11-percentage-point drop in occupancy to 63.9 percent.

“Two notable RevPAR growth streaks for island of Hawaii hotels were broken in June. The island overall saw its 31-month streak of continuous RevPAR growth, going back to November 2015, ended,” Chun said. “In addition, the Kohala Coast resort’s streak of continuous growth over the past eight months ended in June as well.”