Hawaii hotels continued improving in July as they realized year-over-year gains in occupancy average daily rate, revenue-per-available room, and revenue.

Statewide occupancy in July grew to 85.2% up 1 percentage point from July 2018, according to data released today in the Hawaii Hotel Performance Report, published by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority using data from STR. Meanwhile, the average daily rate (ADR) grew nearly 4% to $305 and revenue-per-available-room (RevPAR) increased more than 5% to $260. During the same period, hotel revenues also grew by nearly 4% to almost $435 million.

Results were mixed across the islands, with Hawaii island and Maui reporting strong year-over-year increases. Oahu hotels posted flat occupancy and small gains in RevPAR and ADR. However, Kauai experienced drops across all categories.

Despite July’s strong gains, Hawaii hotel performance year-to-date is still somewhat lackluster. Part of the reason is that gains in June and July were partially due to the severe weakening that some hotels, especially on Hawaii island, began experiencing last May following heightened eruptions at Kilauea Volcano.

Statewide occupancy during the first seven months of the year dropped more than 1 percentage point to 81.3% and RevPAR was flat at nearly $231. However, ADR through July was up more than 1% to $284.

A more telling assessment of the market is that demand was still falling faster than supply during the first seven months of the market. According to hotel report, demand dropped more than 3% through July, while supply fell nearly 2%.

Lower hotel supply creates competition for the remaining rooms. However, when demand drops faster than supply it’s an indication that the market, or at least pockets of it, may be weakening. Year-to-date hotel revenue has dropped nearly 2% to just over $2.6 billion.