Visitors paid average $371 nightly for Hawaii hotel rooms in April

Easter crowds and spring breakers, mainly from the U.S., nearly filled Hawaii hotel rooms to pre-pandemic levels in April and drove the average daily room rate to more than $371 per night.

Hotel occupancy statewide in April was at 76.2%, down just 1.7 percentage points from April 2019, according to the Hawaii Hotel Performance Report published by the Hawaii Tourism Authority, using data from STR, a global hospitality data and analytics company.

Travelers also were willing to pay much higher rates for hotel rooms across the state in April, when the average daily rate was 36% higher than the April 2019 level.

The dramatic rise in the average daily room rate, or ADR, helped revenue per available room, or RevPAR, increase to almost $283, up more than 33% from April 2019. RevPAR is considered by many in the hotel industry as the key performance measure as it is the rate that a room rents for regardless of occupancy status.

Lynette Eastman, general manager of The Surfjack Hotel & Swim Club, said, “It was the best April ever in the history of the hotel. Our occupancy was at 87% and our ADR was above $200.

“Our restaurant Mahina & Sun’s revenue was similar to pre-pandemic times for the first time since it reopened,” Eastman said. “I think April was good for hotels everywhere in Hawaii.”

While April hotel performance results were mixed across the islands, all counties saw strong revenue climbs. Statewide hotel revenue in April reached more than $471 million, a gain of almost 37% from the nearly $345 million attained in April 2019.

Keith Vieira, principal of KV & Associates, Hospitality Consulting, said the results reflect efforts by the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, other tourism agencies and the industry to grow tourism through higher visitor spending rather than arrivals.

“We’ve been going after higher-spending visitors, and it’s working,” Vieira said. “More visitors are coming through digital bookings, which is driving higher rates because we are not paying the level of commission that we would on wholesale bookings. We’ve also been aided by the fact that not many people are going to Europe because of the unfortunate situation in the Ukraine, and cruise ships are just starting up.”

Vieira said he expects further hotel performance improvements by midsummer when visitors from Japan, Hawaii’s largest international source market, begin coming back in more robust numbers.

“The return of Japanese travelers will help Waikiki. That will create room compression, which will increase demand for other areas of the state,” he said.

HTA President and CEO John De Fries said Monday during the Honolulu Star- ­Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream program, “There is a fervor (in Japan) to come back to the islands.”

“We aren’t going to get there overnight. At the moment you are going to see a higher-end (Japan) traveler who is a lot more confident to make that expenditure,” De Fries said. “But I think as we get into July, August, you are going to start seeing some increased air seats and a greater degree of confidence that we can travel to and from each other’s countries and feel confident that the right measures are in place.”

De Fries was part of a Hawaii delegation that accompanied Gov. David Ige to Japan from May 9 to 13. During the trip Ige met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Upon the delegation’s return to Hawaii, De Fries said Japan announced that it was doubling its daily inbound capacity limit to 20,000 arrivals from 10,000.

“As we start to see domestic restrictions (in Japan) become more relaxed, that is a precursor to the fact that international travel is right around the corner,” he said. “In the weeks ahead you’re going to hear announcements by Japan Airlines and (All Nippon Airways) about what their summer and fourth-quarter air capacities are going to be.”

The mix of visitors makes a difference. Oahu, which is the island most dependent on the lagging international visitor market, had the softest results in April. Oahu hotels reported an occupancy of 76.7%, down 3.2 percentage points from 2o19. Oahu’s ADR was almost $259, an increase of more than 13% from April 2019, and its RevPAR was $198, a rise of nearly 9% during the same period. Hotel revenue on Oahu in April rose above $182 million, an almost 10% increase from April 2019.

Maui had the highest ADR and RevPAR, but the greatest occupancy drop from April 2019. Maui County hotels led the counties in April in terms of ADR, which at $610 was up almost 58% from April 2019. RevPAR reached $442, an increase of almost 45% from April 2019. However, Maui’s occupancy at 72.6% was 6.4 percentage points below April 2019. Maui County hotel revenue in April rose above $176 million, a gain of 51% from April 2019.

Kauai and Hawaii island hotels exceeded April 2019 levels in all three hotel performance categories. Hawaii island hotels reached an occupancy of 76.7% in April, which was 2 percentage points above the same month in 2019. Hawaii island’s ADR was more than $429, an increase of more than 65% from April 2019, and its RevPAR, at more than $329, was nearly 70% higher than it was in April 2019. Hotel revenue in April on Hawaii island was greater than $69 million, up 84% from April 2019.

Kauai hotels attained the highest April occupancy at 82.6%, which was up 16 percentage points from April 2019. Kauai’s April ADR was almost $381, up nearly 43% from 2019, and its RevPAR was more than $314, an increase of almost 77% from April 2019. Hotel revenue on Kauai in April was nearly $44 million, up more than 80% from April 2019.