Luxury rooms
boost hotel industry

Occupancy and room rates
were up across the board in April

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii's luxury hotels, with daily rates averaging well over $200 a room, are doing particularly well this year, helping the industry as a whole maintain improved revenues despite a lackluster overall tourism picture, according to a new report.

Statewide, the hotels at the high end of the scale managed to increase their occupancy to 77.7 percent in April, from 75.2 percent in the previous April, said the accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P. in its monthly report on the hotel industry.

The spike in occupancy came despite a 7.6 percent increase in room rates to an average among luxury hotels of $226.44 a day in April, from $210.45 a year earlier, the report said.

All classes of hotels showed better statewide occupancy and room rates in April, said Coopers & Lybrand's Hawaii hospitality consulting group, but the real strength came from the luxury hotels.

Total April gross room revenues were up 12.9 percent from a year earlier at $205.5 million and the luxury hotels produced April revenues of $73.7 million, up 13.6 percent.

Coopers & Lybrand said its survey showed statewide occupancy of 73.9 percent in April, up 2.1 percentage points from 71.8 percent in April 1996, and an average daily room rate of $125.53, up 8.7 percent from $115.47 in the previous April.