Dentists provide
hotel occupancy
with extra bite
October's convention helped
By Russ Lynch
lift statewide business nearly
6 percentage points
Star-Bulletin
Occupancy in Hawaii's hotels and resort condominiums averaged 75.04 percent last month, the highest level for any October since 1995 and up nearly six percentage points from the previous October's average of 69.95 percent.
Room rates were also up, averaging $138.38 statewide in October, a 2.1 percent increase from the October 1998 average of $135.50, according to the research and accounting firm PKF-Hawaii Inc. which runs a monthly survey of the hospitality industry.
"The American Dental Association convention boosted statewide occupancies on all islands as ADA conventioneers extended their vacations to the neighbor islands," said Ernie Watari, chairman and chief executive officer of PKF-Hawaii.
All the individual islands showed occupancy gains.
Kauai showed the biggest jump, nearly seven percentage points, to average 77.05 percent last month, compared with 70.39 percent in the year-earlier month.
Waikiki occupancy was up almost six points at 75.43 percent, from 69.47 percent in October 1998.
Kauai did well in room rates as well as occupancy, showing an average room rate of $158.70, the highest in the state and an increase of 4.6 percent from $151.68 a year ago. As usual, the lowest room rates were in the Waikiki properties away from the beach and without their own restaurants, but they also showed an increase to average $64.22, up 8.7 percent from $59.07.
The survey covered 82 hotels and 64 resort condominium properties with a total of 39,800 rooms, or 56 percent of the available rooms in Hawaii.
