CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSEL@STARBULLETIN.COM Waikiki Hotels are almost back to occupancy levels existing before Sept. 11, with 77.6 percent of rooms filled last month. Skylar Henson, 4, gets help with a handmade necklace in Waikiki while older brother Delany Henson looks on.

Occupancy
gap narrows

Fewer hotel rooms were occupied
in March than in 2001, but
pre-attack levels aren't far

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By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com

Hotel occupancy and room rates last month were still lower than a year ago but the gap is narrowing, according to a monthly report by consulting firm PKF-Hawaii.

Hotels statewide averaged 76 percent occupancy, down from 81 percent in March 2001. That 5 percentage point gap, however, was the slimmest since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks sent tourism into a plunge. In October, the first full month after the World Trade Center tragedy, occupancy was down more than 18 points from a year earlier.

Room rates held up reasonably well throughout the crisis, however, and last month the average daily rate statewide was almost unchanged from a year earlier, at $157.27 from $158.29.

Revenue per available room last month, a key financial figure calculated from room rates and the percentage of rooms occupied, was 6.7 percent below March 2001, at $119.46 compared to the March 2001 rate of $128.05, said Ernie Watari, PKF-Hawaii chairman and chief executive officer. That was a big improvement from the 18.8 percent year-over-year decrease in January, Watari said.

"Revenues generated are progressing towards pre-September 2001 levels," Watari said.

Maui, like all the neighbor islands, was less affected than Oahu by the drop in travel from Japan. It posted the highest occupancy level in the state last month, 80.4 percent, down from 85.5 percent in March 2001.

The average Maui room rate last month was $230.04, the highest islandwide average in the state and an increase of 2.5 percent from $224.40 a year earlier.

Oahu had an occupancy rate of 75.9 percent, down a little more than 3 percentage points from 79.1 percent in March 2001. The Waikiki beachfront hotels almost equaled last year's level, with 77.6 percent of rooms occupied, compared to 78.8 percent a year earlier.

The Oahu average room rate was $103 last month, down 3.2 percent from $106.39.

The Big Island had an occupancy average of 74.3 percent last month, down from 85.9 percent in March 2001, and the island's average room rate of $186.53 was up 4.6 percent from $178.30.

Kauai reported 68.6 percent occupancy, down from 70.2 percent. The island's average room rate of $170.21 was up 3.2 percent from a year-earlier $164.94.

Molokai had occupancy of 51.8 percent, down from 62.5 percent, and its average room rate rose 4.8 percent to $95.30 from $90.90.