CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Waikiki beachfront hotels managed to buck the trend of lower occupancy for April, increasing by less than a percentage point to 73.4 percent full.

Occupancy falls for
15th straight month

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By Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.com

Hotel and resort condominiums statewide were emptier in April than last year, marking the 15th consecutive month of lower occupancy, according to a survey released yesterday.

Average occupancy last month was 67.9 percent, a drop of 3.7 percentage points from 71.6 percent in April 2001, according to consulting firm PKF-Hawaii.

Occupancy in the state has been down since February 2001, shortly before the U.S. economy officially entered recession.

Room revenues were also down in April, PKF said. So-called revenue per available room -- a key financial indicator for hotels -- was $103.74 on average, down 9 percent from $113.91 a year earlier.

"I call it the month that never was," said Rob Solomon, senior vice president for sales and marketing at Outrigger Hotels & Resorts. Following Sept. 11, bookings slumped and few trips were booked as far out as April, he said. When visitors started booking again this year, April was too soon.

"It fell between the cracks," Solomon said, but May and June should be better.

PKF's monthly survey covers 75 hotels and 57 resort condominiums, for a total of about 33,000 rooms, a little less than half of Hawaii's 72,204 rooms.

Beachfront properties in Waikiki managed to buck the overall drop, with occupancy rising a fraction of a percentage point to 73.4 percent from 73 percent in the year-earlier.

For all of Oahu, occupancy was down to 67.3 percent from 69.9 percent. Big Island occupancy fell to 64.7 percent from 68.6 percent, Maui occupancy fell to 72.4 from 78.6 percent, while Kauai occupancy remained at 66.3 percent.

The occupancy slump appears to reflect visitor arrivals, which fell on every major island in April, according to figures released Wednesday by the state.

Maui arrivals were hit particularly hard, dropping nearly 20 percent from 2001. The impact on Maui occupancy wasn't as harsh, in part because the total number of rooms has fallen at some properties, said Daisy Aio, director of tourism consulting for PKF. For example, the Maui Marriott Resort's hotel rooms decreased to 390 from 600 in the past year when it converted rooms to time-share units.