Isle hotel occupancy declined in November

The Aloha State's hotel occupancy fell slightly in November, while room rates set a record for the month, according to the latest report by Hospitality Advisors LLC.

Statewide hotel occupancy fell by 1 percentage point in November to 74.8 percent, despite a 1.6 percent increase in visitor arrivals during the month. Joseph Toy, president of Hospitality Advisors, said more visitors are skipping hotels in favor of timeshares, beach cottages and condominium-hotels, as well as staying with friends and relatives.

Despite the drop in occupancy, the statewide average daily room rate rose 6 percent to $173.02, the highest November daily rate on record, according to the report. Statewide room revenue also achieved a new high of $129.35 per room.

Toy said that even though November's occupancy numbers declined somewhat compared to the exceptional performance of last year, the upper end of the market, particularly Waikiki, remains fairly strong for this time of the year.

"Continued increases in November room rates that have characterized most of 2006 thus far more than offset the slight fall-off in room night sales," Toy said.

Hawaii's upper-tier hotel segments reported more than 705,000 room nights sold, representing more than half of total statewide room demand. Luxury hotels and upscale hotels posted occupancy rates above 75 percent.

Oahu led island occupancy at 81.2 percent, while Maui's Wailea hotels achieved state's the highest average daily rate at $341.84.

Oahu's occupancy was flat from a year ago. Maui occupancy dipped slightly by 0.4 percentage points to 72.2 percent.

Kauai and the Big Island both experienced occupancy declines -- Kauai dropped 3.8 percentage points to 67.5 percent, and the Big Island dropped 4.5 percentage points to 62.1 percent.