Hawaii's average hotel occupancy climbs to 78.6 percent

With tourism continuing to be the engine for Hawaii’s economy, January saw Hawaii hotel rooms slightly above three-fourths full and most islands’ average room rates slightly higher than the in 2010, according to Smith Travel Research and Hospitality Advisors.

The average statewide hotel occupancy rate was 78.6 percent, for the week ending Jan. 22, up 8 percentage points from the same week a year ago. The Big Island’s occupancy rate of 66.3 percent was up 14.4 percentage points — the largest increase for the week. Oahu’s occupancy rate of 85.5 percent was 9.6 percentage points higher than during the same week last year, and Maui’s occupancy rate was 78 percent, up 4.6 percentage points from the same week last year. Meanwhile, Kauai saw its occupancy rate dip 3.1 percentage points compared to a year ago; its hotels were 61.3 percent full for the week.

The average statewide room rate of $187.60 was up 9 percent compared to the same week in 2010. Maui’s average room rate of $240.05 was 13.4 percent higher than a year ago, the largest percentage increase for the week. Oahu’s average room rate of $162.13 was 10.6 percent higher than the previous year, while the Big Island saw an average rate of $187.87, up 6.3 percent from last year. Kauai, however, saw its average room rate slip 4.2 percent from a year ago to $208.37.

In another positive sign, transient accommodations tax collections from hotels totaled $23.6 million for November, a 29.1 percent increase from the same month in 2009.