Hotel occupancy and revenues fell across the board on Maui in August, leading into a weak fall season for the visitor industry, Hospitality Advisors LLC reported this week.
"August unfortunately capped what has been a very dismal summer season for the Hawaii hotel industry," said Joseph Toy, Hospitality Advisors president and chief executive officer, in his monthly occupancy report.
"The fall season also remains weak, with the medium-term outlook still very cloudy as the global economic turmoil continues to unfold."
According to the data collected from 160 hotel properties in Hawaii, Maui hotels showed the steepest slide for the month of August, to 69 percent in 2008 from 81 percent in 2007. But the data also showed that high-end properties were doing better, with 75.4 percent occupancy in luxury class properties and 70.9 percent in the upscale units - with average daily rates of more than $245 a night.
In contrast, the numbers for Maui showed midprice properties at 61.8 percent and economy properties at 58.9 percent.
Average daily room rates were relatively stable. In the luxury class, the average daily rate fell from $436.54 to $416.40, but in the other classes, the differences were down $3 or less.
The numbers show that higher-income travelers are less affected by the economic concerns, said Terryl Vencl, executive director of the Maui Visitors Bureau.
"As you noted, the numbers are down, but the ADR (average daily rate) is holding steady. Occupancy is going down overall, but the people with more discretionary dollars are the people who are still coming," she said.
"The luxury and high-end properties are holding up. It's the midprice and the economy that are going to see the biggest drops."
The numbers also illustrate the need to continue to market Maui, Vencl said.
"We still have competition out there for those people who do have the discretionary dollars to travel, and we are still trying to stay ahead of the competition," she said. "We have to stay out there or we lose the top-of-mind status."
The state as a whole was down to 74.4 percent, from 81 percent. Oahu occupancy showed the least impacts, down only slightly to 80.4 percent from 82.7 percent. Kauai was at 74.5 percent, down from 85.4 percent while the Big Island industry slid to 63.5 percent from 72.6 percent.
For the Maui properties, there are no surprises in the report, although Carol Reimann, executive director of the Maui Hotel & Lodging Association, said she had not yet seen the Hospitality Advisors report on Friday.
"It's not a shock, but it still hurts. It's been brutal," she said.
She said hotel managers are looking for ways to cut their costs to deal with the slide in revenues while working on promotions and marketing projects.
"They're trying not to lay off because that affects services. But it's becoming really difficult," she said.
With both occupancies and average rates slipping, the report showed revenues per available room also were falling across the state, with the higher-priced resorts in Wailea showing the highest revenues. According to Hospitality Advisors, revenue per available room for various regions in August were:
* Wailea (69.5 percent occupancy, $476.09 ADR) - revenue per available room $330.76, down from $386.92 in 2007.
* West Maui (71 percent, $258.02) - $183.20, down from $222.95.
* Other Maui (66.8 percent, $317.80) - $212.35, down from $239.16.
* Oahu (80.4 percent, $178.20) - $143.32, down from $148.06.
* Kohala Coast (66.6 percent, $286.59) - $190.92, down from $214.20.
* Kauai (74.5 percent, $216.62) - $161.43, down from $185.71.
The industry executives said they will continue to market Maui but saw only low-lying clouds in the near term.
"We don't see improvements for a while," Reimann said. "One of my hoteliers says 2010, 2010. We're looking forward to 2010."
But she and Vencl also are hoping that the election on Nov. 4 will help to stabilize the national economy when it becomes clear who the new president will be and what he can be expected to do.
"I fully believe there will be a return to normal conditions," Vencl said.
"But with an election hanging in the balance and consumer confidence being battered by what's happening to our banking system, it's not going to be in the short term."
