Maui County hotel rates and room revenue up

But occupancy still behind rates achieved pre-pandemic

Maui County hotels in January bested pre-pandemic numbers for average daily rates and revenue per available room, but still trailed the occupancy rates achieved in January 2019.

According to the Hawaii Hotel Performance Report released by the Hawaii Tourism Authority earlier this month, Maui County hotels in January had an average daily rate of $619.39, up 41.1 percent from the rate of $438.99 recorded at the same time in 2019. Revenue per available room was $379.03 in January, up 14.1 percent from revenues of $332.08 seen in 2019.

Occupancy at Maui County hotels in January was 61.2 percent, down 14.5 percentage points from the 75.6 percent occupancy achieved at the same time in 2019.

Maui County led the state with the highest average daily rate and revenue per available room in January, but lagged behind all other islands in occupancy rates. Oahu had an occupancy rate of 65.5 percent, while Hawaii island's occupancy was at 71.6 percent and Kauai's was at 67.1 percent.

Statewide, revenue per available room in January was $233, up 305.8 percent from the same time in 2021; average daily rate was at $357, up 41.3 percent; and the occupancy rate of 65.4 percent was up 42.6 percentage points compared to January 2021.

Compared to January 2019, revenue per available room statewide was 1.3 percent lower. This was because lower occupancy -- which was down 14.1 percentage points from 2019 -- offset the average daily rate, which was 20 percent higher than in 2019.

Again, Wailea led the state in average daily room rates in January at $904.08, up 10.6 percent a year ago from $817.10 and up 38.7 percent from the rate of $651.71 in January 2019. It also topped the state in revenue per available room at $523.44, up 248.6 percent from $150.14 in 2021.

But revenue per available room for Wailea hotels in January was down 6.3 percent from 2019, with $523.44 recorded this year and $558.72 in January 2019.

HTA attributed this trend of lower revenue per available room across the state resulting from lower occupancy levels in 2022 as compared to 2019.

A separate report released by the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism said that in January, Maui County had the largest vacation rental supply of all four counties with 174,200 available unit nights, down 36 percent from 2021 and down 17.6 percent from 2019.

Unit demand was 115,100 unit nights, which was up 6 percent from 2021, but down 35.4 percent from 2019. It resulted in a 66.1 percent occupancy in January, which was up 26.2 percentage points from 2021 and down 18.2 percentage points from 2019.

Average daily rate was $363, which was up 28.3 percent from 2021 and up 27.2 percent from 2019.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.