Hotel Performance

The State’s hotels brought in slightly less revenue in June of 2023 than last year. A 1% increase in ADR was offset by a 2% decrease in occupancy. Oahu is making a strong recovery in 2023 with RevPAR up 11% for the month and 17% for the YTD on a mix of occupancy and rate. Meanwhile, all of the neighbor islands are down in RevPAR in June relative to 2022. For the YTD, all of the islands are up in RevPAR relative to 2019 with Kauai leading at 49%, Hawaii Island at 47%, Maui at 32%, and Oahu at 11%. Luxury hotels have recently been losing rate this year. This may be more a function of where they are located as most of the luxury properties are on the neighbor islands. 

Air Seats

Relative to 2022, projected air seats for July through September are up 5% for the State. Honolulu leads with a 14% increase while Kahului is down 5%, Kona is down 1% and Lihue is down 12%. International seats are up 39% from a very poor 2022 but still 36% less than 2019. The total number of air seats to Hawaii is roughly the same as in 2019. 

Visitor Arrivals

Total visitor arrivals for the first half of the year are up 12% over 2022. US arrivals are up only 1%, Canadian arrivals are up 35%, while Japan and other international visitors are up dramatically.

Visitor Spending

Total visitor expenditures for the first half of the year were $10.8 billion which is 17% above 2022 and 22% above 2019.

Investment Market Happenings

• Outrigger just closed the purchase of the Kaanapali Beach Hotel, and their acquisition of the Kauai Beach Resort is scheduled to close in August.
• Dovetail, owner of the Wayfinder Waikiki is reportedly buying the leasehold interest in the Jacaranda Inn from Parker Ranch.
• The owners of the Grand Naniloa finally received approval from DLNR for a new debt package which should end the foreclosure process.
• The Hyatt Centric and a couple of other Waikiki hotels are still in contract or negotiations.