January 2024 Hotel Performance

The state had a 2.6 percentage point increase in occupancy and a 3.4% decrease in ADR resulting in flat RevPAR compared to last January. RevPAR was up 8% on Oahu, down 7% on Maui, up 1% on Hawaii Island and down 3% on Kauai. All islands experienced an increase in ADR except for Maui which had a 12% decline.

Visitor Arrivals

Visitors to Maui were down 23% which dragged the state total down by 4%. Oahu was the only island having more visitors than 2023 with a 3% increase. 

Visitor Expenditures

Visitor expenditures were down 5% but per person, per day spending was up 2%. By island, Maui was down 19%, Oahu down 2%, Hawaii Island was up 15% and Kauai was up 5%.

Air Seats

The outlook for air seats for the State for the March to May 2024 period is flat overall compared to the same period last year. As expected, Maui is way down while Japan and Canada have pushed international seats nearly 20%.

State of Hawaii – no change

Honolulu up 11%

Kahului down 21%

Kona down 7%

Lihue down 9%

Domestic down 4%

International up 19%

Japan up 50%

Canada up 12%

Oceana down 14%

Korea down 5%

Hotel Openings

The 300-room Renaissance at Sky Ala Moana opened on March 1^st which followed the 104-room AC Honolulu which opened in December.

Demonizing Legal Vacation Rentals

Some Hawaii politicians are trying various methods to convert vacation rentals into housing for Hawaii residents. The lack of housing on Maui, made more pronounced by the Lahaina fires, has fueled this effort. While the focus should be cracking down on illegal vacation rentals, others (usually lacking an understanding of economics) have called to eliminate all vacation rentals. While some of the legal units could provide housing for the residents who need it, many of these units are too expensive to help where it is needed. Further, legal vacation rentals drive a large chunk of the money visitors spend in Hawaii as they provide some high-end visitor experiences for high spending visitors. According to a trusted source, vacation rental visitors represent about 30% of the state’s visitor market. Losing this income and the associated tax revenue would hurt many of the people these proposals would intend to help.

Data Source: Hawaii Tourism Authority