It's safe to travel to Hawaii, the Governor says so!
Hawaii is only partially recovered from Governor Ige’s August 23rd request for visitors to “stay away”. By nearly every account, his pronouncement caused a large number of cancellations and was a jolt to the Hawaii visitor industry. Erik Kloninger’s research shows arrivals have climbed back to just over 70% of 2019.
When do visitors from Asia and Canada return?
There is some optimism that the requirement that Japanese visitors quarantine upon their return from overseas travel will be lifted or dramatically reduced. Foreign and domestic carriers are adding flights to Hawaii in mid-December from Japan, Korea, and Canada. These additions are signs the airlines anticipate demand trending up after the loosening of restrictions.

Hotel performance
For the month of September, the neighbor islands are still doing well while Oahu is suffering. Maui is up 25%, Hawaii Island is up 13%, Kauai is up 26% and Oahu is down 43% in RevPAR relative to September 2019. The strength of the neighbor islands has been via unprecedented ADR growth with Maui up 54%, Hawaii Island up 39%, and Kauai up 33% over September 2019. Question for discussion: Will visitors to the neighbor islands continue to pony up such high prices for hotel rooms?
Waikiki forward rates are up recently.
Our Elizabeth Churchill tracks future offer rates for large Waikiki hotels. Her research showed solid growth until “Stay Away” Day and then some decline. Fortunately, forward offer rates rose recently and are now up 1.5% above rates offered in early September.
 
BlackSand Capital buying the Royal Lahaina Resort
The local real estate investment fund is rumored to be paying over $900,000 per key for the fee simple property. The site fronting a gorgeous beach is big enough for an increase in keys and there is potential to increase the bottom line. Investors have shown a willingness to blast through the $1 million per key threshold for fee simple Maui hotels.

Other than a couple of small Waikiki hotels in contract, there are very few hotels listed for sale in the islands.
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1189 Waimanu Street, Suite 2405
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 466-3401