Oahu tops global list of island destinations for best hotel occupancy

Staff Pacific Business News | Feb 25, 2013, 9:52am HST

Oahu ranked No. 1 among the world’s island and sun destinations last year for hotel occupancy, while Maui came in third, and Kauai and the Big Island of Hawaii each made the top 10, according to a report by Hospitality Advisors LLC and Smith Travel Research.

Hotels on Oahu had the highest occupancy rate among other global island destinations in 2012, according to a report by Hospitality Advisors LLC and Smith Travel Research.

Hawaii as a whole was ranked third, behind comparable international destinations Singapore and South Korea, for occupancy rates in 2012, and second after Singapore in average daily room rate and revenue per available room, according to the report.

Among other island destinations, Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island ranked in the top 10 for all three categories in 2012 and appear to be headed for another strong year, said Joe Toy, president and CEO of Hospitality Advisors LLC.

“Hawaii is having an exceptionally strong winter season thus far,” Toy said in a statement. Although concerns over the economy are starting to be heard, advanced hotel bookings continue to point to a very busy summer.”

Oahu hotels were 84.7 percent full in 2012, which was 4 percentage points higher, and nearly 12 percentage points higher than Puerto Rico, which was in the No. 2 spot with an occupancy rate of 72.9 percent, according to the report.

Maui’s occupancy rate for 2012 was 72.6 percent, ranking the island third, while Kauai was ranked No. 6 with a rate of 68.8 percent and the Big Island was 10th with a 62 percent occupancy rate. Other island destinations on the list were Phuket, Thailand; Bali, Indonesia; Aruba; the Maldives; and the Bahamas.

The four Hawaiian islands also ranked among the top 10 island destinations for average daily room rates and revenue per available room.
Maui was third highest among its global competitors for average daily room rates in 2012 at $257.95, a 4.5 percent increase from the previous year, after No. 1 Maldives, where the average daily room rate shot up 17.5 percent to $606.22 and hotels in French Polynesia, where the average daily room rate rose 8.2 percent to $329.38.

Kauai was No. 6 with an average daily room rate of $212.85, followed by the Big Island at No. 7 with $192.57 and Oahu at No. 8 with $174.37.

Maui also had the strongest RevPAR among Hawaii’s islands, and was ranked third among its global competitors with RevPAR of $182.27, an 8 percent increase from 2011.

Oahu was ranked fifth with RevPAR of $155.43, but that was a 16.8 percent increase from the year before, while RevPAR at seventh-ranked Kauai hotels rose 12.7 percent to $146.44. Big Island hotels were ranked ninth with RevPAR of $119.39, which was a 10.1 percent increase from last year.