Wailea, Maui is a Top Emerging Summer Travel Destination

Grand Wailea fountain. File photo by Wendy Osher.

With the official first day of summer happening this week, Priceline compiled and reviewed data to find emerging summer travel destinations.

The data revealed that bookings for Wailea on Maui are on the rise, growing 56% in a year.  The resort destination is located along Maui’s south shoreline and is home to hotel properties that include the Grand Wailea – A Waldorf Astoria Resort, the Fairmont Kea Lani, the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, the Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort, Hotel Wailea and a number of other resort and hotel properties.

Wailea was ranked number 10 on a list that also shows rising popularity of destinations like Alpharetta, Georgia (no. 1); Grand Forks, North Dakota (no. 2); and Cape May, New Jersey (no. 3).  Lake Geneva Wisconsin (no. 8) and West Hollywood, California (no. 9) also made the list.

The data is based on year-over-year bookings for 2017 and 2018 from June 21 to September 21.

Priceline reports that the top 10 cities with the most growth in popularity include the following:

1. Alpharetta, GA (162% increase in bookings)
2. Grand Forks, ND (149% increase in bookings)
3. Cape May, NJ (122% increase in bookings)
4. Hampton, NH (108% increase in bookings)
5. Park City, UT (105% increase in bookings)
6. Whitefish, MT (92% increase in bookings)
7. Provincetown, MA (86% increase in bookings)
8. Lake Geneva, WI (82% increase in bookings)
9. West Hollywood, CA (76% increase in bookings)
10. Wailea, HI (56% increase in bookings)

Wailea continues to stand out in the Hawaiʻi Hotel Performance Report, which is released regularly by the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority.  The report shows that Maui County hotels reported the highest RevPAR in April at $293 (+5.9%), with modest increases in ADR at $371 (+5.4%) and flat occupancy of 79% (+0.4 percentage points). Wailea hotel properties led the state’s resort regions in RevPAR at $514 (+7.5%), ADR at $575 (+4.8%), and occupancy of 89.4% (+2.3 percentage points).