Maui County hotels continues decline in occupancy and revenue over one year after wildfires

Maui County hotels continued to be impacted by the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires, according to the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority’s Hotel Performance Report for September.

Last month, Maui County hotels achieved:

• A revenue per available room (RevPAR) of $238.59;
• An average daily rate (ADR) of $453.42; and
• An occupancy of 52.6%.

Despite the impact that Maui’s wildfires had on visitor arrivals in September 2023, Maui County hotels reported lower percent occupancy by about 9% this September, compared to the month after the wildfires took place. While supply of room nights remained around the same as last September, demand for room nights — especially for West Maui hotels — was a major factor, according to the report. County-wide demand for hotel rooms dropped over 13% from September 2023.

Maui’s revenue per available room (RevPAR) and average daily rate (ADR) were also both down double-digit percentages from September 2023, all-in-all resulting in a total revenue change of -26.8% compared to September 2023.

Wailea led all hotel districts statewide in average daily rate last month, with reservations averaging $623 per night, while the West Maui district averaged close to $380 per available room. Occupancy for Wailea hotels were 56.7%, securing the highest occupancy on Maui. Meanwhile, hotels in Lahaina, Kā‘anapali and Kapalua had a percent occupancy close to 50%.

Percent occupancy of Maui County hotels has slipped from 2019, before the pandemic. In September 2019, 73.1% of hotel rooms had been filled. Meanwhile the price of hotel room reservations in Maui County has gone up 43.5% compared to before the pandemic in September 2019.

Compared to neighbor islands last month, Maui County hotels had:

• The second-highest revenue per available room (behind Kauaʻi);
• The highest average daily rate; and
• The lowest percent occupancy in the state.

Statewide hotel performance for September

In September, statewide hotel room revenues reached $365.7 million, a 14.8% decrease from September 2023 but a 17.6% increase from 2019. Room demand fell 7.2% compared to September 2023 and 8.4% compared to 2019. Room supply held steady year-over-year and increased by 4.9% since September 2019.

Statewide RevPAR in September 2024 was $218, down 15.9%, with ADR at $316, a decrease of 8.2%, and occupancy at 68.9%, down 6.3 percentage points compared to September 2023. Compared to September 2019, RevPAR was 12.1% higher, driven by a 28.4% increase in ADR, which offset a 10.0 percentage point drop in occupancy.

Statewide hotel performance in first nine months of 2024

In the first nine months of 2024, hotels statewide earned $271 in RevPAR, down 4.1% from 2023 and up 19.0% from 2019, with an ADR of $365, 3.3% lower than 2023 and 30.1% higher than 2019. Occupancy was 74.4%, a decrease of 0.6 percentage points from 2023 and 6.9 percentage points from 2019.

Total statewide hotel revenues for the first nine months of 2024 were $4.1 billion, down 4.0% from 2023 and up 23.2% from 2019. Room supply was 15.3 million room nights, an increase of 0.1% from 2023 and 3.5% from 2019, while room demand held steady from 2023 at 11.3 million room nights, but was 5.3% below 2019.

View the full report at hawaiitourismauthority.org.